Angel's Halo: Fallen Angel (Angel's Halo MC Book 6) by Terri Anne Browning
She dug in her heels outside the ambulance doors. “Give me a minute. I… I can’t let Lexa see me like this.”
She had silent tears running down her face. Needing to comfort her—fuck, needing to comfort myself—I pulled her head to my chest and held her there. The sound of her sobs was muffled against my chest, and I patted her gently on the back as I swallowed back my own tears. First Tanner, now Uncle Jack. Maybe even Uncle Chaz.
I was losing people I loved left and right in this fucking war.
Chapter Twenty Three
RAIDER
I DROPPED QUINN OFF AT the clubhouse but didn’t get out of her car. Instead, I drove across town to the house she had rented with Kelli. Colt had texted me that morning to ask me to check out something for him, but I’d been busy all day and hadn’t had the chance to do it.
I parked in the driveway and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. There was still broken glass everywhere from where the fucking Italians had shot at my girl. I stepped over the splintered wood and bullets that littered the living room and walked to the back of the house. I knew which room was Kelli’s, but when I turned the knob, it was to find the door locked.
Kicking it in with one booted foot, I pushed the now broken door aside and crossed to the bed. The sheets were a mess, and there were clothes spread around the floor like she used them for rugs. The room was messy but in an almost organized kind of way.
I pushed the bed out of my way and felt along the floor for the loose plank. It took me a few minutes to find the right one. Lifting it, I stuck my hand into the dark hole and pulled out a small velvet sack. As I opened it, a plain black USB drive fell into my hand. I didn’t know what was on this thing, but Colt had made it sound important.
Pocketing the USB drive, I replaced the plank and then fixed the bed back where it had been.
As I was closing the front door behind me, I got a text from Hawk, then just as quickly, one from Bash.
Italians ambushed the bar. Get to the hospital. Uncle Chaz got one to the gut.
I didn’t waste time. Climbing back into Quinn’s little car, I hauled ass to the hospital. As I was pulling up, an ambulance came into the ER bay. Two EMTs jumped out with Trigger right behind them, and the three of them pulled Uncle Chaz out on the gurney.
I ran across the parking lot just as a team of doctors and nurses came out to meet them. The doctor was shouting orders to the nurses, while one of the EMTs gave a summary of what was wrong with the old man. “GSW to the stomach. Lost a good bit of blood on the scene.”
“Let’s get him up to surgery,” the doctor ordered the nurses, and they wheeled the old biker away.
“Trigger,” I greeted my MC brother as I reached him. “What the fuck happened?”
The older man glanced around suspiciously at the EMTs. “It was bad, man,” he muttered. “Real bad. Lexa got hit. The women were all screaming. Gracie was so scared and giving Hawk hell when I left.”
Lexa? Shit, no, not my little niece. But it couldn’t have been too bad, or there would have been another ambulance pulling up by now. I pulled out my phone and dialed Quinn’s number, needing to make sure she was safe.
“Hey!” she said breathlessly. “I was dialing your number when it rang. Are you okay?”
“I was going to ask you that,” I growled, relief washing over me at the sound of her voice. “Listen, things got crazy at the bar after we left.”
“I-I know,” she interrupted. “Spider just showed up with Willa, Gracie, and Rory. There was blood on Spider’s face.”
“I’m at the hospital, baby. Uncle Chaz got hit, so I’m going to be here until I know he’s okay. Don’t go anywhere. Listen to Spider and Jet, and don’t leave the clubhouse unless they say otherwise.”
“I want to come be with you,” she protested, and I could hear the tears in her voice. “I love Uncle Chaz too, Raider.”
“I know, sweetheart. I know. But it’s too dangerous to have you out right now. Please, for me, just stay there with my brother and Spider.”
“Raider,” she started to protest again, but I cut her off.
“I love you, Quinn. Stay the fuck there, or I’m going to spank that sexy ass of yours when I get back.”
I didn’t give her time to reply. I hit end and pocketed my phone.
