I have returned!
So, a combination of life semi getting its act together and the fact that Sons is coming to an end very soon, I have a mighty need to get this story finished. Have had this crap in my head for way too long and am finally able to managing to get it out, so best try to catch up.
Now, I was originally going to just pick up where I had stopped. Even began writing a bit for a new chapter. And then came to the conclusion that there was too much shit I wasn't happy with. When I had started this story, I didn't have Season Five on hand, and so I missed a few things that should have been added. Since I actually have the season on hand I decided I'd rather go back and add/edit things instead of just trying to go with what I had originally written.
An upside to choosing to edit the story and repost every chapter is that with there being 14 chapters done already, it'll be a quick job to edit them and get them all posted once more. So you can all look forward to multiple updates throughout the week.
To anyone that is returning to this story, great to have you guys back! I'm sure it's been so long that it'll be like you're reading this story for the first time. If not, I envy your memory retention. Teach me your ways.
Without further ado, let's get to reading!
It was all one huge mistake. She should have kept to herself. Just called the police and stayed in her car. It would have been so simple and then she'd have been able to drive off, stay out of it all. But instead she did so much more. More than calling the police. More than driving away.
Maddie had let that conniving humanity in her pull at her strings and she had found herself kneeling in a growing pool of blood.
She looked down at her knees as she sat in the sickly clean hospital. She was doing her best not to touch anything. Her hands were stained with drying blood and the knees of her pants were soaked through with more. Her hair desperately needed to be pulled back in a ponytail, but seeing the blood covering her, she figured her hair was the least of her worries.
With a clouded mind, Maddie looked up to the nurse that was speaking to her, ushering her to a room where she could get cleaned up.
"When you're finished, I'll take you to your fiancé," the nurse told her with a warm smile, rubbing lightly at her arm, avoiding the blood that covered her. I must look like Carrie, Maddie thought.
The click of the door thundered through Maddie's head as she looked around the room, finding an empty hospital bed. A nurse's scrub top was folded and sat at the edge of it. She went first into the restroom attached to the room, turning the water on. The blood began to streak off from her skin, splattering down into the sink. She reached out to the soap dispenser, taking more than was needed, rubbing harshly at her hands and arms. Looking up to her reflection Maddie took an unsteady breath, thoughts rolling uncomfortably over where her humanity had gotten her. For a moment she looked down to the sink, the face of that man coming into her head. Much as she wanted to change her clothing and leave the hospital, Maddie eventually found herself being led by a nurse to another room. She sat in the chair next to the hospital bed, listening as various machines hummed and beeped around her. She stared at the man that lied under the sheets, his eyes closed, chest rising steadily. His head was wrapped in bandages; knicks and cuts covered his arms.
Over and over her eyes trailed the scars that graced his face. Cheek to cheek. She stared at the tattoos that inked his arms and chest. She wanted to leave before he awoke. But something told her sitting there at his side was the safest place for her at that moment. What if the others came looking for her? They wouldn't dare come into a hospital, would they?
The nurse had asked if there was anyone they should call when Maddie and he had first arrived. She had been quick to say no. And she had been quick to blurt that she was his fiancé, so that she'd be allowed access to him. She had to admit, it had been clever of her. And very foolish. Maddie slid back in the chair, feeling herself sinking further into whatever this mess was.
She had looked at his wallet. Filip Telford. The kutte he had been wearing should have been enough to get Maddie back into her car, to wait there for the police and ambulance to arrive. But that would have required her to actually call 911; no, instead she had stayed there with him until it was too late to do anything else but run.
She had been returning home to Charming from Stockton, done for the day and evening at university. She had been thinking how glad she was she only had to make this trip twice a week, staring through her front windshield as the headlights streaked out over the road. Things would have been much easier if she would just move to Stockton, but then she'd be paying rent every month whereas in Charming she had a paid off house to call home.
Maddie had slowed as she approached a curve, knowing there was a slow decline off to the right and hunched trees blocked her view round the corner. If it hadn't been for the faint glance she caught of a red taillight she would have never stopped.
Cautiously Maddie slowed and pulled off to the side, pulling herself up against he steering wheel, looking out the passenger window. She could see the outline of a motorcycle tossed in the dirt and leaves. Her brow scrunched as she then saw something that didn't look like part of the earth.
"Shit," she muttered, reaching into her pockets, trying desperately to find her phone. Her eyes kept glancing back over to the person that lied in the leaves. Panic set in and Maddie pulled herself from her car, legs leading her off the road. She knelt next to the man, hands in the air, unsure if she should touch him. Even in the dark she could see the blood that covered him. Carefully, she reached out towards his head, her fingers grazing him, coming back slick with blood. Instantly her hand found its way back to his head, staying there as if to stop the bleeding, to hold everything in place. She felt at his neck, trying to find a pulse. For a second she smiled like a fool when she could feel the thudding of his pulse. "Hey. Hey, can you hear me?" she asked, leaning over the man. She scooted closer to him. Halting, Maddie looked down to her knees, feeling something cold and wet coming through her jeans. She gasped as she followed the dark shadow back to the man's side. With a fear, she reached out, touching at him. She pulled back the jacket he wore and could see the glisten of blood.
The man began to groan and suddenly Maddie's heart was in her head, beating loudly.
