Chapter Twenty Three
Nero
Nothing can come close to the fear and rage pouring through me right now. Hearing Jesse and then Taylor’s voice, Oscar screaming in the background. My soul tore out of my body in that single moment as the thoughts ran through my head that I’ve lost them. All of them.
There is no doubt in my mind who this is.
As we race to my house I curse living so far away. Rebel is in my ear warning us to be careful, it could be another trap but I can’t even think about that. Not when I don’t know if my family is safe. My bike races ahead of the others but they keep behind me, not letting me do this alone.
Another call comes through from Rebel. “We can’t get hold of Gunner.”
He’s dead, they will have taken him out first. I mourn him for a few seconds then ask Rebel to get off the line so I can call the house. He doesn’t argue. We blast through the streets, recklessly swerving to avoid cars. It’s a miracle no one is seriously hurt or the cops haven’t caught up to us.
None of it matters. The phone rings and rings and I about lose my shit until she answers. She tells me they’re safe and even though I can hear Oscar crying, knowing they’re in the panic room eases some of the pressure.
That thing cost me nearly thirty grand, but it’s fucking worth it, knowing they’re protected. Now I can focus everything on the assholes in my home. Going after my son.
Then Taylor says something that scares me.
That Jesse is in a bad way. After she has told me what she can see on the camera screens, that there are only three of them, I make sure she turns off the screens as I swerve my bike around the side of the house.
I jump off it and it slides across the floor and lands on its side but I don’t care.
“Cherry, turn off the camera now.”
“Okay.”
I hang up and round the back of the house, the door opens, and a man comes through it.
He isn’t looking at me so when I pull the trigger, he can’t escape, and falls back into my house.
Adrenalin pushes me on and I burst inside, dropping down and punching the man who is gasping for air.
He’s wearing a mask, which I rip off. I don’t know who he is.
“Where is Storm?” I scream in his face.
“Fuck you.”
I grab his head, pull it up and ram it back down on the floor, rattling his fucking teeth and cracking something.
“We have the others. One down, Fury is taking the other one.”
“Keep him alive. Where the fuck is Storm?” I shout again, shoving the gun under his chin and punching him in the gut where I shot him. He cries out and blood spurts from his mouth. I hit him again and again.
“Two blocks, east,” the man wheezes out. I shoot him and the top of his head blows off.
Rebel grabs my arm before I can run past him. We struggle but he won’t let me go. “Razer and Stryker are going. You need to check on them.”
“I need to fucking rip his lungs out!” I shout.
“You will, but check on your family.”
My heart is pounding and I feel lightheaded. He’s right. “We need to get Jesse to the hospital,” I tell him, remembering what Taylor said.
Rebel takes out his cell and calls someone. He is yelling them to bring the car around, we need to move Jesse fast. Ronin and Juice come into the kitchen and Rebel tells them to go with me.
My eyes lock with my VP, he nods, letting me know, no matter what, Storm isn’t getting away. Pushing past the others I hurry down the stairs to the basement, noting how they’ve bashed the door down to get to them.
“Motherfuckers,” I snarl as I take the stairs two at a time.
The others are behind me as I come to a stop at the door. There are tiny little marks in the metal. This shit is bulletproof. I hope the bullets bounced off and hit the fucker who tried to get in here.
I tap in the code and the door unlocks. When I push inside, Taylor is holding a huge bat, keeping my son and Jesse behind her. The second she sees it’s me she drops the bat and starts to cry.
“It’s okay, you’re safe.”
She falls into my arms for a second, then moves back. “Jesse.”
Juice moves around me and crouches down, he only gives Oscar a cursory look as I pull my son off the floor and hold him against me.
Together they get Jesse up and run out of the room.
Oscar is crying again and I hold his face against me with one arm and pull Taylor to me with the other.
She presses into my side, her face in my neck.
Fuck. This is all my fault, she could have been killed, and it would have been because of me. Her arm raises and goes around the back of Oscar so she can pull both of us closer. His cries turn to hiccupping whimpers as she strokes his hair.
In that moment, I know the truth of what I’ve been trying not to admit to myself.
I fucking love this woman and no matter the danger, I’m not going to stop and I’m not going to let her go.
