Torched Page 32
He didn’t have to think about that.
Just as they’d cleared the fourth office, he was looking ahead when he heard glass shattering and saw Liv’s body flying out into the hallway about fifty feet up from the left, the shards cascading over her like fucking snow.
“Liv!” he screamed out.
But he couldn’t get to her fast enough before Henslow popped out. Seeing them, he started shooting.
They all ducked and kept moving, but he pulled her up to her feet and held the gun to her temple. “You move and she’s dead!” he thundered.
They stopped in their tracks and watched as he dragged her away, kicking and screaming. He had nowhere to go but the main assembly area or an emergency exit on the side of the building. Torch knew what option he’d choose.
“He’s going out the side!” he yelled. “Mace, follow. Zed, hit the front.”
No time to waste, he ran back the way they’d come in, hoping to cut Henslow off on the side he was most likely to go. His legs burned as they moved faster than he’d ever had to push them. Nothing had ever been this fucking important before.
Seconds later, he was on the dock.
He heard Liv screaming and followed the sound to his left, Henslow had her by the arms, rushing away from the building under the cover of darkness. All he could really see was their silhouette.
He stayed low and close to the wall as he jogged across the dock, keeping an eye on them below. As soon as he got close enough, he took a shot at the ground a few feet from them.
Liv did as he knew she would, taking advantage of the quick distraction to pull out of the fucker’s grasp.
He took another shot, sending the piece of shit stumbling backwards. “Run!” Torch yelled at her as he rushed at Henslow. Mitch fired at him twice, missing both times. Either he was out out of ammo or the gun jammed because he threw it down and tried to run off.
Torch was faster and jumped him from behind. He slammed a fist into his head, but Henslow was a fighter and managed to roll out from under him. Fists flying, legs kicking, heads smashing into the concrete, they went at it like hyenas, Torch getting most of the blows in. Predator versus predator, only one could come out alive.
Zed and Mace rushed over, but he already had the asshole pinned down and was crushing his skull with repeated blows.
As Henslow’s life drained before his eyes, he saw three of his brothers rushing out of the building from the corner of his eye.
“Move, move, move!” Squid yelled. “It’s gonna—”
Blow.
: : : :
“Move, move, move!” I heard Squid’s distinct voice call out.
I turned back around to see what was going on, but only managed to catch a glimpse of Torch on top of Mitch. Next thing I knew, debris and flames were blowing out windows and doors as the building exploded from the inside, sending bodies flying and sliding across the ground. I covered my face with my arm as a blast of hot air and sand came at me.
As soon as it passed, I opened my eyes and spotted him on the ground.
“Torch!” I screamed out. Ignoring the pain from being tossed through a pane of glass, I ran as fast I could toward him.
Jesus Christ, he wasn’t fucking moving.
I heard Squid—the only man still standing—grunting at me to stay back and saw him coming at me from the side. He reached out to grab me.
“No!” I shrieked, shoving back on his chest and ducking down under his arms to get away.
I slid across the gravel and down to my knees next to Torch. I took his bloodied face in my hands, careful not to move it in case his neck was broken and checked for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there.
“Baby, wake up… I love you… Please… Please, just wake up… I can’t lose you,” I begged him, a flood of tears streaming down my face.
I heard sirens a short distance away and looked around at the commotion. The rest of the guys were rushing over from around the building, Buddha frantically trying to count heads as they tried to help the fallen.
The scene was pure chaos, but to me it was all playing out in slow motion.
Torch’s moans snapped me the fuck out of it. “Baby? Baby, open your eyes for me,” I pleaded, combing my fingers through his hair. “Come on, Torch.” His eyelids parted halfway and I grinned at him through my tears. “There you go, honey. Stay with me. Don’t move your head, okay?”
Just as Buddha and Elf descended on us to get a look at him, he opened his mouth, making some gurgling sound.
“Shh, it’s okay, don’t talk. I’m right here,” I told him. But he did it again. Not wanting him to start moving that stubborn head of his, I brought my face closer to hear him.
