Page 45 of Always Yours

I fire my gun and hit one of the men between the eyes. They start shooting back. I feel something at my side, but I ignore the burning pain as I continue to shoot. There are more men with them than we had anticipated.

I see brothers go down, but I don’t stop as I make sure we get every single one of those fuckers.

One tries to drive away, but I shoot the tires and head straight for the driver’s side door. The guy shoots and aims my way once I open the door, but I’m pushed out of the way as someone takes the man down.

It takes a couple of minutes for silence to come, and then nothing but brothers shouting.

“They are all taken down!” I hear Bear shout. I turn to look as I see my father lying in a pool of blood.

He’s looking up at me with pain filled eyes.

“D-derek.” he gasps.

“Dad!” I shout, and cradled his upper body in my arms. There’s so much blood that I can’t pinpoint where the blood is coming from.

“I love you, son,” he says between gasps of air, his pain echoing in my ears.

I don’t care that tears are streaming down my cheeks.

“You can’t leave me. You have grandchildren to meet,” I choke out.

“You’re a good man. So proud,” he says as the light starts to leave his eyes.

“DAD!” I cry out.

I’m shaking him and screaming when arms pull me away.

“Brother, he’s gone,” a voice filled with sorrow says.

“No!” I shout; not believing it even though I can see it with my own eyes.

I don’t know how long I sit there but, when I look up, my brothers surround me. Their eyes are filled with tears as they take in their fallen Prez.

“What’s the damage?” I ask, trying to pull myself together.

“We lost Hammer, VP, and Prez. Stone was shot in the leg, and a couple of others were grazed and bruised but alright,” Bear says sadly.

“Gather their bodies. We will give them a proper burial,” I say before standing up.

“What about the truck?” I ask.

“We haven’t opened it up yet,” Bear says. I nod my head and walk to the back of the truck.

My remaining brothers have their guns up. I open the door and I’m sickened to what I find.

There are maybe fifty people in here varying from men, women, and children. They look at us frightened. They are all various stages of starving and beaten and have little to no clothing.

“We are here to help. They won’t get you back,” I tell them in a soft voice.

We call my friend who works with the local police. He doesn’t question what happened. Instead, he makes sure that the people are taken care of.

If I had only followed my gut. Now my dad won’t get to meet my grandchildren or see me make Lily my Old Lady.

We head back home immediately as we had already checked out of the motel we were staying in prior to the mission. The drive is silent and full of sorrow.

When we head back to the club, Lily looks over me with worried eyes as the doc stitches up my side.

I was grazed with a bullet, but that’s nothing compared to the pain I feel.

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