Some and the Flame

by Michelle, Christine

“Halfway, why?”

  “You need to get here as quick as you can brother and bypass the clubhouse. Get to the hospital.”

  “The hospital? Is Poppy okay?” Chief killed his engine and ran over when he heard his sister’s name.

  “She’s fine. Asleep at the clubhouse still, last I saw her.”

  A horrible feeling sunk deep down in my stomach as I recalled Ghost telling me they had tried to pull Bender and my sister in for lockdown but had been unsuccessful in getting a hold of them. “Soph? Brant?” I asked.

  “Get here!” He hung up.

  “FUCK!” I screamed. “Fuck!”

  “Calm down brother. We don’t know what’s happening just yet. Not gonna help anyone sitting here losing your shit. Let’s get back and see what’s up, okay?”

  All I could do was nod, or losing my shit would be the least of our worries. I had this feeling. I wasn’t going to get to say goodbye to my sister no matter how quickly I got there. I couldn’t even allow myself to think about my innocent little nephew, or my club brother. What the fuck would I do if we lost them all? If we lost any of them? SHIT!

  There should have been a bit over two hours left on our ride back. We made it back in half that.

  Chapter 8

  My heart hammered against my chest as I dove from my bike, not even able to remember if I’d snatched the keys out, because I was in too big a hurry to make it inside. “Sophie and Granger Bent?” I shouted. “Brantley Bent?”

  Immediately sad, pitying eyes met my own and it stopped me short. “Sir,”

  “I’m Sophie’s brother, Brantley’s Uncle,” I explained.

  “Smoke!” I turned to see Ghost standing there with a doctor and rushed toward them.

  “What’s going on?”

  Ghost reached for me and immediately wrapped his arms around my shoulders, effectively tucking my hands between us. “Soph and Bender are gone, brother. Brantley’s okay. They’re just checking him out right now. He survived.”

  “What the fuck did he survive? What do you mean they’re gone?”

  “As I was explaining to Mr. Ghost here,” some asshole doc was saying before I turned around and he took note of who I was. Hell, I wasn’t in and out of here as often as Surfer was, but enough that people knew me. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize, Mr. Lewis.”

  “I’ve got it from here,” Ghost informed him.

  “We’ll need you to sign for your nephew before he can be released since…” his voice trailed off as I stood there ingulfed in Ghost’s arms.

  “I have you. We have you, Smoke. We’ll get through this.”

  “Kent,” I managed to choke out.

  “Already got word to him. They’re sending him back from California.”

  “Jesus, fuck! How did this happen? What the fuck happened?”

  Ghost released his hold on me and we both collapsed into the uncomfortable chairs sitting there just inside a room I hadn’t even realized we had moved in to. Chief was there with us now and he tucked my keys into my hands. Apparently, I had left them behind.

  “It looks like they were run off the road on purpose. Reports came in to the police that a white work van was trying to run a car off the road. They were in the Mustang, and…”

  He didn’t have to say it. My sister’s Mustang was a convertible. “They rolled?”

  He tipped his head up and down one time. “Doc says neither of them suffered. Brantley still being so small is the only thing that saved him. That and the car seat.”

  I had no words. My sister was gone. My club brother who became a brother-in-law was gone with her. Now, there would be their little boy to care for in their absence and I honestly didn’t know if I was up for the job. How did you tell a kid they just lost both of their parents and you and his other uncle were all they had left?

  “The roads were slick, and from the reports, the assholes in the van were relentless.”

  “It was a hit?” I heard Chief ask.

  “Looks that way,” Ghost returned.

  Nothing. I had nothing for that. After what we found at the barns I knew that things were about to get ugly. I’d even mentioned earlier that we were looking at potential casualties and collateral damage that might draw the interest of agencies we didn’t want poking around in our business. Never, in a million years, had I envisioned my own family as a part of the losses. I’d saved Shep’s mother and sister at the expense of my own sister and club brother. How the fuck was I ever going to make that right?

