by Voss, Deja
Chapter 34
Brooks:
“She’s in there, Brooks!” Olive screams, pushing through the crowd to pound on the back door. “She went in there after Tank and Jasmine.”
My heart sinks into my stomach. The stainless-steel door, the only piece of the building that isn’t falling in on itself, isn’t opening, no matter how many times the swat team rams on it. The handle is still cold, a good sign, but there’s nothing good about knowing that she’s in there. What the hell was she thinking?
How could she be so selfish?
How could she put herself in this position? Did I drive her to do this?
I don’t have time to try and solve the mysteries of her mind. The only thing I know is that I need to get inside that door, and I need to get in now.
“HELP!” I hear her scream.
“OPEN THE DOOR!” Tank yells. I hear them pounding, slamming their bodies against the door. It’s chilling, thinking about her trapped in there, waiting for the fire to spread and sucking her up alive.
“I’m coming!” I shout, pounding back. “SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!”
“We don’t have the equipment,” the head of the team of undercover cops explains. “We need the firetrucks to get here.”
“You’re gonna let them burn up alive?” I shout. Fuck that. I’m getting to the other side of the door, no matter what it takes. It might be the stupidest idea ever, but in times like these, sometimes stupid is the only option. “GET BACK!” I scream. “I’m coming for you, Helena!”
I sprint through the crowd, run as fast as I can until I hit the first motorcycle I can find. I rev the engine as gravel flies. “Everybody get the fuck back!” I shout, hoping that this works. I don’t care if I break every bone in my body. I’m getting to the other side of that door.
There’s not much room for me to get the speed I think I’ll need, but I do my best to gun this fucker as fast as possible. I drive up the wooden ramp leading to the back door and ram it with the front tire, my body flying backwards through the air as the bike continues forward through the door.
I hit the ground, flat on my back, with a thud that sounds like the shattering of my spine. My arms are numb. I try to wiggle my toes. I try to scream her name, but my mouth fills with blood.
“Brooks!” I hear the voices of my brothers shout as I fight to open my eyes. “Brooks! Don’t move, buddy. It’s going to be okay. Stay still. Stay with us.” I feel fingers pressing into my neck.
“Did I get it?” I ask. “Where’s Helena?”
“You got it, brother,” Gavin says, brushing my hair out of my face. “They got her.” I fight to open my eyes, my vision blurred. Her lifeless body is being dragged out of the flaming building on a stretcher.
“No!” I shout, trying to will my legs to move, trying to dig my fingers into the ground to push myself up. I need to see her. I need to know she’s going to be alright. Nothing on my body is working but my brain, and it’s going to the darkest place I’ve ever been.
“Relax,” I hear Sloan’s voice in my ear. “It’s going to be okay, Brooks.”
“Is she dead?” I whisper, my eyes filling with tears.
“Not at all,” she says. “Nobody’s dead. Heat might kill ya after what you did to his bike, though. I got here as soon as I heard what happened. Everybody is going to be fine. You know I’m the best in the business. You’re in good hands. You wanna ride in the ambulance with her?”
Just like that, I feel an oxygen mask being slipped over my face. I’m being lifted onto a stretcher. The feeling returns to my legs and I try to get up and run away, to run to her, but everyone keeps holding me down.
“You’re going to see her in a minute, buddy,” Gavin says. “Quit giving my old lady a hard time.”
I wish my middle fingers worked right now.
“I’m sorry, Gavin,” I say. “I don’t know what to do. Are you guys going to be okay? Do you need me to stay?”
“Brother, what the fuck are we going to do with your gimpy ass?” Goob asks. “We got this.”
“We’ll get this all sorted and meet you down at the hospital, alright?” Gavin asks as they begin to wheel me away. “I’m the vice president. I know what’s up.”
Vice president or not, hell, I’m the president, and I know this isn’t a matter of getting shit sorted out. This is bigger than anything we’ve ever been through before, and yet somehow, watching this house burn to the ground as they wheel my stretcher to the ambulance doesn’t make me sad. No, I feel like this huge burden is being lifted away from me. I look up at the sky and watch the smoke circle. Maybe this was what needed to happen so that Esther could finally be free. Maybe this place was the root of the evil that had been following this club around for decades now.
I secretly hope the firetrucks don’t show up quickly. It’s time to burn this place to the ground so we can all get a fresh start.
They slide my stretcher up into the ambulance, and instantly relief pours through my body as I catch a glimpse of Helena sitting there, huffing on some oxygen while the paramedics stitch up her bleeding knee. She’s crying, but when she sees me, she pulls the mask from her face, her lips turning up into the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen.
“Let’s get you kids to the hospital,” Sloan says, shutting the doors of the ambulance behind us.
“What are our kids going to say when we tell them about our official first date?” she laughs, as Sloan slips the oxygen mask back over her face. She reaches out for my hand, entwining her fingers with mine, the feeling immediately coming back to my body.
“I think it’s time for the both of you to be quiet and let us do our job,” Sloan says, rolling her eyes.