“Love… you,” he croaked, before his eyes rolled back into his head and closed again.
A second tidal wave of emotion and tears hit me like a fucking freight train. “No… baby, no,” I whimpered. “Wake up… Wake up… Wake the fuck up!”
“Come on, sweetheart,” Buddha murmured, hooking his arms under mine and pulling me back as paramedics rushed over. “Let them do their jobs.”
I turned to him and started pounding on his chest with what little strength I had left. “I told him! I fucking told him!”
He wrapped his arms around me and held on tight. Pretty soon, I gave up and just sobbed into his chest. “This isn’t your fault, sweet girl. He’s gonna be alright,” he insisted.
I heard a thump and turned back to see the paramedics wheeling him away, I peeled away from Buddha and ran after them.
As they loaded Torch into the ambulance, Agent Rhodes came walking around.
“I need to ask you some questions, Chlo—”
“It can fucking wait,” I spat at her. “I’m going with him.”
“Let her go,” Buddha said as he approached. “Your questions are for us. She’s got nothing to do with this. Wrong place, wrong time.”
Rhodes glared at him dubiously, but waved me by. The last thing I heard as I climbed in was her yelling, “Unless you’re on a stretcher, you’re all being detained for questioning.”
I took a seat and glanced over at Buddha, who gave me a stiff smile and nod before the doors closed.
: 28 :
I followed the paramedics into the ER and stopped outside Torch’s room as a handful of doctors and nurses jogged over.
It was surreal. This whole thing was like a bad acid trip.
One after the other, I saw Zed, Mace, Gauge, and Scrap wheeled in. Thankfully they all had their eyes open. Four Linwood cops followed in and waited in the hallway. I leaned against the wall to take some pressure off my throbbing back, but it was short-lived.
“Liv!”
I turned around at the sound of my name and heavy boots running toward me. It was Lump and Bird barreling down the hall. They pulled me into a bear sandwich and squeezed so hard, I let out a pained groan.
“Jesus Christ, darlin’ you had us fucking worried,” Bird muttered.
“You alright?” Lump asked.
“I’m fine, just a bruised back,” I insisted. “Tell me Jet and Toto are okay.”
“They’ll both make it. Gonna be a while before they get back on their bikes on account of all the broken bones though.”
“I’m so sorry, guys. I don’t—”
“Knock that shit off. You got nothing to apologize for, darlin’,” Bird huffed.
A doctor came out of the room before I could argue, followed by nurses wheeling Torch out in the other direction. I tried to step around him to follow, but he held his hand up. “He’s going to Radiology. You can’t go with him.”
“Doc, this is Liv. She’s his old lady,” Lump voiced. “Doc’s a friend of the club. What’s the word, man?”
“Blunt force trauma to the head. I understand there was an explosion, we think he got hit with some kind of projectile when that happened. He’s going up for a CT scan to check for brain hemorrhaging. He may need surgery—”
“Brain surgery?” I asked in disbelief.
I sighed and leaned back on the wall.
“Were you there?” he asked, pointing at my cheek.
“Yeah, I’m okay though—”
“Said she hurt her back,” Bird piped up.
I shot him a scowl. “I said I’m fine. Please, Doc, just go take care of the guys.”
“They’re in good hands. Can I take a quick look?” he nagged.
No, he couldn’t. Because at that very moment, I saw another gurney being rushed in. The face was unrecognizable, but I would know the tattoos on his arms anywhere.
“Son of a bitch!” I raged, launching myself at him.
Lump and Bird were quicker on their feet and grabbed me before I had a chance to pounce.
“Whoa, whoa!” Bird rumbled.
“Liv, calm the fuck down, there’s cops here,” Lump hissed in my ear.
“I don’t give a fuck, that’s Mitch,” I snarled.
“And getting yourself arrested hurts him how?” Bird asked.
“Think, Liv. It’s what you’re good at,” Lump added.
