This wasn’t it.
I would know, I would know if she was gone.
He tucked his clipboard under his arm and took a deep breath. “She had a broken rib and a collapsed lung. She flat lined more than once and we managed to bring her back, but she’s been rushed into surgery. We can hope for the best, there’s a chance she’ll make it out. But the reality is, she’s been without oxygen for a while. How that’s affected her brain we aren’t sure.”
Everything started spinning. “She…she might be brain dead?”
His lips pursed. “There is a possibility, yes. Best case, her brain is affected and she may have some memory loss or need physical therapy if it has affected her ability to move her body.”
I tried to nod but everything was turning and my body felt off kilter. My legs gave way, but I didn’t hit the ground, someone caught and dragged me to a seat. I was struggling to breathe and I heard the doctor ask if they needed to step in.
“He’s okay. It’s fine.” I heard Harmony’s voice and she appeared kneeling on the floor in front of me. “Big bad bikers don’t pass out, Op. I’m sure that’s written in the bylaws somewhere.” She tried to smile, but I could see the sadness in her eyes. She’d heard it all.
“Yeah, man. You’ll ruin our rep,” I heard Kit joke. His hand gripped my shoulder and he squeezed.
“She could be brain dead,” I choked.
“Doctor said she’ll be in surgery for at least a couple hours,” Harmony said, her hand on my leg.
“Optimus.” I looked up. Deacon stood behind Harmony, his cap back on his head and a hard expression on his face. “I’m going to need you to come down and make a statement and also pick up your boys.”
“Yeah,” I growled. I eyed Harmony and Kit.
She reached out to touch her Old Man’s arm. “Go with him. I’ll wait for news on Chelsea.”
He drew her close and pressed his lips to hers. I had to look away, the pain in my chest beginning to elevate.
I stood up and my eyes met with Deacon. We may be on different sides, but we had one thing in common that brought us together—we wanted revenge for Chelsea.
“I’ll find a way to give you your shot at Marco. But you can’t kill him,” he said as we walked out the doors.
There were a few bikes lined up outside—Kit’s men. They dipped their heads and I acknowledged their show of support. I cleared my throat, these may not have been my boys, but they were my brothers and having them at my back filled me with strength.
“No, but I’m gonna make him wish he was dead.”
Beep.
Argh, that noise.
Beep.
Stop it, God damn. Somebody turn it off!
Beep.
My eyes were heavy and my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton balls. I stuck my tongue out, trying to get rid of the foul taste on my tongue.
I gagged.
Why wouldn’t it go away? I needed a drink. Suddenly craving water.
“Chelsea?” The voice sounded familiar. They were important. My mind was alert. I wanted to open my eyes, I wanted to see them. “Chelsea it’s okay. I’m going to call the doctor.”
Harmony, it was Harmony.
I tried to say her name, but my mouth wouldn’t form the sound.
I fought against the weight that hung on my eyelids, keeping them closed.
Light slowly shone in and I blinked furiously, trying to adjust to the glare. Everything was so white but it was all blurry, I could only make out shapes.
“Ha…” I tried for Harmony’s name again, but it just wouldn’t come.
Why couldn’t I say it? What was wrong with my mouth?
I felt a soft hand on my forehead and I could make out a face above me. “Shh. It’s okay, the doctor’s coming.”
Doc was here? Why was Doc here? Did I get hurt?
The blur began to clear and I could finally make out Harmony’s features as she stood above me. Mascara streaked her cheeks from fresh tears. I wanted to ask why she was crying, but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t.
A man appeared next to Harmony, he was wearing a white coat and had a stethoscope hanging loosely around his neck.
That wasn’t Doc.
“Hi Chelsea, welcome back.” He smiled down at me.
Where had I been?
“Don’t worry, don’t try to talk. I’m just going to check a few things. I want you to follow the light with your eyes.” He held a small light up. I cringed away from it at first but slowly was able to watch it as he moved it back and forth. “That’s great, really great.”
I turned my head, Harmony stood just behind him, her face lit up as she held a phone to her ear.
“I…” I attempted again to speak, but it was just noise. I could hear it and it didn’t make sense. “Ha…”
The doctor cleared his throat and drew my attention back to him. “Just give it time, I know it’s hard right now, but it should come back to you eventually.”
“What do you mean?” Harmony asked, pushing in beside me and placing her hand back on my head. It felt good.
“Her brain has been severely affected. It seems she’s struggling a little with her speech which could mean there’s some damage there,” he explained, making notes on his clipboard. “I’m going to do a few more tests if that’s okay? I just want you to nod or shake your head when I ask you a question.”
I nodded and he smiled.
He went through the motions, testing the feeling in my arms, legs and feet. I struggled to move some things, but he said the little movement I had was promising. He asked me about people’s names and whether I remembered how I had got there.
I didn’t. As much as I racked my brain I just couldn’t remember.
After a few minutes, he told me he’d come back later and see if things had improved.
Harmony pulled a chair up next to my bed and took my hand in hers, I squeezed it and she smiled. “Op will be here soon. He had to be at church this morning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have left.”
