will.” Shadow turned his attention to Riggs. “We’re gonna need you to get the camera footage and see what you can find out, then we’ll go from there.”
“If something’s there, I’ll find it,” Riggs assured him.
“Good, ’cause it’s only gonna be a matter of time before the cops start asking to see it, and I want us to have dibs on it first.”
“I’ll do what I can to buy us some time with them as well.”
“Do whatever you gotta do.” Moose glanced over and noticed the cops questioning Cyrus while another questioned a couple of the diner’s customers. “’Cause this shit is gonna get messy with them involved.”
“I’ll head over to the clubhouse now and get started.”
“Thanks, brother.”
When he turned to leave, I asked, “What about Samantha?”
Samantha was Gus’s ol’ lady, and I knew the second her name left my mouth that neither of them had thought of her. “I’ll go by their place and bring her to the hospital with me.”
“Sounds good. Y’all head on over to the hospital. I’ll stick around here and make sure we don’t have any trouble with the cops,” Shadow replied. “Keep me posted on Gus.”
“You know we will.”
Dread washed over me as I hopped on my bike and started towards Gus’s place. I could still remember the first time I met Samantha. We’d just started getting the Memphis chapter up and running when Gus helped her out of a precarious situation. I knew from the first moment he introduced me to Sam that he was crazy about her, but I didn’t know just how much he really loved her until the day she walked out on him. The man was all fucked up over it, and I couldn’t blame him. He’d never cared about anyone else like he did her. After she’d disappeared on Gus, he was left wondering what the hell happened. It wasn’t until twenty-five years later when August—the daughter he never knew he had—came knocking at our clubhouse door looking for help finding her own daughter. That had been how Gus found out Samantha’s folks weren’t happy about the two of them being together—so much so, they blackmailed her using some video they had of Gus killing a man. While Samantha knew there were extenuating circumstances, and he was just protecting his brothers, her parents didn’t see it that way and used the information to force them apart.
Once everything was out in the open, the two quickly reunited, proving that theirs was the kind of love that could withstand all obstacles. Since then, they’d spent the last year making up for lost time. As I pulled up to the house, I took a deep breath, but it did little to ease the tightness in my chest. I got off my bike and climbed up to the front porch steps. I hadn’t had a chance to knock before the door swung open. Before I could say anything, a panicked expression crossed her face. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Gus, Samantha. He was shot.”
“What!” she cried, tears quickly filling her eyes. “When? How?”
“He was at the diner. Don’t know much more than that.” The blood drained from her face, and it gutted me to see her so upset. We all cared for Samantha—she was one of our own—and I wanted to help ease her worry, but I only seemed to make matters worse. “They’re taking him to the hospital now and—”
Not giving me a chance to finish, she gasped, “The hospital? Oh god. Oh god. It’s gotta be bad if they’re taking him to the hospital, right?”
“We don’t know much yet.”
“Oh god.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, “I can’t lose him, Bone. I just can’t!”
I stepped towards her, took her in my arms, and hugged her. She clung to me, sobbing uncontrollably. “Hey, it’s Gus we’re talking about here. You know as well as I do, he’s not going out without a hell of a fight. We just gotta have faith that he’ll pull through this.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“You can’t think like that, Samantha. He’s gonna be okay. You’ll see.”
“Okay.” She looked up at me with tears streaming down her face. “When can I go see him?”
“Won’t know that until we get to the hospital. Grab your stuff and I’ll run you over there now.”
She nodded, then turned and went into the house. Seconds later, she returned with her purse and keys. As we started towards my bike, she suddenly stopped. “August ... I need to—”
“Gunner’s with her now, and if I know him,