Chapter 28
Smokehouse
“C ongratulations, Brother.”
I looked over at Lockout and raised a brow. He was grinning at me. We were all sitting around, drinking beers and hanging out. It was rare for so many of us to be in one place at the same time these days. With the construction of the school underway most of us were busy with that. “For?”
Lock’s lips twitched. “I’m glad you finally got your head out of your ass.”
“How do you know I did?” I asked. I had, but hadn’t told anyone yet. How did Lock always know this shit? “You have cameras in the rooms or something?”
Toxic perked up, looking over at us. “We could make some money selling those videos.”
“The fuck you will,” Hush growled at him.
Lockout shook his head. “There’s no cameras. Asshole,” he muttered to me for starting the current argument happening between the guys as they ignored his comment about the cameras.
Toxic was listing off pricing, a huge grin on his face. “Though if there’s too much of your old ass in it we’re going to have to list it under Grandpa porn.”
“Fuck you,” Hush snapped, reaching across the table to try to grab a hold of Toxic.
“This is your fault,” Lock grumbled. “I just noticed the difference between the two of you this morning when the girls left.”
“How long they going to be gone?” Rip asked with a sigh and a glance at his watch.
“Man, how the times have changed,” Butcher replied. “Used to be a time we’d drink all day, then party all night.”
We all stopped to consider that. “I like it better now,” I decided.
“For you to say that is…” Ricochet trailed off with a shocked look on his face.
“Fucking happy for you, Smoke,” Hell said, slapping a hand on my back that nearly knocked me out of my chair.
“You’re not even that much younger than me,” Hush snapped at Toxic, who was continuing to needle him.
He huffed in irritation at his friend and pulled his ringing phone from his pocket.
“Hey, Baby-” He cocked his head and the way he fell silent had us all zeroing in on him.
A grim look spread over his face. “Slow down. What happened?” Hush swore and jumped to his feet. “We’re on our way.”
Everyone was on their feet and heading for the door before he even had a chance to hang up. The look on Hush’s face coupled with the worried tone of his voice had us all in protector mode in an instant.
“What happened?” Lock bit out as we all ran for our bikes.
“Somethin’ about men in suits attackin’ them. The fuckin’ fire alarm was goin’ off too loud to hear much else.” Hush’s face was set in determination. Someone was going to die for going after our old ladies.
I was right there with him. The thought of something happening to Dani, our baby, Kit, or really any of the women had my stomach knotting. The details were irrelevant. They were in trouble, so we were going.
Our bikes started up like a pride of waking lions and we were on the road within a minute of getting that call.
The drive to the event center was equally the longest and shortest ride of my life.
Every worst case scenario was running through my head.
We should have known better than to send our girls off for the day.
If anyone could find trouble, it was them.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot my heart dropped and I swore. It looked like some kind of disaster zone. Cops, ambulances, and fire trucks were parked everywhere and people were streaming out of the building, worry and fear written all over their faces.
I searched the lot, looking for the women.
We moved as one unit from one end of the parking lot to the other until we finally found them.
Everything around me blurred as I zeroed in on my sister.
She was speaking with a paramedic and I saw Static being loaded onto a stretcher.
“What the fuck happened here?” I muttered.
Lockout was already moving over to the ambulance that Static was being loaded into. Seek was sitting nearby and another EMT was taking her blood pressure while she spoke with a cop.
As though she could feel my gaze, Kit glanced over at me. Whatever she saw on my face had her wincing, but she jerked her chin to her left. Dani was standing over there, speaking with yet another officer. I locked eyes with my sister again. “You good?” I asked as I passed by.
“I’m fine,” she called out. “Go check on your girl.”
I visually looked over each of the women as I passed and no one else seemed to have any visible injuries. Static was the only one who was hurt. I felt guilty that he was injured, but grateful that he’d clearly helped the girls in whatever had gone down.
Dani’s eyes were full of tears when I strode up to her.
“Give us a minute,” I barked at the cop and tugged her into my arms. Without knowing what had happened all I could do was hold her and give us both some comfort.
My heart was beating heavily against my ribs now that I had Dani in my arms, safe.
The cop’s brows shot up, but he stepped away to speak with someone else, giving us space.
