I disagree. I like your dress.
You should I wore it for you.
Finding out we made a baby.
I’m guessing you want to keep it I’m keeping our baby.
Pea.
I call the baby Pea.
The first time I took my time with her.
Lauren.
Yeah.
Just making sure you’re real.
When I realized I had dreams and they were all of Kitten.
Don’t look at me like that.
Like what?
Like I’m a dream.
Starting to wonder if you are.
The last words she said to me.
Choose Pea
I watched as Kitten and Pea were wheeled away from me and into an operating room that was waiting for them, one last memory burned into my brain and to my heart.
A doctor introduced himself to me, but I couldn’t tell you his name if my life depended on it. Nor could I tell you everything he said as I heard every other word.
She lost a lot of blood.
Too much.
Your wife is going into shock.
Your baby is in distress.
Emergency C-section.
Remove the bullets and stop the bleeding.
All the dreams turned to nightmares.
The dream of Lauren.
The dream of Pea.
The dream of us.
It all hung in limbo along with their lives.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I was never afraid of dying. Granted. I never gave death much thought, figured it was just an end to a cycle but right now, death scares the fuck out of me. And still, not for myself, not because I’m afraid to die but because I’m afraid to live. Live without them.
For all I know, they could be gone.
You’ve taken three of my brothers, seems only fair I take three of yours.
Kitten.
Pea.
Bones.
Three lives.
Wu had his three bodies. It didn’t matter that only one wore a patch, they all belonged to the Satan’s Knights. They all belonged to me. Everyone I cared about, everyone I loved was fighting for their life right now while I sat here in a waiting room, helpless and wishing I’d chosen God over the Devil. You can’t pray to the Devil to save those you love. That crazy fuck gets off on this shit.
The hospital’s automatic glass doors opened and the Bianci’s came running in, stopping just in front of Jack. Maria lifted her hand to cover her mouth as she gasped, taking in the blood that covered my clothes, while Anthony stared at Jack expressionless.
“Oh, my God!” She wailed, her eyes diverting back and forth between Jack’s blood stained clothes and mine. She lifted her grief-stricken face, her eyes crazed with anger as they peered into mine. She reared her hand back and slapped me across the face.
Anthony grabbed her but she snatched her arm free and started to pummel my chest with her fists.
“You son of a bitch. Look at you!” She shoved her hands against my chest. “How does it feel to have your child’s and my child’s blood all over you?”
“I’m sorry,” I rasped, welcoming the sting to my face, wishing she’d inflict more pain. I deserved to feel it but knew it wouldn’t be enough. I’d never feel the pain any of them are feeling.
Anthony pulled his mother back.
“This isn’t helping.”
“Nothing he does helps, he’s poison!” She hissed, glancing over Anthony’s shoulder at me. “If anything happens to my daughter or that sweet innocent baby, so help me God, I’ll kill you with my bare hands!”
“Get a hold on your mother, Bianci,” Jack seethed. “You want to blame someone lady, blame me, not him. While that may be your daughter fighting for her life in there, it’s also the woman he loves. It’s his child, not just your grandchild, not to mention his brother who stood in front of your daughter.”
“Jack, stop,” I interrupted. I deserved Maria’s anger, her blame, every fucking word was true. I did this to the innocent girl next door that came out swinging. I did this to the baby she was going to give me.
“No, fuck that. You’re entitled to your grief, Mrs. Bianci but the way you’re feeling, so is Riggs. It’s his eyes that watched them fall to the ground. It’s his hands that tried to stop the bleeding and it’s his goddamn heart that is bleeding now. So you need to pass the blame, blame me, because I allowed this shit to happen,” he growled.
She wiped furiously at the tears that streaked her face before throwing her hands up in the air and shaking her head.
“I blame all of you,” she pointed a finger at her son. “Including you, goddamn it.”
“Maria, come on, let’s sit,” Adrianna tried, taking her mother-in-law’s hand and guiding her across the waiting room toward a row of chairs away from the one’s we occupied.
“What happened?” Anthony looked at me. “Why was she there in the first place?”