Another nurse appeared and waited hesitantly just a few feet away. I shot her a scowl, and she flinched at the menace coming off both Trigger and me, but she swallowed her fear of us and gave us a shaky smile. “The doctor asked me to show you to the OR waiting room.”
We started to follow her when another ambulance with its lights on came into view. Trigger and I stayed where we were as it pulled into the ER bay. Once it stopped, I reached for the back door and found Raven sitting on a gurney with Lexa on her lap and Matt sitting beside the EMT. One look at my sister’s face and I knew something was wrong.
“Uncle Jack is gone,” Matt informed us before I could open my mouth.
“What?” Trigger asked, his face dropping. “But he was fine when I left. I saw him walking around and calling out orders to the boys.”
Raven closed her eyes and turned her face away so we couldn’t see how much pain she was in. “The EMT said it was a massive heart attack.”
“Ma’am, we need to get your daughter inside,” the EMT murmured in a voice filled with sympathy.
She gave a nod and started to set Lexa on the gurney so the EMTs could take her inside, but the little girl clung to Raven’s neck. Without protesting, Raven stayed where she was and let the men wheel both her and Lexa into the hospital.
Matt, Trigger, and I stayed with my sister and niece, none of us willing to leave them after everything that had already happened that night. It only took about half an hour to get Lexa stitched up, and Raven signed her release papers.
Lexa was sound asleep, and I lifted her into my arms as we went upstairs to the OR waiting room to wait for news on Uncle Chaz.
As we took a seat in the empty waiting room, the doors flew open, and the rest of my MC brothers flooded in. Bash was in front of Raven before I had even realized he was in the room, pulling her into his arms and rocking her as she began to cry silently.
“He’s really gone,” she whispered brokenly. “I don’t believe it. I don’t want to believe.”
“I’m sorry, baby. So damn sorry.” He tucked her close as she cried, but his gaze went to me and his peacefully sleeping daughter. The big man’s brows lifted, and I gave him a grim smile to let him know Lexa was going to be fine.
Relief filled his blue eyes, but it was short-lived as the doctor who had met the first ambulance came into the room. His surgical scrubs were covered in sweat, and the look on his face told us that what he had to tell us wasn’t going to be news any of us wanted to hear.
“You’re all family?”
“Yes,” Bash growled, making the doctor’s Adam’s apple bob.
“I’m sorry to tell you that Mr. Barker didn’t make it.”
“No,” Raven sobbed. “No, he’s got to be okay. I can’t lose them both in the same night.”
Bash tucked her closer, whispering something into her ear, but she couldn’t hear him over her own sobs.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor continued. “There was just too much damage.”
Hawk moved forward to talk to the doctor, but the rest of us were in too much shock to listen to what was said between the two. I couldn’t believe it. Two of the Originals were gone, stolen from us by Enzo. Maybe they hadn’t shot Uncle Jack like they had Uncle Chaz, but Enzo was still equally responsible for both deaths in my eyes.
And he was going to bleed for it.
Playlist
“When We Were Young” by Andy Black & Juliet Simms
“Wake Up Call” by Theory of a Deadman
“Coming Apart” by Red
“Novacaine” by 10 Years
“Unapologetically” by Kelsea Ballerini
“Lights Down Low” (ft. gnash) by MAX
“Trai
“Go to War” by Nothing More
“The Madness” by Art of Anarchy
“At War” by Letters from the Fire
“Lions” by Chase Rice
“I Like Me Better” by Lauv
Next by Terri Anne Browning
Forever Lucy (Final book in the Lucy & Harris Novella series)
Releases March 26th
Still to come in the Angel’s Halo MC series
Angel’s Halo: Avenged
Angel’s Halo: Forever Angels
Next in the Vitucci Mafiosos series
Marrying Her Mafioso
Her Mafioso King
Next in the Tainted Knights series
Tainted Heartbreak
Tainted Bastard
Tainted Forever
Also by Terri Anne
The Rocker…Series
His Secret Novella Series
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Playlist
Next by Terri Anne Browning
Terri Anne Browning, Angel's Halo: Fallen Angel (Angel's Halo MC Book 6)