“Are you okay?” I asked, pulling back so I could peer down at her. The tears streaming down her face ramped up my worry even more. “You,” I snapped at an EMT who was scurrying by. “Check out my girlfriend. Now.”
“Oh, but I was-” he broke off with a yelp as I grabbed him by the back of his uniform shirt and picked him right off his feet. Depositing him in front of Dani, who was sputtering out words through her tears, I motioned to her.
“She’s pregnant,” I told him.
“I’m okay,” Dani gasped. “I mean I fell, but I think everything’s okay. Smoke, we’re okay .”
I snapped at the EMT to get his attention. “Look her over,” I demanded.
He huffed out a breath, but then smiled at Dani. “What’s your name?”
She gave me a baleful look, but answered all his questions and held still while he took her blood pressure and whatever else he was doing. “I’m okay thanks to everyone else,” she told me. Her eyes darted over to where Static’s ambulance was.
Priest was heading our way. He gave Dani a worried look, but didn’t interrupt the EMT. “Lock’s going to the hospital with Static. They’re sending Seek and Sloane, too, just to be on the safe side.”
“We’ll be going as well,” I told him.
“That’s what I was going to recommend…” The EMT trailed off when I glared at him for interrupting us. He cleared his throat and went back to prodding at a scrape on Dani’s elbow.
My eyes were on my girl as she was fussed over by the man. I could tell she wanted to spill everything, but couldn’t in front of this guy. My patience was thinning with every second that ticked by, but I didn’t say a word because I needed to make sure she was okay first.
“Cops are taking statements,” Priest continued, lowering his voice. “The girls came up with some kind of cover story, but Jenny said they’ll give us the whole thing as soon as they can.”
The fact that the girls would make up a cover story for the cops meant this had something to do with club business. My shoulders tensed, but I nodded. With Lock, Rip, and Hush dealing with Static and the others, Priest was taking over as the one in charge. “Anything I can do to help?”
“No. Just take care of Dani. I’ve got Butcher and Toxic taking a stroll through the building. Kit said Dani pulled the alarm, but there’s no fire.” He looked over his shoulder when someone called out to him. “We’ll all meet up at the hospital.” He hurried off to speak with Ricochet.
“She’s doing just fine,” the EMT said now that Priest was gone. “But to be on the safe side, since she’s pregnant, going to the hospital is a good idea.”
“Thanks,” I told him, then swept Dani up into my arms.
“I can walk, Smoke,” she insisted.
I didn’t put her down until I reached one of the cage rides Dash and Bear had driven over. Jordan and Gwen were already inside. I placed Dani gently on the seat next to them.
“The kids-” Gwen started.
“Sylvia’s got them,” I assured her. “Priest called as soon as we got here.” I slid into the passenger seat of the truck and nodded at Bear.
Without a word, he started the truck and pulled out onto the road. I turned in the seat and eyed the women. Mostly, I just needed to keep sight of Dani because my insides were still all twisted up at the thought of her being hurt. “Once everyone’s there we’re going to need to know what happened.”
Dani nodded and the other women seemed to relax. The ride over would give them a chance to breathe and settle themselves. As much as I wanted to demand answers it was better to wait.
* * *
“Fuck this,” Static snapped in irritation. “Someone get me my fucking pants.”
We were all piling into his room. The pregnant women had been looked over by doctors and given ultrasounds. Everyone was fine. Even Static was awake and despite some stitches, he was going to be fine, bruised, but alright.
Pausing in the hallway, I looked over and scowled at where Kit and Hell were talking.
He reached up and cupped her cheek, causing my brows to pull down low into a frown.
Hell had known my sister almost as long as he'd known me and I appreciated him taking care of her while I’d been focused on Dani.
They looked every bit as much a couple right now as the others who were comforting each other.
It made me realize I’d missed all the signs somehow.
A devious grin spread over my face. Even in solemn times, it was my duty to stir up shit.
“Kit,” I called out. They jerked apart and looked over at me with matching guilty looks.
“Huh, would you look at that,” Butcher said.
I jerked, looking over at him. “Where the fuck did you come from?” Looking behind me, I saw Toxic standing there, holding two duffle bags grinning.
“Just coming in from the center,” Butcher said with a shrug as if he hadn’t just appeared at my shoulder quieter than a fucking ghost.