Cohen: King's Descendants MC #5 Page 19

  Her voice is so pained it makes me feel like I might just vomit. I cross my arms and rub them, trying to make my body feel just a touch better than it feels right now. It doesn’t work. I still feel as though I’m going to lose it and start screaming at any second.

  “Did you see him die?” Alarick asks her, his voice quieter when he speaks.

  “No, but...he couldn’t have lived. He couldn’t have. You didn’t see it.”

  Alarick glances at Bohdi, and in a careful voice, he orders him to call the local hospitals.

  Could Samson still be alive?

  I don’t want to allow myself to even hold hope because it’ll be even more crushing if it isn’t the case...but...miracles do happen. They happen every day. Look at me, I never thought I’d be here, I never thought this would be how my life ended up after I was given to that monster, but here I am.

  Do I dare hope?

  Bohdi starts making calls, and we all wait with baited breath as he hangs up from each hospital with a shake of his head. It’s the last hospital he calls that he turns towards the window and starts speaking in a low voice. Then, he hangs up and turns towards us. “There is a man in critical condition in surgery right now that matches his description.”

  “Let’s move,” Alarick says. “Bohdi, you and Mykel stay here and keep an eye on that fuck. Girls, go back to your room and let that poor girl rest. We’ll keep you updated.”

  I nod and help Briella and Merleigh take Lilian from the room. They take her to another room while I stop and glance at Cohen, who is pacing up and down the hall, anger in his eyes, tension in his body. I walk towards him, taking the risk that he might lose it at me, and reach out when I get to him and take his face in my hands. “There is a man in the hospital matching Samson’s description. He’s in surgery. They’re going to see him now.”

  Cohen’s eyes widen, and he murmurs in a low, broken tone. “Is it him?”

  “I hope so.”

  “Fuck,” he exhales. “I can’t take this feelin’, Aviana.”

  “I know, honey. I know you can’t.”

  “It fuckin’ hurts. Feels like my damned heart is bein’ torn from my chest.”

  “I know,” I say softly, leaning up to kiss him. “Go with them, see if it’s him. Stay by his side. I love you.”

  The words come out without thought, and I stiffen. I didn’t expect those feelings to even be real, let alone those words to come out so naturally, but they did, and they feel...well...okay. Perhaps I’ve always loved Cohen. Perhaps the anger has simmered down and let those emotions free? I don’t know. All I know is that at this moment, I mean it one hundred percent.

  “You love me?” he asks, his eyes searching my face.

  “I do, yes.”

  It’s the truth.

  The beautiful truth.

  “Fuck,” he murmurs, leaning in to kiss me. “Love you too, babe.”

  Shit.

  Those words.

  They hit me right in the feels.

  I have to fight a whole lot harder to keep those tears at bay now.

  “Go,” I say, my voice croaky. “Go and be with him.”

  Cohen kisses me again, and then he’s gone.

  This day has been both the worst and, weirdly, the best...

  Today, I started to find myself again.

  Today, I began to remember who I am.

  Today, I fully found my freedom.

  22

  NOW – COHEN

  “He’s in critical condition. We don’t know if he’ll make it through the night, let alone the next twenty-four hours. If he does, his chances are a lot higher. If he doesn’t, you’ll have to consider the chance that he won’t wake up from this. He was in a bad way. He had been shot eight times, yet only one of those shots hit his lung. We were able to repair that, but he had severe internal bleeding and serious damage to his body. He took a hard hit to the head, which has caused significant swelling. You need to be aware that the chances are incredibly high that he won’t come out of this alive. If he does, he may very well be a different man to the one you know.”

  We stare at the doctor, hearts in our fucking throats.

  It’s Samson. The man they just operated on. Alarick was able to look and confirm for them and give them some information on him.

  It’s not looking good.

  The doctor doesn’t believe he’ll pull through.

  Fucking terrifying thought, considering he knows what he’s talking about.

  Samson is a fighter, strong, and fucking determined, but can you fight past eight fucking bullet wounds?

