The Biker's Religion (Rough Riders MC Book 2)

by Shelly Morgan

  CHAPTER

  THIRTEEN

  Bear

  Hanging up the phone, I turn toward Angel. “He’s fine and on his way home,” I tell her, able to give her some good news.

  I got a call from her an hour ago. She was frantic, speaking so fast I could barely understand her. But when I got her to calm down enough to tell me what happened, my world came crashing down. It’s Amy. She was in an accident and things are not looking good.

  Rushing over to get Angel, we then booked it to the hospital, where they told us Amy was in surgery. We haven’t heard anything else from the doctors and have been waiting on pins and needles in the waiting room.

  A police officer came in to tell us what happened. She was driving on Dune Hill Road, which is a back road that takes you up and around the mountain. It’s a beautiful drive, but can be dangerous because of the drop off.

  What they say happened is a landslide hit her car, pushing her off the road and over the ledge of the mountain. She fell almost all the way down and was buried under mud, rock, and trees. It took them almost an hour to get her out of the car. They thought she was dead, but when they felt for her pulse, it was weak, but it was there, so they flew her here and rushed her into surgery.

  The police were able to retrieve her purse, which had her ID in it, which is why we were called in so fast. Amy had Angel listed as her emergency contact.

  “How long until he’s here?” she asks, her face red and her voice hoarse from crying.

  “I’m sure he’ll ride through the night. My guess is he’ll be here tomorrow early afternoon,” I tell her as I pull her into my side.

  My phone vibrates in my pocket and I answer without looking to see who it is.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’ve booked a flight, I’ll be there in a few hours. Crusher is going to rent a truck and trailer for our bikes and meet us at the hospital when he gets back,” Torq tells me. He sounds like he’s running, he’s out of breath.

  “Sounds good, brother. I’ve got Angel and I’ll keep you posted on Amy’s condition.”

  “Have you heard anything?” he asks, his voice cracking at the end.

  Sighing into the phone, I reply, “Not yet. She’s still in surgery.”

  He’s quiet for a few beats, and then I hear an announcement calling for a flight. “I’m boarding now. I’ll be there soon.” He hangs up and I stuff the phone back in my pocket.

  “He’s getting on a plane. He’ll be here soon, all right, sweetheart? Just hang in there,” I try to comfort her.

  “This must be how she felt when I was gone. Not knowing if I was okay or if she’d be able to see me or talk to me again.” She starts to cry again, which brings my own tears to the forefront. “What if she doesn’t make it, Bear? I don’t think I’ll be able to handle that.” She cries so hard, she hiccups.

  “Shh, sweetheart. She’ll be all right. Amy’s strong, just like you are.” I don’t know if my words will ring true or not, but right now, I have to believe they will. And so does she.

  “I don’t feel so strong right now,” Angel says, her voice sounding so small, almost like a child. Though, it’s not like she’s very old either. Practically a baby in my eyes.

  “You are. And listen to me. I’ll tell you the same thing I told Amy when the situation was reversed. You need to be strong right now. She’s going to need you, okay? She’ll make it through this, you gotta believe that.” It seems like just yesterday I was saying that to another girl who means the world to me. This shit needs to stop happening. My girls need to be safe. They’ve both been through too much.

  We’re quiet for a while, waiting for news on Amy’s condition, but nothing comes.

  Hours pass. Doctors walk by and keep on going. I’m about ready to get up and find some answers on my own when the door opens and in rushes Torq.

  “You’re here,” Angel cries, running toward him and jumps into his arms. He’s ready for her and catches her, holding her tightly in his arms, kissing her head.

  “I’m here, baby. I’m here,” he tells her over and over as he holds her.

  After a few moments, he makes his way over to me, and sits in the chair Angel was just sitting in next to me. He keeps her cradled against his chest, now like a baby or a new bride, as he sits down and looks to me.

  “Anything?”

  “Nothing,” is all I say. And we sit together, waiting for news that could change our lives forever.

