VOLUME TWO: SHAMECandice1 year agoI rush through the parking lot to find my car. My heart is beating a million beats per minute. Please don't let her be hurt. Please don't let her be hurt. The last five minutes of my life come rushing back to me in fragments.Fire at Roxy's Café....Ambulance is on the way....We can't find her Candy…I hop in my old beat up 97' cherry red mustang, jam the key in the ignition and rush out of the hospital parking lot. I make the thirty-minute drive in ten minutes. I can see all the fire trucks and ambulances in the café parking lot. Once I park my car I run out and run right up to the yellow tape a police officer has just finished setting up. He stops me before I can make it any further."Ma'am I need you to stay back. Fire department is not done surveying the damage yet."I look past him and look around. I notice the fire is out at the restaurant, but it doesn't matter. The café is totaled. Black smoke and metal are all of what is left of w
CandiceI lean down a little so that I am eye to eye with little Jeffrey. The emergency room is especially busy today. My shift has been over for about half an hour now but Dr. Toring asked me to stay and help this last patient. Little Jeffrey Dillons has broken his arm. He cannot be more than six years old and is being very brave."Okay buddy, how does that feel?" I ask patting softly at his cast. His mother informed me when they first arrived, that he and his big brother were playing on their new bunkbeds, when Jeffrey fell off the top bunk. She was more hysterical than he was. We get that a lot. Most of the time when the child comes in they are more concerned with getting in trouble. It wasn't until he was being pulled and yanked on by Dr. Toring that he actually started crying."Feels better, but itchy. Do I have to wear this?" He asks. We get that a lot too. Although most of the time it's from people twice his age whom have broken their arm from a skateboarding accident."Af
CandiceI walk into work the next day determined that today is going to be a good day. After I took a four-hour nap yesterday, I was awoken by my mom leaning over my bed with homemade peanut butter cookies, my favorite, apologizing to me. Once we made up, we ate the delicious stew she had made from scratch and binge watched some Netflix. When I awoke this morning, it was excessively gloomy outside, but I told myself that I would not let the weather get me down. I am determined to have a great day."Hey, listen I have an important client in right now. He and his wife were attacked early this morning in their home. Do me a favor and check in on him now and then but when he awakens let me know." Melissa says popping her gum, sitting on her desk.Melissa started working here a few months ago and she is what one might call…well…lazy. She is flat out rude and thinks she is better than everyone else. She usually only wants to take care of the c-list celebrities that we get in. I've had to
AustinI glance at the door the nurse just vacated. I was an asshole I know, but I was speaking the truth when I told her I don't have time for her twenty questions. Road Kings could be heading towards the club house any minute now. When they ran me off the road earlier I had just come home from a run. Thank God me and Max had been riding together or they could have killed me. Max's quick thinking got us out of there. He cut one of them off with his bike and the guy crashed. It caused a small pile up for the ten or so that were there. He had lead me to an alleyway where we waited them out. Once he made the call, Shane, Chance and Psych had rode out to help. They brought the van for my bike and drove me here."I know you're trying to get out of here man, but I'm your VP, you have to know that if you need to stay, the four of us can go back to the clubhouse and hold shit down. Pissing off the nurses here ain't smart. I called Crush and he already told me he and the guys are holding dow
CandiceThis is it. Jared and Laynie are getting released today. I feel like a parent waving goodbye to their children on their first day of school. I don't expect to ever see them again, so today is bitter sweat. I spent most of my shift yesterday checking on them. Ben was not happy that I spoke with Jared, or that I assigned myself over to him and Laynie, but I know he was pleased I didn't take anything too far. I couldn't do that to them. Especially in their current state.Yesterday Jared woke up needing more pain medicine. I was able to talk with him a little and all he was worried about was Laynie. I am so happy for them, but at the same time jealousy roared its ugly head at me. I have never had a man care for me the way Jared does Laynie. "Here are your discharge papers. Jared's are in there as well. It reiterates everything Dr. Toring has explained to you. Phone number is at the bottom so if you feel any discomfort please don't hesitate to call." I say to Laynie as I handed
Austin"Fuck, pick up your phone." I say as I slam my cell phone on the bar. Max was supposed to be here over an hour ago and I can't get a hold of him. We started church without him and it's over now. He never misses church. I am just about to call him again when he comes waltzing through the doors like a fucking king."Where the hell have you been? Church started at eight. As in AM." I shout. I hate raising my voice at him, but he has been acting straggly lately."Sorry bro. Rescued a damsel in distress. Had to tow her car to the shop. Guess who it was?" He says nonchalantly."I don't give two fucks. We have serious shit going down right now, and if you didn't miss church you would know what the fuck that was." Max's face turns serious and looks around the room."What happened?" He asks."Jazz was attacked last night in his home. He is not sure who they were or how they got in, but they beat him pretty bad. Irma called me after they left, said some neighbors heard her screami
CandiceI get home a few hours later from the repair shop. Mom is in the kitchen making some kind of pasta and has the whole house smelling incredible. I stand at the archway in between the kitchen and living room just staring at her in her element. She is humming a little tune and it's moments like this that she reminds me of her former self and not the shell of a woman that has lost everything.I step closer and make my presence known. Mom stops her hum and turns to me while maintaining her perfect speed of stirring. I walk up to the stove top that the Ziti is boiling in and take a big whiff of the homemade sauce she is making to go along with it. I know I will have to make a mental note to go jogging tomorrow morning. I'm going to need it after tonight's dinner. Memories of my mother making this for me when I was little come rushing to me. I smile at the fond memory and get ready to ask her if she needs help when I notice she has her head down, a look of grief crosses her flawless
AustinI am awakened by shouting at my door. I jump out of bed and grab my Glock 18 from the nightstand next to my bed. I am delirious from lack of sleep. After Shane, Max and I got back from my mom's house late, I had to speak with Chance on meeting up with Snake. I want him and Cage to go with me. Cage is a lethal mother fucker. He would be a higher-ranking member but his temper gets a little out of control sometimes. It may be a little dangerous bringing him but if shit hits the fan he is who I would need next to me.A fist banging on my door brings me back to the present. I open the door quickly and come face to face with Max. He has a gun in his hand too and nods his head toward the front door. Our flood lights are on. I see other brothers running to the door and in one movement they all look to me. I walk up to the front of the pack and open the door. Shane is by my side instantly. We all run out separating at the gates to see who the hell would dare run up on us in the middle