KATRINA

 

It was hard to forget a man like Brawn, at least that’s what I think they said his name was. It was pretty fitting for a guy his size. His muscles bulged like he took steroids instead of eating normal meals like everybody else.

I remembered the first time I saw him. The night he abducted me, he wore a mask. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see his face. There wasn’t anybody in Ivory that was his size.

He was just as tough and strong as I figured he would be. He was surrounded by a few club members as well as the doctor I remember Jordan hired to do some work for the club. Whenever the club had to deal with injuries, they never went to the hospital because there were always questions they had to answer.

I watched from a distance as they held the big man down. He sat across the table with his legs sprawled in front of him. They dug into the wound on his leg. The blood gushing was enough to make me nauseous. The sound of it was even worse.

“Hold on,” the doctor said to comfort him. “We just have to get the bullet out and we’ll patch you right up.”

Brawn was calm as they tended to his injury. I suppose when you were as big as he was you could treat a gunshot wound like a papercut.

I spun around when I heard more commotion behind me. Teddy entered the bar with a couple more Cobras walking behind him. I rushed up to him, my mind frantic as I tried to put the right words together.

“Where are they?” I said. “Where are the rest of them?”

Teddy gave me a somber look as he shook his head.

“W-what?” I said. “Don’t tell me—”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Shooter and two Reapers went after some of the Spades that got away. Shooter told us to come back. We had to bring the big guy back before he bled to death. Shooter said he would handle it himself.”

“But—”

“I’m sorry,” Teddy said as he put a hand on my shoulder. “Shooter is the president. I would have stayed and gone with him but when your brother gives orders, I have to follow ‘em.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I know…”

My head dropped to the floor. Teddy didn’t try consoling me because he knew there was no point.

The Bone Pit was closed for the night because of the operation the Cobras and Reapers were trying to pull off. They needed the space in case anything happened. In this case, Brawn had gotten shot and they needed to tend to him on one of the larger tables in the bar.

It appeared they’d fixed his injury up and he was going to make it. But even though one man had been saved, there was still a somber atmosphere in the clubhouse.

I walked up to the bar and took a seat. I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes.

Please. Come back to me. You promised.

I kept my head down. I wasn’t much for praying but I would have done anything to bring everybody back.

I raised my head up but my prayers hadn’t been answered. Brawn was being helped up from the table, his leg heavily bandaged. Nobody else in the bar was injured. Despite that, the mood in the clubhouse hadn’t changed. Everybody was waiting for two club presidents to come back.

And I was waiting for him, too.

Him.

Blake.

The father of my child.

I closed my eyes, my hands still clasped together. Palms sweating, body shaking, I chanted another makeshift prayer, trying to will everybody back to me.

Please… Please…

The door to the clubhouse suddenly burst open. Everybody turned toward the entrance.

The president of the Black Reapers rushed in with my brother in his arms. Blood smeared on both of them wasn’t a good sign.

“Clear a fucking table!” the president shouted.

Both clubs rushed to push bottles and glasses out of the way so Jordan could be laid upon it. His eyes were flickering. The blood was draining from his shoulder like a faucet.

“Jordan…”

I reached a hand out but there were too many people crowded around him.

“Give me space! Gimme space!”

The doctor shouted his way toward Jordan and went to work. I looked at Jordan’s eyes. I couldn’t tell how close I was to losing him but I knew it was closer than I wanted to be.

“Hey…”

I spun around when I heard a voice. I looked up and saw Blake there. He was covered in blood but he was still smiling at me. The fact that he was standing up straight told me he was okay.

“Blake! Oh, God!”

I squeezed him in my arms, holding him tight like he was going to slip out of my grip. His hard body vibrated against me as he chuckled softly.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I’m fine…”

I finally pulled away from him and saw how much he’d been through just from looking into his eyes.

“How is he?” Blake asked.

We both turned toward my brother. The doctor had his head over Jordan as he examined him. There were so many people in the clubhouse but everybody was silent, waiting for the doctor to give his prognosis.

He wasn’t about to give us the answer we wanted so easily. He just kept his head down and picked at his tools.

Blake kept his arm wrapped around me the entire time as we watched and waited.

“It looks like a clean wound,” the doctor said. “The bullet passed through completely, so there’s no sign of infection… No major arteries hit… I just have to stop the bleeding…”

He began stitching Jordan up.

I held my breath. I didn’t care if I were going to pass out. I needed to know if he were all right.

A few more moments passed and the doctor straightened up.

“That should do it.”

I looked at Jordan and watched his eyes blink open.

“Doctor…” he whispered, barely able to get the words out. “How am I doing?”

“You’ll be just fine. You just need some rest.”

“I need a drink. Somebody get me a drink.”

Everybody in the clubhouse cheered when they heard the president of the Winter Cobras was going to make it. My head dropped and I sighed a deep breath of relief. Blake squeezed his arm around me and pulled me closer.

