Colt (Desert Sinners MC Book 2)

by Rachel Lyn Adams

  All my fear came rushing back. “What if he doesn’t believe me?”

  “Viking’s a good man and smart. He’ll believe you and know how to handle this shit. I can’t help you if you don’t tell him.”

  Fitz was right. He might feel for my situation and want to help me, but he couldn’t keep this from his club. It was something I understood all too well because it was the same way my father and brother operated.

  When I looked at him again, he was standing up, staring at me.

  “You mean right now?”

  “You just told me a member of the Desert Sinners is blackmailing you and using you to spy on our club for unknown reasons. Yeah, we’re going right now.”

  He seemed a little irritated by my hesitancy, so I rushed to my room to get ready. Walking back out to the living room, I sent up a silent prayer that I was doing the right thing by trusting Fitz and Viking. My gut told me I was, but sometimes my gut got me into bad situations. Like getting involved with Torch.

  We opened the front door, but before we stepped outside, we heard a vehicle racing down the street, tires screeching as they came to a stop in front of my house.

  “Fuck!” Fitz roared as he slammed into me, knocking me to the ground.

  I hit my head hard on the tile, causing me to see stars.

  “What was—” I started to ask, but loud bangs cut me off.

  I couldn’t see what was happening, but I felt Fitz’s body jerking on top of mine. My ears were ringing from the noise and everything was muffled like I was underwater. It was chaos, but then just as quickly as it began, everything turned silent again.

  I pushed on Fitz, trying to let him know I was okay, but he wouldn’t move.

  “Fitz!” I yelled once more, shoving his shoulders.

  With a burst of strength I didn’t know I was capable of, I rolled him off of me. One look at him and I started screaming for help. I looked down at myself and saw blood covering my entire body, but I knew it wasn’t from me. Fitz’s whole body was riddled with bullet holes. One look into his eyes and I knew I’d lost him.

  Moments later, I could hear sirens in the background, but they were too late. Fitz was gone, and he died protecting me.

  12

  Colt

  I wasn’t sure if the pounding I heard was coming from my door or inside my head. Either way, it woke me up, and I was pissed that my sleep had been interrupted. My head felt foggy, and I could only remember bits and pieces from the night before. Whiskey had definitely been involved, and judging by the limbs draped across me, it apparently included a couple of women too.

  “Colt, get your ass up, now!”

  What the fuck could someone want at nine in the morning? I grabbed my jeans and pulled them on, not bothering with a shirt, and swung the door open.

  “What the hell…” I started to shout at the unwanted guest, but one look at Viper’s face, and I knew something was wrong. Really wrong.

  “We’re riding to the hospital now. Fitz has been shot.”

  I grabbed a t-shirt and my cut, throwing them on as I raced down the stairs behind Wolf, who burst out of his room in front of me.

  “Any idea what’s going on?” I asked as we ran out the door.

  “Not a fucking clue.”

  Viking and Viper were already on their bikes, and as soon as we started up our bikes, we all peeled out of the gravel driveway, leaving a trail of dust clouds behind us.

  Mac and Hawk caught up with us when we turned onto the main highway. The five of us were following behind Viking with the assumption he knew where we were going. When I realized we were driving toward UMC, my heart sunk. The ambulance must have bypassed our local hospital to take him there. That wasn’t a good sign.

  We pulled into the parking lot, and all five of us ran into the emergency waiting room. Viking approached the counter to speak with the receptionist while the rest of us hung back.

  People were always nervous when a bunch of guys from an MC walked in from somewhere, and we knew we would get more answers if we remained calm and allowed Viking to take the lead.

  It wasn’t long before a few more guys pulled into the parking lot and joined us as we waited. Viking came back over to our group, and from the look on his face, I knew things weren’t good.

  “I didn’t get much information, but they offered us a room down the hall where we could wait for the doctor to come out and talk to us.”

  We all knew that was a bad sign. The hospital only gave private space to those receiving unwanted news. Just as we started to head the way Viking indicated, a couple of cops started walking toward us. What the fuck did they want?

  “Viking,” Davenport greeted.

  “Officer Davenport.”

  “You know we’re going to want to interview each of you about this?”

  So they knew what was going on, more than likely they were the officers that responded to the shooting and followed the ambulance here. We could probably ask them for information, but that had the potential to backfire on us.

  “Mitchell, we just got here and haven’t even talked to a doctor yet. None of us were with Fitz, and we have no idea what’s going on. Let us get an update on him, and then we’ll talk.”

  Davenport nodded his head and let us walk past. Our relationship with Mitchell Davenport was an odd one. He wasn’t fond of our club, but he didn’t go out of his way to make trouble for us either. I was sure we would all be questioned, but at this point, there was no reason to bother us.

  I did wonder if they had been the ones to inform Viking about Fitz in the first place.

  We had been waiting in the room for God knows how long before the door opened and a doctor walked in.

  “Hello, gentlemen. My name’s Dr. Tam. I was told you were here about Jacob Fitzgerald. The man brought in earlier?”

  “That’s right,” Viking responded as the rest of us waited to get the news we were expecting but not allowing ourselves to believe.

