Page 36

Anchor

I sat in the stiff-ass plastic chair with Pearl curled into my side, her head resting on my shoulder like it belonged there. And it did. It fucking did. She was mine.

And I had failed her.

Shay was next to her, quiet, with her arms wrapped around her middle like if she let go, she’d fall apart. I got it. We all did. No one had said much since we got to the hospital. The waiting room was packed with every brother from the Kings. Cross, Piney, Vin, Wannabe, Lost, Post, Push, Skull, Pull. Prime sat in the corner with his elbows on his knees and head bowed like he was praying.

But I didn’t think any of us had prayers left.

Bernice was gone.

The medics had tried. I watched them pump her chest, listened to the machine scream its flatline. But that was it. Nothing.

Pearl had crumpled in my arms when I pulled her off Bernice’s bloodied body. She’d screamed, sobbed, begged the old woman to wake up. None of us could look away, but none of us could help either. Bernice was already gone.

And Bob? Fuck. Bob was hanging on by a thread.

That was the kicker. He’d been on duty. He was watching her. And somehow, it still happened. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how a killer got past the cameras, got past us. But they did.

Once Pearl had calmed down enough to talk, she told me Bernice had whispered something before she died.

“You need to find her.”

I didn’t know what the hell that meant. Pearl didn’t either. But it hadn’t been him. It hadn’t been them. No.

“find him,”

no.

“find them.”

“Find her.”

I had no answers.

No one in that waiting room did. We just sat there in silence and tried to hold our shit together.

The nurse came in and broke the silence.

“Ashland Moore’s… family?”

We all stood at once, and voices overlapped. “Here.”

“That’s us.”

“We’re with him.”

The nurse blinked, wide-eyed.

“Uh… wow. Okay. That’s a lot of you. I’ll go check to see if the doctor can speak to everyone at once.”

Pearl looked at me, and her eyes were glassy but hopeful.

“That’s good news, right? We wouldn’t be talking to the doctor if… if he was…”

She couldn’t say it.

And I couldn’t either.

I threaded my fingers through hers and gave her hand a squeeze. That was all I could offer.

Minutes passed like hours.

Then the doctor walked in, green scrubs, tired eyes. He held a clipboard against his chest.

“Ashland Moore’s family?”

“That’s us,”

I said and stepped forward.

“Come on. Let’s move to the corner so we can talk without disturbing everyone else,”

the doctor instructed.

We all moved like a unit and crowded into the far corner of the waiting room. There was no one around but us.

The doctor didn’t waste time.

“Ashland is alive.”

There was a collective release of breath, like someone had popped a balloon holding in all the fear. Skull muttered.

“Thank fuck.”

Vin clapped his hands together. Even Prime seemed to breathe easier.

But the doctor raised his hands to stop the celebrating.

“But he’s nowhere near out of the woods.”

The joy in the room vanished in an instant.

“He lost a lot of blood,”

the doctor explained, his tone serious.

“The knife nicked the carotid artery. If the bleeding hadn’t been slowed down on the scene, and if you hadn’t gotten him here so quickly, he wouldn’t have made it.”

I felt Pearl press closer to me, and Shay grabbed her arm.

“Whoever applied pressure, good job. That likely saved his life,”

the doctor added.

“Shay,”

I said quietly. Pearl nodded in agreement. Shay didn’t say anything, just stared at the floor.

“He was stabilized in the trauma bay, and we’ve closed the artery. But there was a lot of damage. He’s on a ventilator in the ICU right now. We’ll be monitoring his brain activity and keeping an eye on possible swelling or infection. He’s got a long recovery ahead. Best-case scenario, he’s moved to the PCU in a few days. After that, we’ll talk physical therapy.”

“Will he… be the same?”

Prime asked from behind me.

The doctor looked grim.

“We don’t know yet. It’s too early to tell. He’s alive, but that’s all I can promise.”

Pearl made a soft sound, part relief, part grief, and laid her head back against me. I curled my arm around her and nodded at the doctor.

“Thanks for the update.”

He nodded and walked away.

We stood there in silence, no one sure what to say.

The weight of it all pressed down on me like a motherfucker.

Bob was alive, but barely. Bernice was dead. And somewhere out there, the bastard behind this was watching. Playing.

But he’d made a mistake.

He thought this was a game.

He didn’t realize what he’d done.

He made it personal.

He came after my family.

I looked around the waiting room. Skull was talking to Vin in low tones. Lost leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his face unreadable. Shay sat a few chairs away just staring at the clock.

And then Pearl.

Pearl.

My girl.

She turned her face into my shoulder and whispered.

“Do you think Bob’s gonna make it?”

I rested my chin on her head.

“Yeah. He’s stubborn. He’s got something to prove.”

“You promise?”

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep,”

I said honestly.

“But I believe he will.”

She nodded slowly and pulled in a shaky breath.

“I just… I wish I’d gotten to say goodbye to Bernice. Really say it. Not… not like that.”

“I know, doll.”

“She said ‘find her.’”

“I think we’re gonna find out what she meant soon,”

I said.

“Whatever this is… it’s not over.”

Pearl didn’t say anything. She just nodded and curled deeper into my side.

And I stared across the hospital waiting room with murder on my mind.

Whoever this motherfucker was…

They were going to learn just how far the Kings of Anarchy would go when one of our own was taken.