  I’ll find whoever shot him.

  I’ll fucking kill them if they’re not already dead yet.

  “Thank you,” Alarick says. “When can we see him?”

  “You can see him one at a time, very briefly. He needs the rest.”

  Alarick nods, and the doctor leaves, telling us he’ll keep us updated. Alarick goes in to see Samson first. Kendric and I sit, both of us staring at the fucking bland hospital walls, neither of us saying a damned thing. He’s our brother. He did the wrong thing by the club, betrayed our trust, but he’s our fucking family, and he didn’t deserve the shit he was put through.

  I don’t fucking pray, but right now, I’m pleading with whoever is listening to let my brother live.

  Let him see his daughter.

  Let him piece his life back together again.

  “He didn’t even fuckin’ get the chance to look into his baby girls' eyes,” Kendric murmurs, staring at his hands.

  “Gotta believe he’ll get that chance, brother,” I say.

  “If he doesn’t?”

  He looks to me now.

  “Then we make sure she knows him, we make sure she’s safe, we make sure she is always taken care of in the way he would want.”

  Kendric looks away. “What the fuck was he thinkin’?”

  “He was thinkin’ he wanted to get his baby out. He was thinkin’ he didn’t trust anyone else to do that. He was thinkin’ he owed it to everyone to be the person to go in and get her. He was tryin’ to fix his wrongs.”

  “He didn’t have to fuckin’ do that,” he growls.

  “Yeah, brother, he did. For himself, he did.”

  “And now he might fuckin’ die! So what was it worth?”

  I don’t say anything else.

  Truth is, nothing I say will make him feel any better.

  He’s fucking broken. We all are.

  “All we can do is be here, brother,” I say carefully. “That’s all we’ve got left.”

  Kendric nods and then goes back to sitting in silence.

  Alarick comes out a minute later, his face hard, his body wound up tight. We both stand and walk over.

  “How’s he doin’?” I ask.

  “I don’t fuckin’ know how he’s alive. He looks defeated. Dead. Broken.”

  “We need to get his girl in here,” Kendric rasps. “We need to get her talkin’ to him. She’s the only thing that’ll pull him out of this.”

  “You’re right about that,” Alarick agrees. “Give her time to rest, and we’ll get her in here. Do you want to go in there? Not much to see, he’s got fuckin’ tubes comin’ out of him everywhere, and he’s pale as a ghost.”

  “No,” I shake my head. “Let’s get the girl.”

  “Agreed,” Kendric nods. “The girl.”

  Here goes nothing.

  “SHE HAS BEEN IN THERE for hours. Have we heard anything yet?” Aviana asks, walking towards me with a tray of coffee in her hands.

  Waverly and Mykel come over and take a coffee before sitting back down. We’ve all spoken enough, talked enough, fucking cried enough. Now, we’re just waiting and praying that he’s going to wake up. It has been sixteen hours. The doctor said if it goes past twenty-four and he isn’t awake, the chances of him coming out of this get lower and lower.

  We’re watching the clock.

  Fuck.

  Please wake up, brother.

  “Nothin
’,” I answer Aviana. “Nothin’ at all.”

  “I hope this works,” she says softly.

  “You and me both, babe. How are you holdin’ up? You haven’t rested for fuckin’ days, Aviana. You need to go home and sleep.”

  “Without you?” She shakes her head. “No.”

  “I’m good here.”

  “So am I.”

  Stubborn girl.

  I fucking love her for it, though.

  “Have you been watching the news?” she asks, sitting down on a squeaky chair in the hall.

  I sit beside her, holding the hot coffee between my hands, liking how it gives me a feeling of warmth.

  “Yeah,” I answer. “Been seein’ it all. Benedict was right, they took it as those men turning on each other and it ending in a blood bath. They’re braggin’ about bringing down one of the biggest operations in the state. Gotta love how they take all the credit.”

  Aviana snorts. “Yeah, better them than us, though. I’m glad we weren’t there. It looked dangerous.”

