Chapter 24

Sophie

I could see the sign for the hospital lit up down the road. Bear cursed as the traffic light turned red in front of us. It was the last hurdle we had getting to the emergency room. Bear had blown through two of these lights already but he wasn't careless. There was a car waiting at the light so we had to stop this time or end up causing an unnecessary accident.

While the other vehicle slowly moved through the intersection, Bear reached back and patted my knee. Daryl had done that to me many times before when we rode. His was done in love, while Bear's was done to settle me down. I wiped my eyes with my hands knowing I needed to pull myself together. First, I had to find out how bad Daryl was hurt, and then I'd deal with it.

I had to.

The second the car was through the intersection, Bear blew the light. His Harley came roaring up to the ER entrance where two prospects waiting for us. I jumped off first, and then Bear did. Cage, the newest prospect grabbed the bike.

"Do I even need to say it, prospect?" Bear growled.

Cage shook his head. "If I dent, scratch or damage the bike in any way, I'm dead."

"Fucking right. Now, where's everyone?"

"Diesel and Ghost are in the ER getting patched up. Stitch could've done it but they were all in the same van and it was easier to keep everyone here Mace said. Blade, Jet, and Trax were brought into surgery. Most of the club is here and they got us in this waiting room. Follow me," Dutch said.

"Hold up. Cage, you wait here for Colt and Chrissy after you take care of my bike. Take them to Diesel."

The second Bear stopped talking he took my hand and we all ran inside. Dutch got us to the surgical floor waiting room as fast as possible. The second I walked into the waiting room, I was blown away by the number of people in there. Everyone was associated with the club one way or another.

"What's their status?" Bear demanded the second he set foot in the room.

Mace was already on his way toward us. His face was grim not to mention his gray t-shirt under his cut was covered in blood. That's when I sunk in how bad this was. I felt Bear's arm go around my waist to steady me.

"Jet got hit twice in the leg and close to some artery so they are taking the bullets out in the operating room. Blade only got grazed, but when his bike when down, it landed on his leg and broke it. They are setting his leg. It looked like shit, Prez."

"What about Trax?" I pleaded.

The look of concern and sadness in Mace's eyes shook me. "I ain't gonna lie, but he got hit the worst, once in the shoulder, but also his back. When his bike went down, it went down hard. Doc thinks he may hit his head on the pavement. They have him in surgery."

"Oh my, God," I cried. This was really bad. Like really, really bad. I had hoped for better, much better, but this was scary bad. "Was he awake at all?"

Mace shook his head. "Naw. He was unconscious the whole time."

I couldn't help the tears streaming down my cheeks. I knew I should be strong for him, but I was so scared. A pair of arms wrapped around so I turned to see who it was. Sugar gave me a weak smile. "Come sit with me," he said pulling me toward him.

Daryl's brother had us sit on this small sofa while he kept his arm around me. Strangely I found it rather comforting even though his shirt and jeans were covered in blood too.

"What the fuck happened, Mace?" Bear demanded his voice echoing through the room. All conversations came to a standstill.

I watched as the Road Devil's Road Captain's face turn from concerned to furious. "Those Outlaw fucking Knights were lying in wait for us. I have no idea how those fuckers knew we'd be coming through but I'm gonna fucking find out!"

"You take care of them?" Even though it was asked as a question, I knew Bear was making a statement.

Mace looked at me and then back at Bear, "You okay with her knowing club business?"

"Fuck yeah, with this I am. Trax is in surgery because of those assholes. This time she can know what we do to when people fuck with us." Bear then turned to me. "You gonna tell anyone what you hear?"

"Hell no," I said in the strongest voice I could muster and I meant it. Sugar gave my shoulder a slight squeeze.

I watched Mace clench his fists several times. "I was in the lead with Sugar behind me, so we escaped the ambush since they waited until they could get the middle of the pack. More casualties that way. We turned our bikes around and started shooting. Everyone else was down except Raven who was bringing up the rear. He laid his bike down and was firing away too. Those fuckers were hidden in the woods at the side of the road. Then Brick drove the van right in front of them and hit them with the AK-47 he had with him. He razed that area until the clip was empty. Sugar and I then went in and found all but one dead… "

Before Mace could finish Sugar growled, "And I put a bullet right between that fucker's eyes."

