Page 67 of Axe
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Axe
“Son,” Cal said,catching my attention as I went to stand.
“Yeah, prez?”
My body fell back into the chair. He put his hand on my shoulder and I knew whatever he was about to tell me wasn’t going to be good. My gut clenched and for some reason, I had to fight the urge to throw up.
“You need to go see Ethel,” he said his eyes turned sad and I hated what he was insinuating.
“No…” I breathed out in a harsh whisper.
“It don’t look good, boy. I know how you like the old bat and I’d hate for you not to get a chance to say your peace before it was too late.”
I nodded simply because I couldn’t do anything else. My whole body went numb and it felt like my heart had stopped beating for a minute.
Damn.
The last few days had been some of the best ones in my life and today had proved that good things don’t last very long. With just a flick of the wrist, the wheel could turn and everything could be turned upside down.
I took a moment to gather myself before I headed out. I wasn’t looking forward to going to the hospital, but I knew I had to.
“Hey, man,” Brand called out as I made my way to the front door.
“Yeah?” I turned to him, my head still felt like it was in a daze.
“You alright?” he asked, his face pinched tight with worry.
“Sure. I gotta get up to see Ethel. Can you call the prospect at the house and tell him to let Allison know I’ll be back in a little bit?”
“I’m going to go help Chris fix some boards on his porch, so I’m heading that way now. I’ll tell her myself and check on them.” He clapped me on the back and I appreciated that he was looking out for us.
“Thanks, brother,” I said, clapping him back.
“She, uh…” he said and his eyes looked down at the ground. I could tell he was wrestling with his emotions and so I let him have his moment even though I needed to get going. “Ethel looks really bad. And Reagan is falling apart.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” I said as I sniffed.
Fuck, I couldn’t handle this. I knew he was close to Ethel and I imagined this was as hard on him as it was for me. “I’ll send my love for you.”
He replied with a chin jerk then turned and walked out the door. I followed behind him and climbed on my bike.
The short ride gave me time to mull over everything that was going on in my head.
I should have been happy but I wouldn’t allow myself to feel that until this was all over. We were one huge step closer. We were practically standing on Savage’s doorstep, about to knock down the damn door.
I cleared my head and tried to brighten my mood as I pulled up to the hospital. I wanted to go in with a positive attitude. Ethel didn’t need anything heavy hanging around. And Reagan and Loch didn’t need to see that shit was going on. The last thing they should have been thinking about was club stuff.
“Hey, brother,” I said as I saw Loch coming down the opposite direction of the hall carrying two generic coffee cups.
He looked tired and worn out. I could only imagine how this was getting to him. He’d known Ethel his entire life. Hell, he’d lived next to her that long. She’d seen his naked ass when he was a toddler running through the sprinklers in the backyard. Yeah, I wasn’t around that long ago but she loved to tell that story. Not only was she his old lady’s grandmother, she was like family to him too.
“Shit,” he said like he had been caught off guard slightly even though his eyes had been trained in my direction. “Sorry, brother. It’s been a long few days.”
“I know, man. It’s alright.” I clapped him on the shoulder trying my best to lend some comfort. “Any change?”
We turned our attention to the small window on the door and he let out a long sigh. Reagan had her back to the us, her body blocking any view that I might have gotten of Ethel. I was scared to step inside that door, but I knew I’d have to.