  “The hospital has been unable to reach any of his family. Does anyone know who we can contact?”

  “We’ve called his sister. She should be here soon.”

  “As soon as she arrives, please let the receptionist know. I’ll come back then.”

  We knew there were protocols the hospital needed to follow, but we weren’t feeling very patient. Thankfully, Melissa showed up just a few minutes later, her husband following close behind.

  She ran over to Viking, wrapping her arms around him before she lost it and cried into his chest. “Please tell me he’s okay,” she pleaded.

  “They haven’t told us anything yet, sweetheart. They were waiting for you to get here.” Viking had a way of comforting those who were hurting, and Melissa clung to him, needing all of his support.

  I watched Viper walk out of the room to let the receptionist know that Melissa had arrived.

  “You must be Mr. Fitzgerald’s sister,” Dr. Tam said as he entered the room again and moved to shake Melissa’s hand. “Would you like to speak privately?.”

  Melissa shook her head. “These men are his family, you can talk here.”

  The doctor looked around the room skeptically but relented. “I regret to inform you that Jacob died at the scene. The paramedics tried to resuscitate him, but there was nothing they could do. He had several gunshot wounds, including one that hit his heart. I’m so sorry.”

  I watched in silence as Melissa crumpled to the floor in a heap of sobs and mumbled words I couldn’t make out. Her husband rushed to her side and cradled her in his arms.

  I could hear angry growls and rumblings break out all around me. We knew things weren’t good, but before the doctor spoke, we still held onto some hope. Now there was nothing.

  “Um… there was also a young lady with him,” Dr. Tam added, interrupting our conversations.

  That caught all of our attention. “Fuck, it must be Ember,” I said, alarmed and wondering if she’d been hurt too. ”Is she all right?”

  “Did they bring her here too?�
� Viking asked at the same time, looking worried.

  “They did, but she’s okay. She’s able to go home soon. She told me I could update you on her condition, and if you wanted, you could go back and see her.”

  That was said to Viking, and I figured the doctor was only extending the invitation to him.

  My initial concern for her well being faded away when the doctor said she was okay. It was slowly sinking in that Fitz was gone. I could feel the anger seeping in at the thought that she was the reason I’d just lost one of my closest friends.

  Having enough of this hospital and the stupid conflicting emotions it was causing, I slammed open the door of the waiting room and headed back outside. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and lit one up. After a few drags, I started thinking about the most important thing right now, figuring out who was responsible for killing Fitz.

  Our club wasn’t going to rest until whoever was responsible paid, in the most painful way possible.

  I tried to wrap my brain around how it all went down, imagining what happened in my mind as I smoked another cigarette. Drive-bys weren’t common, even for us. We normally knew what was coming if we were having territorial issues with another club but there had been no intel to lead us to believe something like this would happen. The Phantoms were the obvious suspects since they’d hit Reno to cause shit with Ice, but after the incident, we’d heard they’d gone back up north. It also didn’t make much sense someone would take a shot at Ember, but it wasn’t completely out of the question either. With Ice in jail and her mom and sister in New York City, if the club had issues outside the Phantoms that we weren’t aware of up in Reno, it’s more than possible that trouble followed the only person that enemy could hurt. If that was the reason...

  “Hey, man.” I heard Mac come up behind me, a cigarette in his hand too. “This is fucked up.”

  I nodded. There wasn’t much that could bring any of us to our knees, but the loss of one of our own would be felt for years. If anything, it’d make us stronger—later on. But right now, emotions would run high and I could see that brimming in my friend’s eyes.

  “How’s Wolf dealing?” I asked.

  Wolf and Fitz were close. Or rather, had been close. Fitz took Wolf under his wing when he was prospecting and Fitz acted as a surrogate brother for Wolf when Hawk went into the Army.

  Mac shook his head. “I don’t know. He’s quiet, like it hasn’t really sunk in yet, y’know?”

  I did. In the end, we’d all lost someone we considered a brother. Someone who we would all lay our own life down for. Someone who lost his life doing what the club asked of him. It wasn’t the first time we experienced a loss, but it had been a long time since one of ours was taken like this.

  “How’s Ember?” I asked, both angry and concerned for her. It was strange, feeling two opposite things at the same time, but Ember seemed to bring that out in me. I had no perspective when it came to her.

  “Viking went back to check on her. But I think everyone else is heading back to the clubhouse,” Mac said, subdued. “A couple of us should stay here to ride back with him. And someone will need to stay here until Ember’s discharged. No one should be alone right now.”

  How we handled business and how we traveled was going to change for the time being. At least until we knew exactly what went down this morning. We needed to know if this was a random attack or if the Desert Sinners were the target.

  I stared off, seeing people going in and out, the sky bright and sun shining. It was a stark contrast to the reality back inside the hospital. The idea of never shooting the shit with Fitz again made my chest tighten and that anger bubbled up again. I had no one to blame other than Ember at the moment, and right now, it felt good to blame someone, no matter how unreasonable I was being.