Optimus.
Yes, Optimus. I needed him.
I sniffled, feeling tears well in my eyes.
“We were so worried, Chel.” Her expression reflected that of my own. “They said you might not come out, that you’d been deprived of oxygen for too long.”
I didn’t know what had happened, but apparently I was lucky to be alive.
“Ha-happ-ened.” It took me a moment, but I finally managed to force the word out. It was hard and both my body and mind were becoming quickly exhausted.
She looked at me with sad eyes. “Rose. She was one of them. She took you to her dad, Marco DePalma. He hurt you.”
I shook my head. No. Rose was my friend. I remember taking her to the hospital because her dad had hurt her.
Blizzard was there. I could see them standing outside.
“I’m sorry, honey. I know you tried to help her, but she was behind it all. Your car, the gym.”
It hurt to breathe, but the pain was nothing compared to the stabbing in my heart. She had been my friend.
“Shh,” Harmony soothed, sensing my distress. “It doesn’t matter right now.”
The door to the room flew open and I jumped. A sharp pain shot through my torso and I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut tightly and trying to breathe.
I felt his hands on my face, one on each side. He tickled my nose as he touched it with his and the smell of leather hit my senses.
This was something I remembered.
I remembered him, his touch, his smell, his aura. It all filled my body, making me feel warm.
“Thought I’d fucking lost you.” The pain in his voice sent shivers through me, and I pushed my head up. My stomach ached, but I needed him, I needed to make the both of us feel relief.
I touched my lips to his. They were soft against mine which were course and chapped. He used his hands to support my head as we kissed. It was light, almost just a brush, but it was everything, everything we both needed right then
and there.
I wasn’t sure what had happened to put me here, but I knew that Optimus had been through hell because of it and I hated that. I wanted to reassure him and right now, without my speech, this was the only way I was able to do that.
I could feel the tension leave his body. He pulled back. “Thought I had lost you,” he whispered again, agony and emotion thick in his words. He lowered me back on the pillow.
I opened my eyes again. I didn’t have to see him to make me feel better, just feeling him there was enough. But I was greedy. When my eyes finally focused, I realized he was just how I remembered. A gentle smile on his face. He used his thumbs to brush away the wetness on my cheeks. We stared at each other even as Harmony explained what the doctor had just told us. His face looked pained as she explained about my speech and limited movement.
“I…I…m ok...ay.”
He softened. “Yeah, Blackbird. You are.”
The doctor came in a few hours later, his eyes a little wider this time as he took in the room filled with Brothers by Blood members. He carried out the tests again, all as Optimus stood at my side and held my hand. He also checked the wound in my side where a chest tube had been placed to repair my lung.
“Things are looking better. You’re going to have to put in some work to get your movement and speech back to where it was, and your memory will probably be hazy for a while, but I can see you have a large amount of support behind you.” He looked around the room and smiled. “So I have complete faith.”
Optimus shook his hand as he left the room and I felt a collective sigh of relief from everyone. I had a long road ahead, but I was going to make it.
I smiled up at Optimus. “Lo-love y-you.”
He looked taken aback for a moment and my heart skipped a beat. Maybe I was wrong. I could remember Op and I making up after the attack on the gym, but the details were still fuzzy in my mind.
His hand reached up and gripped at his chest, over his heart. “Fuck baby. Never thought I’d ever hear you say those words again.” He crouched at the side of my bed and placed my palm against his cheek. “Fucking love you. So fucking much.”
My heart swelled and in that moment I knew everything would be okay. I looked around the room, the boys all grinned and Harmony let out a sigh despite her smile. Kit wrapped his arms around her and tucked his face in her neck.
Shit was about to get hard. There would be therapy and doctor’s visits and no doubt tears and a whole lot of fuck this.
But I had Optimus. And I had the Brothers.
This was my home. I knew this was what fate had in store for me. I may have lost my parents, but I’d gained a whole damn family.
“Well,” Slider announced loudly. “Optimus and Kit have handed their balls over. Who’s next?”
I curled my hand into a fist and pushed up my middle finger.
Laughter filled the small space.
Harmony’s eyes met mine. “And…she’s back.”
“Will you put me down you damn caveman!” Chelsea complained as I carried her bridal style toward the front door of the clubhouse.
“Woman, shut up,” I growled.
I looked down at her, smirking as her mouth fell open at my crass words. “I know you didn’t just call me woman.”
“You keep saying I’m a caveman, that’s how they talk,” I shot back, halting at the door as Ham scooted around me and pushed it open.
“Okay. I take that back. From now on I’ll just use words like, asshole, bastard—”
A huge cheer cut her off as I stepped inside and she jumped. My brothers and our friends all clapped as I walked through and placed her on a barstool. She looked around the room completely stunned.
Two weeks.
That’s how long it had been since Chelsea had woken up in the hospital. Her speech had returned pretty quickly after about a week of speech therapy. But even now there were times when it was more noticeable, like when she was tired or upset, it would take a little longer for the words to come to her.
