Wayward Angel (20 page)

Chapter Thirty Five

I hear Sev crying down the hall, so I scoot Remy off my lap and into Dom's and make my way down the hall toward his cries. When I spot him, he's curled up and rocking himself by the back door, which is slightly open. I run over and pick him up. He's freezing and has tears dried to his pink cheeks. When he sees it's me, he grabs a hold of my neck and squeezes his chubby arms around me as hard as he can.

What the fuck scared him this bad?

"Mommy," he bawls. Why is he crying for Anslie?

He points out the door and wails, "baff man taked Mommy! Daddy I wan Mommy! Him hurd her."

My mind is spinning. Who the fuck got in here?

"Sev, was it someone from here?" I choke out. He shakes his head quickly.

I calm him down a little, as I walk him back into the main room of the clubhouse. My mom walks over to us and coos at him, "Why ya crying, baby boy?"

His little face scrunches up and he wails, "Baff man taked Mommy!" He starts bawling and rubs his face against my shoulder. I feel his tears and snot soaking though my shirt as I pull my phone out and call Anslie. It rings and rings before going to voicemail. I see the guys all jump up and start to call and text her, too.

"Her phone's still on, let's trace it," I announce when it goes to voicemail for the tenth time. Trace, our resident computer hacker, gets on his phone, types in stuff and asks for her number. Robbie rattles it off and then starts to pace the room.

My phone beeps and Sev jumps at the noise. Grabbing it, I hit the messages and see her name pop up.

Anslie:
help me.

"She just texted me," I say, while furiously writing her back with one hand.

Me: d
oll I'm gonna find you. I'm tracing your phone. Who took you?

Anslie:
he said he's gonna hurt me.

I sit on the couch with the boys while sending her another message. I need to know who took her and where she is.

Me:
doll I'm gonna find you and kill that bastard.

Anslie:
he's coming back.

I hope he doesn't catch her with the phone. I'm sure whoever it is will make it worse for her if he catches her using it. I hoping it's the lesser of the two evils, but I'm sure it's her ex-husband. He's probably pissed that she left him.

Anslie:
are Remy and Sev okay

I look down at the boys and they both have tears running down their chubby faces. I can't let anything happen to her. She's got to make it home from this.

Me :
yea doll I have them sitting with me.

Just as I write her back, Trace yells, "I found her location!" I get one more text from her, confirming my fears.

Anslie:
its Charlie

The color drains out of my face and Prez notices it. "Emily, stay with the boys. Nick, protect the clubhouse. The prospects are staying with you and I'm taking the rest of the boys," he commands.

'Let's ride!" he roars, before racing outside to his bike.

Ten minutes later, we pull up to an old farmhouse about a hundred feet from our new home. That bastard has been down the street this whole time. We park our bikes at my house and make the short walk to the farmhouse.

We check the perimeter and see that there's only one person in the front of the house. I don't see any other movement. I go to the back bedroom, where I see a dim light in the window. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and see I have a message from Anslie.

Anslie:
I'm scared.

I quickly type out not to be scared, that we are here and to stay quiet. I sign for Prez and point to the window. He rushes over to me and we try to open the window. It creaks and then slowly opens.

I hear Anslie squeak and see her silhouette in the darkness. She walks towards the window slowly, trying to see who we are. I reach my hand towards her and whisper, "Doll, come to me." She starts walking faster. She's about two steps away when the door crashes open.

Charlie looks up, sees us and goes fucking crazy. “Stop fucking moving!” he screams at her.

"Doll," I growl. She hurries over to us. I grab her arms and pull her through the window, turning my body to cover her just as shots ring out.

I feel the bullet tear through my skin. Blood is seeping through my shirt as I pull her to my body. We collapse on the ground and I can faintly hear Anslie screaming. My body is getting cold and I can't move my arms. I feel like I'm slowly drowning.

I feel pressure being applied to my wound and see my twin staring down at me. His hands are covered in my blood and I can see the tears welling up in his eyes. I try to say something, but I can't get the words to come out. I know I'm going to die.

He leans down closer to my face and I whisper, "Take care of her and the boys."

He shakes his head. "Don't give up yet B, those boys need you. Fuck brother, I need you.”

I hear Bash yelling that we need to get to the hospital. Anslie touches my face and lays her head down on my chest. She's sobbing and there's nothing I can do for her. I want to wrap my arms around her and tell her it’s going to be okay, but I can’t. Knowing I'm going to die, I have a flashback of the good in my life.

I see Anslie the first time she stood in the clubhouse yard, the first time she rode on the back of my bike, the first time she said my name, the smiles she would give me when we were alone, her beauty at the club in Seattle, the expression on her face when I took her virginity, the first time we made love, meeting the boys for the first time, the night I showed her the house, hearing her tell me she loved me, and fucking my girl right before we had the twins' birthday party.

