“Chest hurts.”
The man nodded. “It will for a while. I know you came in with a gunshot to the chest. Typically, we can fix those wounds, but not yours, Mr. Franks. When the bullet passed your rib cage, it shattered, sending shards of metal everywhere. One-piece lodged within your heart. To repair that would have been disastrous. I put you on bypass while I notified UNOS of your condition. Luck must have been in your corner that night because your new heart was delivered within three hours. The transplant was textbook. No complications. So far, you are acclimating just fine. Now, you will need to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of your life, but as of right now, I don’t see anything inhibiting you from continuing on with your life as you see fit.”
“My wife?”
The doctor looked at Reaper, who shook his head. Turning back to me, the Doctor sighed, then added. “Mr. Franks, the night you were brought in, your wife was brought into the hospital. She was shot several times. One of the bullets hit her head. Though the emergency room did everything they could, she was declared brain dead. I’m so sorry, Mr. Franks, but your wife died.”
I just stared at the doctor, unable to formulate a single word.
Laying there on that bed, I tried unsuccessfully to get my head straight and my heart to stop frantically beating.
I couldn’t.
My wife was dead.
It should have been me.
I was prepared for it.
I expected it.
Trained for it.
I knew what living this life would cost me, and I walked in willingly. However, I never expected my wife to be the one to pay the price.
Not her.
Never her.
“No.”
“I’m so sorry man. So, fucking sorry.” Reaper said as the doctor left the room. I wanted to be alone. I didn’t want to see anyone. Let alone talk to anyone. She is gone. There was no coming back from death. I should know. I’ve sent many to the bowels of hell. But my wife. My beautiful, vivacious, snarky wife didn’t deserve that. She deserved to live.
“Get. Out.”
“Look, Bullseye, there is more.”
“I said get out.”
Reaper said nothing more as he got to his feet and left.
Unable to control the pain within me, I let out a blood-curdling scream as I tried desperately to get out of the bed. Yanking the IVs and tubes from my body, I didn’t give a shit about anything anymore, especially myself. I let my wife go off on her own when she should have been with me.
She had no one to protect her.
That was my job, and I failed.
I fucked up.
Her whole life was gone. Everything she did for the club, those who she saved, no one would know the extent of her heart. How much she cared. She didn’t want the club to perish. She just wanted the family she believed she deserved. And what did that family do? They got her killed. I knew I should have packed her and Hailey up and never looked back.
Oh God, our daughter!
Hailey was going to grow up in a world without her mother. The woman who went through hell to make sure she was safe and loved. Hailey was never going to know how strong her mother was. How was I supposed to tell my daughter that I got her mother killed? That I wasn’t there to protect her?
I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t.
Alarms were going off as I managed to sit up. Swinging my feet to the side, I had just placed my foot on the floor when the door was flung open with nurses and doctors running in.
I was in no condition to fight them, though I tried. However, when a nurse jabbed me in the arm with a sharp needle, the building fight deep within me faded.
“Fuck Bullseye,” Reaper shouted, holding me down. I didn’t even see him there. I didn’t care. I needed to leave. I needed to disappear. “Stop fighting!”
Unable to do anything as my body succumbed to the mind-numbing medicine injected into me. I looked at Reaper and uttered my last words before my eyes closed.
“Fuck you. Fuck the Golden Skulls. I’m done.”