Jason
Jason and I get to the hospital and Alex arrives at the same time.
We're all here to check on Zeva. My only solace in this moment is knowing that she's okay. I'm relieved she wasn't a part of last night's shooting, beyond relieved, but I can't help but worry about the future. How can I protect her throughout this ordeal without keeping her on lockdown?
I feel terrible that she escaped on my watch. I know Wade and Alex are fuming at me for letting her out of my sight for even a second.
To my chagrin who's waiting right there in the distance? I could spot his smug face a mile awhile. Wade and I drive our bikes up to Cole.
"What are you doing here?" Wade asks him pointedly.
"I'm here to talk you obviously," he says.
"Shouldn't you be arresting The Iron Legion by now? Seems like you'd have your hands full."
"They are on my radar, trust me. But I'm here to tell you that you and your band need to get out of town and let these guys win."
"Is that so?" Wade says. He’s fuming I can tell. "Is that what our father taught us to do? To run away at the first sign of trouble? I don't think so.”
"He also got fucking killed for it Wade, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Wade hisses into his face. "I'm the one holding up his legacy now. He would despise you if he saw how you turned on his family."
I'm not shocked by his cowardice. Cole has betrayed us by switching sides.
Here he is standing at the door of the hospital where so many people are injured and he’s telling us to run.
What a fucking joke.
"If you and your cop friends are so afraid why don't you be the ones to leave?” I question him. “Because our gang isn’t going anywhere. We don't run Cole. Running is the coward's way out, but don't worry I didn't expect more than that from you."
He makes me sick the way he lets his fear control him.
"You know you're nothing but a criminal. That's all you are and that's what our dad was too. You guys are on the wrong side of things and getting people killed because of it. You're no heroes."
"What the fuck did you just say about dad?" Wade yells and before I know it he punches him in the face and Cole flies backward. "Don't your ever fucking insult the memory of our father."
The anger and frustration pours out and I help by kicking him into the dirt but let him finally get up. "What you gonna do, huh?” he asks. “Fucking arrest us? You probably would...arrest your own brother. Come on, do it! You know you want to."
"No Wade, you've got it all wrong." He heads back to his sheriff's vehicle all covered in dirt. "You're not worth the time it would take to bring you in. You're not worth anything."
I can tell his words sting Wade.
But Wade hides it.
"Fuck off Cole! Get the fuck out of my sight you gutless, spineless joke of a man. I can't believe you're my brother. How do you possibly have our father's blood running through you?"
I kick up dirt at his car as he drives off. I'm pissed and Wade’s wounded. Losing your brother is a unique kind of pain. It's nothing their father would be proud of. Cole broke up his family by switching sides. Now he feels righteous enough to come over here and think he can tell us what to do. This is our war. We will win it the same way we always do...with guns a blazing.
I'm not afraid of dying. We know how to fight.
The adrenaline is pumping through my system so fast now, but heart sinks as I remember there is actually one thing I am afraid of...that is losing Zeva. My love for her has made me vulnerable. It's what I always feared would happen if I let myself get close to her. I've been afraid of this moment for a while...if Zeva was mine and we entered a war and they somehow knew my weakness for her.
My weakness is my enemy's greatest strength and I have to keep this thing with her under wraps.
Alex comes up to meet us. “You showed him. Cole was practically running away.”
“Yeah,” Wade says. “He wants us to run and let him handle it.”
Alex scoffs, “That’s funny, man. Like we’d ever turn from this battle.”
“It’s definitely a battle now,” I say. I’m sad to admit it but the lines have been drawn. This is an all-out fucking war. As soon as we get Zeva we are going to fucking kill those bastard rivals.
“Let’s find her, you guys,” I say.
“Yeah,” Alex leads the way into the hospital. “She’s gonna be with Tammi. We should have known she’d find out what happened and that she would come here.”
“It’s my fault,” I say as we head in. “I tried to hide the news from her and to distract her but Zeva’s smart and determined. She found a way around me.”
We take the elevator up. Everyone stares at us as we find her room. We must make quite a sight in the hospital, three strong bikers dressed all in black.
We find Tammi room expecting to see Zeva but she’s not there.
“Tammi, how are you?” I ask, walking in.
Tammi sees the look in our eyes and know what we’re here for.
“Oh you guys just missed her,” Tammi says by way of greeting “I’m fine but Zeva’s not. She’s worried about you guys. She must be back to your place by now Wade. She left a while ago.”
Wade is frantic and so am I. “No Tammi she wasn’t there. You’re saying she’s gone?”
Fuck.
This just took a turn to shit.
We make our excuses to Tammi and then back the fuck out of that hospital. All of us are going crazy now that we realize Zeva is missing. She wasn’t home, she wasn’t on the highway, and she’s not here.
This is an emergency.
“Shit,” Wade says once we’re back outside. “Just stay calm. But let’s all split up and look for her.”
Alex and I are already running for our bikes. I'll sift every street and building until I find Zeva. I feel responsible for her disappearance and none of this is okay. I have to go find her.