Chapter 37

Mayhem

 

I walk in the front doors and spot Nuts in the corner. Pop said he hasn’t spoken to anyone since that shit happened. He tried to get to Tay and ended up getting shot himself. That takes a hell of a lot of balls to jump in front of a bullet for someone else. He refused to go to the hospital though. I walk over and sit next to him on the couch.

“I tried Mayhem. I fuckin’ tried.” He loses himself. He breaks down in tears that I didn’t expect to see from him. Nuts has always been a hardass, but I know he has a soft spot for the girls around here. He’s a fucking human being, for fuck’s sake.

“You did good, brother. Shit couldn’t have played out any other way. You did what was right. Don’t blame yourself. She’ll pull through this. She doesn’t have a choice.”

Nuts chuckles a little before looking up at me. “No choice when she has you, yeah?” He smiles. He actually fucking smiles.

“Goddamn right. I won’t let her take the easy way out. Keep your head straight, Nuts. You did good, man.” I slap my hand on his shoulder as he nods his head. I shove off the couch and head down the hallway with my heart in my throat. I can’t think straight. I don’t know what the hell to do. I can’t lose that woman. I won’t lose her. If she doesn’t wake up, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.

I open the door to my bedroom. Minnie comes running and barking with her little tail wagging. I know she isn’t looking for me. She’s looking for Tay. I reach down and pick her up, petting her little head.

“You miss mom too, huh?” Look at what my life has come to. I’m talking to a goddamn dog! I shake my head before dropping onto the bed with Minnie.

“She’ll be back, Minnie. She wouldn’t just leave us like that. She knows we need her.” I close my eyes as Minnie curls into my side. I don’t know what to feel. I don’t know what to think right now.

I get that she may never wake up. The doc said she had a head injury from hitting the concrete. Can you believe that? The fucking bullets aren’t what’s killing her, it’s a fucking head injury. The surgery turned out to not be anything as bad as I thought originally. They said it was more exploratory and to remove one of the bullets. Neither bullet hit anything vital. I thanked God for that, too.

Now it’s all a waiting game. Waiting for her to wake up. She has to wake up. I won’t go on living without her. There is no way that I can. My heart feels like it’s about to explode in my chest. This is far beyond anything I felt when Becca died. Not that I didn’t love her and all, but this is slowly tearing my heart from my chest. I can feel the air being sucked from my lungs. I close my eyes and try to get some rest, but all I can see is her long blonde hair, her sparkling blue eyes. The way she looked at me when I first came to her place.

I laugh thinking about that. The way she looked disgusted by me. Her eyes ran over me like I was the biggest piece of trash she’d ever seen. Then I remember the way she looked at me at the club when I was stripping. The twinkle in her eyes. God, she has to wake up. I shove off the bed clearly realizing I will not be able to get any rest. I head into the main room and grab a beer.

“Do you even know how much that girl loves you?” I look over my shoulder and see the smile on Brooke’s face.

“When did you get back?” I ask, knowing she was at the hospital.

“A little while ago. Now answer me. Do you?”

“I don’t wanna do this right now, Brooke.” I take a long pull from my beer before she slaps me. I let out a chuckle. That girl is stubborn as all hell.

“She loves you a lot. Do you know that she threatened me?”

I laugh before turning to look at her again. “When was this?”

“After she saw you dancing at the club. She called me that night. Told me that if she saw you on that stage again she’d kick my ass. I believed her, too. She was pissed.” Brooke smiles, remembering their conversation.

“She’s got some balls, that’s for sure.” I add.

“Yeah. She really does love you, Mayhem. She might not say it yet, but I can see it. It’s the way I look at Dec. You men are way too addictive.” 

I reach for Brooke, pulling her into my side. “You girls don’t give us much of a choice. When we see somethin’ good, we know we gotta keep it.” I press a kiss to her temple before I just hold her closely. Brooke is a good person. She has a heart of gold. Dec did good with this one. She’s also one of my best friends.

“You holdin’ up?” Tic walks around the counter and grabs a beer.

“Yeah. I’ll be ok. She’ll wake up,” I tell him. Tic nods before taking a drink.

“You ain’t gonna give her much of a choice, yeah?” He grins at me. He knows how I am when I want something bad enough.

“Hell no. She has to. I can’t get stuck with yipper in there.” I nod toward the hallway when Brooke laughs.

“I thought you liked being a doggy daddy?” She teases me.

“That fuckin’ mutt is growin’ on me,” I mumble under my breath. I close my eyes and let out a breath. She’ll wake up. They are right. I won’t give her a choice.