  “Yeah, it was. Has Alarick released Benedict?”

  “Not until he knows Samson is going to pull through, and we can have him transferred back home. Then he’ll set him free. Zariah did say that Kendric’s lawyer has contacted him and told him they had received new evidence against Dax and that his charges were being dropped, which is incredible news. He has to go and deal with it when he gets home, but so far, it’s looking really positive for him.”

  “That’s fuckin’ great news,” I exhale with relief.

  Kendric never deserved to be done for that crime.

  He took one for the team, but without Dax around, he was it.

  I guess now they see that he wasn’t part of it at all.

  “He was standin’ by the body, and he did confess. Is that going to affect him?” I ask her.

  “Yeah, I mean, that’s what he’s got to go back for. It may still go to trial, but with Dax dead, there is a chance it won’t because, well, who will they convict? I guess Kendric has to come up with something to prove his innocence. I’m sure Zariah has that covered. Also, Benedict has his top men working on it, so we can almost guarantee they’re going to wipe the slate clean on that case.”

  “Powerful man that one,” I mutter.

  “Yeah, he really is.”

  The doors open, and a doctor walks out with Lilian by his side. My heart leaps into my fucking throat, but when that beautiful girl smiles, I know she is about to share something pretty incredible.

  “He’s awake,” she says, her voice soft and quiet. “He’s okay.”

  “Doctor?” I ask, holding my breath as if that’ll make any fucking difference at all.

  The doctor nods. “So far, it’s looking good. He is able to tell us his name and what happened. His vitals are strong, though it’s a long recovery he has ahead. I am confident now that he might very well make a full recovery.”

  Aviana squeezes my hand. I didn’t even feel her grab it.

  Waverly turns and hugs Mykel, and the two of them stand there like that for a while.

  Bohdi smiles, small and weak, but a smile.

  I’ve never even seen him get close to a smile.

  “I’d like him to rest, but you can all see him in a few hours. Go home, get some sleep, and we’ll keep you updated.”

  Aviana walks over and carefully hugs Lilian, who buries her face into her shoulder. That girl is a rock in all the ways it counts, and I fucking love her. Lilian is a little battler, and she’s going to go a long way with us by her side.

  I guess things are working out after all.

  Fucking finally.

  23

  NOW – AVIANA

  “I am so damned glad to be home,” I exhale as we pull into Alarick and Briella’s driveway.

  It has been a long few days home. We have all taken turns in driving just so we could get here quicker. Nobody stopped. We slept and drove. That was it.

  Benedict was released when we were packed and ready to head out of town. Angelica was brought to him, and the deal was made. We would all go our separate ways, and that would be the end of it. So far, it seems Benedict has held up his end of the deal. I didn’t doubt he would, but with a man that powerful, it’s hard to ever truly know if he’s going to come back and bite you sometime in the future.

  Luckily for us, he hasn’t.

  Yet.

  Still, in the end, it’s all over.

  Finally.

  “I can’t wait to climb into that bed,” Briella exhales, yawning. “I’m so tired.”

  God, I feel that.

  All I want to do is sleep.

  Samson was transferred back as soon as he was stable enough to handle the flight, and will be waiting for us in our local hospital. He’s doing well. Lilian hasn’t left his side. Seeing them together, it’s absolutely beautiful and also incredibly heartbreaking. I know why he betrayed everyone to get her back. Why the hell wouldn’t you? They’re going to have an incredible bond. I just know it.

  For now, Lilian is going to stay with Zariah, who she is incredibly close to. I guess because Zariah is the first person she saw and the person she trusts the most right now. I’m glad she has someone, god knows her road to recovery will take a while. We don’t even know her full story yet, or how she got in the hands of those monsters. I know one thing for certain, though. That haunts you forever.

  Even now that I’ve made peace, those demons still linger inside me.

  Cohen puts his hand on my leg, and I jerk out of my thoughts. I turn to him and smile. He looks exhausted, and I’m sure he’s looking forward to bed, too.