"Good. You guys did as well as you could under the circumstances. We'll have church tomorrow morning and come up with a plan for retaliation. They are going to regret fucking with us. They need to pay for killing Cue. The whole motherfucking club will pay. And when we leave here we're going on lockdown so those of you that need to get shit together, start doing it. "

The room filled with dozens of "fuck yeah's" and vows to get revenge for Cue. It was totally selfish of me, but I prayed that Daryl wouldn't fall in that same category as Cue. He had to pull through.

But what was going on lockdown? I didn't know what that meant so I asked Sugar.

"That means the clubhouse is home base to everyone. Wives, kids, ol' ladies and girlfriends all move into the clubhouse for protection. No one leaves until Prez deems it safe or we take the threat out," he explained.

"What about me? I'm not going to leave Daryl here alone. I won't. There's no way in hell I'll do that Sugar." They would have to take me out by force to get me to leave his bedside.

"We'll post guards and I'll be with you, so don't worry. We're not leaving him. No fucking way, Sweet Cheeks."

For a guy that completely creeped me out a few weeks ago, Sugar was definitely growing on me.

For the next two hours, I sat with him as we all waited for someone to tell us what was going on. We had heard updates on Blade and Jet. Both men were in recovery before they would get moved to hospital rooms. Blade's leg had been shattered so he had pins and screws holding it together to help it heal. How well he was going to be able to walk with it was up to him and how he responded to rehab.

The police also made their way up to us. That was the only time that Sugar left me was to head over to Bear and Mace. I watched as Raven joined them too. They were the three that survived the ambush without any injuries. Brick wasn't here, so that made me wonder why.

I watched them all leave the room as they went out into the hall to talk. I was wondering what would happen to these men. From what they told me it was a case of self-defense. Would the police see it that way? I certainly hoped they would.

Twenty minutes later they guys, minus the police came back into the room. Sugar sat next to me with a smirk lifting the corner of his mouth.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him.

"Nothing for you to worry about, Sweet Cheeks."

A few minutes later, Chrissy, Diesel and the rest of the guys that had been in the ER finally made it up to the waiting room. The guys headed straight to where Mace and Bear were standing, while I stood up as Chrissy ran to me.

"How is he?" she cried as we held tightly onto each other.

I couldn't respond. I sobbed in her arms as we were both an emotional mess. Finally, I wiped my eyes pulling back from my cousin. "We got to pull it together, Chrissy. Us being hysterical isn't helping anything."

"You're right. Diesel's okay, so Trax will be too. Have you heard anything?"

I took Chrissy by the hand walking her back to where I had been sitting with Sugar. The biker that was sitting in the chair next to me got up so Chrissy could sit there. "All I know is that he was hit in the shoulder and back…and that's bad. He may have also hit his head on the pavement when the bike went down. He's in surgery and no matter how many times we ask, there's no update until the doctor comes out." Chrissy squeezed my hand in support. "But I'm scared, really scared. If he doesn't make it, I don't know what I'll do."

"None of that Sweet Cheeks. Daryl is one hardheaded stubborn son-of-a-bitch. He's nothing but a survivor and he'll pull through. You just watch. It's pretty fucking hard to take a Dixon down." Apparently, Sugar was listening as I talked to Chrissy. It should have pissed me off, but he was Daryl's brother and knew how strong he was.

I gave him a weak smile. For the next couple of hours, I held onto Chrissy's hand with Sugar's arm around me for support. I think he needed that as much as I did. Guys came and went for cigarette breaks and to get coffee. Phones were answered in hushed tones.

The waiting was killing me. I was so crazy in love with this man that it almost didn't make any sense to me. We had met months ago along the side of a hot Georgia road. I never thought when I got that flat tire that it would lead to this. Without me even knowing anything about him, we ended up having the hottest sex ever in the small backseat of my Honda SUV. I had never done anything like that before and doubted I would ever again.