They were right. I sighed and quit fighting their hold.
Bird squeezed the back of my neck. “Come on, let’s go to the waiting room. Can’t do shit here and these uniforms make me fucking itchy.”
: : : :
An hour or so later, I was anxiously pacing around in the waiting room. Rox and Mo had rushed away from the husbands as soon as they heard about the explosion. Bird shot me a warning look over their heads as they both hugged me, which I interpreted to mean they didn’t know any details and I shouldn’t tell them. Through gritted teeth, I hugged them back, pissed off at myself for accepting their blind kindness when I was the reason that their men were in here.
I’d probably walked a mile by the time Doc finally made an appearance.
I rushed over to him. “What’s happening? Is he okay?”
He placed a hand on my lower back and motioned for us all to sit down. “The MRI shows a cerebral edema. Essentially, swelling of the brain tissue that’s pressing against his skull and causing fluid to build up. It’s why he can’t wake up. We need to remove a piece of his skull to make room for the swelling and relieve pressure so he doesn’t stroke out. It’s called a decompressive craniectomy.”
“Jesus,” I whimpered. Mo and Rox put their arms around me as I dropped my head to process all this. “Will he wake up?”
“It’s a risky surgery, but I’m confident in our team. We’ll keep him in a coma and put him on a respirator after that. Along with medication, the swelling should go down. We won’t know about permanent damage with any degree of certainty until that happens.”
Permanent damage? Jesus, no. “Can I see him?” I asked.
He shook his head apologetically. “I’m sorry, there’s no time. Zed already signed the consent forms, Torch gave him medical power of attorney a while back.”
I buried my face in my hands and tried to catch my breath.
“What about our other boys?” Bird asked.
“All fine, just some cuts and bruises. They’re being released in a minute,” Doc replied.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Lump sighed.
“Thank you,” Rox said. “Will you keep us posted?”
“Of course,” Doc assured her.
As soon as he left, all attention was back on me as I curled up in the chair.
“You heard him, there’s a good team of doctors here,” Mo said as she rubbed my back. “He’ll be alright, just like Jet and Toto. Okay?”
“Why the fuck are they still keeping everybody else away?” I cried. “He needs his family. Where are they?”
With no one offering up an answer, I pushed Mo and Rox off me and walked back into the ER lobby to talk to the cops and find out for myself. I saw Agent Rhodes standing there, talking to the deputies who had Zed, Mace, Gauge, and Scrap in handcuffs.
“What the hell’s going on?” I demanded.
“They’re being taken in for questioning. I’d like to talk to you too,” she replied.
“I have nothing to say. I didn’t see anything and I don’t know anything. What the fuck are you doing anyway? You’re DEA. They had nothing to do with the drugs or the dealers you should’ve found.”
“I have seven dead bodies,” Rhodes snapped, finally losing the professional act. “And a shitload of illegal weapons in the hands of felons who aren’t supposed to have them. I’m sorry, Chloe, but despite what you think, these aren’t innocent men. The ATF’s been called in, they’re all going away, including Torch.”
What the fuck was wrong with this bitch? Torch would be lucky to live and she was standing here sounding almost gleeful that he’d be going away, if—when—he did.
“That won’t happen,” I seethed.
“It’s happening. And Mitch will have to answer too.”
Answer to what? If I hadn’t been able to make the connection, the Feds would have a hell of a time pining anything on him that connected back to Hess. Maybe kidnapping and a gun charge since he was a felon himself, which would give him another few years of time. And then he’d be out again. The thought made me sick to my stomach, but I wasn’t about to say anything else that could be damaging to the club’s defense.
Not only was my past with him responsible for people getting hurt, but now a bunch more were facing jail time. What the fuck had I done?
Zed must have noticed the wheels turning. “Babe, it’ll be fine. Our attorney’s already at the station.”
My heart broke as I looked over at him. He was smiling, trying to be reassuring, but all I saw was yet another brother who was paying for my sins. And doing it without complaint. Why the hell was everybody trying to make me feel better about all of this? It just made it worse.
