Chapter Thirteen
Veda
The “security office” was actually Knight’s office, which he’d recently renovated.
On one side the bank of monitors showed every corner of the compound outside the warehouses and all the community areas inside.
The other side had a state-of-the-art gaming system with every bell and whistle imaginable.
Violet’s son, Caleb, currently busied himself with some kind of fantasy quest game I had no clue about.
He looked absorbed in the screen as he made various attacks at whatever monster he fought in the game, but I got the feeling the kid understood and was aware of every single thing going on around him.
And just waited for the chance to protect someone.
Most likely all of us girls. Kid had that look.
Which is to say, he looked like every other member of the male species in this place.
Maybe a meltdown would be therapeutic. Truth was, I’d reached a black kind of calm. This whole situation was fucked to shit and back, and numbness had kind of taken over my mindset.
“Anyone want the last brownie?” Violet smiled as she offered the plate with one small brownie bite. “I’ve sat here and eaten way more than I should have.”
“Shit, Mom.” Caleb surged to his feet and moved to his mother, putting his hand on her forehead. “Let me get you some water. You need to drink lots of water.” He hurried off, presumably to get Violet some water.
“Sit back and relax, Veda.” Darby nudged me with her shoulder. “Things are about to get interesting.”
Violet gave Darby a confused smile. “What’s about to get interesting?”
Caleb hurried back in with four bottles of water. “Drink all that, Mom.”
“Good grief, Caleb. Stop it. I’m not drinking all that.”
Caleb gave his mother a solemn look. “Yes, you will.”
Violet looked from one of us to the other. “What? What’d I do?”
Riot walked in the room and leaned in to brush a kiss on Violet’s head. He whispered, “Those fuckin’ things are loaded with pot, baby. My advice is, when he comes calling, just let Jesus have you. He’ll send you back when the pot wears off, and me and Caleb’ll take care of you.”
Violet blinked, glancing at both guys. “I’m so fucked.”
Yeah, that got us all laughing.
I caught Darby’s grin out of the corner of my eye as Caleb knelt by his mother’s chair, unscrewing the cap on a water bottle with the solemnity of a battlefield medic. “You gotta hydrate, Mom. Riot said.”
“Riot said,” Violet echoed, shooting her man a look that promised retribution. “Riot’s sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Riot didn’t look particularly worried. “Worth it. Especially when those things hit.”
“I’m not stoned!” Violet looked equal parts exasperated and amused.
Caleb raised his eyebrows. When he spoke next, it was in a perfect imitation of Yoda. “Be you will… Be you will.”
I snorted coffee out my nose again on that one. I wasn’t alone. Sully barked out a laugh from where he sat at the monitors but facing us.
“Are you tryin’ to get your ass whooped, kid?” Riot grinned at Caleb.
Caleb, the little shit, looked down his nose at Riot. “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
More peals of laughter… until Violet almost toppled out of her chair laughing. Then we really laughed. Riot stood and scooped Violet up into his arms and sat back in the chair with her cuddled in his lap.
The banter continued while I sat in the chair next to Sully, looking at the monitors. I have no idea what I thought I’d see that he couldn’t. Honestly, I just wanted to find something else to focus on.
My gaze moved from one screen to the next.
Wasn’t much to see. The outbuildings, the patch of gravel drive where the guys had parked their bikes in case they needed to back up Griffin and Knuckles.
Sometimes the camera angle would stutter and flicker, lines jumping across the feed, and every time it did, my gut twisted.
Each time, Sully would grunt but didn’t move. Seemed I wasn’t the only one on edge.
“How much longer?” I didn’t specify, but Sully knew what I meant.
“Honey, they’ve been gone thirty minutes. They’re gonna be a while.”
Right. I knew that. Just seemed longer.
“It’ll be OK.” Carrie must have noticed my anxiety. She stood next to me and reached out to squeeze my shoulder. “One thing I’ve learned since I’ve been here is that Knuckles takes care of everyone in the club. He’ll bring everyone home. Including your sister if she’s there.”
Sully’s phone vibrated. He didn’t move at first, just stared at the screen. The muscles of his jaw bunched. Then, without a word, he stood. The chair creaked under the loss of his weight. “That a camera glitch or some shit?” he muttered. “Watch.”