There was just something about Daryl that made me want him more than I ever wanted a guy before. He was good looking, but guys like that were a dime a dozen. Not even Wolf, who was the best-looking guy I've ever met, made me feel the way Daryl does. It went deeper than just looks, it was how he touched me deep inside as if he touched my soul.

But I fought my attraction to him for a long time. After that night I found out he was a Road Devil and everything got mixed up between us, I thought it would be better to stay away. Him being a member of a motorcycle club was not the type of man I thought I had wanted for myself.

I saw the life that Chrissy led being with Diesel. I was envious of their love, but I hated the unanswered questions he always left her with. When are you coming home? What happened? Where are you going?

His standard answer of "club business" pissed me off. Even though they weren't married by law, they were in the eyes if the club since he claimed her as his ol' lady. Yes, he never shared anything with her. I couldn't do that. Or at least I thought I couldn't. I wanted to be a partner in my guy's life. We would share what was going in and I would be his number one priority, not the damn club.

That's why when Daryl started dropping by the bakery and letting his intentions be known to me, I fought him. As much as I wanted to cave in and be his woman, I fought for myself and held him off. That was until I ran out of fight. My need for him and how he made me feel had wanting to give us a try. If I didn't see what we could be, I knew I'd always regret knowing what being with him would be like. Maybe it would be better than what I saw with Chrissy. Not that Diesel treated her badly or anything, just the opposite, he loved my cousin so much it kept me up half the night with the very sounds that came from their bedroom.

I needed more than that. But Daryl wasn't Diesel. Giving him a chance…giving us a chance was something I had to do.

Then I got myself kidnapped by a serial killer. Lucky me.

Daryl saved me with the help of the club. His ability to track was how he found me and guys were his back-ups. That's what changed my mind for good. He risked his life to save mine, how could I ever doubt how he felt about me after that? I've been in his bed ever since. That was a few weeks ago and in that short time, he has completely stolen my heart.

I've had guys bring me flowers and taken me to fancy dinners and the romance wears off fast. Daryl has shown that he cares for me in many different ways. How he didn't want to leave me after my attack when I told him to go back to work. He takes me riding almost every day on the back of his bike to get me out of the clubhouse. The possessive light touch of his hand on my back, whenever we are around the guys, makes me feel happy.

Sure guys have done that with me before, but not Daryl. Not the man that never showed interest in any other woman before me. That's the man I fell in love with because, besides all of that, no one has ever made me feel as desirable as he does.

And now he's having surgery somewhere in this hospital. I'm praying he's still alive since no one has come to us to say otherwise. I just needed to see him for myself and tell him how much I love him. It won't matter that he may not love me back yet, but he needs to know that I need him to fight for us.

I didn't pay attention when the door to the waiting room opened. Men had been coming and going for hours so I thought it was just that until someone said, "Family of Daryl Dixon?"

Sugar jumped up pulling me toward a woman a white coat and scrubs. "I'm his brother, this here's his wife. How is he?"

Wife? Where did that come from?

"I'm Dr. Fuller. He's stable for now and in recovery. The bullet in his shoulder when clean through and he only had muscle damage. It was the one that went through his back that was a lot trickier. It went in on an odd angle nicking his spleen which was causing serious internal bleeding. I had to remove that then repair his colon which caught the bullet on the way out. We've cleaned up his insides as best as we can, but we need to keep an eye out for sepsis because of the colon damage. He's in recovery now but we gave him two units of blood in the OR to get his hemoglobin levels up. It was touch and go in there for a little bit, but Mr. Dixon's a lucky man."

"When can we see him?" I asked. I felt Bear's hand on my shoulder. He had been listening to every word along with everyone else in the room.

"He'll be in recovery for about an hour, and then moved to a room ICU. He'll be unconscious for a while with the medication I have him on. Rest and sleep is the best thing for him right now. The nurses will be doing neuro checks on him every two hours."

