7. Juice
CHAPTER 7
JUICE
“It’s five o’clock in the damn morning. What the hell are you doing here?” The older man held his hand up to shade his eyes from the bright glare of multiple headlights.
“Calm down, grandpa. We’re just here to pick up the kid.” The guy riding the chopper got off his bike. Based on the intel we’d done on the Savage Bones, he was their Road Captain who went by the name Warden. “Where is he?”
“Damon said he’d be back for his son on Thursday.” Eastman looked from one biker to the next.
“Damon was detained. He sent us to pick up the boy now.” Warden peeled his gloves off and set them on the seat of his bike. “We’re not going to have any problems with you or Grandma Eastman, are we?”
Arrow elbowed me in the side. “What the fuck are they talking about?”
“I don’t know. Who the hell is Damon?” The only reason I hadn’t taken off toward Sammy was because I figured if they’d found her, they would have brought her with them. Knowing her as well as I did, she’d want me to keep my focus on Oliver. It just about killed me not knowing if something had happened to her. I wasn’t used to giving a flying fuck about anyone.
“Damon goes by Dweeb. He’s low level and just patched into the club,” Thunder whispered. “I wonder if he stashed the kid with his parents for safekeeping.”
If that was the case, things were about to get interesting. There was no way they were getting their hands on Sammy’s son. My son, too, I had to keep reminding myself.
“Get the boy, Gramps.” Warden had stepped onto the porch and faced the older man. “Unless you want me to tear up your place while I look for him myself.”
Eastman headed back inside while Warden settled in one of the Adirondack chairs and lit up a smoke. The two other guys joined him on the porch. The lights turned on at the back of the house. That’s when I got an idea.
“Think you two can cause a distraction?” I turned toward Thunder and Arrow.
“What do you have in mind?” Thunder asked.
My main goal was to get Oliver away from the house before all hell broke loose and we ended up in an all-out war with the three bikers. Knowing the Savage Bones, they were all armed and blood would be shed. Witnessing something like that could fuck a kid up for life.
“I go in the back door and get the kid while the two of you take care of the three assholes out front. I’ll backtrack through the woods to my truck and meet you at the clubhouse. That way he won’t have to see those pricks get their asses kicked.”
“You good with that, brother?” Thunder asked Arrow.
“Three on three wouldn’t have been any fun.” Arrow grinned. He was always up for a fight.
I clapped them both on their shoulders, grateful to be part of a club that felt more like family than anything I’d experienced before. “Thanks.”
“Go get your boy,” Thunder said. Then he stood and headed across the clearing with Arrow right behind him. “What the fuck’s going on here?”
The three bikers scrambled to their feet. I made sure their attention was focused on my MC brothers before I crept along the tree line until I was out of their line of sight. Then I crossed to the house and easily popped the lock on the back door.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Not because I was scared, but because I was about to come face to face with my own son. I crept up the steps from the lower level to the main floor.
Voices came from the bedroom at the end of the hall. Sounded like the Eastmans were arguing over whether they should let the men out front take the boy they believed was their grandchild. If all went well, they wouldn’t have to make that decision.
I opened the door to the first room on my right. A sewing machine sat on a table by the back wall. That left just enough room for a single bed. A bed where a small body curled up under the covers. My breath caught on an inhale. He had the same dark hair as his mama.
As I crouched next to him, taking it all in, he opened his eyes.
“Hey, Oliver,” I whispered. “I’m Juice and your mom sent me to pick you up. You ready to see her again?”
He nodded. “How do you know my name?”
“Your mom told me.”
He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand. “Where is she?”
“She’s waiting for you in my truck. We didn’t want to wake anyone else up, so she sent me in to get you.” I flipped the covers back and held out my hand. “Will you come with me?”
“What’s the magic word?” He sat up and looked right at me. “I’m not supposed to go with strangers unless they say the magic word my mom told me.”
Fuck. Sammy hadn’t mentioned a magic word. I’d left the radio with Thunder so I couldn’t try to reach her even if I wanted to. “I’m sorry, bud. Your mom didn’t give me a magic word. She told me a lot about you, though.”
“Like what?”
“That you like wolves.” I was scrambling, desperate to find some way to connect with him so he’d willingly come with me, and the sooner the better. “I’ve got a dog that’s part wolf. His name is Sirius, and he’s just outside.”
Oliver’s eyes narrowed. “Are you pulling my leg?”
His serious tone almost made me laugh. “No, little man. I wouldn’t joke about something like that. Do you want to meet him?”
He nodded.
“I think we’ll move faster if I give you a piggyback ride. Can you hold on tight, so I don’t drop you?” I turned around so he could climb onto my back.
“Mom says I’m getting too heavy for piggybacks.” He grabbed hold of my shoulders and wrapped his legs around my waist. “You’re probably stronger than her, though.”
“Don’t let go, okay? No matter what, just hold on tight, and we’ll get back to your mom as soon as we can.”
“Okay.”
I left the bedroom as quietly as I could. The voices down the hall had grown a little louder, but thankfully, the door to the bedroom remained closed. The sound of fists crunching against flesh came from the front of the house. At any moment, Eastman would probably storm down the hall and pull open the front door to investigate.
I went out the same way I’d come in. As soon as I got outside, I took off toward the woods. Oliver bounced against my back as I ran. My arms wrapped around his legs, trying to hold him in place.
“You run fast, Juice.” His hands shifted from my shoulders to wrap around my neck.
I’d never spent much time around kids and didn’t know what to expect the first time I saw him. With no point of reference to base my expectations on, he was smaller than I thought he’d be. Talked more, too. And he weighed next to nothing. It was like carrying a sack of feathers on my back.
I paused when I reached the trees to look back at the front of the house. Two of the bikes laid on their sides. Arrow stood over one of the guys on the ground and delivered a punishing blow. Thunder held onto one of the other men by the shirt and slammed his fist into the guy’s face while Sirius and Hades ganged up on Warden.
Satisfied everything was under control, I adjusted my grip on Oliver and made a beeline toward where I’d left the truck. Then a shot rang out, and Oliver screamed.