We’d been through a couple of intense physical therapy sessions. It was hard for me to sit and watch her struggle so hard to do such simple tasks like take a step or grasp something in her hand. She was slowing getting there, but we still had a long road ahead of us.
But it was exactly that.
Ahead of us.
Because I would be right there next to her every step of the way.
I watched as tears welled in her eyes. “Th-thank you,” she murmured softly.
It wasn’t long before the music was blasting and drinks were flowing. This was a celebration of two kinds. Not just for Chelsea’s homecoming, but also a celebration of her finally becoming my Old Lady. I say finally because, in reality, we all knew that’s how things should have been a long time ago. There wasn’t going to be anyone else.
Chelsea was where my heart lay. She made me happy. I could be who I wanted around her, and more so now around others. She made me realize that life was too short to be living in the past. If I’d lost her, I would have spent the rest of my life regretting pushing her away and not spending every minute with her while I still had the chance.
I had made mistakes—mistakes that even though people told me over and over weren’t my fault, that I still dwelled on every single day. But I wasn’t going to let the past dictate my actions any longer.
Chelsea was the prime example of that. None of us really knew what she went through growing up, but that’s because she didn’t feel it was relevant. She didn’t let the bullshit and hell she’d survived effect who she was today. My girl was strong. When she went to hell, and her life was crumbling she took those bricks and just started building something new.
“Chelsea!” I heard a little voice squeal. Harlyn pushed past me and wrapped herself around one of Chelsea’s legs, another little body came out of nowhere and did the same—Jayla. Chelsea laughed and placed a hand on each of their heads as they smiled up at her.
Jayla had become a permanent fixture in all of our lives. Her time was shared between the clubhouse and the apartment that Lucy shared with a couple of other girls from X-Rated. We were still unsure of her future, but there was one thing for sure, she had stolen all of our hearts. And although it wasn’t official yet, we weren’t going to be letting her go without a fight. The kid had my men wrapped so tightly around her little finger, I was about to start calling them my sisters instead of brothers. It was laughable.
Sugar had headed back to hers and Harlyn’s home. She would be packing their things and returning in a few days. I wasn’t sure what it was that had finally convinced her to stay, but I didn’t care. We had already found the perfect home for them in Athens, and I was excited to have the opportunity to watch my daughter grow.
Taking broken bricks and building something new.
I watched as my family crowded my Old Lady and welcomed her home. Harmony had been with us for the last few weeks, supporting her friend through everything. She barely ever left her side and I was grateful.
Chelsea put up a strong front, but I knew inside she was still hurting. Along with almost losing her life, she had lost a friend and honestly I think that hurt her much worse than the pain of her injuries or therapy. She needed now, more than ever, to have people at her back that she could trust and rely on, people that she knew wouldn’t turn on her.
I watched as Chelsea’s face stilled, her expression changing from one of joy to sadness. I hated seeing that look on her face.
I followed her line of sight.
Blizzard, of fucking course.
He was doing the same thing he had been doing the past weeks, moping in the corner with a bottle of whatever he could get his hands on.
Rose hadn’t only hurt my woman but also my brother. He was shattered. Everyone knew that out of all of us Blizzard took betrayal the hardest. It was a theme he knew only too well. Blizzard was one of the strongest men I knew. The first to throw a fuck you to the wind and stand beside you in a fight. Not afraid to pull the tri
gger when the time came. But he also had the biggest heart and always wore it on the outside, just waiting for someone to rip it to shreds.
I moved closer to Chelsea and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She nuzzled into my side. “You think he’ll be all right?”
“I don’t know, Blackbird,” I told her honestly.
“I think there was more going on between them than I realized. I feel so horrible.”
I hooked my finger under her chin, pulling her eyes up to mine. “If anything, I’m sure you were more hurt than he was by what she did. It’s not your fault she turned out to be a lying bitch.”
“Yeah, but friends come and go all the time. Sometimes life only gives you one slap in the face or kick in the balls. What if that was his?”
I raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but smile. “I have no idea what that fucking means.”
She laughed and wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me a little tighter. “I think I was your slap in the face.”
I chuckled. “Whatever you’re talking about, I’m sure you were more like a kick in the balls.”
There was a sharp pinch in my side, cutting off my laughter. “Woman,” I growled in warning.
“Asshole?” she said, fluttering her eyelashes as she looked up at me.
I felt a buzzing in my pocket and pulled out my phone. “Saved by the bell.”
She rolled her eyes and untangled herself from me. “Sure.” I kissed her cheek before darting out the nearest door and holding the phone to my ear.
“Yeah,” I answered. The caller ID had come up private, but I knew who it was. I’d been expecting their call.
“You’ve got ten minutes to get here.” That was all that was said before the line went dead.
I headed straight back inside, weaving my way through people. I found Kit and Tally at the pool table. Harmony would be heading home with them tomorrow. I had no doubts that Kit was itching to have her back in Troy, even though he’d been understanding about her reasons to stay for so long. Blizzard stood off to the side silently, but his head perked up as I approached them.
I placed my hands on the table, halting their game. “You boys sober enough for a ride?”
Chelsea (The Club Girl Diaries Book 2) Page 26