“I do what I do.”
“Can’t argue that, Duke.” Trev stood up. “I trust you. You’re patched in and at the table for a reason. Don’t spend that money on something bad for your health.”
I laughed. So did Trev as he walked toward the door.
“Hey, Prez,” I said.
“Yeah?” He stopped and looked back at me.
“I took that bullet because of your family. I would do it again. And for anyone here. I went through some dark shit somewhere else. I saw things nobody needs to hear about. I did what I felt was right, even if it wasn’t.”
“That’s why I trust you. Brother.”
Trev left the room and I stood there, alone.
I walked around to the head of the table and looked down it. The way Trev looked at the table. I put my fists to the table and shook my head.
The club had been through hell and back. I had been through hell and back. Yet we were all still standing. And we would continue to stand. No matter what happened.
I made it two steps away from the table when my cell began to ring.
It was Belle calling.
For some reason, I damn smiled.
“Hey, sweetie,” I said.
She quickly cut me off. “Hurry! Help! I think Jim tried to kill himself again!”
twelve.
(belle)
I left Maggie’s place with a smile on my face. She swore to me two things before I left. First, she could never go near her ex again. That was tongue-in-cheek, but I made my point clear that Maggie was only hurting herself. If she was in it for the fun, fine, but not to let her ex control her.
I was a total hypocrite as I said it though.
I let Duke into my house. I let him touch me, kiss me. I wanted him to press me against the wall and have me, knowing it was purely physical and nothing else.
But I didn’t have to let Maggie know that.
The second thing was that I needed her to show up and clean Jim’s house. I told her to charge as much as she wanted, but Jim needed his place clean and he needed the company. I always knew there was a little flirty thing between Jim and Maggie.
So, yeah, I was smiling as I left, ready to go home and stare at my cell phone for hours, wondering if I should call Duke and try to make sense of something between me and him. Not that there was a future, but at least to settle the past. Was that so much to ask for?
Apparently so, because the second I entered the house, I knew something was wrong.
I saw the bathroom light on Jim’s side of house pouring out into the hall. And I saw something on the floor.
A pill.
I dropped everything and started to run. I spun around into the kitchen and ran through the living toward the bedroom. I did a crazy jump move over the coffee table, my eyes locked to the open door. My heart raced. My mind frantically tried to prepare for the worst. I thought by having Duke talk to Jim it would have helped. Maybe there was a good reason why Duke and Jim never spoke since they came back. Maybe this was why. Maybe I caused Jim to…
I hit the brakes and slammed my shoulder against the doorway. Jim was on the bed, on his left side, right hand tucked under his head, left hand outstretched.
I saw the pill bottle in his hand and I knew it was empty because he had it upside down.
The first thing right then I should have done was call an ambulance. Instead, I reached for my phone. My mind saw Jim and thought of Duke. Not that Duke had any medical training, I just wanted someone to come save me. To come save Jim. To fix all of this goddamn mess.
When Duke picked up, I yelled, “Hurry! Help! I think Jim tried to kill himself again!”
“Jesus Christ!” Duke bellowed. “How? Where is he?”
“The pills.” I stepped into the room. “The bottle is empty. He’s on the bed. I don’t know if he’s sleeping…”
“I’m on my way,” Duke said. “Get him help. I’ll be right there, sweetie.”
The call went dead.
I hesitated for a few seconds before my body kicked in again. My mind screaming Save your brother!
I grabbed the pill bottle out of Jim’s hand and dropped to my knees next to his bed. I did the same as before, jamming my fingers into his neck to check for a pulse. There was a pulse. I inched forward with my knees and opened my mouth to say his name when I felt something crack against my knee.
I inched back and looked down.
I saw a crushed pill, next to my knee.
I got down closer to the floor and saw a whole bunch of pills in the carpet and under the bed. My hands were shaking as I tried to grab them and count them. That was stupid because I had no idea how many pills were actually in the bottle.
I fell back to my ass and grabbed the pill bottle and started to fill it back up.
“Jim?” I called out. “Jim?”
He waved his right hand. His right eye slowly opened a little. “Belle?”
“How many pills did you take?”
He grinned. “Enough.”