She got in the way of me and my son, thinking someone was coming in to hurt them, with a baseball bat to protect them.
I don’t know how I will ever be able to thank her for that.
“Jesse needs the hospital.”
“They’re taking him.” I kiss Oscar’s head and cup her face. “Are you okay?”
She nods. “A little freaked out.”
“Freaked out,” an incredulous laugh bursts out of me. She laughs too. It’s fucking fear, nothing else. The relief that none of us are hurt is making us both crazy.
Stryker appears at the door and Taylor lets out a little yelp of surprise and grabs my hand. He looks at her but doesn’t say anything, taking in the sight of the child in my arms, a slight furrow of his brow.
“We need to get you out of here,” he says.
“Yeah, okay.”
“Ratchet will deal with your bike, there is a car waiting.”
Taylor doesn’t say a word, just does as he asks. We go outside and I’m surprised there aren’t more people out here, they’ve already dispersed, knowing the danger is gone. I help Taylor get Oscar into the car seat, I have no clue how it got there, but I’m not going to question it.
Stryker gets behind the wheel and looks out at me. Rebel is hurrying over and I almost tell Stryker to go without me but I can’t leave them.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“Fuck.” I snap out through gritted teeth.
“We’ll find him. Get out of here. The cops are on their way.”
My fists clench and a scream of rage and frustration is trying to bust its way out of my chest but I get a hold of it before it can come out.
Rebel doesn’t stop me when I grab his cut and pull him close, our noses almost touching.
He knows I’m not mad at him, he understands the importance of this moment.
“Find. Him.”
His face is as deadly serious as mine when he nods, not needing to say anything, his promise is written in the way he stares at me. Then he steps back. “Get the fuck out of here, now,” he pushes me toward the open door.
Another beat and I get in as the sound of sirens draw nearer. I’m not getting away from this, it’s my house, there is clear evidence it’s been broken into and my brothers won’t have had time to clean up the mess. Even if there will be no bodies left behind.
None of that matters, we have cops who can help cover up the worst of it.
“Clubhouse?”
I look at Stryker as he pulls away from the curb. Nothing ever phases him and he’s driving like he’s heading out grocery shopping. At least someone has kept a calm head.
“No,” I shake my head and give him a different address.
He doesn’t ask me why, or anything about Oscar, just turns the way he needs to go. I can trust him. It has never been up to debate that Stryker isn’t fully in with the Disciples. After what he did to Chains, I’ll never doubt him.
As he focuses on the road, I turn and look back. Taylor is holding Oscar’s hand. He has Oscar Two shoved up against his face which is turned toward Taylor, his eyes are closed. How he is asleep is beyond me.
Taylor looks at me when my gaze goes her way. I’m at a loss for words. I won’t force her to stay, or tell her I claimed her so she can’t leave.
Her hand lifts, and she reaches out. I turn further and take hold of it. Everything I need to hear, that she won’t speak aloud in front of Stryker is said in the way she grips my hand, and my son’s.
She isn’t going to walk away.
Stryker says no one followed us as we pull up to the address and doesn’t show that he knows where we are when we enter the building and take the stairs to the first floor. He’s been here before, not too long ago.
We pass the apartment where Ghost’s woman used to live. We keep going to the apartment where Caleb Dexter lived. The man who started all of this all those months ago when I realized someone was trying to undercut us.
Those days are long gone. This is no longer about undercutting us. Storm has been threatening for a while but with this, he declared war.
When we forced Caleb to move, I took over the lease on this apartment. It’s the last place anyone would ever expect to find me.
Stryker comes in and checks everywhere then waits for me to give him his orders.
I nod for him to wait and he goes to stand by the door.
Taylor is carrying Oscar and I show her to a bedroom at the back of the apartment.
She sets him down and we both look at him after she has pulled the covers over him.
If he was ever going to have bad dreams, this is going to cause it.
Taylor touches my hand and I drag my eyes away from my sleeping son.
We slip out but leave the door ajar, going into the other bedroom.
She sits down and her head hangs for a moment.
I walk closer and stroke her hair so she looks up at me.
“Are you okay?”
“Ask me tomorrow,” she quips.
