Page 13 of Bruiser's Reckoning

I’m willing to bet that’s the one Gwyneth was subjected to endure. I won’t know without confirmation. “Why don’t we give Simon a visit and find out if he knows anything about it.”

“I’ll send Axe and Gunner to talk to him,” Hammer says in a way of agreeing and jerks his chin toward Cy. “What else do you got?”

“Nothing much,” Cy answers. “She works her shifts. She is damn good at her job, according to the records I’ve read. In the past eight years, since she first started her career as an EMT and got her training as a paramedic, she’s earned the respect of those who she works with. And the work she does at Primal Fit is volunteer. Assuming she went to this place Malice is talking about, I’m willing to bet money on it that it’s the reason she does this, and her treatment had been to beat her to submission. It would make sense as to her reason for teaching women self-defense.”

I couldn’t agree more, and I intend to find out. My phone pings in my pocket, alerting me to a message. I dig the phone out and look at the screen to find a message from my sister.

Leanna: Hospital now!

“I gotta go.” I don’t bother messaging my sister back or telling my brothers where I’m going. My only thought is something has happened to my mom or one of the kids.

I hope like hell it’s nothing and my sister is overreacting.

I barely step into the emergency room waiting area when I find my sister sitting alone, tears streaming down her face. I rush to her side. “What happened?” I ask, doing my best to keep my voice calm.

“It’s Mom,” she cries. “I went over to check on her ‘cause she said she wasn’t feeling well. I found her collapsed on the kitchen floor.”

Pain shoots to my chest. It’s like I’d been hit by a sledgehammer.

“Have they said anything?”

“I’m waiting to hear something,” she answers, breath hitching.

The doors to the back open, and I look to see Dagger stepping through them, eyes full of sorrow. His face is grim as he approaches the two of us.

No.

“I asked the doctor to let me be the one to tell you,” Dagger murmurs softly, clears his throat, and delivers the blow. “She’s gone, brother. I’m sorry. It looks to be a heart attack, but we won’t know for sure until an autopsy has been completed.”

He talks, and it’s all I can do to breath. My chest aches, and I feel my world collapsing around me. My mom is gone. She’s gone, and I can’t do anything about it.

I wrap my arms around Leanna and hold her tight while staring at nothing and no one as Dagger’s words sink in.

What am I going to do without her?

Closing my eyes, I breathe deeply, feeling the walls falling in on me. Losing my dad was hard, but we made it through because we had the glue still connecting us all. My mom? Without her, everything feels like it’s slipping, and I don’t understand. Why did she have to die?

She’s the strongest woman I ever knew.

The feeling of someone watching has me opening my eyes once again to find Gwyneth standing just inside the entrance to the ER, looking at me. It’s then I realize she was there. She responded to the call and couldn’t do anything to help my mom.

CHAPTER EIGHT

GWYNETH

Standing off to the side, I stare at the man, who I don’t know yet why I feel so many things for. Mostly, I feel his pain. The loss of his mother. It’s something I felt the minute Dagger told me who she was in the back of the ambulance. Upon arriving at the hospital and doctors calling it, he requested to be the one to inform the family. The doctor agreed, and I realized they knew each other.

It’s been two days since the news was broken to Bruiser and his sister. I can still see the look in his eyes when our eyes locked in that emergency room waiting area. The way he’d looked at me, I knew he blamed me. He blamed me for not getting to her in time, for not saving his mother. She was an older woman, and it was a heart attack that took her.

When we’d gotten to her, she had a pulse. It was weak, but there. It was on the way to the hospital she coded, and we couldn’t bring her back. I’ve had people die on me before. I learned quickly not to let it affect me, but this time it was different. I might not have known the woman, but I knew her son.

During the funeral, I kept looking toward Bruiser, seeing the pain in his face. I hadn’t seen him since he left the hospital with his sister. Dagger ended up taking me straight home, where two other men waited, then took off. I hadn’t seen either of them in the time. I ended up asking Grady for some vacation time, which he gave me. I just needed a few days to get my head right. I also wanted to be able to attend the funeral, to show my respect.

Now, standing graveside, I can’t stop looking at Bruiser. I want to say something to him. Anything, but what’s there to say? I mean, what could I say? Hey Bruiser, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to save your mom. It was just her time. Yeah, like that would go over well.

The service comes to an end with Bruiser helping his sister up, then him, along with Hammer and Dagger, take a few children and each one of them lays a long red stem rose on top of the casket.

I turn away and look at my two new guards, Colt and Carbine. “I’m heading home. I’m not going to go anywhere else, so if you want to go do whatever it is with the club to pay respect, I won’t get in the way of that.”

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