Chapter 32
32
Sienna
Baylee’s husband needed to step on the gas. This car wasn’t going fast enough.
She sat in the back seat with me, holding my hand in the darkness while I tried to tone down my internal hysterics. My dad was alive and so was Asher. Everyone had survived, unscathed. They’d been gone for hours and now it was almost one in the morning.
The guilt from the last two days was eating me alive. I wanted to sink back into my misery but doing that wouldn’t change anything. I had to just stay positive.
As soon as Hunter parked by the Emergency Room entrance, I reached for the door handle, but it wouldn’t open.
“Hold up,” was all Hunter said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “There are cameras in there. Records everything. Hears everything. My club, what happened, all of that doesn’t leave your mouth. Your man knows this. Zip knows this. I expect you will remember this conversation. You need to talk, you do it outside. Clear?”
I slipped my trembling hands from Baylee’s. “Yes, sir. I understand. Thank you for all you’ve done. Both of you.”
He gave me the standard biker nod. “My woman and I are going to wait right here. You walk to the doors and don’t deviate.”
“Understood.” I leaned over to hug Baylee. “Thank you for being my rock and seeing me through.”
“Oh, sweetie. You’re welcome. You’re family now,” she whispered.
I slipped out of the car into the dark parking lot, trying to remember to keep alert. It was a relief to make it to the doors. It wasn’t difficult to find Asher inside, waiting. As soon as he saw me, his legs ate up the distance between us.
Feeling his warm body, knowing he was still whole… that burn flamed up my throat.
“He’s okay,” Asher whispered, his hand soothing over my spine. “Liam’s with him. I was waiting for you.”
It was a relief knowing Dad wasn’t alone. “Is he awake?”
“Yeah, babe.” Asher walked me around the corner where the vending machines were lined along the wall. He pulled me back in his arms, doing that breathing thing he did when he was measuring his words.
“What? Tell me,” I whispered harshly.
“He’s okay. The outside of him tells a different story. I need you to brace before you see him. You can’t lose your shit.”
My gut sank. Tears were pricking my eyes.
Asher’s arms tightened. “Sienna, he doesn’t have anything he can’t survive. But he’s been through trauma, the kind that will take time to heal. He also has to stick to the cover story. The MC world doesn’t exist here,” he said low.
I understood.
“We had to do things, babe. I had to do things—things you need to come to terms with.”
I nodded into his chest. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”
Asher cupped my cheek, tilting my head to look up at him. “We still have a problem.”
Zip came out into the waiting room, phone up to his ear. He spotted us around the corner.
My phone started buzzing in my back pocket. My gut sank all over again seeing my dad’s name on the screen. Fear was causing my heart to pump hard. I showed it to Asher. He pressed the button to hang up the call and then we were walking with measured purpose out of the emergency room to the outside.
“The phone is on the move,” Zip said as we hit the sidewalk.
Asher towed me along. “Location?”
Zip repeated the question into his phone while mine started ringing again.
“What do I do?”
“Answer it, but you are still in transit to Phoenix. Dad still missing. Lie,” Zip snapped.
I hit the button. “Dad?”
“Where the fuck are you?” Diesel’s voice snapped.
My hand shook as both of the Hayes men glared at me. “I’m in the airport in…”
Dallas , Zip mouthed.
“Dallas. My plane had to make an.. an emergency stop.”
Asher nodded at me, mouthing good while Zip was motioning me to stretch it.
“And they cancelled my flight,” I added. “Where’s my father? I want to hear his voice.”
“You better not be fucking lying to me, Syla, or I swear I will cut his motherfucking eyes out.”
“No! Don’t do that!”
“I’m going to kill everything you’ve ever fucking loved! Do you hear me, you fucking bitch? You think I can’t touch you in Nashville?”
I sucked in a breath, feeling my world tilt. Asher’s eyes went just as shocked.
“You think I’m stupid, you ignorant cunt! You have five hours or dear old dad is dead.”
Distant sirens from an incoming ambulance cut through the darkness. Asher grabbed the phone out of my hand and ended the call.
My entire body felt numb. “He’s not going to stop. He’s never going to stop.”
Asher pulled me into his chest. “It’s okay, babe.”
I tugged his shirt. “No, it’s not! Once he finds out my dad is still alive, he’ll finish the job. And then he’ll keep going until he finally gets you and Candace. Haley. Coop. Little Roman. The baby. He won’t stop.”
“Where’s he at?” Asher asked.
