Page 127 of The Heart We Guard
Gauge looks to Greer. “Your brother was a pussy. Shit was going wrong. Suddenly had a crisis of faith. Raising his fucking hands because the cops were right there. Was meant to just be a beating, but he fought back. Didn’t lie down and take it like he was supposed to. And it was the easiest fucking shot I ever took.”
Greer steps forward, and everyone shifts. I step just in front of her. Jackal adds his hands to Gauge’s shoulders. Taco puts his weapon to Gauge’s temple. He knows he’s dead if he makes any kind of move for her.
“You didn’t deserve to know my brother. Didn’t deserve to walk in his presence or breathe his air.” She reaches around his neck and unties her brother’s necklace. “And you certainly don’t deserve to wear this.”
“Don’t suppose it would matter if I told you I had kids?” Gauge says.
I grab him by the throat and yell in his face. “Should have thought about them before you fucked with us.” I shove him back and take a breath. “What about the other prospect? The one in the hospital.”
Gauge looks to the ground. It’s as if a light has suddenly switched off inside. The reality of never seeing his family again, likely hitting him hard. “He told your bitch. Told her my name.” He looks up at Greer. “Didn’t he?”
Greer nods. “He did.”
“And these killings were club sanctioned?” Grudge asks suddenly.
“They were.”
Wraith steps forward. “How long have you been enforcer?”
Gauge smirks. “Long enough to know the answer to the question you’re really asking. And for the record, she cried out for you when I killed her.”
A slash of pain, vibrant and vicious, flows through me for my friend. And I know the gift I have to give him. The Midtown Rebels always hid who truly killed Wraith’s wife and daughter. He lost years of his life to the pursuit of revenge.
I step back a little and tip my head at Wraith. “End it, brother.”
Greer buries her head against my chest, and I hold her close and put my hands over her ears.
Wraith steps up to Gauge like the Outlaw brother I know him to be. “I’d have followed you into hell to punish you for what you did to them. So, before I shoot you, say fucking sorry. Say, ‘I’m sorry, Hallie, for stripping you of the life you should have had with Wraith.’ And say, ‘Sorry, Lottie. Sorry for ripping you away from your daddy.’”
Gauge looks up with tears in his eyes. “But what about my kids?”
All semblance of civility is ripped from Wraith as he roars, “I don’t give a fuck about your kids! Youkilledmine, you fucker.”
“I’m sorry,” Gauge cries. “I’m sorry…Hallie. I’m sorry, Lottie. I just?—”
The words are cut off by the sharp crack of a bullet.
Gauge’s eyes roll back in his head as he slumps to the ground.
In the distance, we hear the wail of sirens.
37
EPILOGUE
BUTCHER
“Are you ready?” Greer asks, smoothing her hands over my buttery-soft black T-shirt like it’s a custom suit.
I take her hands and glance down at the diamond ring on her finger. How it ended up there is a whole other story, but every time I look at it, I get a hard-on. Because it makes her one step closer to being mine forever.
And I’ve never been so sure of anything in my goddamn life.
When we realized that an ambulance and fire crew were almost there for Ember, the club worked like lightning to get the second truck and dead bodies out of that field. By agreement, Greer rode with Ember in the ambulance, and Atom and I followed on our bikes.
Greer came home with me that night. Ember stayed in the hospital for a while.
This morning, Greer and I saw our baby when she went to her ob-gyn. When the hazy black-and-white image of a tiny human appeared on the screen, I cried like a fucking baby.