"Why, Doc?" Sugar looked confused, and then I remembered what Mace had said about Daryl possibly hitting his head when the bike went down. Sure they all wore helmets, but that was little protection from the solid pavement when he was riding most likely over the speed limit.

The gruff bikers didn't look like they intimidated this doctor at all. She was a petite woman with dark-rimmed glasses and brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. She was probably in her late thirties at least.

"Daryl has a serious concussion, too. They did a quick MRI when he was in the ER and I've ordered another when he's out of recovery. We're keeping an eye out for a cranial bleed since he has some swelling in his right parietal lobe. He's stable for now, but we aren't out of the woods yet. That's why I want him in ICU. They can keep a better eye on him. Once he's settled in ICU allows one visitor for fifteen minutes every hour. Family only. These next twenty-four hours are the most important. If he makes it through them, it'll be looking really good. If anything changes, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Doc. We appreciate what you and everyone else here did for the boys," Bear said over my shoulder. Halfway through Dr. Fuller explaining what was going on with Daryl, I felt a hand in my shoulder and automatically knew it was Bear. He may be intimidating with his huge stature, long hair, and bushy beard, but the man had been nothing but kind to me since the beginning.

Once the door closed behind the doctor, Bear started throwing out instructions. Everyone was to head back to get the lockdown in place. Extra food was to be brought in. Of course, alcohol too. I ignored the talk of additional guards posted around the clubhouse complex as that was more than I wanted to know.

"Hey, I need an extra man to stay with Sugar and Sophie." I let out a sigh of relief when I realized that Bear wasn't going to try to make me leave.

"I got it."

"Naw, not you Mace. I get it, but you've been up all night as it is. I need you strong and that won't happen if you stay here. Anyone else?" I could tell that Mace wasn't happy, but Bear was right. Sugar's been up all night too, but this was his brother. He had to be here.

"I'm good, Prez. I'll stay as long as you need."

Wolf.

He was someone I was familiar with. And even after that horrible night that I found out Daryl was part of the club, Wolf never held it against me. Plus, it would give me something to do watching the nurses drool over him.

Chrissy and I hugged once more before Diesel's massive arms pulled me close to him. He was balancing on one leg as they had him using crutches for a couple of days to keep the weight off the leg that had gotten shot. I didn't see that lasting long.

"Keep the faith, Soph. Trax is going to make it through this. He knows you are waiting for him and that man isn't stupid enough to let you get away. I'm taking Chrissy home so we can pack up and head to the clubhouse. Stay in touch, okay?"

"I will," I promised them both. One after another the guys all left, but not before each one giving me a short pep talk about Daryl.

"Trax is strong. He's got this."

"That cranky ass son-of-a-bitch ain't going nowhere. He'll wake up just fine."

"Trax is a fighter. Don't you worry, sweetheart."

And the one that made me chuckle, "If Trax don't make it, I'm in the market for a hot ol' lady like…" Wolf pushed the young biker out of the room with a promise to tell Trax what he said when he wakes up. "And expect to get your ass beat!" he yelled after him.

"Dumb ass, kid," he mumbled under his breath as he headed toward the door. "I'll be right outside."

Bear and Colt were the only too left besides Sugar and me. I had the feeling they wanted to talk to me. So much had gone on today that I really wasn't ready for anything else. I looked up at Bear. "What?"

"They think that you're Trax's wife so they're gonna come to you with medical decisions. Sugar covered your ass so that you can go in to see him in ICU since it's family only." That's why he said that. I flashed Sugar a thankful smile. "Except you don't make a decision without running it by Sugar. You may be Trax's ol' lady, but you're not legally shit. You get what I'm saying?"

Really? Do they think I'd make a decision that wasn't good for Daryl? But before I said anything I might regret, I took a quick second to realize where they were coming from. Legally, I had no right to make any decision for him. Only his brother did, but the hospital didn't know that. I would never intentionally leave Sugar…Merle out of the process.

"Sugar will be included in any decision, but if I can't get in touch with him or you, Bear then I'm going to make that decision without either of you. If Daryl's life depends upon it, I sure as hell will."