Chapter 35
Helena
I wake up in the hospital bed, my body curled tight up against his. Apparently, the club gets special treatment around here, thanks to Sloan, and I’m eternally thankful. Between the nightmares of what we all just witnessed, and knowing that both of us could’ve died in the aftermath, the idea of having to sleep alone tonight was too much for me to bear.
Opening my eyes is too much to bear. It’s all so sad. Thinking about all the people’s lives I put in danger just to try and be a hero, thinking about all the innocent people who were injured, Jasmine’s missing leg, and the way Olive was crying for her husband when she found out he was trapped inside, those memories will haunt me for life.
He stirs a little, wrapping his arms around me so tight I couldn’t move if I tried. I got really lucky. Aside from a few stitches in my knee, I didn’t inhale enough smoke to cause any long-term damage. I’m supposed to take it easy for a little bit. The only reason why I stayed overnight at the hospital was to be beside him.
I’ll stay beside him as long as it takes to get him well. In his heroic attempt to free us from the building, he managed to crack his tibia and a couple ribs. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him too much right now by the way he’s got his body wrapped around me, but I’m pretty sure as soon as the pain meds wear off, that’ll change. He’s got a long road of recovery and physical therapy ahead of him, but I’m ready. Whatever it takes to get him back to healthy again, I’ll be right by his side.
“Fuck,” he mutters, trying to move his casted leg, dangling from the splint in the air.
“Good morning, babe,” I say with a smile, kissing him on the forehead. “You hungry, thirsty? You need meds?”
“I need outta here,” he growls. “And a kiss.”
I kiss him sweetly on the lips, running my fingers through his beard. “One out of two ain’t bad, right?” I ask, sitting up in the bed, giving him some space.
“I love you so much, Helena,” he says. “So fucking much.” It feels so good to hear it from his lips, even if he’s high off his ass. I know he means it. I can feel it.
“I love you too, Brooks.”
“Do even you know what happened?” he asks. He was fortunate that he was outside when the bombs went off. He was so wrapped up in the chaos that he didn’t ha
ve the opportunity to witness the aftermath.
I know everything that happened. Dean was by to brief me on everything while Brooks was in surgery. Apparently, Chief Sanderson paid his daughter to do his dirty work for him. He didn’t want to put his own life on the line to rid his grudge against the club, but he wanted to be there to see the damage.
She was supposed to detonate the bombs as soon as she got inside the club, but according to the other dancers, she got distracted by some bikers with blow and nobody could find her until it was time to go onstage. The dumb bitch had a duffel bag full of homemade bombs, blew herself up instead of hiding them all over the building as planned, subsequently setting the place on fire.
Everyone got out of the building with only minor injuries, as the guest list was tightly documented, and Esther had been very stringent about the building being up to code before she opened the place. Jasmine was the only major injury, and although her life is going to be forever changed, she survived. Why the door jammed, why Chief Sanderson was so eager to throw his daughter under the bus, and how the FBI didn’t have a better handle on this operation is still up in the air. There’s going to be a lot of shit to sort through in the next few months, including a lengthy trial, a major shift in the operations of the MC, and I’m likely going to have to look for another job.
He doesn’t need to know all that right now, though. He just needs to rest.
“Everything is alright,” I say. “I wouldn’t lie to you. It’s under control.”
“Sort of,” Gavin says as he walks in the room, Josie following behind him. She runs to the bed and wraps her arms around me, bursting into tears when she spots Brooks laying there, his face bruised and his leg in the sling.
“You guys are terrible,” she bawls. “I was so scared. You could’ve died.”
“Relax, peanut,” Brooks says to her. “Nobody died. You’re going to be stuck with the two of us for a long time.”
I nuzzle my head into his shoulder and sigh.
“We all good?” he asks Gavin.
“We’re fine. We got two hundred brothers up there on that mountain right now doing whatever they can to get shit cleaned up. Everybody sends their love. Heat’s a little pissed about his bike, and I’m a little upset your dog won’t stop pissing in my shoes, but other than that, we’ll get it figured out. You just chill.”
“I gotta admit, this place is a lot nicer than some motels I’ve stayed at,” I tease. “We can pretend like we’re on vacation if you want.”
“Babe, as soon as I get my leg outta this thing, we’re going on a real vacation.”
“Maybe a honeymoon?” Gavin says with a wink.
“You really think this woman is trying to marry me after all this?” he asks. “I’m surprised she didn’t take off running as soon as she got the chance.”
“I’m gonna pretend like I’m not hearing any of this. You are high, Brooks, and I don’t know what your deal is, Gavin, but you’re making me nervous.”
“In that case, we’ll get out of your hair. Come on, Josie.”
“You got any more brothers?” Josie asks him, wrinkling her nose at me. “I’m the only single person around here anymore, and I think you’re pretty good-looking.”
“He does not,” Brooks says. “Thank God.”
They close the door behind them, leaving the two of us alone.
“You know I am going to marry you, just as soon as I can walk down the aisle.”
“I know,” I say, resting my head on the pillow. “I can’t wait.”