  “Are you going to stay with me?” I ask.

  He nods. “I’m not fuckin’ goin’ anywhere, babe.”

  That makes me happy.

  So incredibly happy.

  “I’m glad to hear it. I’m starting to think I could sleep for days.”

  He leans in closer, his hand running up my leg. “Not until I’m done with you.”

  His voice is gravelly, and my word, it does things to me. I shiver and turn, finding his lips and kissing him. He growls against my mouth, and I bite his lip when he tries to deepen the kiss.

  “Get a room you two, fuck,” Alarick mutters.

  Briella laughs. “Leave them. They’re so super cute. Remember when we were younger, and we used to talk about these guys. You always did like Cohen best.”

  I grin. “Don’t make his head bigger than it already is.”

  “You talked about us, huh?” Cohen murmurs into my ear. “What did you say?”

  “We don’t ever talk and tell,” I chuckle. “Sorry, honey.”

  “I will tell you this,” Briella laughs. “She was a wild one. You were never getting away from her.”

  We all laugh.

  Alarick pulls into the house, and slowly, we pile out of the truck and go inside, bags in hand. The guys go to have a shower, and we prepare some lunch to have before we all fall into those deliciously soft beds and pass out until tomorrow. I can’t fucking wait.

  “I’m glad you two are together,” Briella tells me, sliding a sandwich in my direction as she cuts the ingredients for the next ones.

  “Me, too,” I smile, taking a bite.

  “I’m glad you’re back, too. I hope now this is all over, the two of us can find that friendship we lost. I have really missed it.”

  I stare at her and give her a small smile. “I think we can do that. I’ve missed it, too.”

  The relief in her face makes me happy.

  I do want our friendship back. I want it all back.

  My whole life.

  “Have you heard any more from Romeo?” Briella asks, taking a bite of her own sandwich.

  “Yeah, he has text me a few times. He’s coming this way next week with all the documents, and he asked if we can hang out and get to know each other. It’s so weird, knowing I have a brother...”

  “He seems like a nice guy. I’m sure you two will grow close. It’s good for you to ha
ve a family again.”

  “Yeah,” I nod. “It really is.”

  “Did he deal with the men who were after you?”

  I nod. “Alarick said he was happy to take care of it, and he confirmed he had a few days ago. I guess with everything going on, I didn’t even think too much about it. I’m glad that’s over though.”

  “I can imagine, it must feel nice to finally be safe.”

  It really does.

  “What are you two yabberin’ about?”

  We turn and see Alarick and Cohen walking into the room, both shirtless, both with their wet hair falling around their faces. My god, we’re two lucky ladies. My eyes move down Cohen’s body, across those tight muscles and damp skin. Suddenly, I don’t have an appetite for food. I have an appetite for him.

  I stand, taking our two plates of sandwiches.

  “I’m going to finish these in my room,” I say, locking eyes with the gorgeous man in front of me.

  He grins and extends his arm. “Lead the way.”

  Oh, yummy.

  Bring. It. On.

  “HOW ARE YOU FEELING, Lilian?” I ask, smiling at her as she sits on the sofa at the club.

  “I’m okay,” she says softly. “It’s weird, being here with all of you. I never thought...”

  I know that feeling.

  She never thought she would ever escape.

  I give her my warmest expression. “You’re here now, and you’re family. We’re going to make sure you have everything you need.”

  She smiles at me. “I know, you have all been so nice.”

  “How’s your dad?”

  She nods and then rolls her eyes. “He hates being in the hospital. He’s grumpy, but I like him a lot.”

  I laugh. “They’re all grumpy sometimes, honey. That’s just bikers.”

  Her smile widens.

  I go to the bar to grab another drink.

  Alarick has put on a cookout to welcome Lilian to the family. It’s nice being back here, all together, finally feeling free from the pressure the entire situation was bringing.

  “How do you feel now we’re home?” Merleigh asks me when I approach the bar.