Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
NOTCH
I still have no fucking clue how I made it back to the clubhouse.
Those assholes beat me until I could barely see.
And my only recompense was that I had enough sense not to go for my weapon.
I knew I was outnumbered. And while I could have taken those idiots full force, the second the wind was knocked out of me, I was done for.
I couldn’t see out of one of my eyes. My ribcage was on fire.
Every single part of my body was crying out for pain medication.
For a doctor’s attention. For someone to scoop me up and get me to a fucking hospital.
But… Maya.
I had to get to Maya before it was too late.
I stumbled up the steps of the safe house and wiped at my nose. My mouth. My eyes. There was blood everywhere against my skin as my hand fell to the doorknob. I leaned against it, jarring the door open before I fell into the safe house and onto the floor.
And the first thing I heard was Ella screaming.
“Notch!”
“Holy fuck.”
“Get the first aid kit. Now.”
“Shit.”
I heard footsteps around me as someone picked me up off the ground. Everything was a blur as my back fell against something cool. Something soft. Gauze came down onto my face, and something stung my lip and my nose. I flinched away, grumbling as blood trickled down my neck.
At least, I thought it was blood. Because I hoped to fuck on high I wasn’t crying in front of all these men.
“Notch, can you hear me?”
Stone’s voice pierced the haze of pain, and I slowly opened my good eye, which couldn’t even focus I was in so much pain.
“Stone,” I breathed.
“Notch, what happened? Can you talk to us?” Texas asked.
“He’s got two broken ribs,” Bronx said.
“His nose is busted but not broken,” Asher said.
The world slowly came into focus as they sat me up, making me sick to my stomach with a painful fire I’d never experienced before.
“What the hell happened to you?” Stone asked.
He sat down beside me and took my hand, squeezing it and trying to reassure me the way Stone always did. I coughed, feeling blood spewing from my lips. Bronx came into view long enough to wipe it away and then asked me to open my mouth.
“I don’t think he’s bleeding internally. He’s got a couple lost molars, though. Bleeding pretty bad from them,” he said.
I groaned as my head fell back into the cushions of the couch.
“Notch. Talk to us. What happened to you?” Texas asked.
I sighed as my eyes gazed up at the ceiling.
“Harry,” I choked out.
“Here, this should help you feel better,” Stone said.
I felt two pinches in the crook of my left arm, and suddenly relief flooded my veins. My vision cleared. The tears I didn’t want to admit I was crying dried up. I licked my lips, tasting the sour metallic essence dancing against my skin.
“Harry and his goons found you?” Texas asked.
“And Maya,” I said gruffly.
“Where is she?” Bronx asked.
“He… he took her,” I said.
“Why the fuck were you with her in the first place?” Stone asked.
“You know what, Stone? I get that you’re upset with the guy for essentially walking away from your crew. But I’m on his side with this one,” Asher said.
“Good thing you don’t belong to me,” Stone grumbled.
“Tuck it in already,” Texas said. “This entire time, Notch has been the only one who had the guts to be honest with all of us and stand up to your selfish ass. To do what is necessary to get us out of this shithole, no matter the fallout. Shut up and listen to him. Be a president, not a damn dictator,” Texas said.
The room fell silent as Stone kept hold of my hand.
“You still believe Maya isn’t with them?” he asked.
I nodded, grimacing at the pain in the base of my neck.
“Yes. I—he’s—gonna sell her, Stone,” I said.
“Sell her? Like, human trafficking?” Bronx asked.
I nodded again, feeling more tears crest my eyes.
“Holy fuck, this hurts,” I choked out.
“How many guys?” Stone asked.
“Four,” I said.
“Did you not have your gun on you?” Texas asked.
“Too busy getting the plates of the car Harry stuffed her into. I had to play dead in order to get them to stop beating on me,” I said.
“I assume you’re wanting to go after her?” Stone asked.
I’d had enough of this man’s bullshit for an entire fucking lifetime.
“Why is it that all of you—including Bronx—are willing to drop every fucking thing for your girls, but you guys aren’t willing to do shit for mine?” I asked.