  “He was there,” Ghost murmured, as if reading my mind. “Bender was there with you when you went to help Shep. He’d do it all over again if he were here right now, and you know it. Don’t take that shit on your shoulders or put it on Shep’s. We’re going to find the assholes responsible, and we’re going to take every last one of the fuckers out. That is a fucking promise.”

  “Gonna hold you to that one,” I managed to get out before the grief hit and I lost my shit right there in the waiting room for all to see. I’ve never been a man prone to tears, but my little sister was more to me. In a way, I had become a surrogate father for her, and she’d become my own child. Our sibling relationship was vastly different from many people’s since I had to step up and take of her and Kent. My baby girl, my sister, was gone and there was nothing on this Earth that could bring her back to me. We had hardly talked since that barbecue where we had shitty fucking words to say to one another. While Poppy and Soph had managed to pull it together in the end, my sister and I still hadn’t really managed an opportunity to talk about things and make it right between us.

  “How the hell do I tell Brant?” I asked everyone and no one all at once. “Where is Brant?” Panic set in then. Somewhere in this hospital was a little boy who was probably scared shitless and wondering where his parents were and here I was becoming a sniveling mess in a waiting room. How had he not been my first thought? Shit, I was already fucking up.

  I stood just as Ghost did, and he put a hand on my shoulder to hold me still a moment longer. “It’s okay. BigMac’s been sitting with him.”

  BigMac was one of the older brothers who was barely around anymore because arthritis was taking his ability to ride. Still, the man had a heart of gold and doted on his grandchildren like they were the most precious things this world had to offer. Hell, the fat bastard took it upon himself to beef up for the position of Santa at the club’s Christmas events every year. He was already pushing 350 at only 5 feet 10 inches, and he took it seriously, because he wasn’t about to disappoint the kids. Even knowing that, I couldn’t let another man sit in on my responsibility any longer. “I need to go to him.”

  “I know you do. How about you take a minute to process first, and then get yourself cleaned up before you go in there shocking the kid with just your appearance. Shit’s about to be hard enough.”

  “Has anyone told him?”

  “Nah, we figured either you or Kent would want to do that.”

  “I don’t think either of us wants that particular honor,” I mumbled.

  Ghost clapped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “I know you don’t. I’m going to call Leanne and update her.”

  “Don’t tell Poppy just yet. Please, let her know. I think it’s best if that comes from me or Chief too.”

  Ghost nodded his head and stepped aside only for Chief to take his place. “Anything you need, brother. Anything. I mean that.”

  “I know you do,” I told him.

  “You want one of us in there when you tell Brant?”

  “Would you mind?” I asked. It wasn’t that I was afraid of telling the kid, though I wished I didn’t have to. My heart hammered disturbingly fast against the body restraining it as I thought about how I would be when everything sunk in for Brant. Having backup didn’t seem like a bad plan.

  We took two steps toward the doorway of the waiting area before I realized I had no clue where to go. Ghost had disappeared to make his phone call and Chief had come in with me. I knew there were others here but they had
all made themselves scarce at some point. Probably when I had come apart and cried like a fucking baby in the arms of my club president. “Shit, brother, I don’t know where he is.”

  “Come on, we’ll go find out together,” Chief walked beside me, nudging me a little to get me going until we made our way to the nurses’ station. “This is Jared Lewis. His sister, brother-in-law and nephew were brought in tonight. We’re looking for his nephew Brantley Bent.”

  The nurse at the desk offered up a sad smile before checking something in her computer. Then she nodded and stood. “I’ll take you to him. It’s time to check his vitals anyway,” she stated without stopping her forward momentum. We followed along behind her to a room about halfway down the corridor. When the door opened, I stopped and took a deep breath. I could do this. I had to do this. There simply wasn’t a choice.

  “Unc Moke,” a small little boy voice called out to me as soon as I managed to get out from behind the nurse.

  “Hey, little man, how are you feeling?”

