by Sophia Gray
I shivered. Thinking about the future used to scare me, but not anymore. Even though things were uncertain, and part of me still felt like Donovan wouldn’t be walking away alive, I was desperate to find out what would happen.
“You’ll have a wonderful life together,” Penny said.
I blinked and turned to her. I’d been so caught up in my thinking that I’d completely forgotten she was there. She had her usual peaceful, serene look. The sun was streaming in through the windows and giving her a glow she hadn’t had before. Combined with her facial expression and straight posture, she almost looked like an angel in the sunlight. There was a beauty to her that I hadn’t seen before. I could tell that when she’d been younger, she’d been gorgeous. Donovan must have been the spitting image of his dad, his features too big and sharp to match with Penny’s. But she had a pert nose with a squared off tip and a delicate little mouth. I wished more than anything that I could have seen her and Donovan’s father together.
“Thank you,” I said. A lump began to form in my throat and I reached over and took her hand. Even though we’d only been acquainted for a few hours, I still felt like I knew her really well. It was hard to believe she wouldn’t be around for much longer. I was looking forward to the future, but thinking about it also made me nervous. After all, what if Donovan completely fell apart after Penny’s death? What would I do then? Would I even be able to reach him?
As if reading my mind, Penny spoke up. “You can’t let Donovan go off the deep end,” she said in a soothing voice.
I rubbed the back of her hand—she was cold—and then covered her with a crocheted afghan that was folded over the back of the couch. It was well-used and I imagined it had been in the cabin for years and years. “I’ll try,” I said. The tears were pricking my eyes but I blinked and tried to clear them away as best I could. “But I’m so worried. What do I do? I’ve never helped someone through a…through a death before.”
Penny shook her head. “Just make sure he stays open and talks to you,” she said. “You can’t let him build a wall up around himself. My Donovan has always done that. You’re the first person to really penetrate through something so difficult.”
I swallowed hard. I was intimidated at the idea of nursing Donovan through his mother’s death. But after all, as a doctor, I would have to get used to breaking bad news to people. I knew it wasn’t exactly the same thing, but I was going to have to be acquainted with death all the same. Still, though, I would have preferred the first death not to be Penny’s.
“You’ll do fine,” Penny said. She patted my hand and closed her eyes. I could tell she was exhausted; even just the small interaction with me had tired her out.
I desperately hoped she’d be able to be at our wedding. I still wanted everything I wanted—not to rush, not to just go downtown to the courthouse—but I wanted Penny there, too. “I’d love to be your daughter-in-law,” I said.
Penny nodded. She patted my hand again. “You’ll be a great daughter,” she said. There was a hint of a smile on her face. “I always wanted to have a daughter, and you’re the best one I could have had.”
When she said that, the tears started flowing more freely than ever before. I leaned over my knees and sobbed into my hands. Penny squeezed my hand. She let me cry, and just sat next to me and murmured soothing words. It was embarrassing to be bawling my eyes out in front of someone I barely knew, but I couldn’t help it. She was just so warm and approachable, and I knew I would desperately miss her when she was gone.
“Everything will be fine,” Penny said firmly. “I know that, dear. I’ve been around for long enough that I can just tell. You and Donovan will have a wonderful life. And I really want you to have lots of children, okay? Have a lot of babies, and treat them all well. Love them all. Be a strong family. Don’t let them get involved with the same thing as their family, okay? You’ll have to be the one to change all of that.” She laughed. “I want my grandchildren going to college, and becoming doctors like their mama.”
I blushed. “Yes, ma’am,” I said. Penny burst out laughing and again, I was reminded of her surprising air of youthfulness.
“I’m tired, dear,” Penny said with a yawn when her giggles had gone down. “Would you mind helping me to bed?”
“Of course not,” I replied. Penny struggled to stand up but I grabbed her arm and safely tucked it through mine. We didn’t talk as I helped her upstairs and into bed. “You’ll feel much better with some good rest,” I told her as I tucked her in. “I’ll be right back with some water and some tea for you. Would you like any of your pills?”
Penny nodded. She directed me to her purse where there was a packet of painkillers. I handed her two pills with a fresh glass of water.
By the time the water glass was back on the nightstand, Penny had fallen asleep.
“Your daughter-in-law,” I repeated softly to myself. I couldn’t believe it. I finally had the family I’d always looked for.
Chapter 28
Donovan
As soon as I hung up, I felt a grin stretch my face wide. I knew the guys were confused. I didn’t care. Anna had said she wanted to marry me, and soon, all of this would be a distant memory. Sweet little Anna, and she’s all mine, I thought triumphantly. I never had thought about getting married. But with Anna, it was different. I wanted to spend my life with her, and if I had to marry her to do that, so be it. I didn’t care if she wore a white dress or a black bikini, but I knew our wedding would be unforgettable either way.
Thomas and Lucas looked at me with curiosity in their eyes. “What did you do, boss?” Lucas asked in a quiet voice.
I resisted the urge to laugh. “I fuckin’ got engaged,” I said, grinning.