"I have to get you to a hospital," she said, though the words were more for herself. The man needed help, quickly. She began speaking aloud, saying everything. "I'm going to pull you up, I have to get you to my car. We have to get to the hospital." Saying every word, every thought, it was the only thing keeping Maddie from hysterics at that moment.
She grunted and strained, pulling the man against her, dragging him up the incline and towards her car. The man cried out as her grip of him tightened. She held onto him the best she could, fighting against the slickness the blood was making of them both. Maddie managed to get him to the passenger side of her car, leaning him against it as she opened the door. It was clumsy and awkward as she climbed into the car backwards, dragging the man with her. Once he was in the seat, Maddie rushed back to the other side and for a moment just stared. Breathing hard, she reached out quickly, pulling at his jacket and the kutte that went over it. She yanked both off, tossing the kutte to the back while she wrapped the jacket around the man's stomach, tying a knot in it. She pushed gently at his side. Maybe this would help slow the bleeding. From the corner of her eye Maddie could see the reaper on that kutte staring up at her from the backseat. A worry set in her eyes, looking over the man.
And then her feet were moving again. She rushed to the driver's side. Throwing the car into drive, she looked from the road to the man and back again. She fumbled with her pockets once again, searching for that phone. Her eyes darted downwards, seeing it resting in the cupholder. Taking her eyes off the road, she reached down for it. Her heart froze as a car came rushing towards her. She jerked the wheel, straightening the car back out. She was breathing a sigh of relief when she looked up into the rearview mirror, seeing breaklights flash brightly. The squeal of tires could be heard as the car turned around.
Maddie felt herself go cold as the car gained on her. Out of panic her foot pressed harder at the gas. She could hear the gunshots, hollow in her ears, and feel as the bullets ripped through her car. Afterwards, at the hospital, when the cops had come to get her statement, Maddie wasn't sure what had happened, why it had happened. All she could tell them was that the car gained on them, coming up on her side, and her car had—she had—jerked the wheel, crashing into the black SUV, sending it off the road. Even after the gunfire had stopped and lights were no longer in her mirrors Maddie kept driving like a madwoman.
Arriving at the hospital, she fought the fear that was keeping her from moving. And once again she found she moved on autopilot. Coming round to the passenger side Maddie yanked the door open and stared at the man. Her hands ran over him before she stepped back and looked at the door, seeing no bullet holes.
A commotion reached her ears, coming from the entrance to St. Thomas. She looked quickly to the man and then up to the nurses rushing towards them. Without thought, Maddie searched for the man's wallet. She unhooked it from the chain on his pants. Moving as quickly as she could, her eyes darted over an ID. Filip Telford. She shoved the wallet into her back pocket as the nurses reached her car.
And the lies just came pouring from her mouth. Questions were being asked of her and Maddie's mouth opened and closed on its own. I was following him home. Someone ran him off the road. I didn't see who it was. They just drove off. Please, you have to help him. They asked her relation to him and Maddie didn't even flinch. He's my fiancé. His name's Filip. Please, help him. There was no need for her to feign the panic in her voice.
She stood back and watched as Filip was carted off into the building. She slammed the car door shut, rushing over to the driver's side. She parked as far back in the lot as she could, away from the lamps that leered down towards her from high up above. Again, her brain worked all on its own; she opened the back door, grabbing at the kutte and looking over it. Sons of Anarcy. Scotsman. Sgt. At Arms. Maddie shoved it under the seat and closed the door. Feeling the cold wind at her back, she ran quickly to the hospital.
And now she sat at the bedside of a man she did not know. The echo of the gunshots returned to her head, fading in and out. She looked down at her hands, now free of the blood, yet she could somehow still feel her skin covered in it. With a shaky hand she pushed her hair behind her ears.
She had been told that Filip would be fine. He'd recover. The doctors had removed a bullet from his side. After telling her this, the cops had arrived and began asking questions. Again, the lies came easily to her. Mingled with some truth. She told them that a car had rushed past her, coming up alongside Filip. She heard popping noises and then the car forced Filip off the road.
Being left alone with the man now, Maddie hadn't a clue what to do. In her mind, she was positive that the men in the other car had seen her. They had tailed her long enough they probably even had her plate number. What if the men in that car weren't dead? What if they came looking for her? She was afraid to even walk out of the hospital. With slow movements, Maddie pulled the wallet from her pocket and opened it again, going through everything in it. She then stood and walked over to where Filip's belongings had been placed. She glanced over her shoulder to him before picking through it, finding a phone. Flipping it open, Maddie searched the contacts, but there weren't any. She frowned. No names. There were numbers, but they were only titled by single digits. 1, 2, 3, and so on. The frown deepened.
She walked back over to Filip's side, sitting slowly in the chair. She watched him for a moment.
The cell in her hand began to vibrate and the ringing filled the room. The lit screen showed a single number. 2. Maddie watched Filip's sleeping form as she flipped the phone open and held it up to her ear.
What was the point of not answering?
Moment she spotted him out there on the road she was in too deep.
And that is the first chapter. Hope all you new readers enjoyed it.
As all us authors always mention, reviews are like cookies to us. We can't say no. We only say yes. Yes, as we hoard them all.
