Chapter Twenty-Four
“ D addy, more please,” I moan.
Gunner doesn’t hesitate. He slides into my ass, the burn mixing with the pleasure. I cry out for him.
“Trouble, are you my good girl or my brat?”
“Both, daddy.”
Shattering glass pulls me from my dream. I can feel my underwear soaked as I sit up disoriented.
That’s when I hear it. Someone is coming through the window.
Jumping up, I run down the hall to Lee’s room. Sliding inside, I find him already awake with a bat in his hand.
“Stay here. I’m going to check on Mom.”
He nods, fear in his eyes.
We have lived here for several years and never had an issue. It’s not the best area, but usually if you live here in the neighborhood, thugs leave you alone.
So why are they breaking in now?
A rock settles into my gut when I realize what has changed.
I’m with Gunner now. I’m his woman, which means there is a target on my back. I knew that this was a possibility, but how could I do that to Lee and my mom?
Peeking into my mom’s room, I find it empty.
Tiptoeing down the hall, I glance into the living room.
What I see is something out of a nightmare.
My mother is lying on the floor, blood all over her face as she cries. The man standing above her spits on her.
“Leave her alone.” I try to keep the tremble out of my voice.
“Go back to the room,” Mom begs me.
“No way, Mary. She’s who I am here for, after all. Well, her and you. Did you think you could take my kids and run? Where is little Lee? Is he here too?”
I recognize the man as soon as he turns toward me. It’s the same man from the biker rally from months ago. The one who stopped and stared at me with surprise.
This is all my fault.
He followed me because he wanted me, and now my mother and brother will pay for it.
“Lee is with my boyfriend,” I lie.
Before he can respond, I hear a struggle from down the hall. Minutes later, the biker from the grocery store pulls Lee out. I recognize him too from the garage. My involvement with the Saints is going to ruin my family.
This is all my fault.
“Please leave them alone. It’s me you want,” I tell the man.
He starts laughing harder. “You still didn’t tell her? You are letting her fuck one of the Saint’s Outlaws MC bikers and you haven’t even told her that she already belongs to an MC?” He shakes his head. “Honey, I’m not even mad that you spread your legs for one of them, but you don’t belong there. You belong with me.”
“Uh, what?” I manage to spit out.
“I’m your father. Mary here was my side chick for a while. Birthed two beautiful babies for me. Then one day I left you and Lee playing while I went to do some coke. Lee started choking on a toy. He would have died, but you, my dear daughter, saved him. Your mother never forgave me for it. She wanted to leave me. I got rid of that idea real quick. How many days did you spend in the hospital, Mary?”
Mom is looking only at me, though. She has fear in her eyes.
Things are starting to click into place for me. The reason she was against me being with Gunner. She had a terrible experience with one before.
I only wish she would be able to see that the Saints are different. They are kinder. In fact, one of them is supposed to be outside right now.
Hopefully he’s alive and called for backup. I just need to stall.
“What is your name?” I ask him.
“Billy, but everyone calls me Goat.” He smirks at me.
I’m going to regret it. I know I am, but I ask anyway.
“Why Goat?”
“I’m the greatest of all time, of course.”
I look over at Lee. He is bleeding, but he is glaring at the man. Seems the fear has left him. I only hope he doesn’t do something stupid.
“That’s a good name,” I lie, trying to buy us a little time. “So Mom ran from you. Brought us here. I assume you found us because of me?”
A lump is in my throat when he nods his head. It really is all my fault.
“Imagine my surprise when I found my daughter at a biker rally. I thought I was seeing things, but you look so much like your mother. There was no denying it. Then I found out you were the same bitch Vic and Dexter found at the garage. They have a bit of a thing for you. I promised them that they could each take a turn with you before I assign you an old man.”
“I think we want to double-team her, boss,” the man holding Lee says.
Bile rises in my throat, but I swallow it down.
Lee has had enough, though. He breaks free from the man holding him, charging the man who claims to be our father.
He’s ready for it. He punches him square on the jaw, Lee dropping to the floor in an instant. When he doesn’t move, my heart stops.
“Lee.” I start to move toward him, but Mom makes a move first.
“Leave my son alone!” she screams, trying to take Goat down.
All she gets for her effort is a shoe to the stomach.
I rush forward, grabbing the man’s arm.
“I’ll go with you. Happily.”
He looks at me skeptically.
“Let’s leave them here, and I’ll go be your prize.”
“Lee is coming too. He might be a pussy, but he’s my blood. My heir. I’ll toughen him up,” the man says.
I don’t like it, but I don’t want him hurting my mom anymore either.
“Good idea.” I turn to the other man in the room. “What was your name?”
“Loop.”
“Loop, you grab Lee. I’ll walk out with you.” I hesitate before I add, “Dad.”
He smiles at me. “Of course. Let’s take care of your mother first.”
He takes out a gun, making my stomach drop.
Thinking quick, I pull his arm down.
“That would be too easy an ending for her, don’t you think? I think the better punishment would be for you to disappear with us like she did you. Make her question her sanity while she searches for us. Wouldn’t that be better?”
He thinks over my words before smiling. “Maybe you should be my heir. You have a real taste for it. What about that boyfriend of yours?”
“Mom can call him and tell him it’s over. Tell him I never want to see him again. I found where I really belong.” I aim the last words at my mom, my eyes pleading with her to call Gunner.
It doesn’t matter if she believes me or not, he will hunt me down. Even if he buys her words for the truth, he will want to scream at me to my face for betraying him. I think he’s smarter than that, though. We have made enough progress for him to trust that I love him.