Riot kissed Violet before putting her on her feet and crossing to the monitors. On the screen, one of the outbuildings blinked to black. Just a second’s pause, like the feed had stuttered. Then it came back.
“Never known Knight’s equipment to be less than perfect.”
“Is that normal?” I asked, leaning in as another screen did the same thing. “I mean, do your security cameras do that sometimes?”
“Nope,” Sully told her, quiet but firm. He didn’t take his gaze from the screen. Neither did Riot.
Everyone quieted. Caleb placed himself at the door to the office, leaning against the door frame where he could keep an eye on the common room entrance and his mother at the same time. Everyone watched the monitors in silence.
Another monitor flickered, this time the main entrance, and then the top right of the grid froze up.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Sully muttered to himself. “Guys, get to the safe room.”
Caleb moved immediately, snagging Violet’s hand and helping her to her feet. Violet immediately pitched forward, unsteady with the sudden movement. Caleb caught her with Riot scooping her up immediately afterward.
“Holy fuck! How much shit did you guys put in those brownies?” Violet clung to Riot. “Sorry!”
“Well, you did eat quite a lot, sweetheart. Though it kinda picked a bad time to hit.” He carried her down the hall with the other women and Caleb hurrying with them.
I followed them and we all moved quickly down the corridor.
But every step felt wrong. Like retreat, and I’d spent the last six months refusing to retreat from a Goddamn thing.
My hands shook and I curled them into fists, digging my nails into the meat of my palms until the sting cut through the haze of adrenaline building in my blood. I had to stay focused.
The panic room sat at the interior of the warehouse, a reinforced steel door set into concrete that looked like it belonged in a bank vault rather than a motorcycle club. Carrie slipped inside first.
Darby followed, but not before she shot me a sharp, knowing look. “I don’t want to be in here either but pick your battles, sister.”
I stopped at the threshold. Riot set Violet down on the small cot inside, her eyes slightly glassy and unfocused, but her hand gripping his wrist looked surprisingly strong for a woman who’d accidentally gotten baked off edibles before a siege.
He kissed her forehead, murmured something too low for me to catch, and she nodded once before letting him go.
Caleb was already at her side, his thin hand wrapped around hers, his jaw set in a line that made him look thirty instead of a gangly teen.
Then the whole building went dark, and for two full seconds no one made a sound. Then the emergency lighting kicked on.
“Motherfuckers,” Sully breathed from somewhere behind me.
Riot straightened from the cot and was past me in two strides, his hand landing on my shoulder as he moved, a brief pressure to let me know to stay put.
He and Sully moved together toward the weapons locker at the end of the hall, their footsteps quick.
I heard the heavy clunk of a lock disengaging, the rattle of metal on metal as they armed themselves.
Caleb stepped out of the panic room and pulled the heavy door until it sat nearly closed, leaving himself on the outside. He planted his feet and squared his shoulders and looked at me with those pale blue eyes that held absolutely zero fear and a whole lot of quiet ferocity.
“You should get inside, Miss Veda,” he said, his voice low and steady. “If the guys are arming up, this could get bad. You need to stay safe or Griffin’ll have my ass.”
“Caleb,” Violet called weakly from the couch. “Language.”
I stared at him. This kid positioned himself between whatever was coming and the women behind that steel door and he expected me to follow suit.
No. I didn’t have it in me to watch from the shadows while other people risked their lives when I’d brought danger to their door.
I turned away from the panic room door and looked down the corridor toward the weapons locker where Sully and Riot were checking magazines with practiced efficiency, the red emergency light catching on dark metal.
“Veda,” Caleb said behind me, a warning in his young voice.
“Stay with your mom, Caleb.” I didn’t look back. “I can’t sit this one out.”
I made it three steps toward Sully before the world exploded around me.
A concussion hit me with a deep, bone-rattling WHOOSH and a POP that knocked me on my ass.
The warehouse wall held, but plaster and dust rained down inside the hall.
I scrambled to my feet before I stumbled sideways.
I caught myself on the wall with my injured palm.
A sharp pain licked fire over my hand, but that was the least of my problems. The emergency lights flickered, died, and came back in a sickly red pulse that turned the dust into a strange kind of hellish fog.
Another loud bang filled the air accompanied with a blinding flash. My ears rang, stunned from the noise, my eyes foggy from the flash and the dust. I still staggered from that first concussion and shook my head hard, trying to clear it.