“No, idiot, about the cops!”
“Hey, shut up, be happy for me,” I said, slugging him in the arm. “Can’t you ever appreciate good news when you get it?”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Congrats, man.”
I grinned broadly. “That’s better,” I said. “Anna called the cops. They’re on their way, and all we have to do is show them those corrupt assholes over there in the gazebo. We can’t get out without a fight, but I think we’ve won the battle, boys.”
Thomas and Lucas high-fived and then clapped me on the back. I felt dazed. I knew I should be ecstatic and full of adrenaline, but all I could think about was Anna Murphy and the way her red sweaty face screamed my name in the throes of an orgasm. And she was going to do the exact same thing tonight, all night.
Anna. I couldn’t believe she was mine. From the first moment I laid eyed on her petite pale body, I’d been enchanted. Her sparkling brown eyes and sharp wit had won me over, and in short order, I’d be making that little doctor all mine, forever. I didn’t care what kind of wedding she wanted, but I wanted Mom to be involved. I felt bad that I’d spent my whole adult life running from the responsibility of being tied down. I’d wasted so much time sniffing out pussy and sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. Now, I wanted to give Mom grandchildren and enjoy family life. I just hoped it wouldn’t be too late. She was so sick—sicker than I’d ever have thought possible. It was like she was holding onto life so she could see me again, even it was just one more time. Hold on, Mom, I thought. Please. For me. For Anna. We need you.
There was the sound of sirens in the distance. Thomas and Lucas looked at me and grinned. “They ain’t far off,” I said, whistling through my teeth. Through the woods, I could see the two goons sitting at the gazebo. Neither one of them seemed alarmed, and I was willing to bet anything they had yet to hear the sirens. If the cops were able to sneak up on them, all the better. I knew it was going to be a crazy scene: bikers fighting cops fighting cops. The law enforcement was going to be upside down before the day was over, and we’d be on our feet, walking out like champs.
The Saints could always do it. We always found a way. I hated involving Anna, but her role was over and done. She’d done it like a pro, though. I couldn’t have done better. She understood exac
tly what I said the first time and I could tell she’d called the cops immediately after getting off the phone with me. And that little sigh she’d uttered when I told her that I expected her to marry me. Damn. She’s so fine. I can’t wait to get her alone tonight and eat her pussy until she’s screaming.
Life with Anna had been sweet so far, and after all this shit was over, it would be sweeter still. I just had a few more hours left as the president of The Saints. I hoped they’d be satisfying, but even if they weren’t, the life I was going to have afterwards was enough to tempt me away. Me, Anna, a string of kids. Hopefully Mom, if she could manage to hang on for a few years. I wrinkled my nose—the possibility wasn’t strong, but I was desperately hoping it would be true.
Thomas tapped me on the shoulder. “Boss, what are we waiting for?”
“If we don’t all wanna die, we need to wait until just before the cops show up,” I replied in a low voice. “We need to charge out and surprise those assholes. The cops can catch us, but it’s better if we haven’t been shooting for very long. I assume you guys feel like walking out of this jam?”
Thomas and Lucas and the other guys laughed. I grinned as one of them chucked me good-naturedly under the jaw.
Finally, the sirens were getting louder than ever. I signaled to the guys and we charged through the bushes, running up and surprisingly those assholes sitting in the gazebo. Before they could react, we whipped guns out and trained them.
“Hey, what’s all this?” One of them shot Thomas a confused look. He was wearing a bandana tied around his mouth and hiding most of his face, but he looked undoubtedly familiar. I narrowed my eyes and squinted, trying to make out any familiar features.
“Who the fuck are you?” I bellowed loudly as I fired a warning shot in the air. The sound of gunfire shocked the other cop into life and he pulled his gun out and trained it on all of us.
The sirens in the background were getting louder and louder and finally the first guy, the one with the bandana, ripped the mask off his face and turned to his partner. “They called the cops!” he yelled in anger. “You fucks are gonna die for that!”
Before we could do anything, the two cops in the gazebo started shooting at us. I hit the ground, along with Thomas and Lucas, and we tried to roll to safety near the bushes. I felt dirt spray into my face as the cops littered the ground with shells. I grabbed Thomas’s arm and ducked behind a tree. My heart was pounding in my chest and my breath was coming just as hard—I felt like I’d sprinted a marathon. The guys didn’t let up, not even taking time to reload.
Thomas looked at me with clear panic in his eyes. “This is so fucked up,” he whispered.
I nodded tersely and jammed a new cartridge into my gun. Without giving any signal, I whipped around the tree and started firing at the gazebo. There were cries of pain and anguish but the volley of guns didn’t stop. I frantically searched the woods, looking for my guys. I saw some feet sticking out a bush and my heart leapt in my throat when I realized they were attached to Lucas’s body and that he wasn’t moving. But I couldn’t make a run for his body, I’d get shot in a heartbeat.