Anslie is my heart and soul. I don't want to leave her, but my body is fighting me the whole time. In this exact moment, I know I would take the bullet for her again in a heartbeat.

Everything goes quiet and black.

Chapter Thirty Six

I feel Brantley stop breathing and I get hysterical. Dom has to hold me up. My legs buckle under me as I watch the paramedics work on Brantley. He is the love of my life and I can’t live without him. Dom passes me to Bash and I cling to him.

It's almost like I'm outside of my body, watching all of us grieving and being angry. I can't lose him, I need him. Remy and Sev need him. My world is crashing in on me and I can't stop it. I feel powerless and weak.

He's still bleeding a lot when they wheel him into surgery. Jase just holds me as I cry. I look into his familiar face and it still isn't enough. He's not Brantley. Jase's jaw is a little more rounded, where Brantley's is squared. His eyes are a lighter shade than Brantley's, more like Sev’s. I sob more when I was compare Jase and Brantley.

He holds me tight and whispers that everything is going to be okay, that Brant is going to make it because he's too stubborn to die and he has so much to live for now.

I sit with Jase for what feels like hours, then I hear small footsteps and the squeals of toddlers running into the waiting room. The boys run straight for us. Jase lets me go and envelopes his mother in his arms while the boys barrel into my legs and almost knock me down. Nick steadies me and pulls me into his chest.

Remy stammers, "Wre daddy? I wan daddy."

Dom scoops him up and tells him he can't see his daddy right now. The boys scrunch up their faces and sit on the floor until they can’t keep their eyes open any longer.

We wait another six hours before the doctors come out to address Brant's condition. Remy is sleeping in my dad's arms and Sev is cuddled up in Jase's.

"Are you Brantley Insico's family?" He addresses us.

Jase looks up and sneers. "I'm his twin, if you couldn't fucking tell."

The doctor clears his throat before continuing. "Mr. Insico's heart stopped during surgery, but we were able to revive him. We won’t know if he has any brain damage until he wakes up.” I swear a part of me dies when the words come out of his mouth. Brant died, even if it was only for a few minutes.

The doctor keeps talking, but I don’t hear a word. I can only think about Brant dying on the table for a minute. "He will have to rest and avoid any strenuous activity until he heals. I suggest at least four to six months," the doctor finishes.

I hear everyone let out the breath that they were holding. Brant's alive. He's hurt, but he's alive.

Walking into Brantley’s room, my legs almost give out. The man I love is hooked up to machines, his body bruised and looking smaller than normal. The silence is deafening, the only sound beeps from the unfamiliar machines.

I can’t lose him. The twins need him in their lives. They’ve only been together for a short time, but this will kill them. Losing Charlie as their stepfather was a breeze, since they didn’t really like him and were scared of him. In the short months that they’ve known their father, they’ve become obsessed with everything he does. He is their hero. It will destroy me if they lose the only man they have ever loved.

The next few hours are spent sitting in his room, waiting for him to wake up. His hand is in mine, while I lay my head on his thigh. I must have fallen asleep that way.

I awake to his hand gently playing with my hair and I look up into those beautiful slate gray eyes that I love so much.

"Doll," he rasps. He coughs and I grab him a cup of water. He slowly sips it.

I can't help the tears running down my face. "I thought you were dead," I whisper hoarsely. "You were bleeding so much. You stopped breathing."

He wipes my tears away with the pad of his thumb and wraps my hair around his hand, forcing me to come closer.

"Doll, I love you. I will always lay down my life for you and the boys. It’s going to take a lot more than a bullet to take me from you three."

I close the distance between our mouths and kiss him hard.

"I love you so much, Brant," I mumble against his lips.

He breaks the kiss and looks around the room. "Where are my boys?"

"They were sleeping when I came in here. I can have my dad and Jase bring them in if you want," I rush out. He looks at me and I can see the love shining in his eyes as he cups my face with one hand and beckons me to come closer with the other. I shake my head, not wanting to hurt him anymore then he already is. He pulls me onto the bed with him and grimaces in pain.

I lie next to him, trying not to jostle him any more than necessary. 

"Much better." He sighs while rubbing my back.

As everyone comes in and out of his room, I feel the love they all have for him. They talk and joke until they get kicked out for the night. The boys are excited to see their dad, chattering on and on until Emily takes them home with her and Nick.

The first question Brant asks Jase is if they put Charlie down.

Jase's expression changes to rage. "Fuck yeah, we did! That motherfucker shot you and kidnapped Anslie. He wasn't coming out of that alive," he bellows. I wince at his tone and Brantley pulls me closer to him.

"Good," he says after a few minutes.

There's a heavy tension in the room as they both stew on the day's events. Brant breaks the tension by saying that he’s hungry and horny. He tells his brother to get the fuck out because he has needs. With a smirk and a fist bump, Jase walks out the door, promising to check in tomorrow.

A week later, Brantley is released and we finally get to go home for the first time in weeks.