Taking a seat beside her I lift her hand and kiss the backs of her fingers. “If you weren’t there…”
“Don’t think like that,” she whispers.
“But how can you want to be-”
“You warned me, Noah.”
“I told you that the club comes first, not that something like this would happen.”
“And I told you that I don’t care about any of that.”
“Jesus, Cherry, you could have died. Because of me.”
“But I didn’t, because of you. That safe room did exactly what you wanted it to do.”
“You shouldn’t have to-”
“Can you please not argue with me when I’m trying to tell you that none of it changes how I feel. Yes, I was scared out of my mind. I never doubted you, Noah. You say the club comes first but you’re here, with us. You could be out there with them, trying to find this guy Storm.”
My lips clamp at his name on her lips. She squeezes my hand.
“It doesn’t matter what you try to tell me, or what anyone else says about you, Noah.” She lets go of my hand and places it on my chest, right over my heart. “If you were really that man, I wouldn’t be able to feel your heart beating, or know that you mean so much to me. Losing me won’t happen.”
My head is telling me to protest and force her to walk away but she’s right. Losing her doesn’t work for me either. She shifts her body, turning into me and takes hold of my jaw with her soft fingers, moving me so I’m facing her.
When she kisses me, it’s sweet, full of something I’ve never had with a woman before. Wrapping an arm around her back I pull her closer and open her mouth with my tongue and she lets me, clutching my cut as we kiss harder.
It isn’t the kind of kiss that will go any further but it’s enough to say she means every word. My phone rings and I sit back. It’s Nashville. Taylor nods and I stand up but don’t leave the room.
“Jesse is okay, he's on IV meds. They said it’s nothing to worry about but his immune system is causing issues.”
“Thanks.”
We hang up and I fill Taylor in. “That makes sense,” she says.
“He’ll be okay?” I trust her more than I do what the doctor told Nashville.
“I can’t promise you anything,” she gets up. “But he’s strong. He fought to protect Oscar. With everything he had, he kept him safe.”
A ball of emotion swells up my chest and into my throat and she steps into me again, hugging me tight. We stay like that for a few minutes until I kiss her forehead and step back.
Without saying anything she knows. “We’ll be okay.”
“Stryker will stay with you.”
“Maybe I’ll invite Dana over.”
“No one knows about this place, and it stays that way.”
“I was joking.”
“You think this is a time for joking, Cherry?” It’s said sternly but she sees the twitch in my lips.
“Dana has a thing for Stryker,” she whispers, like he is standing outside listening.
Truth is he’ll be by the front door and that is where he will stay, all night if he has to. We will need him at some point but for now, there is no one I trust more with these two people I love.
“Tell her to forget it.”
“I’ve tried.”
“I mean it. He’ll never be what she wants him to be.”
Taylor stares at me, reads the seriousness and nods. She promises she will be okay, and I let her know I’ll get everything her and Oscar need sent over as soon as I can.
“Noah,” she calls as I walk to the door, I turn and look at her. “Don’t freak out.” She sees my confusion. “I love you. And Nero too.”
“We both love you back,” I wink at her and it makes me really fucking happy to see that smile.
Only we could say something so damn important to one another that way. Maybe she is in shock and doesn’t really mean it. No, Taylor isn’t like that. She may have said it that way because of what we went through but it was sincere. I meant it too.
I check in on Oscar one last time, then walk down the hall to Stryker.
“Guard them with your life.”
“No need to ask, Prez.”
“I’ll get Raven to bring some things over for them.”
He nods, knowing it’s less likely anyone will follow her, but we can trust her. Stryker hands over the keys to the car and steps out of the way to let me pass.
“Oscar might have nightmares,” I pause. “He screams. Taylor knows what to do.”
He nods, his face stoic. When he first came to us, Stryker never wanted to let anyone know, but I saw it. He suffered with nightmares too. Something has given him PTSD.
He assures me they will all be okay and I head out.
The instant my feet hit the steps down to the lobby, my mind set switches and I harden my head and my heart because I need to.
What I was going to do to Morris for hitting her was bad enough, it’s nothing compared to what is coming for Storm.
Once I step outside, I am not a father or a man who told his woman he loves her. I’m the President of the Blackhawk Disciples.