  ***

  Torq

  I think Angel has fallen asleep in my arms. She hasn’t moved for a while and her breathing and hiccups from crying so much have calmed a little.

  Shifting her a little, I re-situate myself in the chair.

  We’ve been quiet for so long that when Bear speaks, I flinch a little from surprise. “What did you say to him?” he asks, and I know who and what he’s talking about.

  “Nothing besides that Angel needed me home,” I tell him, then continue, “I think he figured she was having a hard time with me being gone and just wanted to know I was safe.”

  It feels wrong not telling him what happened. I mean, last I knew, Angel said they were getting hot and heavy. Which I thought it was about fucking time. They have both been beating around the bush since they met. They should have gotten together a long time ago, but they both fought it. I was happy to hear they finally let go of all that bullshit. They are good for each other, and I want nothing but happiness for them both.

  Ice Man is a good man. I may not know much about his past, or anything really at all, but I know who he is today. He’s loyal, fierce, and loves with all his might. I can tell that some bad shit happened to him, but when he was with Amy, all that fell away from him. It was like he was free from it and could finally step into the light after being in the dark for so long.

  And Amy. She’s a good girl. Sweet, caring, and fierce in her own way. I’m not ashamed to say she scares me sometimes, I’m man enough to admit it. She’s been amazing to Angel from the first time they met, and I’ll forever be grateful to her for that.

  I know she wasn’t into relationships, maybe because she was afraid to commit or offer herself up to be hurt, but she seemed different around Ice Man. She wasn’t afraid around him. She trusted him and cared about him. And the way she brought him out of his shadows and make him smile and laugh was amazing. When I met that man, I never thought I’d see him smile. But she proved me wrong.

  They’re good people and they fit each other like two peas in a pod. And I don’t know if something happened, but Angel told me she was home, and obviously, Ice Man wasn’t with her. Of course, that could have been he had club business to deal with, as did I, but it felt all wrong, especially after seeing him again.

  The darkness was back. He seemed upset and confused and pissed off at the world. But I don’t know what happened. He never said anything. All I know is that Bear told me that Angel said not to tell him about what happened.

  Bear told me that Amy had contacted him to get her a plane ticket home, and now that I think of it, them having some sort of fight would be a damn good explanation for that.

  “Good. Your girl would freak out if you told him what happened,” Bear says, interrupting my thoughts.

  Looking from Angel to him, I tell him, “I’m not happy about keeping it from him. At the very least, they’re friends and he deserves to know what happened. You know he’d want to be here and will probably be pissed at us forever for not telling him when he finds out.”

  “Well, we’ll cross the bridge when we get there, if it happens. For now, let’s just focus on Amy and Angel.”

  I nod my head just as the door opens and a doctor walks in. “Are you the family of Amy Worthington?”

  Shaking Angel slightly, I rouse her and nod my head in the direction of the doctor. She scrambles out of my arms and rushes toward him. “Are you here about Amy? Is she okay? What’s happening with her?” Her questions come out quickly.

  “I’m Doctor Montgomery. Are you her family?” He asks a
gain, looking between the three of us.

  “No, she’s my friend, but I’m her emergency contact. Please, Doctor, tell me, is she okay?”

  I swear if he doesn’t answer my woman, I’m going to beat it out of him. We don’t need the suspense and I don’t see what the big deal is if we aren’t relatives. Family doesn’t always mean blood.

  “You’re—” he starts to say, then pauses, looking down at his clipboard, “Angel Hock?”

  “Yes, I’m Angel. And this is my boyfriend and my father. He’s like a father to Amy too. Please, tell us what’s going on with her.” She’s crying again, but trying her best to keep it under control so she can still talk and hear what the doctor has to say.

  “Amy is out of surgery. She suffered some severe trauma to her head. She began to hemorrhage in a few areas, so we had to go in and stop the bleeding, which we were able to stop, by the way. But she also had some swelling to her brain. We had to go in and relieve that for her.” The doctor begins to tell us of her injuries, seeming to start with the worst.