"I'm good with that, Prez," Sugar conceded.

"Then I am, too. You're a tough one, Sophie, I respect that. Keep me apprised of any changes with Trax." Bear surprised me by pulling me into a quick hug before walking out.

I had expected Colt to walk out behind his president but he didn't. "You're good for Trax and you're a good ol' lady, Sophie. I'll bring Marci by in a few hours. What do you need her to bring you?"

"Oh geez, good idea. My phone charger is by the bed. The cord is hanging over the nightstand. And my Kindle. It's right there too." Colt nodded his head and was out the door before I could even say thank you.

The door closed behind him leaving just Sugar and me in the waiting room. It was eerily quiet now. Ten minutes ago the room was filled with big intimidating bikers, now it was only the two of us.

"Why isn't Wolf in here with us?"

"He's guarding the door. If we were both in here with you we'd all be dead if the OK's came after us. They declared war when they set up that ambush. Prez has gotta figure out how they knew we'd be out that night. Those fuckers are as good as dead with what why did. We'll be taking that club down to hell." The enormity of what Sugar said was starting to hit me. This was going to be something I never expected to ever have to deal with. What happens when your MC goes to war?

"Oh, and all of that falls under 'club business' so don't you go telling anybody. Got it, Sweet cheeks?"

"Got it."

Time seemed to slow down as we waited for someone to come bring us to Daryl. This time when the door opened up, I quickly looked up from the two-year-old magazine I was trying to read and saw a nurse smiling at us. "I'm here to bring you up to ICU," she said with a hesitant smile.

By the time we made it to another waiting room, Sheri, the nurse, was putty in Wolf's hand. She showed us the waiting room, but both men waited like sentries outside the electronic doors that lead into the ICU. Sugar had told me to spend the entire fifteen minutes with him, that next time he'd go in for a few and leave me the rest. I was really changing my opinion about this man.

Sheri brought me to a room that was all glass right across from the nurse's station. Privacy curtains surround the room so it could be closed off if needed. I quickly walked over to the bed and stared in shock at the man lying unconscious in it. Daryl looked nothing like the person I had seen twenty-four hours ago. My hand automatically went to my mouth as I took in what had happened to the man I loved.

He was bare-chested in bed with the sheet and light blanket pulled up to his waist. He had wires hooked all over his chest for what I assumed was to keep an eye on his heart. He had an IV in one arm and a blood pressure cuff on the other. His handsome face was so pale that it scared me so much that I reached out to touch it afraid it would be cold, but it wasn't. He was warm and even though the machines were quietly beeping away he looked close to death.

He had scratches and cuts all over his face and hands. I could only imagine how bad it hurt with he went down on his bike. There was a large bandage on his left shoulder and an even bigger one on his lower belly. The slow rise of his chest as he breathed through the oxygen mask helped to keep me somewhat grounded.

I walked around the bed so I could take his right hand in mine. "Baby, I'm here. You keep sleeping until you feel better. Dr. Fuller said these next twenty-four hours are crucial for you to get through. Fight Daryl. Fight for yourself and fight for me. You're the man I've waited all these years for and I'm not going let you get away. I love you, baby. Just don't give up, because I need you with me. I love you, Daryl. God, I love you so much."

My tears were dripping onto his hand as I held it to my cheek. The first thing I would tell him when he woke up was how much I loved him. I didn't even care if he didn't love me back yet, but he had to know how I felt.

I stayed there holding his hand crying until Sheri came to let me know that the visiting time was up. She promised to come and get me when it was time again. I thought it was awful sweet of her to do that until I realized that it was also giving her a few seconds with Wolf. She had no idea that all that man wanted was to get in her pants then get gone.

The guys followed me to the new waiting room. Wolf once again stayed outside to guard us. Sugar followed me into the room. "How was he?" he asked.

All I could do was sob into his arms. This was going to be hell waiting to see if Daryl made it through the next day. I had to find the strength to deal with this. I had no other choice.