Page 7 of Viper (The Dark Angel’s MC #4)

Lake

Callum puts the sirens on before pressing his foot down, swerving around cars we were driving behind as the sirens blare above to give us a clear pathway, and I swallow hard.

Kids are a difficult one for me. All I have to do is picture Tate, and my heart sinks every time. Right now, even though I know she’s with her Grammie at her therapy appointment, I have the urge to message Skylar to make sure it isn’t her.

Poor Tate cannot be near a brother without screaming after being taken by a traitor prospect. I looked into people who can help kids that have dealt with trauma, and they agreed to meet her.

A car beeps and Callum curses as I look ahead at the scene before me, several people surrounding the small body on the road.

Damn, what kind of person would hit a kid and then flee the scene?

Callum quickly stops at the scene, and I climb out, grabbing my bag before rushing over to the crowd the police are trying to push back.

“Make room please,” I shout when they don’t see me, too busy looking at the carnage and the crowd separates before my eyes land on a little blonde haired girl lying on the concrete and my heart sinks seeing the blood coming from her head.

Near the body a woman who looks like her sobs from beside her, holding a tissue to the wound.

Callum kneels next to the girl, prompting the mother to move, and I kneel on her other side, grabbing my monitor to check her oxygen and pulse rate. I quickly attach it to her finger and press a few buttons as I take in her injuries.

Crap, her shoulder is definitely dislocated by the angle it’s currently in.

“What’s her name?” Callum asks while I continue to assess the girl's very severe injuries.

She has a broken arm, cuts and grazes all over her right side. That’s the side that took the most impact, and a major wound to the back of her head.

The mother sobs, “Trisha…”

“Trisha, can you hear me?” Callum asks, and I grab my penlight before gently but quickly pulling her eyelids up and shining the light back and forth to see if there’s any reaction, and my heart sinks.

No pupil response.

My monitor beeps indicating it’s picked up something, and I look at it and state, “SATS 65 over 45 and dropping, we need to move her now,” hoping she could have some hope in the hospital.

Callum nods as loud roars of bikes echo, and we all look up to see the club brothers driving past with Blade in front.

He furrows his brows and slows down when noticing me. I give him a nod so he knows I’m alright and don’t need my father, because let's face it, he will call him and he nods back, then speeds up before a certain biker rides past me.

Jaylen slows, his brows furrowing seeing me, and my heart races as it always does when we lock eyes, but I break the connection first, looking down at the little girl, not needing to get angry right now.

“You alright?” Callum murmurs, but I shake my head and reply, “Let’s just save this little girl.”

He nods before a continuous beep echoes, and I state, “We have no pulse,” and I get my paddles out as Callum grabs the baggy, placing the mask over the little girl's mouth, and the mother cries her heart out, absolute gut-wrenching screams echoing around us as we start CPR.

My chin trembles as I sit in my car, staring at nothing, my emotions too much to handle.

We lost her.

Five years old, so much life ahead of her, and she’s dead. All because a guy who was in a rush to pick his mother up from the airport wasn’t paying attention to the pedestrian crossing.

The police managed to track him down at the side of the road, crying while his phone was ringing continuously. He didn’t realize he hit her until he was ten minutes away from the airport, and it hit him like a ton of bricks.

My tears fall, the mother's screams still echoing in my head, her pleading with me not to stop CPR after twenty minutes.

Callum had to transport her to the hospital so a doctor could call the time of death. The mother was inconsolable, claiming we weren’t doctors and didn’t know what we were doing, claiming we were killing her daughter.

Five, she was five years old.

I sniffle as I grab my phone and wake it up, a picture of Jaylen and me on our fourth date at the beach coming into view. He’s grinning at the camera with his arms around my waist from behind, and I’m looking up at him with nothing but love.

I sniffle again and unlock my phone, another picture coming into view of Jaylen grinning at me in his swim shorts, his tattoos on display.

Shaking my head, I go to my contacts to call my dad, but instead, I stop on Jaylen’s name.

