18
Dante
Storm had called a meeting in the clubhouse’s bar. It was a casual setting with OG members, Maddox and his council, and prospects.
“It’s utter bullshit.” Storm hissed. “We’re in a good place with other clubs. Who in the hell is targeting my daughter?”
“You’ve made a lot of enemies through the years. Can you think of anyone with family that would come after yours?” Maddox asked.
“Fuck, I don’t know.” Storm dragged his hands down his face.
“I’m sure someone out there would like retribution, brother. We buried a lot of trash back in the day,” Hero said.
Storm nodded, then his phone rang in front of him. “It’s Birdie.” He answered the call. “Are you calling to yell at me again?” He raised his finger in the air to show he was putting the call on speaker.
Several of us chuckled because we’d heard them arguing earlier today when Birdie asked to leave the compound. Those two were as stubborn and hotheaded as old mules.
“Dad! My brakes don’t work! I can’t stop! What do I do?” Her frightened voice pierced my eardrums. I was on my feet, pacing. Ember was with Birdie.
“Calm down, Birdie. Where are you? Where the fuck is Chase?”
“Behind me.” She cried, gasping for air as if trying to calm down.
I cut my gaze at Raymond, staring at the phone with a horrified expression.
“A tractor! I’m going to hit it!” She shrieked. “I’m going to die, Dad! I love you! I’m sorry!”
Metal hitting metal filled the room, along with Birdie’s screams.
“Birdie!” Storm shouted. “Birdie!”
The call ended, and Storm’s phone instantly rang, but he looked shellshocked and didn’t answer it.
Hero took the phone and put it on speaker. “Talk to me Chase.”
“Jesus fuck, Hero! It’s Birdie. She just hit a tractor and flipped four fucking times into a ditch! I need help!”
“We’re coming.” Hero grabbed Storm by the arm and tugged him out of the bar toward the exit. “What do you see?”
“Dad, it’s me.” Ember sobbed, and I was so relieved she was okay. “Chase ran to help Birdie. I called for an ambulance.”
“Good, girl. Stay on the phone with me until I get there.”
“I will. Hurry! It looks bad, really bad.” My girl sobbed into the phone, and it pushed me to run faster to my Jeep. Raymond was hot on my heels.
“I deserve this,” Raymond muttered as we followed Hero and Storm.
“What are you talking about?”
“I did her badly, and this is my punishment. I caused this.”
“No, you didn’t. Her brakes gave out.” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him swiping tears away.
“God is punishing me. I did Birdie dirty. Pushed her away after Florida. I knew she loved me, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t be with her. It would kill me if I lost her, too. And now she could be dead.”
“She’s not dead!” I shoved his arm hard. “Pull yourself together. You can make it up to her. Beg for forgiveness.”
“It’s too late.”
“Stop saying that! She’s going to be okay.”
“It won’t matter. Tabitha is pregnant.”
I nearly broke my neck, turning toward him. “The blonde?”
“Yeah. Last month, I was weak. Christmas always brings me down. You know it’s Birdie’s favorite time of year. So, I slept with Tabitha. I mean, I like her. She’s nice and all. Helps take my mind off Birdie…”
“Jesus Christ.” I didn’t want to hear this. “Are you sure she’s pregnant with your kid?”
“She swears she is.”
“You need a paternity test. Proof the baby is yours.”
“She’s not the kind of chick that sleeps around.”
“So you think. You can’t trust her. You need proof.” I shook my head. My hands gripped the steering wheel as I slowed down. We were on the road Birdie was on. “You shouldn’t have spent so much time at the restaurant.”
“I had to. I own it.”
“What?”
“It was an investment. I named it Bluebird Bites with Birdie in mind.”
I was without words.
“Look!” Raymond pointed at an ambulance near the scene. Birdie’s baby, her blue Mustang, was in flames.
I stopped hard behind Hero’s truck. Raymond and I ran like the Reaper was after us toward Birdie’s car. But Storm beat us to her.
“Birdie, talk to me, baby girl. Open your baby blues.” He touched her hand. She was unconscious on the ground.
“She wasn’t alert when we got to her, but she’s breathing,” the EMT said. “As soon as she’s stable, we’ll get her to the hospital.”
“Dante!”
I whirled around, hearing Ember’s voice. She ran into my arms, and I’d never been so happy to see her.
“Is she dead? I’ve been too afraid to get close.”
“No, sweetheart. She’s breathing.”
“Thank God.” She sobbed in my arms. “Her car is destroyed.”
“I know. But it’s just a car. It’s replaceable.”
“And Birdie is priceless.”
“They’re moving her now,” Raymond said.
“You asshole!” Ember shoved him in the chest. “How could you get that bimbo pregnant!”
“How do you know?” Raymond looked taken aback.
“We saw her in the drugstore buying a test.”
“Fuck. His knees buckled and he crashed to the ground. Birdie knows…”
“She sure as hell does. Ran out, totally devastated and took off, all because of you!” Ember yelled at him. “You broke her heart. This is all your fault!”
I pulled Ember away from Raymond. She was out of her mind with grief. And I needed to protect my cousin from the beatdown my girl was unloading on him. One look at him, and I knew he’d never forgive himself.
“Come on, Em. Let’s get to the hospital.”
“And you stay away from her, Raymond!” Ember screamed as I put her in my Jeep. “You stay the fuck away from her!”