Zip was still on his phone, relaying information. “On the move. Cell just left the gas station two miles from that shop.”
“So he knows,” Asher said.
“Seems so, but he doesn’t know that she doesn’t know.” Zip’s head tilted towards me.
“I’ve got to end this fucker,” Asher grumbled.
“Oh, no doubt. Question is though, is he riding solo or does he have company.”
I wiped my face. If Diesel had summoned his brethren like the Hell’s Guardians had, they would be unstoppable. They were doing too much. Taking too much risk for me. “I… I need to see my dad.”
Zip’s eyes narrowed on me, staring in a way that made me feel naked and raw. He pulled something small out of his cargo pocket and handed it to Asher, conveying a message I didn’t understand. “Go.” He motioned. “Take her but in thirty, we’re gone. Feel me? I’m in the van.”
Asher frowned at his hand and then he guided me away, tucking his fingers into my back pocket.
After a few minutes, a nurse came to escort us back to see my dad. The smell of cleaner turned my stomach, remembering how I’d been rushed through with a gunshot wound as a team of nurses and doctors surrounded me after the ambulance crew turned me over.
Asher stopped me before I could move the privacy curtain. “Brace, babe,” he whispered.
I took a deep breath, but it didn’t help. Asher grabbed my elbow, holding me steady.
My father’s face was twice the size and covered in bruises, cuts, and an oxygen mask. His eyes were purple—nearly black in some spots, and so, so swollen.
“Oh, dear God.”
Asher caught me, helping me to Dad’s bedside. His hands were wrinkled and bruised. Paper thin and aged. I shook trying to take his hand, being mindful of the I.V. line stuck in his vein.
“We’ve given him some strong pain medicine,” the nurse informed me as she came in the room behind us. “His pulse is strong. B.P. is good. He just needs to rest.”
The machine beeped with the tempo of his heartbeat, crushing me all over again.
“I’m sorry,” I choked through my tears. I’d done this. First Freddie and now Diesel did this, nearly killing my father. Anger and rage warred through me, while endless moments of regret made it impossible to breathe.
Asher pulled a chair over, bumping my legs. I collapsed into the seat, unsure of where to even touch my father. I slipped my trembling fingers into his, feeling his cool touch. I pulled the blanket up on him, needing him to keep warm.
I’d been absent in his life for over four years, just trying to keep him safe. Preventing THIS from happening and yet it didn’t matter. That evil I’d let into our world did this. And I’d ushered it right to our front door.
“I’m here now, Daddy. I’m here. I’m so sorry.”
Asher’s hand came over my shoulder, pressing his warm presence into the coldness engulfing me. I both craved his touch and hated it at the same time. Evil would touch him too and I was powerless to prevent it.
I had five hours. Even less now.
If I gave myself to Diesel, he’d kill me. He’d punish me worse than he’d done to my father. Maybe I deserved it. How do you atone for your sins beyond sacrificing yourself?
I had to kill him while he was killing me.
There wasn’t any other way.
It would bring the wrath of the entire club—spread that evil out tenfold—if the scales went unbalanced.
Asher’s hand tightened on me. “Sienna. Baby, we have to go.”
Where the hell was I supposed to go? He needed to leave me. “Go home, Ash. Go back to Nashville and forget about me.” I brushed my father’s hand. “This is your fate if you stay. He only wants me.”
Asher dropped to his knees. “No, baby. No. I’m not leaving. Never.”
I started sobbing. “I will die if he hurts you. I. Will. Die. Please.”
“That’s not gonna happen.” He brushed my hair back, holding my face in his hands. “I won’t let anything hurt you, do you hear me?”
His phone pinged, pulling his attention. The look on his face morphed, causing him to pull me up off the chair. “Babe, gotta go. Now.”
I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. Asher was guiding me right out the door.
The dark Arizona sky loomed over me as I thought about what I was leaving behind. My dad was at least safe. For now.
Zip was partially hanging out of the van, waving for us to hurry. I caught the toe of my sandal on the curb, losing my shoe.
Lights crossed over me as Asher yelled my name; the van almost striking him.
The door slid open, and my worst nightmare appeared before me. The devil himself sprang from its depths, almost running past me before giving me a second look. As soon as that recognition hit, he sneered and lunged at me, grabbing my hair and arm.
I tripped out of my shoe as I was pulled through the air and then I was flying.
Pain slammed into my body as I rolled into the unforgiving metal.
The last thing I heard was Asher screaming my name as the devil took me away.