Chapter One
Ranger
There’s nothing like the feeling of fear pumping through your veins. The cold sensation of impending doom that lurks just beneath the surface when you realize that everything you know may be changed forever.
It was that exact sensation that crawled through me when my best friend of twenty years dropped onto the cold pavement of that cell Shasta was held in, and I saw both of their bodies lying there motionless on the ground.
Jesse’s and my friendship went as far back as I could remember. He was the first kid I met on the playground when I was in kindergarten, the first person I hugged when we threw our hats up in the air for graduation, and the one person who’s always had my back.
He’s the type of man who would lay down his own life to save others, and he’d shown that by smashing down the rusty metal door, falling to the ground until the hollowed sound of his head ricocheted off the unforgiving concrete, his eyes immediately fluttering closed.
He already had a fucking concussion, but the big, dumb bastard didn’t give two shits about it. Shasta was in trouble, and I knew he blamed himself for it. He was just that kind of guy.
Now he was fighting for his life, barely hanging on as the insistent beeping of monitors helped feed life into his failing body. The doctors said that he was in some sort of coma, and it was probably for the best because of the swelling that was happening in his brain.
“Come on, Jesse. Pull through this. Please, Brother. I can’t lose you.” I didn’t care who walked through the door at that moment, or if they caught me holding his hand. This wasn’t an act of romance; this was an act of desperation—one that would show him that someone on the other side of that dark blank headspace he was in was waiting for him to find the light.
As I sat there clutching his palm, I felt the bed begin to shake, and his whole body started violently shuddering and jerking on the bed.
“NURSE!” I screamed, immediately jumping to my feet. “NURSE! He’s convulsing.”
A few seconds later, five nurses appeared in the room, followed by a pudgy looking doctor.
I had lied and said I was his brother, which by cut I was, but I didn’t need to share Jesse’s blood to know he was family. Our bond just made it that way. I’d lay down for this man and take his place any day of the week. All he had to do was open his eyes and ask.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to step out,” one of the nurses exclaimed. She was an elderly woman, one who looked like she really hated her job.Was she even concerned about Jesse?
Instantly, my chest puffed up, ready to defend my friend, who was literally dying right there before my eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Sir, he’s coding. We need the space in the room to try to bring him out of this. Please, exit the room and we will do everything we can to save your brother,” she insisted, her eyes slicing through me, daring me to argue some more.
“Will he make it through this?”
She gave me a somber look for a stubborn old bitty who didn’t give a shit about her job.
“We can only hope for the best…”
She placed a hand on my shoulders as I tried to absorb everything she just said.
My heart raced inside my chest as the nurse pushed me out of the room and, without thinking, I was already sprinting down the hall toward where Shasta was recovering from her own trauma. If something happened to Sandman, everyone needed to know about it.
Her room was the last one on the right, and without even knocking, I burst through the door, taking in Shasta’s wide eyes and Sabbath and Snyder who were both in there with her.
None of them said a word, just absorbed my wild panicked eyes, flashing with fear and worry.
“It’s Sandman!” I shouted, barely able to contain my own frantic breaths.
“What? What’s wrong?” Shasta questioned. There was so much fear and anxiety in her eyes—emotions that shouldn’t be there for someone who was just her Ol’ Man’s club brother.
Well, they were out all day together…my thoughts ran wild as the unthinkable popped into them. This wasn’t a time to wonder if my best friend committed the ultimate sin of the club. It was a time to acknowledge he was on the cusp of leaving us forever.
Holding my own fear in, I met the concern in her eyes, dreading the worst, just like she was. “He started convulsing—and then the doctors and nurses rushed in. They said he’s coding. They don’t think he’s going to make it.”
She gasped, tears appearing in her eyes almost instantly. “No! He has to be okay. He can’t die like this.”
Sabbath was immediately on his feet and by my side seconds later. He motioned to Snyder, who stepped in line behind him.
“Shasta, we’ll be back,” he assured her, leaving the room even though she was an emotional mess.