Page 43 of Submit

Foster fishes his phone out of his pocket and starts talking to who I assume is Everleigh.Not sure how he has her number, but I’m grateful.

Pulling Astera up, I cradle her in my arms and rush to load her into the back of the SUV.“Everleigh said to bring her in, she will figure something out,” Foster says, catching up to me.

“We got to go now!Lock, you coming?”

“Right behind ya.”

My heart cracks knowing I’m so close to losing, Astera.The adrenaline continues pumping through my veins as I drive over the speed limit to get us to the hospital.While I am confident Lock will be okay, I don’t know about Astera.

Arriving at the hospital, I carry Astera in my arms while Foster helps Lock.They are both immediately rushed back into the exam rooms.“You’ll have to stay out here,” a nurse tells me, and Foster.

Cutter, Killer, Rowan, and Hayden all rush in and see me pacing back and forth, full of worry.“Have you heard anything?”Hayden asks.

“No.They took them back about ten minutes ago.”

Cutter claps a hand on my shoulder.“She’s gonna be okay, man.”

“Want any coffee?”Rowan asks.

“No.I don’t think I could stomach anything right now,” I tell him.

It feels like hours that I take turns pacing and sitting.A doctor finally appears giving us a full report on Lock and Astera.“We had to rush Astera into surgery.She is in recovery now.Someone will come get you when you can see her.”

“And Levi?”

“He’s recovering as well.They got the bullet out, and we are treating him with antibiotics.We recommend they at least stay overnight for observation.”

I breathe a sigh of relief.“Thank God.”

Hayden’s phone rings, and from the sounds of the conversation, I think he is telling Claire how Astera and Lock are.

We wait another hour before Everleigh comes to get us.“Astera is still a little out of it, but Lock is coherent.”She directs us to their rooms that are next to each other.

We stop in to see Astera, and it is clear how banged up she is.Tears pool in my eyes, but I don’t let them fall.Losing her would have done me in.After spending several minutes with her, we go next door to see Lock.

“There is the man of the hour,” Cutter says, trying to make him laugh.

Lock smiles and uses his free hand to clap over each of ours.

“How’s Astera?”

“She’ll be okay.She is still kind of out of it right now,” I tell him.

“Good.Any idea who those assholes were?”he asks.

I speak up again.“It was the fucking Dead Aces MC,” I spit out.

“Yeah, I’m in the process of trying to set up a meeting with their prez,” Cutter says.“We need to stop all this bloodshed.It’s ridiculous.We need to make it known that Midnight Kings are not going to take this shit lying down.Someone is gonna get killed if this keeps up.So, we need to see if they respond to resolving the issue.”

“Well, I want to rip their throats out and feed it to them,” Killer pipes up.

I chuckle.“I think we can all agree on that, but like Cutter says, we need to see if there is some resolve with them.”

“Fine,” Killer says.

“Well, looks like you will be okay.I’m gonna go sit with Astera for a bit,” I tell Lock and the guys.

“Give her my best,” Lock says.

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