  He poked out his bottom lip out a bit as he glanced between the nurse and BigMac. The side of his face was mottled in bruises making me want to kill the mother fucker responsible all over again. “I got hurted. The car spinned on the road and I boomed me head and hanged with my hair falling to the grass.” It took everything in me to stifle the choked scream that threatened to come out. The car was upside down. The fucking convertible was upside down with my family inside it.

  “You’re a brave kiddo,” BigMac told him while ruffling his hair to draw attention from me while I got myself together.

  “Did momma and daddy gets hurts too?” Brantley finally asked as he turned back to me. Both the nurse and BigMac’s sympathy-filled eyes found my own. Shit. The kid was throwing out all the hard punches without meaning to.

  “They did, buddy.” I moved to go sit on the side of his bed. I closed my eyes and remembered what it had been like to explain to my siblings that our mom was gone, and not coming back. They had been older. I’m not sure that made it easier. Soph had vowed that God had taken her so she wouldn’t suffer anymore, and I knew as I got in touch with that memory that it was what she would want me to tell her son.

  “Brant, your mom and dad were hurt really bad, and instead of letting that happen to them, God came and took them away to a better place,” I tried explaining. When I saw his lip wobble, I knew it wasn’t going to go well.

  “God wanted me to be hurted?” He questioned.

  “No, buddy. God thought you could handle it, and he knew you had more to do in this life. He couldn’t take you just yet, but one day you’ll get to go be with your mom and dad again, okay?”

  “Tomowo?”

  “It won’t be tomorrow, little man. It’ll be after you live a good long life. Your mommy and daddy want you to be able to grow up and have lots of fun first.”

  “But dey won’t be hewe to see,” he told me quietly.

  “When you go with God, it’s like magic buddy. They can still see you, even if you can’t see them. They’ll know.”

  “Do I has to dwibe cars and gets a job now?”

  “What? No, buddy.”

  “But dats what happsens when you don’t has a mom or dad no more. You all growd up.” He sniffled through the words, hiccupping at the end.

  I carefully pulled his little body to me in a hug as tears I didn’t think he knew he was shedding trailed down his chubby little cheeks. “I’m gonna take care of you, little man. You can still be a kid for a while, yeah?”

  “Unc Moke, don’t weave me too, otay?”

  “I won’t buddy. I promise you, I won’t.”

  “Don’t wet God take you too.” His sleepy voice trailed off at the end.

  “I’ll punch the fucker if he tries,” I managed through gritted teeth. He giggled.

  “You punch God?”

  “Nobody is taking me from you, little man!” I told him, though what I really wanted to say was completely different. Damn right I’d punch God. That fucker had been taking from me for far too long now. If he had a plan, it fucking sucked, and I probably wouldn’t be the only one standing in line waiting to sucker punch him either. It had been a long time since I believed though. Now, I’d only pretend for Brant’s sake. When he grew older, he could decide for himself. Before I got to God though, there would be some Russian mafia fucks were about to pay the price for what they’d just done to my family. I couldn’t tell Brant just yet that it wasn’t God that took his family from him, but one day when he was old enough to ask questions and realize what happened, he would know that I managed swift fucking justice for them.

  I gently leaned Brant back down on the bed once he had fallen asleep in my arms. Then I pulled the chair BigMac had vacated closer to the bed and held his little hand in my own.

  “I have to head out to the clubhouse to check on things there and…”

  “Please, make sure Poppy knows I’m okay,” I requested.

  “I will, brother. Is there anything you need before I leave?”

  I shook my head. The only fucking thing I needed was for my sister and her husband not to be dead. I dropped my head down on the mattress of the bed beside where Brant’s hand rested in my own. “Nothing you can bring me,” I mumbled. I felt his hand on my shoulder as he squeezed.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can. We’ll have someone standing outside. Get some rest if you can. Holler if you need anything.”

  “Yeah,” I managed to get out and before I knew it I drifted off into a sleep I didn’t think would be possible.

  There was no telling how long I’d managed to nod off before I felt another presence in the room. To explain the feeling was akin to holding a magnet close to iron. She drew me in and held on tight from the moment I met her, whether she intended for that to happen or not wasn’t an issue, because we both felt the undeniable pull. I struggled to open my swollen eyes. I’d been crying in my sleep and knew it because the sheets beneath my face were soaked, and my eyes felt like their lids were made of sandpaper as I tried to shift them open.