“You ever need me, day or night, I want you to call me, do you understand?” he whispers against my lips as we stand near my broken-down truck.

Smoke or steam, or whatever it was, blew from under the hood, and the engine light came on while I was on the freeway. I called my dad, but he didn’t answer, so I called the shop's number, but hung up when Jaylen stopped next to me in his car with a raised brow.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to bother you,” I reply quietly, and he snorts, “Shorty, hearing from you is the highlight of my day.”

“Shorty, huh?” I breathe, trying not to melt at his feet with his words, and he grins, “Yeah, you’re fucking tiny but you’re all mine.”

Damn…

I melt and press my lips against his, feeling so lucky to have caught such an amazing guy.

More tears fall at the memory, and I hover over Jaylen’s name, the urge to call him consuming me, and without a second thought, I wipe away my tears and press on his name before putting the device to my ear.

“Please answer,” I whisper as the phone rings and rings, but absolute pain filters through me as his automated voicemail picks up.

I hang up, dropping my phone on my lap as a sob breaks through, the realization we really are over hitting me, the anger I felt that he never told me he was a brother disappearing while the agony that he slept with Cherri then kissed Caitlyn tears through me.

All the feelings I tried to suppress with anger are slowly coming out, and I can’t seem to stop them, losing that little girl making them pour out.

My phone rings and I lift it to see it’s Ivy.

Now, why did I suddenly hope it would be Jaylen?

Sniffling, I answer, “Hey girlie…”

I hear Hudson in the background, and I smile a little before Ivy says, “Hey, you, I had a phone call…”

I sniffle and question, “Callum?”

She hums, “No, but he did message about ten minutes ago. Viper called a few hours ago when the brothers were filling up and mentioned I need to be on standby because you were working on a child, and then I got the text from Callum.”

I choke on a sob as my tears fall, my heartbreak pulling me deep under because he’s not going to be there for me anymore, all the anger, worthless, because he’s done.

“Come over, Lake,” Ivy whispers, and I shake my head even though she can’t see me, but she demands, “Come over now, you don’t need to go near the clubhouse, just turn left and continue on the track after pulling into the gates. Come over now.”

“Cupcake?” I hear Psycho in the background, and she replies, “Lake lost a patient, a five year old little girl.”

I hear a rustle, then Psycho demands, “Get your ass here or I’ll come find you myself.” I sniffle, trying to control my emotions, and Psycho snaps, “Now, Lake!”

“Okay,” I choke and hang up before throwing my phone on the seat beside me and gripping the steering wheel, taking deep breaths before starting my truck, then pulling out of the parking lot, knowing he’ll come find me if I don’t.

Twenty minutes later, I pull up to the clubhouse gates to see them already open and Psycho waiting on his bike.

He nods to the track, and I nod back and continue on the route for a few minutes.

We drive past Dark Angel’s Motors into what looks like a housing estate.

I see Ivy standing outside of a Victorian-style home and pull up on the sidewalk before climbing out of my truck.

She meets me at my door and instantly takes me in her arms, and I sob, holding her tightly as Psycho pulls up next to us.

“It’s okay…” Ivy whispers, but I shake my head and sob, “It isn’t, I couldn’t save her.”

She holds me tighter, giving me the strength I need to hold myself up before she pulls back and cups my cheeks, ordering, “You’re staying here tonight, no exception, got it?”

I nod, my tears falling before I admit, “My anger, it’s no longer shielding me Ives.”

Her eyes soften, and she confirms, “You're finally allowing yourself to feel the heartbreak?”

“Not intentionally,” I admit, “but losing that little girl, all I wanted to do was call him and I did, but he didn’t answer. We really are over Ivy…”

“Ah, Lake,” Ivy whispers, pulling me back into her arms, and I cry, “I feel so lost and confused, and I can’t breathe.”

“Fuck,” I hear Psycho curse as his woman holds me tight to her and guides me towards her home as my body trembles with my sobs.

Why did he do this, why did he hurt me this way?

Why wasn’t I enough for him to fight his demons?