  “She shouldn’t be our concern anymore. It’s her fucking fault this happened in the first place,”

  “C’mon, man. Even you know that’s not fair. You’ve been real hard on her for no reason, so don’t be an ass. She’s going to be a mess over Fitz without you blaming her,” Mac said, giving me a hard look. “It’s too early to determine what happened, and it sounds like she’s pretty fucking lucky to be alive. She might even have some useful information that could help us figure out who was responsible for this. Besides, Viking doesn’t operate like that. He’s not going to leave her to fend for herself, especially now. You’re going to have to get your shit together and not cause any further problems.”

  The anger dissipated a bit and I knew Mac was right, about all of it, but I seemed to have lost all capability of rational thought where Ember was involved. I knew I was blaming her for no real reason other than my own issues that had nothing to do with her, but I just couldn’t get over it. And now this situation with her and Fitz, it only made things more chaotic and confusing for me.

  But deep down, the fact it could have been her that took those bullets caused feelings in me I wasn't ready to deal with.

  13

  Ember

  The sun was starting to set when I stepped out of the shower. The doctor diagnosed me with a mild concussion from hitting my head. He gave me a list of things to watch for but was confident my recovery would be swift. At least physically.

  There wasn’t much I could do about my shattered heart. Viking came to my hospital room earlier and broke the news about Fitz. There was no need for him to say anything though. I already knew before they took me to the hospital.

  After the doctor discharged me, Viking insisted I return to the clubhouse. I didn’t put up a fight about that. There was no way I could ever go back to my place without the visions of Fitz dying in my entryway haunting me. It was all I saw every time I closed my eyes.

  I walked over to the bed and slipped on the sweatpants and t-shirt left there. I didn’t know who they belonged to but guessed it was one of the guys based on how large they were. I rolled the waistband of the sweats several times to keep them from falling. The t-shirt wasn’t much better; it hung off one of my shoulders and was so baggy I could fit another person in it with me. Still, it was clean and comfortable.

  I grabbed the pile of clothes in the bathroom and shoved them into the garbage bag I’d asked for. There was no way I would ever want to wear them again. They were covered in Fitz’s blood, and I couldn’t stand to look at them.

  I tiptoed down the stairs, not wanting to bring attention to myself knowing most of the club members were here. I was sure they had plenty of questions for me, but I wasn’t ready to talk about the events from earlier today. As I took the last step, I saw Zeke by the front door.

  “Is there a trash can where I can throw this away?” I asked him, lifting the garbage bag for him to see.

  “I can get that for you,” he said gravely. “You head into the main room, Viking’s waiting for you.”

  If it was only Viking in there, I could deal with that, but as I rounded the corner, I saw several guys sitting around the bar drinking. Kate and Meredith were also there. They were trying to be pillars of strength for their men even though their tear-stained faces indicated they were breaking down too. The somber mood was in stark contrast to the usual atmosphere of this space.

  “Ember, come on over here, darlin’,” Viking called while patting the barstool next to him.

  Every step I took felt heavy and cumbersome; unease crept up my spine the entire way. I tried to tell myself everything would be okay. Knowing Viking, I didn’t need to be worried, but I was feeling like what happened to Fitz was my fault. What if all of the men in the room thought the same thing?

  “How are you feeling?” Viking asked when I sat down next to him.

  “I’m okay, just a little headache,” I answered truthfully, but out of the corner of my eye, I caught Colt’s cold expression. He clearly didn’t think much of my answer and had no sympathy for me at all.

  When he glanced at me, I had no idea what he was thinking, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good based on the scowl he was wearing. The two of us didn’t hav
e the best relationship, but I had a feeling that his low opinion of me had sunk even more today.

  I waited for Viking to continue the conversation because I didn’t know what else to say. The entire room was shrouded in a blanket of sorrow and anger; the latter, I felt, directed entirely at me. And the instinct to run upstairs was almost too strong to ignore.

  Viking wrapped his arm around my shoulder and spoke to me in a soothing voice. “Today has been rough for everyone. But we need to know what you saw.”

  I understood where he was coming from. No matter how upset they were, they wanted information about what happened to their brother. They wouldn’t stand around and not do something. They needed someone or something to direct their anger toward. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much to give them.

  “I didn’t see anything. Fitz and I were heading out, one minute we were opening the door and the next he was throwing me to the ground as shots rang out. I’m so sorry; I wish there was more I could tell you.”

  “Fitz had texted me to say you guys were coming here,” Viking went on. “He said there was something important you wanted to talk to me about.”

  I nodded my head. “I did, but it’s not as important as what happened earlier.” I could feel the tears building up again, but I wasn’t about to burden them with my problems when they had this to deal with. All I could think about was the fact that Fitz was trying to help me and then died right in front of me.

  “You and I still need to talk, but maybe that can wait just a bit.” I could tell he was disappointed but he wasn’t going to pressure me further. “We’re going to meet now. Why don’t you go upstairs and get some rest. If you need anything, you can ask Meredith. She and the boys will be staying here with me tonight.”

  All of the men in the room stood up and started heading back for church. Once they all left, I stood up and walked to the refrigerator behind the bar to grab a bottle of water.

  “Do you want me to make you something to eat?” Meredith asked from where she was seated.