Storm the Night: An Iron Guardians MC Romance Novella

Chapter 6

Thursday

Iwas anxious to pick up Calliope. Calliope Grace. She was the definition of grace. She has so much of it given everything she’s been through. I pulled up to her house, shut off my bike and headed to the door. When I went to open it, it was locked. Instantly, an uneasy feeling hit my stomach. Knocking several times, she didn’t answer so I stepped to the window just to the left of the door and tried to look in. “Calliope, it’s Ryder.” There was nothing. I looked at my watch and back at my bike again. I tried knocking one more time and when there was no answer I headed back to my bike.

It hadn’t made sense. We had a plan. I was supposed to pick her up at 6:00 pm and it was 6:15 as I tried to figure out why she wasn’t answering. Something was wrong, I could feel it in my bones. I sat on my bike and waited a minute, then pulled out my phone to call Doc.

“Hey Doc. She’s not answering the door. This doesn’t make any sense. Something’s wrong.”

“Look around. Does anything seem out of place? You’re somewhat familiar with the neighborhood even though you weren’t there long. Look at the cars. Anything look different?”

I paused and blew out a breath. How was I supposed to know if anything was out of place? I looked back at nosey Nancy’s house and her car was on the street. I kept looking around and then I spotted something. “Whose truck is that?”

“What do you see?” Doc asked.

“There’s a truck and it doesn’t belong to the house it’s in front of. I know who lives there. Hold on.” I walked up to the truck and just as I got on top of it a sickness had hit me and then was instantly followed with rage. “Doc, it’s him. He came back early. Fuck. I’m going back up to the door.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Ryder. If he doesn’t answer or if he does, don’t do anything stupid. You get us and we’ll figure it out. Calliope needs you not in jail.”

“Ok, I’ll call you back.”

Shoving my phone in my pocket, I ran back up to the house and started banging on the door. “Calliope!” Finally, the door opened, and I took a step back. It was dickhead. He was leaning against the doorframe and had a drink in his hand. He came back early and looked like shit.

“Get off my fucking porch.” He looked and sounded drunk.

“Where is she?” I had my hands in fists at my side as I squared myself facing him.

“If by she you mean my wife, that’s none of your concern but she’s not here.”

I felt my phone vibrating, but I didn’t take my eyes off the mother fucker. “Where.is.she? Don’t make me ask you again.”

The asshole laughed and it had taken all of me to not send my fist through his fucking throat.

“Don’t make you ask me again? You’re trespassing and I have half a mind to call the cops right now. You’re a no good piece of shit with a rap sheet, I’m sure, so I’m willing to bet you don’t want me to do that.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“Get the fuck off my porch and stay away from wife.” He pointed at me and then slammed the door in my face.

“FUCK!” I yelled and then brought my hand up to my mouth, and then running my hand over the stubble on my face. My phone was still vibrating. I had a text message and missed calls. The text read, “help” and that was it. It was Calliope. Goddamn it! I called Doc back.

“Ryder. Everyone got a message from Calliope that says help. Get back to the clubhouse now.”

“I’m on my way.”

*

I lit another cigarette as I tapped the table, my leg bouncing underneath. “Where the fuck is D?” Just then the door opened and D walked in. “Where the fuck were you?”

Doc spoke up giving me a warning, “Ryder.”

I knew I had to rein it in. “I’m sorry, D. What did you find?”

D slid a folder across the table to me. “They have a cabin in a remote area of Lowell. It’s heavily wooded. I tried to ping the burner phone, but I lost signal with it. I’m guessing he either found it or they are just so remote that the signal sucks. I bet my left nut that’s where he took her.”

“What are we waiting for? Fuck only knows what he’s done to her.” I said as I stood up.

Doc spoke up. “Hold on a minute. D, did you find out if he”s tied to anyone? Do we need to worry about anything there?”

“No, he just seems like a rich asshole lawyer. He has a history of defending the bad guys. Other than that, I couldn’t find anything that we should be worried about.”

“Send one of the prospects to their house and see if his truck is still there. If it is, I want him to watch the house. We need to know when he leaves because it means he’s probably heading to their cabin.” Doc looked at the end of the table.

“I’m with you, Ryder.” Sawyer said and stood up.

“I’ll go watch the house,” Romeo said. Romeo, short for Romello was one of our prospects. He hadn’t quite learned to keep his mouth shut unless spoken to but in this case, I didn’t care. Anyone that wanted to help, could.

Doc stood, “We’re all going, Ryder. We don’t know if he’s alone or not. D didn’t find anything but I’d rather we be together than you be alone and find out the hard the way. If he’s alone, he’s all yours. If he isn’t, then you have us there as back up. The most important thing is that we get Callie out in one piece.”

Every club member was strapped. I had a glock 43 in my ankle holster along with a snub nose revolver under my cut. Contrary to dickheads beliefs, I’m authorized to carry, and I don’t have a rap sheet. I’ve never even gone to jail. Sure, I’ve had my share of fights growing up and with the club, but I’ve never gotten into any real trouble, until now. Now, I’m not afraid of what happens if it means getting Calliope out of that house and away from that narcissistic abusive asshole.

We were getting ready to go when we heard a loud crack. “It’s pouring out guys. This run just got a little more complicated,” Sawyer said.

“That won’t stop us. Get everyone loaded up into the black suburban,” Doc said. “Ryder, she’s gonna be ok. Let’s go get her.”

Nodding, I headed out the doors and jumped in the front seat. The entire way I just keep playing different scenarios in my head and hoping she was ok. If she was at their cabin, had he hurt her? He hurt her just after talking to me. I could only imagine what he may have done to her knowing she was trying to leave. The indignation I had for how he treated her was boiling and I knew there was no way I could promise that I wouldn’t kill the piece of shit if given the chance.

The crashes of thunder and flashes of lightening zig zagging across the sky told me everything I needed to know about how the night was going to go. No matter what it took, I was going to get her back. Storm or no storm, I was going to get her away from him.