I walked up to him and gave him a hug. “You tell the attorney to get a team together. I’m covering the fees. Don’t argue.”
He nodded, then leaned down to kiss my forehead and whispered, “Whatever crazy ideas pop in your head besides that, shut ‘em down. We’ll be fine.”
I turned back to Rhodes. “When can I put up bail?”
“I wouldn’t hold my breath, biker gangs tend to be flight risks—”
“They’re not a fucking gang,” I corrected her.
She snickered. “Right. A club. Anyway, they’ll probably be transferred to Denver tomorrow and arraigned. It’s up to the judge whether to grant bail. These are federal charges. I guess you’ll just have to keep your fingers crossed.”
“Only fools rely on luck, Agent Rhodes.”
: : : :
I stared out from a fourth story window in the waiting room of the Intensive Care Unit. The hospital was on a hill and this particular window provided a view over half of downtown Linwood. It had started drizzling earlier, but now a full downpour was showering the town. The street lights glistened on wet pavement.
Hours had passed since Torch was taken in for surgery, but we hadn’t had any updates other than being told that it was going as expected. Roxie and Moira had gone back to their husbands’ rooms, and the prospects were staying with me while Lump and Bird ran home for a quick shower and change of clothes. Luckily, Ty and Mack were watching TV and giving me some much needed space to think.
As I watched the rain fall, I thought about it all. Torch, the club, and by extension, the town that relied on them for more than just brake jobs and protection. I’d heard countless stories about businesses they’d kept afloat, people they’d helped just because they were asked, and areas they’d cleaned up and improved. Hell, a fundraiser for this very hospital had started it all.
I didn’t give a fuck what the law classified them as, they kept that part of their shit from touching the community. If anything, they were the glue that held Linwood together, and the number of people who relied on them far outnumbered their crimes.
And Torch? Well, Torch was some kind of miracle. Str
ong, loyal, and brave, he exemplified all the best qualities a man could have. Unfortunately, he’d picked a woman who brought nothing but misery on everything she touched.
“Liv?”
I looked over my shoulder to see Doc walking in. Ty turned down the TV.
“Is he out of surgery?” I asked.
Doc nodded. “He’s being moved into a room now. It went well, I’m optimistic. Like I told you earlier, we’ll probably keep him in a coma until the swelling goes down, but you can sit with him if you like. I pulled some strings and told the nurses that you’re his wife. Nobody should give you a hard time.”
“Thank you,” I murmured.
Ty and Mack both added their thanks and shook Doc’s hand.
I followed him into the ICU, where you could see into all the rooms from the nurse’s station through glass walls and sliding doors. It was eerily quiet this time of night.
Doc slid the door open for me and I rushed to Torch’s side. Even with the bandages around his head and a respirator breathing for him, my man looked as handsome and strong as ever. I leaned over him and kissed his forehead, lingering just to feel his skin on my lips, then sat down on a stool next to his bed and took his left hand in mine.
Doc went to slide the door shut, but stopped and glanced back over at me. “You’re good for him, Liv.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked. The man obviously had no idea what the word “good” meant.
“I saw Torch a couple weeks ago. He looked… happy. Happier than I’ve seen him in years. He told me he found something he thought he’d lost. I can see that he was talking about you.”
My breath hitched and eyes swelled with tears again. “He’s the best thing that ever happened to me, Doc.”
“Well if anyone can pull through this kind of thing and come out stronger for it, it’s Torch. You being here can only help. I’ll be by to check on him in a a little bit. You need anything?”
“What’s your actual name around here?” I asked, realizing I didn’t even know.
“Doctor Clark. Trevor.”
“Okay. Thank you, Doctor Clark. No, I’m good.”
Doc gave me a nod and closed the door.
I looked down at Torch and stroked his beard. “Hey, handsome, it’s me,” I croaked. “I love you… so much. Baby, I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry.”