Chapter 51 Daisy
FIFTY-ONE
DAISY
Cash blazed over the dirt road that led to his cabin. The engine grumbled and chugged as we careened between the trees, and I clung to him in a way I hadn’t before. My arms strained and shook, almost as violently as Cash’s entire body did as we bounced over the humps and dips.
He came to a skidding stop in front of the cabin. Venom coated his demeanor as his attention raked over the darkened area.
Turbulence a crack in the atmosphere.
My heart drummed in my ears and hammered at my chest, terror clamoring through my senses as I peered out into the shadows that fell over the dense, ominous woods.
“Get off,” he commanded. He took my hand and helped me maneuver in my dress and heels. I fumbled off the side, and he immediately was standing in front of me.
A wall of volatility.
An edifice of strength.
“Don’t think anyone is out there,” he said as he backed me toward the steps, a gun in one hand and the other outstretched toward the side as he shielded me.
“He was at the club. I…I felt him.”
“I know.” Cash’s voice seeped with regret. “We’ll get him.”
The roar of motorcycles echoed in the distance. Rolling like waves up the mountainside. An approaching army that bellowed in the night.
Cash took one more glance around before he grabbed me by the elbow and hurried me to the front door. Serrated breaths heaved from him as he thumbed into his phone and turned off the alarms, his attention continually darting behind him as he worked through the locks.
The second the door was open, he ushered me through and flew through the locks again, reengaging the alarm and punching in whatever code that caused the security screens to roll over the windows.
“Stay right here,” he growled as he began to move through the house, sweeping each room to ensure no one was there.
By the time the thunder of motorcycles roared up in front of the house, Cash appeared at the end of the hall.
Rage etched into every line on his face. The man written in mayhem and murder.
“Cash.”
At the sound of his name dropping from my mouth, he erased the space between us. His mouth crashed against mine. His kiss frantic and desperate, but desperate in a way it hadn’t been earlier.
This was fear and regret and that ultimate promise he had made.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. I will end this. I promise you.”
He jerked away when his phone rang.
“Yeah?” he answered. I couldn’t make out the garbled voice on the other end of the line, but I was sure it was one of the guys.
“Get everyone inside. Station six around the perimeter and the rest of us ride,” Cash told him.
He ended the call, then a big hand gripped me by the back of the neck and yanked me to him again.
His kiss hard and unrelenting. “Nothing, Daisy. Nothing will stand between me and you. Nothing between you and your happiness. Nothing.”
With a sticky knot in my throat, I nodded, and he peeled himself away when a loud knock thudded on the door.
He killed the alarm again and worked through the locks.
A disorder of fear and dread spilled into the room as Raven, Charleigh, Piper, and Emery piled inside, followed by the guys.
“Oh my God,” Raven wheezed as she came directly for me. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. You know this. There is a freaking brigade here to protect you, and the other half of them are at Ms. Liberty’s with the kids.”
A toil of worry spun through my middle. Through all of us.
Pulsing and pummeling. We all hated that we were separated from the children, but the guys thought it was safest to leave them there.
That we were inviting in too many variables by taking the chance of moving them, and we might be luring danger to their door if any of us went there.
An additional group of Silas’s men had been sent there to watch over them, while everyone else came here.
To be with me.
“I…I don’t want you all involved in this.”
Raven huffed. “Are you kidding me? You’re our family. There is nowhere else we’re going to be.”
“That’s right,” Charleigh said. “We come together when one of us is in need.”
Piper squeezed my hand, her face soft with understanding. “We’re all here.”
“And we promise, it’s going to be okay,” Emery urged, clearly trying to get me to calm down since I was close to hyperventilating.
These women pouring their belief into me, though there was no mistaking the anxiety they expelled. The frantic glances they cast at their men. Their men who were huddled with Cash on the other side of the room, their voices hushed and vicious as they made their plan.
They broke apart.
Violence emanated from their big, intimidating bodies.
Streams of brutality dripping from their consciousness.
They strode over, thunder beneath their feet, ferocity pouring from them as they each kissed their women, gripping them hard in their own promises.
Cash was there again. His forehead dropped to mine. “I love you, Daisy.”
My eyes squeezed closed as I curled my fingers in his shirt. “I love you. So much. Please come back to me.”