The entire room froze as I lifted myself up from the couch cushions.
The bloodied gauze fell away, and I felt butterfly bandages holding my forehead closed.
I flexed my neck slowly, trying to see if it would make me sick.
I wasn’t sure if I had a concussion or not, but the fact that I was standing was a good sign.
I slowly turned around, eyeing everyone with my good eye.
My strong eye. And as the pain medication worked its way through my system, I felt stronger than I ever had before.
I felt a renewed sense of vigor and lust for death.
“Notch, look at me,” Stone said.
My eyes fell onto him as he stood up from the couch.
“Do you trust her?” he asked.
My heart slammed against my chest, confirming what my lips hadn’t just yet. And it was time. Because we needed to go get her. I needed the only shred of family I’d ever had in my life believe me for fucking once.
“Yes. I do,” I said.
“Do you love her?” Bronx asked.
My eyes slowly dropped to the man gathering up the fistfuls of bloodied gauze from the couch.
“More than anything in this world,” I said.
The room fell eerily silent, and it made me irate with anger. The more seconds that passed, the greater the chance that Maya was dead. Or worse, sold off to someone we’d never be able to track down.
I’d burn this entire world to the ground just to find her, if that’s what it took.
“That’s enough for me,” Texas said.
“Me, too,” Bronx said.
“I don’t know about Stone, but we’re in. Me and my men,” Asher said.
My eyes connected with Stone as he sighed and nodded his head.
“I never thought I’d see the day, but I guess this is the time. If you trust her, then so do we. But you know how I am. I’m going to want to hear this from her. To look into her eyes and get a read on her,” he said.
“I’m fine with that if you’ll give me my leather cut back,” I said.
“Missing it already?” he asked, grinning.
“You guys will never not be family. But you’ve really been pissing me off the last couple of weeks,” I said.
“That makes two,” Texas said.
“Three,” Bronx said.
“And a whole bunch of others,” Asher said, chuckling.
I grinned as Stone reached behind the couch.
He grabbed my leather cut and helped me ease it back onto my shoulders.
Everything in my body ached. But I knew my body well enough to know there was nothing serious outside of the two broken ribs.
Ugh, I’d feel those for weeks. Which also meant I’d have to take a back seat in all this.
Rely on my gun instead of my instincts to keep me safe so I could get to Maya.
“Then, I guess there’s only one question to ask,” Stone said.
“What?” I asked.
“You got any idea where the fuck they took her?” he asked.
“Actually, I think I can help with that,” Asher said.
I eased myself around, staring at the behemoth of a man as he stood in the middle of his men that had come to help us.
“You know where she is?” I asked.
“I have an idea. I’ve been doing a lot of tailing.
A lot of research. Your facial recognition program helped me with a lot of it.
I’ve been searching around for properties any of those assholes in the pictures I took might own.
Or have taken out in Yung’s name. They don’t have any other properties around here except for their old headquarters and the new one,” Asher said.
“So, they probably have her at one of those locations,” Stone said.
“My men and I can go to the old one, and you guys can get to the new one. Harry sounds like he’s scrambling.
And if you had to play dead in order to get those goons off you, then it means he meant for you to be dead.
That’s the only advantage we’ve got right now, so we need to use it.
It’s probably best if you stay in the shadows, given your wounds.
But it’ll also give these Chinese assholes something they don’t see coming,” Asher said.
“I like the way you think,” I said, grinning.
“I’ll send my men out to go check out the old warehouse.
If you want, we can wait for their word, and then all of us can head to the new warehouse.
You know, cover our bases and make sure we have as many men as we need to take these bitches down and get this woman back. What’s her name?” Asher asked.
“Maya,” I said.
“What do you think, Stone?” Texas asked.
We all turned to him, and for the first time since I had joined the crew, I felt we were finally on the same side. He looked at me with a sparkle in his eye and a hairpin grin on his lips. And when he nodded his head, strength bled life back into my tired bones.
“I think it’s time we catch ourselves some assholes,” Stone said.