The club members handed Jordan a bottle of whiskey as he sat up. His shoulder was bandaged and bleeding but he seemed to be doing all right.

“Not too much now,” the doctor said.

“Thanks, doc,” Jordan responded. “But I can take it from here.”

The doctor shrugged and smiled at my brother as he took a swig of whiskey. While everybody celebrated the return of their president, the doctor turned and walked toward Blake and me.

The doctor looked down as Blake held his arm up.

“I’m pretty sure it’s broken,” Blake said.

The doctor only needed to examine it for a second before agreeing.

“Come over here,” he said. “Let’s stabilize it.”

We walked over to the side of the bar. Blake was calm as the doctor put a couple of boards together to create a makeshift splint.

“I suggest you go to a doctor for an exam,” he said. “They’ll tell you if there’s anything else you need to worry about but it looks like a clean break. That’s what blunt objects will do…”

The doctor raised an eyebrow at Blake and patted him on the shoulder before leaving him be. Blake turned to me and I couldn’t help but rush my arms around him again.

“When you didn’t come back—”

“I promised you,” he said. “I told you I would keep my promise.”

I looked up into his eyes and felt so many emotions. I shook my head, unsure of where to start.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You didn’t need to worry about that. Just know that it’s over. And… We can be together. I can be there for you, for us.”

He reached down with his broken arm and put a hand on my stomach. I couldn’t help the tears streaking down my cheeks.

“I don’t know if we can be,” I said. “Not with him…”

I turned toward my brother. Despite getting shot, he was surprisingly coherent at the moment.

“Come on…”

I took Blake’s hand and walked over to my brother. Everybody else in the club began the celebration, leaving me alone with the two men in the world I cared most about.

Jordan stared at me, a half-smile on his face.

“Thank you,” I said to him.

“You don’t have to thank me. Your man Blake here did most of the work. I… I was just there.”

“You saved Garnet,” Blake said to him. “We owe you the same as you owe us.”

“I guess that means the truce is back on.”

“It was never off, Cobra. I gave you my word and I kept it.”

“And we’ll keep ours.”

The two of them clasped hands together. The sight was enough to warm my cheeks and put a smile on my face.

Jordan turned to me and looked me up and down, examining my stomach closely.

“I love you, Kat,” my brother said. “You’re the most important person in the world to me. I want everything for you and…”

He glanced at Blake for a second before looking back at me.

“…your child. I know that you’ll do what’s right. And if you want to be with a Reaper, then who am I to say no to what makes you happy?”

“Then you don’t object?” I said.

Blake and Jordan looked at one another. Blake nodded and Jordan did the same before telling me what I wanted to hear.

“I want you to be happy,” Jordan said. “Whatever it takes.”

I leaned forward and hugged him softly.

“Not too hard,” he said with a laugh.

“Thank you.”

I kissed him on the cheek and pulled away from him. Jordan motioned with his index finger for Blake to come closer to him. Blake leaned forward as Jordan stared right into his eyes. The smile on his face was gone. His intensity was frightening, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

The two of them locked eyes on one another as Jordan whispered to him.

“If you even think about hurting her, I’ll come after you, and I’ll fucking kill you.”

A smile formed on Jordan’s lips but Blake knew he was serious. Blake didn’t smile back at him as he nodded.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Blake replied.

Jordan sighed.

“Gimme a moment,” he said. “This shit fucking hurts.”

He grabbed his bottle of whiskey and chugged it before leaning back on the table to rest. I couldn’t help but smile, relieved that it was all finally over.

Blake took my hand and led me out of the room. We headed back into the clubhouse and watched as the two clubs celebrated with one another. I shook my head at the sight of it.

“Could you ever imagine?” I said. “Black Reapers and Winter Cobras. Under the same roof. Laughing and drinking with each other.”

“I imagined it before,” Blake said.

“Really?”

“I also imagined it ending with me putting a gun in my mouth and squeezing the trigger.”

“Oh, knock it off.”

I giggled as I playfully slapped him across the chest. He looked back at me with a confident smile. The same cocky smirk I’d fallen for when I first laid eyes on him.

I saw so much in those blue eyes of his. Stitches on his face. A broken arm. He’d risked everything for me and somehow, he made it through.

I’d never felt the kind of relief I felt now as I stared at him. I was so overwhelmed that I stopped fighting it. Tears streaked down from the corners of my eyes as I buried my face into his chest.

“What’s wrong?” he said as he patted me on my head.

“I’m just so glad it’s over. After everything… I thought I was going to lose you—”

“Shh… It’s all right. You’re not going to lose me. You never will. I’m going to be here for you and our child. I always will be.”

My tears soaked the fabric of his shirt. I squeezed him as tight as I could. I wasn’t going to let him go.