“Good. Let’s go.”
As we walk out of the house, I look back one more time.
Mom looks torn as she watches us go. She nods once.
She got my message.
I can only hope he finds me in time.
I’m sound asleep when my phone goes off.
I’m angry until I see her name on the screen.
“Trouble, what’s going on?” I rasp into the phone.
“Um. We need help. This is the guy sleeping with my daughter, right?” A woman’s voice wobbles.
Sloane’s mother is calling me?
I’m awake in an instant.
“What’s going on?” I demand as I sit up.
She sobs into the phone, “They took her and Lee. I couldn’t stop them. I tried.”
I’m out of bed and getting dressed as I put her on speaker. “Where are you right now?” I ask her.
“At the house. They left two minutes ago. I waited to be sure they wouldn’t come back and finish the job. They wanted to kill me, but she stopped them.”
Of course she did. She would do anything for her family.
“I will be there in five. Stay there.”
Hanging up the phone, I call Smoke.
“Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?” He huffs.
“Sloane’s been kidnapped. Lee too. Call everyone. I want the entire club on this. Meet at her place.”
I hang up before he can respond. I’m out the door and on my bike within seconds.
I break every single speeding law, getting my bike up over triple digits most of the way. I pull up in Sloane’s driveway within four minutes.
I stalk up to the door and pound on it. Her mother answers looking like hell.
“Your cheekbone is broken,” I tell her, bringing her into the kitchen.
“I don’t care. Find them. They are my everything,” she cries.
Moving to the freezer, I take out a bag of frozen peas. I wrap it in a towel before taking it over to her and pressing it to her cheek.
“Wait here. I need to check something.”
I leave her in the kitchen and go in search of the man who was supposed to be watching her. I find him in the backyard bleeding out.
“Shit. Prospect One. Goddamn it. Don’t die on us.”
He’s out cold, though. I put pressure on his wound using my T-shirt until I hear the bikes pull up. Seconds later, Smoke comes out the back door.
“Doc, we need you!” he calls inside to our resident doctor.
Doc comes running out, taking over for me.
“You’re going to be okay, kid,” I tell the passed-out prospect before marching over to Smoke. “Let’s go figure out what the hell happened.”
He follows me into the kitchen, where Tank is looking over Sloane’s mom.
“Ma’am, you have two broken ribs. We need to take you to the hospital,” he tells her.
She shakes her head as her hands tremble. “Not until you find my kids. Stop calling me ma’am. Mary is fine.”
Mary.
Shit, the puzzle pieces start to click into place.
She is the Mary they were searching for. How could I have not known? She was right under our nose the entire time.
“I thought your name was Jane.”
She winces. “That’s what I’ve been going by since I left him, but I guess it doesn’t matter anymore since he found me.
“What happened? Why do they want you?” I asked her.
“Goat is my ex and the father to my kids. He was abusive to me. When he neglected the kids and Lee almost died, I finally got the nerve to leave and he put me in the hospital. Would have killed me too, but Sloane walked in and started crying. That’s twice she’s saved my life. As soon as I could, I took them and ran. I stayed close enough they wouldn’t think I’d be that stupid, but far enough away that I wouldn’t run into them. I’ve been working my ass off to take care of my kids ever since.”
“They saw Sloane at the garage and put it together?” I ask.
She shakes her head, wincing. “He said he saw her at a rally.”
Of fucking course. She was weirded out by someone. I was so lost in my feelings for her and fighting them that I never looked into it.
I could have ended this before it began, but instead I’ve lost her.
“Fuck, what does he want with them?” I ask her.
“He wants Sloane as some sort of pawn. Lee is his heir, but he thinks Lee is weak. He is going to hurt him. Likely kill him even. He wanted to kill me too, but Sloane told them to leave me alive to prolong my suffering. Told me to tell you that she doesn’t want to see you.” She swallows hard. “It’s a lie. She loves you. She only wanted me to call you. I know it.”
I nod. “You don’t have to defend her. I know how she feels about me. We are going to get her back.” Turning to Smoke, I cross my arms over my chest. “What’s the game plan?”
“Well, Crow has a tracker on Lee.”
“What?” both myself and Mary say at the same time.
“He was worried he might get into trouble, so he told Lee that if he wanted to work for him, he had to keep a tracker on him at all times. At least until he proved himself. Lee agreed. We know where they are.” Smoke pulls up his phone to show me.
They aren’t far from here. Some warehouse just over the state line in Alabama.
They are anticipating us trying to follow them, so they got off the road quickly. Smart of them.
“Why do you have a tracker on my kid?” Mary asks again.
“He’s working for us in our construction business. That’s not really important. Someone take Mary to the hospital with Prospect One and stay with them.” Moving closer to Mary, I grab her hand. “I will get your daughter back. I love her, and I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
She tears up. “My son too?”
“Of course. Lee is one of us, and we never leave a brother behind.”
“Thank you,” she cries, hugging me.
I hug her back before passing her off to Tank. He takes her outside, leaving me with Smoke.
“If we take the bikes, they will know we are coming,” Smoke tells me.
“I know. I’m going next door and borrowing Shirley’s car. You guys ask some of the other neighbors. Five minutes, and I want to head out. The idea of what he might be doing to her is making my skin crawl.”
He pats me on my shoulder. “I know, brother. I know.”
All I can hope is that we make it in time to stop anything really bad from happening.
If we don’t, I’m not sure what I will do.
All I do know is that blood will be shed today.