I can’t wait for everything our future holds. Maybe the road that brought us together was long and winding, but all that shit needed to happen to bring us to where we are today. We’re older, we’re wiser, and we’re exactly where we need to be. I squeeze his hand in mine, watching him drift off with a smile on his face, feeling his love for me flow through my body with every breath he takes. I press my lips to his forehead and let the tears of joy fall from my eyes.
Epilogue
Brooks:
“You’re serious?” I ask the inspector, my hands shaking as he hands me the clipboard to sign off on.
“You guys are officially official,” he says. “Nicely done.”
Gavin high fives me as we walk the inspector to the door of the industrial building. Concrete floors, concrete walls, fluorescent lights, everything is brand new, clean, bright and white. The moonshine still hums away in the center of the room, and Trixie stands in the corner wearing a hair net and long white jacket, overseeing the machine that bottles the moonshine.
I knew we were going to pass inspection. We didn’t cut any corners. If we were going to do true justice to the legacy our forefather Mountain Misfits left us, we were going to do it right. Still, I need to send this guy on his way before we start showing our true colors and fuck this operation up. You can dress us up in jeans and fresh t-shirts, but underneath all that, we’re still a bunch of wild men, and that’s exactly why we’re here together in the first place.
“It’s really fucking happening,” Gavin stammers, lighting up a joint the moment the inspector turns from the parking lot and down the dirt road. “Your old man is probably clawing his way up out of the grave. He always wanted something like this.”
“Ike, too,” I say. This was exactly what Gavin’s granddaddy wanted when he founded this club. When he bought this land, he planned on making it a place for outlaw bikers to live independently on their own terms with their families in peace, no need to rely on society below. Years of greed, violence, and backstabbing veered us away from that vision, but now that the club is back in the hands of the righteous inheritors, Gavin and myself, and all our brothers are completely on board, we can finally do it.
No more running drugs. No more playing amateur hit men. No more selling pussy. As of today, we are 100 percent legal moonshiners.
I take a long hit from the joint, coughing out a huge cloud of smoke with a loud laugh as I spot Heat out of the corner of my eye, sneaking into the building with a picnic basket. The old man has finally settled down once and for all, or at least came to the realization that Trixie is about the best woman in the whole wide world and his geriatric ass is stupid for not putting a ring on it. It’s endearing. Those two have spent the last few years being surrogate parents to us, so seeing them coupled up is only natural. Everyone here has found their true loves, everyone here is popping out babies and doing right by their old ladies. There’s no more room up here for anything else.
Every time I see her, I can’t stop smiling. I don’t do it on purpose, but the second I see her Jeep or smell her perfume or open my eyes in the morning to see her snoring away with her mouth wide open like she’s trying to catch flies, my lips turn up and my heart beats fast. I’m so smitten with this woman, whenever she’s within a two-mile radius, it’s like nothing else in the world exists. My gorgeous bride, and future mother of my children. She gets out of her car, her blazer and high heels slung over her shoulder, and trots her way over to greet me with a kiss.
“Well you look like a man who got everything he ever wanted,” she says. “I’m assuming everything went well today?”
“Passed with flying colors,” I say. She’s right. I am a man who got everything I ever wanted. Didn’t realize it would look like this, but then again, I never really thought I would be entitled to a happy life. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you guys today.”
Josie moved into her college dorm this afternoon, and as hard as it was letting her go, she’s a smart girl. She’s gonna be great. She’s going to be the best veterinarian I’ve ever known.
“She was more worried about missing the damn dog than she was about us,” Helena laughs. “I don’t think I’ve ever cried so hard in my life than I did on that drive home. I can’t believe she’s all grown up.”
“Now it’s time for you guys to make some babies of your own,” Gavin says, winking. “As much as I hate the idea of a bunch of mini Brooks running around here; hopefully Helena’s got them
dominant genes.” I punch him in the shoulder. Things have never changed between the two of us, busting each other’s balls since 1978.
“So when are you guys going to be able to open up shop?” Helena asks.
“Soon as we get this sign hung,” Gavin says. “Figured we’d wait til the rest of the crew gets here.”
I run my fingers over the big wooden sign adorned with the Misfits Patch as the rumble of motorcycles starts to fill the parking lot. This lot that once housed our clubhouse. The ranch. Now our totally legit moonshine brewing facility. Something we could all be proud of.
The men gather around while the old ladies and their kids and dogs cheer as we hoist the sign up and drill it to the side of the building.
“Let me take a picture!” Olive shouts. “This one needs to go in the scrapbook.”
She pulls out her phone and snaps a picture of us, our ragtag band of Misfits, and for the first time in ever, none of us are bruised, bloody, or frowning. For the first time, life is all good.
I have to be a good man now. We all have to be on our best behavior. Besides the fact that this business is legit and we need to play by the rules, I’m also married to the chief of police. She’s made me want to be a better man from day one, and not compromising her position is important to me. Seeing her happy is important to me. Knowing that she landed her dream career makes me so proud of her, makes me love her even harder than I thought was possible.
We’re living proof that an outlaw and an officer can make it work, as long as we only seek to love. Love and trust. No more secrets.