“Shit,” Big Papa said as he made his way up to my side.
He looked worse up close than he did far away, and I realized then that what I thought was just a cut was a goddamn gunshot.
“You’re about to fall over,” I said. “And you got shot in the head.”
Big Papa shrugged.
And that was when Truth arrived.
“Verity!”
Truth’s scream was heart-wrenching as he ran toward us.
“Truth…” I started to say, trying to grab his hand.
He shook me off and barreled into the room.
Tank went nuts.
Truth backed away, a look of horror on his face as he saw all the blood and Verity lying on the floor.
“Take him out!”
I pulled my gun free of its holster.
“He’s hurt, and not thinking straight. You’re not killing him,” Big Papa was bellowing at the top of his lungs.
“She’s dying!” Truth screamed.
My heart hurt.
But I knew, if I had to kill Tank, I wouldn’t feel bad about it. At least not until afterwards. Not when it came to Verity’s life.
“Find Aaron!” Big Papa bellowed. “He’s the only one who’s going to call him off.”
I pulled my phone out with my free hand and dialed Aaron’s number.
“Hello?” Aaron answered.
“Where are you?” I barked.
“I’m right here…what’s going on?”
I breathed a sigh of relief when Aaron rounded the corner, a to-go drink from Chili’s in his hand.
He saw all of us waiting outside, his brows furrowed, and then he rounded the corner and saw what the wall was hiding from him.
Truth tried to take another step toward Verity, and Tank launched.
“Tank!” Aaron shouted. “Platz!”
Tank fell to his haunches, then rolled over all in one move.
His head fell to the ground, and he started to whine.
Truth launched himself over the dog, gathering Verity into his arms.
The doctors, nurses, and other hospital personnel rushed in as well.
And then everything went to shit.
The dog died. Verity died. Beckett died.
Everyone fucking died.
***
Truth
Something heavy fell from the bed that they—at least ten nurses and doctors—were standing around.
I let my eyes fall to the floor.
Bloody footprints were everywhere.
Nurses were slipping in it. One nurse in particular was covered from ass to ankle from when she’d slipped, fallen and gotten up.
Verity was clinically dead. That’s what the doctor told me, anyway.
“Get him out of here!”
The same doctor that told me she was dead also kicked me out of the hospital room.
They were doing chest compressions on Verity’s small body, and each pump of the doctor’s arm I could hear her ribs breaking.
They weren’t even in a room. They weren’t down in the ER.
They were in the fucking hallway right outside of the room where her life had been stolen from her and snuffed out right before my eyes.
My hands were numb. My brain was, too.
The only thing I could feel was the gaping hole in my chest.
“Everyone clear!”
Every single person moved away from the gurney, and the man wielding the paddles—ones I’d seen many times throughout my years of combat— placed them on Verity’s bare chest as I watched helplessly.
The moment her tiny naked body jolted off the bed, I lost it.
I moved to run, but before I could take a step, I was pulled into Big Papa’s arms as they encircled me in a bear hug. He held tight and yanked me back.
“Cover her!” I screamed.
Everyone was looking at her, vulnerable and broken, and they didn’t even care.
The nurses. Doctors. Techs. Fuck, every single one of the members of my club. People that were in the hospital rooms on either sides of Verity. Everyone was there, watching her, seeing everything.
My eyes were filled with grit and tears, and I strained to get away.
I would’ve accomplished it, too, but one set of arms became two, and then those two became four.
I was being forced back. Inch by impossible inch.
My body strained to get to Verity. But the harder I tried, the stronger my brothers held on to move me further out of the way.
Then, there was nothing left to see because I was moved into an empty room where we all landed on the floor in a heap.
Big Papa, Sean, and the two prospects—Fender and Jessie James—followed me down.
“Get the fuck off me!” I bellowed, huffing and puffing as I tried in vain to get away from the men.
I knew I wasn’t in my right mind.
They knew it, too.
I fought harder, I had to get away.
They couldn’t see me like this…not with my heart broken. My pain threatening to spill over from my eyes.
“Get off!” I repeated, swinging blindly.
My fist connected with Sean’s face, and the momentum of my punch caused him slide across the floor. His angry eyes full of pain met mine as I winced when I saw his jaw hanging limply, clearly not where it was supposed to be.
His hand went to his face, and then he scrambled across the floor toward me.
Once he was within reach, he returned the punch.
I, at least, took it to the eye instead of to the jaw like he’d done.
Fortunately, when the pain exploded behind my left eye, it didn’t break anything pivotal.
I doubled over in pain, grunting as I tried to get to my knees but the weight of the other men who were struggling to contain my rage held me back.
“Get off,” I rasped.
I kicked, punched, and genuinely attacked until I had nothing left in me to attack with. All my energy was gone as the adrenaline left my system and I began to crash.
With one final, exhausted huff of breath, I collapsed and let the pain wash over me.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Sean grunted as he moved to place his entire body on one of my arms, all the while he tried not to move his jaw that was most certainly broken.
The others moved, too.
Off of me, unlike Sean. Though, I didn’t think that was because he wanted to stay there. More because he couldn’t move.
Unfortunately for him, he’d given me an easy target. And I felt apologetic as soon as I’d reacted.
“Truth?”
My heart, already shattered, broke even more.
Because standing in the doorway in front of me was Verity’s grandmother. She was looking at me with horror written all over her face.
I was bloody. I probably looked wild and broken, but that didn’t stop her. No, not Verity’s grandmother.
“I’m so sorry,” my voice cracked as I climbed to my feet.
Ilsa ran to me, threw her arms around my blood-stained chest, and pressed her frail body into my much larger frame.
***
One hour later
“There’s nothing left to do but wait,” the doctor said gently.
He knew he was talking to a man on the edge. Someone that was on the verge of going fucking crazy. Someone who’d already torn up one room in this hospital.
Someone who clearly made him very wary, which explained the two security guards and two police officers that were at his back.
He was scared of me. Though, I’d given him reason to be.