  “She has a few minor cuts and some bruising on the outside, and her liver was bruised as well, but that should heal on its own.”

  “So she’s going to be okay?” Angel asks in a rush. “Can we see her now? Please?”

  I can tell before he even speaks again that there’s more, and that this might be the worst part yet. And I was right.

  “Unfortunately, Ms. Worthington is in a coma right now. We are unsure if she’ll wake up. The next several days will be very critical for her. We’ll keep an eye on the swelling of her brain and make sure the bleeding doesn’t start again, but aside from that, there is nothing else we can do but wait and see if she’ll wake up.”

  Fuck, that’s not good. Not good at all.

  Instantly, Angel deflates and sags against me. I hold her against me and try to give her strength.

  “I’m sorry. I wish I had better news, but I’ll keep you posted on any changes. For now, you may go back and see her, but only for a little while. She’s on the seventh floor in room number nineteen. You can come back tomorrow if you’d like and you can sit with her for a while then.”

  Bear reaches out his hand and shakes the doctor’s hand. “Thank you, Doctor, for everything you did for our girl. We really appreciate it.”

  “Absolutely,” he says before turning around on his heel and heading back out the door.

  Looking down, I wait until Angel looks at me, which takes her a few moments to compose herself. But when she does lock eyes with me, I ask, “Would you like to go see her?”

  “Yes, please,” she whispers, then follows me to the elevators and up to the seventh floor.

  It doesn’t take us long to make our way down the hallway to her room. Grabbing Angel’s hand, we walk into the room together.

  As soon as we see her, Angel gasps and falls to the floor crying. Or at least she would have if I hadn’t caught her.

  Amy is lying on the bed, so very still, with bandages wrapped around her head. Numerous machines are hooked up to her and a few are beeping loudly. Her eyes are both swollen, her lip is cut in a few places, and her nose is banged up. I wonder if she hit her head on the steering wheel, and if she did, she hit it pretty fucking hard to cause damage like that.

  “Oh my god,” Angel gasps in my arms. “She’s so pale.”

  Wrapping my arms tighter around her, I lean down and kiss the top of her head. “She’ll pull through this. Everything will be fine. Then, when she wakes up, you can scold her for trying to mud surf down a mountain,” I say, trying to take a page out of Amy’s book and try some humor. But the joke falls on deaf ears, no one laughs, not even me. Not even a little on the inside. I don’t know how Amy does it. She can take the darkest of times and make you see the light, even if it’s just a little glimmer.

  We spend the next thirty minutes sitting there, talking to her and telling her that we’re here. When the nurse comes in to tell us our time is about up and we’ll have to leave soon, Angel sits on the bed and pulls Amy’s hand up to her lips. “We have to go now, but I’ll be back tomorrow. I love you. Please wake up soon. Please,” she says, and I can do nothing but watch the woman I’m in love with suffer. She’s been through hell and back already. Now she’s dealing with possibly losing her best friend.

  Pulling Angel into my arms, I lean down and kiss the top of Amy’s head. “Hang in there, babe. We’re all here for you, whatever you need. Just come back to us,” I tell her, then lead Angel to the door.

  Bear takes Amy’s hand in his and whispers, “Stay strong, sweetheart. We love you.”

  We all walk out of the hospital, quiet and drained. This was one hell of a day, one I can’t wait to put behind me. So much loss and brokenness. I can only hope we don’t add one more to that list.

  ***

  Angel

  Nine Days Later

  Torq and I just got to the hospital. It’s only seven fifteen in the morning, and visiting hours aren’t until eight, but we’ve been here for the past week and a half, and the nurses know that I’ll just hound them until they let me go in and see my friend. So they’ve just been waving me through as soon as we arrive.

  I can’t help it though. I need to be here. What if she wakes up and I’m not here?

  The doctors keep telling us we should prepare for the possibility of her not waking up, but I don’t listen to them. She’ll wake up, she just needs time for her body to heal. She’s strong and too stubborn not to come back to us. And yesterday, I could have sworn I saw her hand twitch. I was sitting next to her bed, reading one of her favorite magazines—I heard somewhere that it helps—and her phone rang beside me. I looked at the screen and saw it was Ice Man. But before I could answer, Torq grabbed it from me.

