Chapter Thirty-Two Peyton
It’s been forty-five minutes since I got the phone call from Knox that they found Cooper and that he was in bad condition so they were bringing him to the hospital.
I packed up all three of the babies and had some of the brothers help me carry them down to the car where I booked it to Richmond and the hospital that they told me they brought Cooper too.
I called Knox when I pulled into the parking lot to ask him to come and help me grab the babies.
When he got there he told me that they really won’t tell them anything because we are not family.
Devil has been working on getting the paternity results brought over so that they know that he is in fact his dad so we can get some information about what is happening.
You would think that the fact that he is a part of the club that they would tell the people who are his chosen fucking family something.
I asked Knox if he had an emergency contact and asked to make sure that they did not call his family, he told me as far as he knew they did not call his family and the emergency contacts listed are already at the hospital.
So why the fuck they are not telling anyone anything is beyond me.
We have a right to know what the fuck is going on with him.
All we know is that he is in surgery. When Knox told how they found him I couldn’t help, but have my legs give out.
According to what they have said there was a lot of trauma and a lot of damage all because someone thought they could get him to talk.
So now here I am sitting in this waiting room with more than half of the Devil’s Chaos club and a good chunk of the Untamed waiting for any news on what is going on with Cooper.
It has been hours and we still have not heard anything.
I have my head in my hands bouncing my knees when someone comes and sits down next to me and puts their hand on my knee.
I don’t have to look up to know that Knox is trying to offer some comfort with everything going on.
“It’s going to be okay, Peyton.”
I look up at him, “ Really? How do you know? No one has come out here and told us anything. They have refused to tell us anything. I don’t understand why people can’t just come out here and give us some damn information about how he is doing. I mean you told me he was stabbed, shot and beaten.
I know that he probably has a long list of injuries, but for no one to come out here and tell us what is going on is crazy to me. I just don’t understand it.”
Devil comes over and sits on the other side of me, pulling me in for a hug.
“We know it’s going to be okay, Peyton. We know this because Cooper is a fighter. He’s had to be his whole life. He also is not going to miss out on the chance of being with you.
This family you have is so important to him and I know that because I’ve seen the way he has changed since he’s tried to make everything right between you. We hear how he talks about all of you. It might not be the most conventional relationship ya’ll have, but it works for you.
He wants it more than anything. A family. I don’t know much about his childhood and I hate that now knowing what I know, but I know that he has always wanted to have something. To feel like he deserves this and to know that he has people in his life that love him unconditionally. You give him that,
he’s going to fight to get through all of this with everything he has. He is my son after all.”
He chuckles at that and squeezes me before letting me go.
“I hope you’re right. I haven’t made anything easy for him. I’ve been horrible and I know that a lot of this isn’t his fault. The women at the club and everything they say and do, that’s not on him. He may have fucked around with them, but so have a lot of the men.
I hate that they have that kind of power over me and I am trying to let it all go. I know I need to. I know that I need to remember he did the shit he did for a reason, that there are things about his life that I don’t know.
That made him feel like he needed to shut himself off from me and he used other women to do that. But I want the fucking opportunity to tell him that we can make things work. That I am willing to look past everything if he can promise me that he won’t push me away anymore.
That no matter what is hidden in his past, we can move forward and handle it together. That no matter what he is worthy of love and happiness.”
He pats my thigh and Knox kisses my cheek.
“You’re a good woman and you’re just what these two boys need to calm them down and put them in their place. Your mama would be so proud of the woman you are becoming and the woman you are already. She raised some good girls.”
Tears start to form in my eyes with the mention of my mama.
These coming weeks are the first holidays without her and really, everything just reminds her of me.
I hope she would be proud of me and who I am.
Proud of where I am going so having someone who knew mama as long as daddy tell me that means the world to me.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
I grab his hand and squeeze it and we go back to waiting for the answers we are all waiting for.
As that annoying clock keeps moving it feels like hours before a doctor comes out from behind those dreaded doors.
“Family of Cooper Stone?”
The whole club stands up and the doctor looks around, “I’m sorry immediate family only for now.”
Devil grabs Liz’s hand and they begin coming over. He looks at his children and nods for them to follow. Then looks at Knox, the babies and myself. “You guys come too. You’re also immediate family. You’re his ol’ lady, those are his babies. Thorn, son, you too.”
So the doctor leads what I am sure is a bigger group than he thought over to a private room to talk with us. This room looks like a room you take family to when it is bad news and my heart starts pounding in my chest.
“Let’s all have a seat shall we.”
We all go to sit down and I am in full on panic mode at this point. Knox places the two baby seats he had down and takes the third one from me. Thankfully I was able to nurse the babies and they are now sleeping.
“So I know Dr. Montgomery and that is why I am going to give you it all straight and why this has not gone to the police. So the good news is he is stable. We got the internal bleeding under control from the severe trauma and impact of whatever was used to beat him.
We did have to repair his liver and remove his spleen because of stab wounds that punctured those two organs. We stitched up all the wounds he had and made sure that no arteries had been pierced. He had been stabbed a couple of times in the stomach, a couple of times in each leg and arms.
I believe that the stab would on the stomach came after all the beatings and the torture, it would see that was done to him. He was shot probably after all of that. The shot to the shoulder was taken care of we got the bullet out and everything looked fine.
He will need rehab for all those injuries and to take it easy for a little while. He also has a concussion and good news is that there were no brain bleeds. He is going to be in a lot of pain when he wakes up. But he appears to have a lot of people that love him and will take care of him.”
“We will doc. Now when can we see my boy?” Devil asks and I see that Rage flinches at the term Devil uses and I don’t understand what his problem is. I may never understand what his problem is.
I am so thankful for the fact that while Cooper may have a long way to go with recovery, it appears he is going to make it and be just fine.
“You can see him as soon as they move him to a room from recovery. A nurse will come grab you and really should probably only have a few of you at a time. I see he has a big family just right here and I know there are men that are his family out there,
but we would ask that you all take turns sitting with him. I know that might be hard to ask, but we believe it is for the best of the patient at this time. Once he starts to feel better we can possibly have more at a time.”
“Thanks Doc. We appreciate it.”
Devil stands up and shakes the doctor’s hand before the doctor heads out of the room and leaves us there.
“So I think Peyton, you should head up to see him once he is out of recovery. You probably can stay with him the whole time and then we will work our way up with two at a time or whatever. I know that most of those brothers aren’t going to leave until they know he is awake and doing alright. Knox,
I think we should also talk to the nurse about you and the kids counting as like a person. So you can stay up there with Peyton as well. I was hoping that I could get the room for a moment to talk to my kids. If that is okay with you all.
Please let me know when they come and tell you we can see him.”
I nod my head and grab one of the babies, while Knox and Thorn grab the other two.
When we head out to the waiting area we fill everyone in and you can feel the tension leave the room as we give them the update the doctor gave us.
Now we just have to wait til he gets a room out of recovery and I hope that is soon. I want to lay eyes on him now.