Chapter 15 Grave
GRAVE
I ran my motorcycle through a rose garden and hopped a backyard to get onto another backroad. That fucking rust bucket of a vehicle was keeping up with me better than I’d intended. I whipped myself around town as the feeling of me being watched grew.
I couldn't go back to the cabin until I shook this tail.
But I also knew Everly was in trouble.
I raced to the other side of town and weaved myself through traffic. I kept looking behind me, counting down the seconds until I got to five minutes. That was my rule. If I was being tailed, I had to be clear of the tail for five minutes before I proceeded to my location.
And the moment five minutes hit, I whipped a u-turn and headed for the other side of town.
I raced as fast as I could back to the cabin in the woods.
It sure as hell wasn’t going to take me almost an hour to get there now.
I’d fucking unhook the trailer full of food if it would help me get there faster.
My phone buzzed on the clip I had on the handlebars of my bike and I opened it, immediately worrying when I saw it was from Everly.
The text message only served to make me drive faster.
They know where we are. You left and they followed. I need you. Help.
I was going to kill Diesel. But after I got Everly out of town.
I knew this would fucking happen. Diesel and his reckless fucking meetings.
I weaved through the trees and pushed my bike as fast as it would go as the cool metal against my hip grew hot.
I white-knuckled the handlebars of my bike as I clenched my jaw.
This was utter bullshit. And I was no longer following the regulations of the club.
I would take Everly somewhere that only the two of us knew about.
No one in that fucking club would know where we were.
There was a rat. A disgusting, nasty rat.
And I had a dreaded feeling it might be Diesel.
He was the only other person that knew where we were.
And I’m fucking sorry, but me leaving a cabin in the woods doesn’t open up a damn trail to the thing.
Not unless they knew where to fucking look.
That cabin was an hour into some of the thickest woods of California.
They weren’t easy to navigate. So, fucking what if someone caught me leaving the damn place?
There was still miles upon miles of woods to case.
I would’ve heard something.
Seen something as I was leaving.
I tried calling Everly, but the call failed.
I tried again, but I couldn't get through. That fucking cabin with its bullshit service. At least, I kept telling myself it was an issue with the service. The other option wasn’t really an option at all.
Everly was going to be there and she was going to be okay.
Or I was going to burn the entire fucking town down looking for her.
Redding was no longer safe. Everly was no longer safe here with us.
And the only way I knew to take her was north.
Further away from anyone’s family and anything having to do with this damn feud that was brewing.
The farther away we got, the lesser of a chance we could be followed.
I could fill up my tank in town, drive us until we ran out of gas, then gas up again and take us another tank.
I could weave us through the states until I had days of travel between us and this bullshit, and then she would be safe.
I could help her start a new life if she wanted.
I dodged trees and branches broke against my skin.
I was cutting through woods, looking for any signs that someone had been there.
Perched and waiting for one of us to make a damn move.
I looked for clearings or patches of grass that were wilted and broken from the tires of a sitting motorcycle.
Possibly a camp. Or another abandoned cabin.
Or anything else to denote someone else was fucking out here.
But there was nothing.
How the fuck had they found Everly?
I rode up to the side of the cabin and slammed to a stop. And the second my eyes fell on the carnage of the cabin anger rushed through my veins. All of the windows were shattered and the front door was hanging open.
Holy fuck.
They’d demolished the place.
I got off my back and ran around the house. There was no glass on the ground, which meant the attack came purely from the outside. There were no bullet holes in the sides of the house and the only footprints on the ground were massive boots.
I didn’t see anything that denoted Everly had ever stepped foot outside.
I ran up the porch steps and walked across the shattered door.
Glittering glass littered the wooden floors of the cabin and there were massive dusty boot prints that led all the way down the hallway.
My eyes scanned the room, looking for any traps that could’ve been set.
Trip wires. Bombs. Guns rigged to go off.
I stepped into the kitchen and started opening everything to make sure I wasn’t walking into a trap.
When I didn’t see anything in the kitchen cabinets, I took stock of what was around me. A fire that was burning nothing but coals. The toolbox on the kitchen counter. I strode over to it and looked inside and noticed the crowbar was missing.
Holy shit, had Everly needed to defend herself?
I ran over to the fire and ran straight into the corner of the fucking couch.
I grunted and held my leg, then shook it off and proceeded to close off the flue and put out the fire.
I knew the smoke would slowly fill the house as it went out, but I didn’t give a shit.
I wanted there to be no sign that seeped from the tops of the forest that drew the cops out here. That drew the club out here.
That maybe even drew The Black Saddles here.
I felt something warm seeping through my jeans and I looked down. Damn it. The corner of the couch had pierced my skin. Blood was slowly coating my jeans and leaking onto my skin, and I gritted my teeth in frustration.
“Fuck,” I said.
I looked up the hallway and heard a scurrying motion. Small feet clamoring against the ground. I saw movement underneath the bathroom door and my heart clenched in my chest.
“Everly!”
The shadow stopped moving and I took another step towards the hallway.
“Everly! Where the fuck are you!?”
I saw the bathroom door rip open and there she stood.
With swollen eyes and puffy cheeks and chapped lips that were bleeding.
The crowbar was grasped tightly in her hands and I could see how relieved she was.
She took off in a dead sprint down the hallway as the crowbar dropped to the wooden floor, and the sound of metal on wood hit my ears as she ran into my arms. Her beautiful body, trembling against me as she threw her arms around my neck.
I picked her up in my grasp as her face fell to my neck, and she kissed it repeatedly as I stroked her hair.
“Grave,” she said, choking. “Oh my gosh, you’re here.”
“We need to get you out of here,” I said. “We have to go.”
“I have to tell you about what happened,” she said.
“We can do that when we get to where we’re going. But it’s not safe here any longer. Redding isn’t safe. We have to get your things.”
“Grave, please. Just stop for a second.”
It was the desperation in her voice that made me halt my words.
I walked her back down the hallway as the smell of smoke slowly began to penetrate the first square feet of the house.
It wasn’t hazy, but the smell was strong, and I could feel Everly’s brows furrowing against my skin.
I walked us into my bedroom and growled when I saw the busted windows.
Glass was covering the bed her and I had made memories on, and something about that idea made me grow wild with anger.
I turned around before I raged out of control and walked us into her room.
Her legs were wound tightly around me and I could feel the blood slowly trickling down my leg. I sat down on the edge of her bed and kicked my leg out, grunting as I close the door. Everly ripped her face up from my neck and looked down, gasping as she saw the blood.
“Grave. You’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“No. You're not. There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom. Hold on.”
“Everly.”
I reached out and grabbed her wrist, but it was with my bloodied hand. She looked down at it and her eyes widened and I instantly dropped her arm. She rushed out of the room and fumbled around in the bathroom, tossing open cabinets and pushing things around.
Then she came back into the room and closed the door.
“Take off your pants,” she said plainly.
I stared at her hotly as her eyes lifted to mine.
“Don’t be weird. Take off your pants so I can clean you up,” she said.
So, I stood, shoved my pants to the floor, and sat down as she began sliding them off my legs.