  We got into an argument over it. I think it’s wrong that no one has told him what happened. He deserves to know. It doesn’t matter that they had a minor falling out, or whatever happened when she was down in Texas. He cares about her and she him. He’d want to be here for her.

  Anyway, when we were arguing over it, I saw her hand twitch. I was so stunned, I fell quiet. Torq thought I was giving him the silent treatment, but when I told him to shut up and watch, we looked on, waiting for it to happen again. But it never did. Everyone thinks I’m crazy, seeing things I want to see, but I know what I saw. It made sleep impossible last night. Not like it hasn’t been since I got the call that Amy was in an accident, or even before that, but still. I don’t even think I closed my eyes for ten minutes last night. I couldn’t wait to get back here, knowing that she’s close to waking up. I can feel it.

  Making our way into her room, I half expect to see her sitting up, complaining about the uncomfortable bed. Or maybe even scolding me for not taking care of myself. And when I walk in and see her in the same physical state as she was when I left last night, I feel my heart drop into my stomach.

  Dropping down into the seat beside her bed, I grab her hand in mine, squeezing it tight. “Come on, Amy. You need to wake up now. Everyone has been going insane without you here. Torq is being an overbearing asshole, and I rarely swear, so you know it’s true,” I say, not even paying attention to the brute of a man standing on the other side of the room, probably smiling at me. He knows just as well as everyone else I still have a hard time cursing, even when it’s warranted. And he just laughs every time I do, even when it’s at him, because he thinks I sound cute when a bad word comes out of my mouth. To be honest, I love it, but it pisses me off at the same time. I’m not cute. Cuteness is for babies and puppies, and I am neither.

  “And Bear is being, well, a bear. People don’t even want to be around him anymore because all he does is bark orders at people, scowl and growl, and stomp around everywhere he goes. He needs your smart mouth to put him in his place.”

  Huffing, I lean forward and kiss the hand I’m holding. “I need you to come back to us now, Amy. I need my best friend. I miss you hovering over me, asking too many times if I’m okay, and then to look at me like you wa
nt to slap me when I tell you I’m fine, because you know I’m lying. And you’re right. I was lying. Especially now. I’ve been having bad dreams, memories when I was held prisoner in that place. I can’t sleep, can’t really even eat because I feel like I’m going to be sick. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But I promise, if you open your eyes, I’ll go to those therapist sessions you wanted me to go to. I’ll probably complain about it, and I know it’ll be hard to go back to those days I was taken, but I’ll do it for you. Just please,” I choke out on a sob. “Please, just wake up, Amy.”

  I feel strong arms encase me, pulling me up before he cradles me in his arms. “Shh, baby. Don’t cry,” Torq coos in my hair, rocking us back and forth until my sobs quiet and my eyes dry.

  We’re both quiet for a moment before he whispers, “Why haven’t you said anything?”

  I know what he’s talking about, but I remain quiet. I wasn’t planning on saying any of that, but it all just came out in my plea for her to wake up.

  “Angel, look at me,” he says, waiting until my eyes lock onto his. “Why didn’t you tell me you haven’t been sleeping? That the nightmares are back?”

  I feel one lone tear fall down my cheek, but he’s quick to wipe it away. “I’m sorry,” I say quietly, ashamed for having kept it from him. “It’s just hard, talking about it with you. You already look at me like I’m broken, I didn’t want to add to that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks harshly, but I know he doesn’t mean it that way. He’s just upset, and I can’t blame him. He just needs to understand how I feel, and maybe I haven’t said it well enough before, but I will now.

  “I mean whenever I try to get close to you, sexually, you push me away. You look at me like I’m damaged, like you can’t bear to be with me in that way after everything that happened to me.” It’s hard to say all that out loud, but it’s the truth of how I feel. How he makes me feel.