  I don’t know what it was about her presence there, but I knew I couldn’t do this without her. She was the one thing I needed desperately to hold on to in this world. My mom and my sister were now both gone. My club brother was gone too. There was just Kent, the little man, and me left now. The weight of that thought sunk me. It just completely ripped me apart inside. I would never get to see my sister again. Never get to watch Bender be so fuckin in love with her that it both disgusted and elated me to see it. The disgust had only come into play in the times I accidently caught them up to no good at the clubhouse. She was still my little sister, and I never lost the urge to want to beat the shit out of him. At the same time, there was never anyone better for my sister. As the devastation of their loss settled into deep in my bones, I felt Poppy’s arms wrap around me and pull me into her middle. She held me there while I came undone in her arms. Her warmth and strength wrapped around me like a favorite blanket. Comfort. That’s what she was, comfort personified.

  “Shh,” she whispered as her kips touched brushed through the hair on my head. “I’m here. Chief’s here. Whatever you need, we are here for you, Love, I promise.”

  The emptiness in my heart filled upon hearing her call me Love. It filled and helped pushed away the excruciating pain of loss. I knew it was only a momentary patch, but I was thankful for it. For her. For family that was still here. Kent was still here too. I needed to talk to him.

  “I need to get ahold of Kent,” I told her as I moved back in order to wipe my pathetic tears away from my face. It was only then that I realized Poppy hadn’t come in alone.

  “I already did, Brother.” Chief came closer so he could speak softly since little man was still knocked out. “They were already in the air headed to Anaheim to play the Ducks. The team is sending him back the minute the land.” That sounded familiar. I was pretty sure Ghost had told me something about California when I first got to the hospital, but it all slipped throug
h the cracks considering everything that was being thrown at me.

  “That’s good then.” I felt that familiar fog from yesterday try to swamp me and take me under again. I couldn’t allow that. There was too much to do. Vengeance to be had, a little boy to care for, and a brother to get through the grieving process along me. Then there was the club, grieving for the brother they had lost and a fine old lady who had been as involved in the club as women could be. I wondered if Kent would be allowed any time off at all for everything that was headed our way with the preparations, funerals, and the world of hurt that would follow us through it all. “Do they know all of it yet?”

  Chief shook his head in the negative. “Ghost has people working on it now. It won’t take long.”

  “I need to get in touch with Shep and let him know, just in case.” Worry coursed through me for his family. We had already connected the bombing and fires to the Russian Mafia. There was no stopping those types of people once they had their minds set on things.

  “Ghost went to loop him in,” Chief told me. I saw what looked like pride tipping the edges of Chief’s lips up as he glanced over at Poppy. “She was telling me that Shep should be made aware just in case, and Ghost overheard. He assured us that Poppy was right, and he was headed over to do just that so we could be here for you and Brant.”

  I slid my hand down to Poppy’s thigh and squeezed as she continued to hold me and rub little circle patterns into my back. I hadn’t been wrong when I equated her to comfort earlier. She was the best kind of woman; one made to be an old lady and make sure her man was cared for and shit was handled when he couldn’t be there to do it. Her soon-to-be ex-husband had to be off his fucking rocker not to see what he had in her. Still, I thanked the universe and beyond for his stupidity, because it led her right to me, and I wasn’t fucking stupid. I squeezed again and then spoke softly to her. “I need to talk to Chief a minute. Could you sit with Brant?”

  “Of course, but um, what if he wakes?”

  “Just distract him as best you can until I get back. I won’t be long.” I managed to get up and out of the chair, despite my stiff back, before I leaned in and kissed the top of her head, smelling the sweet vanilla shit she used in her hair. Once I was up on my feet, I spun her around and helped her down into the chair that had been killer on my body as I attempted to sleep in it during the night. Then I took off with Chief in tow, making sure the door shut quietly behind us.