JON

 

Three days had gone by since Nate got shot. It was hard to tell considering I spent the entire time in the hospital. Everything seemed to blend together into one jumbled mess.

I managed to convince Anna to head back to the shelter. She couldn’t take much more time off and the people there needed her. It was for the best in more ways than one. Garnet planned on going to war with the Triads and everybody else in the club was in agreement. There was no need for a vote. All of our asses were on the line and there were no other options.

While the rest of the club prepared for an inevitable showdown with Lin and whatever he had waiting for us, I stayed by Nate’s side. If there was any chance that he would give me some information that I could use, I had to take it.

I was the one who put him up for a vote. Nate was a prospect because of my recommendation. Today was the day he proved why he deserved to wear the patch.

I stood next to his bed and looked down at him. Nate was already pale but three days unconscious made him look even worse. His face was gaunt. The rest of him was wasting away. But the doctors assured me that somehow, he’d make it.

When he blinked his eyes open, he slowly turned his head toward me. Seeing the motherfucker stare back at me… I had to try not to jump through the fucking ceiling.

“Hey,” I said.

He kept blinking his eyes, examining his surroundings.

“What’s going on?” he said, his voice weak.

“You’re in the hospital. Someone put a bullet in you. Do you remember that?”

He closed his eyes and sighed a deep breath. His throat shifted as he swallowed. The poor bastard looked like he was in pain.

“Ghost…”

He said my name softly. Then he opened his eyes wider and smiled softly at me.

“I remember. When was it?”

“About three days ago.”

“Three days… I’ve been out of it for that long.”

“People have been out of it for longer. You’re pretty strong to come back that quickly.”

“Yeah… I guess…”

It was hard to see him in the state that he was in but he was breathing. That shit was enough for celebration.

“Did I miss anything?” he said.

I didn’t know where to begin so I went back to the obvious question.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“I… I remember,” he sighed. “I was in Finn’s. I was talking to Stephanie and some guy bumped me from behind. Made me spill my beer.”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Some bald guy. A little older.”

“Club member?”

“He was wearing the uniform but…”

“But what?”

“I don’t remember the patch. It didn’t look familiar at all.”

“Right… What else do you remember?”

“He said to take it outside. I walked out by myself. We met in the alley. That’s when he pulled his piece on me. I remember laying there…”

He blinked his eyes as a tear streaked out from one of them.

“…I remember the blood… There was so much blood… I thought…”

“It’s all right,” I said as I put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re okay. Keep going, Nate.”

He shook his head and swallowed to compose himself.

“There was a van,” he said.

“A van?”

“It opened up and they pulled someone out. It didn’t even look like he was alive.”

“The Triad…”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t get a good look at him. But the guy… The guy who shot me… He took my gun and shot the body.”

“He took your gun and…”

I only had to think about it for a second. Whoever did this made it look like Nate shot the guy in self-defense. It wasn’t Nate. It wasn’t the dead Triad member. It was someone else.

“What else do you remember about the guy?” I said. “The one who took your gun. What did he look like? He was bald… What else?”

“I don’t know… He was older. Kinda chubby. Maybe a little too old to be in a club. There was something about him that seemed off.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been around clubs long enough to know what club members are like. This guy… He didn’t seem very tough. It was almost like he didn’t wanna shoot me.”

“Why would you think that?”

Nate closed his eyes. I knew he was trying hard to remember so I didn’t push him.

“I remember,” he said.

“What do you remember?”

“He said he was sorry.”

“He what?”

“I could see it in his eyes. Even though it was so dark in that alley. It almost looked like he was gonna cry. Like he didn’t want to do what he just did.”

I put my head down and thought about it.

A man shot Nate and a Triad member and immediately regretted it…

I shook my head, trying to put all of the pieces together, but nothing seemed to fit.

“He wasn’t working for the Triads… He wouldn’t have shot his own man…”

I turned my head up and stared right into Nate’s eyes.

“I need you to be absolutely certain about this, Nate.”

“Yeah… Of course.”

I leaned in closer to make sure he understood.

“You didn’t fire your weapon?”

“No. I would remember something like that.”

“There’s nothing wrong with defending yourself. It’s a good thing if you did.”

“I remember, Ghost. That guy… He pulled my own piece from me and shot the other guy… That body he’d pulled out of the van…”

Nate wasn’t the kind of kid that would lie to me. He was too honest for that. It was part of the reason I put him up to be a prospect. He was always loyal. Right now wasn’t an exception.

“What’s going on, Ghost? The police don’t think I shot that guy, do they?”

“You don’t have to worry about the police. You…”

I stopped when I realized what I was about to say. The last thing I needed to do was tell him about the shit going down with the Triads. Not after he just woke up from getting shot.

“What is it?” he said.

All I could do was smile at him. The kid looked death right in the face and lived to tell about it. I wasn’t about to let him down now.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Just stay here. Rest. Listen to what the doctors tell you to do.”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice…”

He sighed as he sank into his bed. The short conversation I had with him seemed to drain him. I stayed with him until he drifted off back to sleep then left his room.

I pulled my phone out as I headed out of the hospital. It took a few rings before Garnet finally answered.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Nate. He’s awake.”

“Good to hear. He got anything for us?”

“He’s got something, all right… Tell everybody to meet up. They all need to hear this.”