“There is no monster ruthless enough to match me. His days are done.” He pulled back, his jaw clenched as he looked between the five of us.
“There are six men stationed outside. Two are currently searching the perimeter, but we don’t believe anyone is in the area.
Think Ethan’s in town, trying to figure out the best way to get to you.
We’re going to get to him first. Do not open that door under any circumstance until one of the guys gives you the clear. ”
So frozen by the fear, I could barely nod.
“We’ve got you, Daisy,” Otto promised.
I gulped around the barb that rolled my throat, and I forced myself to speak. “I know. Thank you. All of you.”
River came forward and touched the back of my hand. “It’s what family does. We take care of each other. Whatever that looks like.”
A crash of appreciation, love, and dread collided in my spirit.
My heart so full while I was terrified it might splinter apart.
The guys turned and piled out, metal grinding as the locks were engaged. The alarm beeped as it was set.
We listened as their bikes were turned over, the engines loud as they took off down the lane.
For a moment, we just looked at each other, worry flooding between us.
Charleigh broke through the tension. “I’ll make tea.”
“Good idea,” Emery said as she took my hand. “Come on, let’s sit down.”
She guided me to the couch, and I couldn’t stop the way I was trembling.
Agitation blistering through my insides.
Emery sat down on my right side, Piper on my left, while Raven sat on the floor, shifted around with an arm on Piper’s leg so she could see us.
It only took a few moments before Charleigh was there, passing me a steaming mug. “Here.”
“Thank you,” I muttered, not sure I could stomach it. I winced when I sloshed a little onto my lap since I couldn’t control the shaking.
Raven rubbed my leg. “Hey, it’s okay. They know what they’re doing.”
I attempted a smile. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.”
Charleigh sat down on the floor near Raven and peered up at me. “He told you?”
My nod was reticent. “Yeah.”
Emery brushed back a piece of hair that had gotten matted to my cheek. “If you can imagine what they do for strangers, imagine what they will do for you.”
“I know.” I didn’t really. Only on a vague, elusive level. A reality I could so easily ascribe to fiction. But I had witnessed the evil in Ethan firsthand. It wasn’t even a mystery. I understood true danger.
“I just…wish they didn’t have to. That they weren’t putting themselves on the line for me.”
Gentle laughter rolled from Charleigh. “They put themselves on the line for all of us, Daisy, and for so many others.”
“How do you handle it? Knowing they’re out there? That they might not come home?” I could barely force it out.
Grimness flitted through their features.
“None of us can ever know when something terrible is going to happen,” Piper chanced.
“And yes, their lifestyle comes with a significant amount of hazard and risk, but they know what’s important.
What’s worth the sacrifice. How could they ever sit idle when they know the difference they are making?
And even though there is a selfish part of me that would love to lock Theo in our house and never let him out of my sight, I also admire what they do more than I could ever describe.
I support it wholly, and every day I work to remember the impact they are making. That’s what gives me comfort.”
“And wine. So much wine.” Raven quirked a wry brow.
I choked over a soggy laugh.
“And this one is harder, too, because it’s you. It’s your freedom and your safety, the same as it is for your children. When you get through this, you’ll see. You’ll understand,” Charleigh encouraged.
I gave a bumbling nod, then I nearly hit the roof when a text pinged my phone.
I fumbled for it, sure it would be Cash, only my heart shifted course when I saw who it was from.
Hadley
What’s going on? I think I’m here, but there are a bunch of guys out front? What’s happening, Daisy? Are you okay?
“Oh my God,” I rushed.
“What is it?” Emery asked.
“My sister is here.”
Me
Just wait right there. I’ll have them let you in.
Hadley
Are you in danger? Is Ethan here?
Me
I’ll explain everything when you get inside.
I jumped off the couch and ran for the door, my frenzied fingers inputting the code Cash had me memorize. Then I flew through the locks and out onto the porch. Three of Silas’s men circled my sister’s car.
“Oh my God,” I mumbled, then I shouted, “It’s just my sister. You can let her in.”
One of the guys swiveled around to look at me.
A brute of a man who had to be six and a half feet tall and just as wide. “We aren’t to let anyone near that house.”
“It’s just my sister. Please, she’s probably terrified right now.”
The man stalled, wavering before he turned and jutted his bearded chin toward another man. They all stepped aside, and I went running down the stairs.