Keeping my arm as straight as I could, I fired toward the cops. I saw one of the bullets land in an arm and I mentally cheered a victory cry. Just as the guy I’d shot went down on his knees, two cop cars tore towards the scene. Their lights and sirens were on and combined with the gunfire, it made for a deafening roar. The cops must have been shocked as anything to see two of their own shooting at a bunch of bikers. A sergeant leapt out of his patrol car and trained his gun on the two goons in the gazebo.
“Cease fire!” the sergeant commanded through his microphone.
No one listened—the guys in the gazebo hunched down to reload and my guys kept shooting at them. It was one of the loudest scenes I’d witnessed in my years with The Saints, and I couldn’t believe that all it had taken was a call to the cops. After all of this drama, a call to the cops. The irony didn’t escape me that Anna had suggested calling them as soon as I showed up in the back of her rig. Of course, she would be right. That’s my girl.
Sweat was beading on my forehead as I changed the clip in my gun and aimed again at the gazebo. I took aim and fired right as one of the good cops shot at the bad guys. My heart was beating like a jackhammer, but finally one of the bullets took aim and both of the cops in the gazebo fell to the ground.
Thomas punched me in the arm. “We did it!” he whooped loudly.
I shushed him. When we stood up, the scene wasn’t good. The park was littered with bodies. Both of the guys in the gazebo were down. With my heart in my throat, I ran over to Lucas under the pile of brush. “Lucas!” I called in a hoarse cry. He didn’t answer and I dropped to my knees and tugged him away from the bushes. “Lucas, man, talk to me!”
Lucas’s eyelids fluttered open and closed. His skin felt cold to the touch and I could feel his heartbeat was extremely slow and labored. Despair welled up in me and I felt anger coursing through my body as he looked up and smiled weakly.
“I’ll be fine, boss,” Lucas said in a strangled way. “You did awesome. You all did.”
Thomas had followed me and dropped to his knees on the other side of our friend. For a moment, we kneeled together. I wasn’t praying, but I was thinking about Lucas’s life and all of the people who were going to be alone now. For one, his wife and kid. But it was like the end of an era. Like me, Lucas had grown up in the club. He’d been surrounded from The Saints ever since he was a little kid. Unlike me, Lucas wasn’t getting out. He’d lived and died with the club. I was leaving, for another life, another time. But Lucas wouldn’t ever get that chance.
“Take care of my wife,” Lucas said. He looked up at me with cloudy eyes and slowly let his lids fall.
“I promise, man,” I said under my breath. “I promise.”
When my friend had breathed his last, Thomas and I locked eyes.
“We need to go talk to the cops,” Thomas said. He took a deep breath. I knew losing Lucas would affect him tremendously. They’d always been best friends, even when I was around they preferred each other’s company to my own. I hadn’t always been all right with it, but now I imagined Thomas must be feeling more alone than ever. One best friend was about to leave the club, the other died.
The sergeant and his men were milling around the cop cars, kicking up dust. They looked up and nodded their heads at me curtly.
“Thanks for that,” I said with a wry grin. “Y’all just about saved the day here.”
One of them nodded at me—I recognized the guy who’d shot both of the men in the gazebo. “It’s fine,” he said. The air between us was uneasy; The Saints and the Dos Palmos cops had always forged an unlikely truce.
“I trust things are gonna be a little easier in the future,” I said, brushing some of the dirt off my sleeves. “We ain’t gonna have to deal with any more of your corrupt friends.”
The cop nodded. “We’re sorry about that,” he said. “Just stay in line, and we’ll be in touch.”
We parted with little fanfare. Thomas and I looked at each other and rolled up our sleeves. Aside from Lucas, four other guys had been shot. The Saints had been reduced to practically nothing in a matter of seconds. Now, we had to load up the bodies and count the damage done. I sighed heavily.
“You ready for a long afternoon?”
Thomas nodded. “Whatever you say, boss.”
I shook my head and held my hand out to him.
Thomas looked at me curiously before reaching out and taking what I’d offered. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” There was a grin on his face as he unrolled the president patch in his hand. “Are you serious?”
“You’re the man, buddy,” I told him. “Now come on, let’s get to work.”
Chapter 29
Anna
Donovan didn’t come home that night. I stayed up with Penny. She was propped into one of the beds upstairs and after I tucked her in, she didn’t want to get out for hours. She dozed peacefully on and
off while I tried to read. The cabin was full of old books but none of them held my interest. I had a feeling nothing would have held my interest except for Donovan, but he was incommunicado.
Even though I knew Donovan wanted to marry me, I still worried when he didn’t call or come home that night. Part of me wondered if he’d found his way into a strip club and into the back of the VIP room with one of the girls. Don’t be ridiculous, Anna, I told myself. You know he’s crazy about you. It’s you he wants.
But when the jealousy subsided, I didn’t feel great either. I was worried something really bad had happened to him while he was gone. After all, they were meeting up with the guys who had tried to kill him. Who knew how it would go? Donovan was tough and strong, just like the rest of The Saints, but anyone who was gunning for him had to be strong, too. Strong enough to put him in exile for months. Strong enough to make him really fear for his life.
