Chapter 21 #3
I thought about that. Had I been happy? Did I consider myself one of the lucky ones who had no qualms over their life choices and past mistakes?
When I grew up in Harley, it didn’t matter that Mom and I lived in a basement.
The moment we left Keith, I hardly ever remembered being unhappy.
I had my mother, my friends, and that was enough.
When we left for The Hill, I had Nylah, Mom, and Matthew.
I got a chance to have it all. Though that life was ripped away, I had my boys back, Vail, Lee, and Shaw.
And every moment I was with them, whenever Lee picked me up and tossed me around like I was a doll, pinning me down, he reminded me that it was okay to be silly and not to take life so seriously all the time.
When Shaw snuggled into me, trusting me with every part of his soul, that was something special.
To be someone’s one sure thing. Whenever Vail looked at me, whether he was happy, pissed off, serious, or wearing that expressionless mask of his, I could always feel how he burned for me.
I was his whole world. As for me? I loved them.
I loved all three of them so completely with all my heart.
They were the only ones who made me feel so absolutely loved, cherished, and complete.
“Yes,” I told him, feeling the truth behind every word I said. “I’m very happy.”
For some reason, this made his knees buckle, and he slowly slid down the bars, his serious expression crumpling as he broke out into quiet sobbing.
He covered his face in his hands, gasping hard and shaking, muttering, “Thank fuck… thank you, God. Thank you…” After a minute, he looked up and, with one hand, reached through the bars, his eyes red from tears, his brows raised as if in question, and he beckoned me to him.
I hesitated for only a second, but for some reason, though this man was a stranger and a Beast, I crawled over to him.
His arm snaked around behind my back, and he pulled me in, hugging me awkwardly because of the barrier between us, but enough that I could feel every ounce of the emotion behind it.
I reached through, feeling the soft leather of his jacket, and returned the hug as best I could, and sank against him, smelling a hint of tobacco and leather, the mix actually comforting.
I let my head rest into the space between the bars, and James did the same, our foreheads barely touching each other.
I didn’t know how much time passed before we heard a door slam, and numerous boots upon the hard floor echoed down the hall.
I fearfully tried to pull back, thinking it was Elias and his men again, but James was undeterred, holding me in place as he peered over his shoulder, his position enabling him to see better who was coming.
“Storm,” he rumbled.
When the newcomers arrived, it was only more bikers, the members of the Celtic Beasts, due to their cuts.
The one leading the way was terrifying looking.
His hair was black, styled into a mohawk, with multiple piercings covering his ears, and lips.
His eyes were as dark as Haldon’s, and I could see the tattoos peeking out from beneath the collar of his shirt, snaking up his neck and over the backs of his hands.
Surprisingly, the girls didn’t cower away from him, nor the others who walked in.
Some even pulled water bottles out from the inside of their coats and passed them through the cells to the girls, who eagerly took them.
“What did Elias say?” James asked, still hugging me.
“Something about us waiting out down here?” The one he addressed as Storm said, his dark eyes flickering over the girls that had shared my cell with me before we were separated.
“Mentioned Jeremy. He was calling him in to help him with a special project. No idea what the fuck he needs that crazy motherfucker for…” He stomped over to the leather couch and snatched a grey throw off the back and bitterly shoved it through the bars to the girls beside me, and they huddled beneath it.
“Jeremy…” There was a tremor of fear in his voice at the name, and I remembered Maverick, what he’d said about the insane lone biker, the one who had sawed Bryce Fraser apart, who worked for hire.
He was coming here? Oh God, no…
“He say anything about the girls?” James asked.
“They’re being shipped out tonight.” Storm sounded more and more disgusted as he spoke of Elias’s plan. He came up behind James and glanced at me briefly before doing a double-take, his face somehow managing to pale despite how white he already was. “Who…”
“Gavin, meet Casey Cooper. Casey, this is Gavin, my second. Or you can call him by his road name, Storm.” James was staring at the floor, his brows furrowed like he was deep in thought.
“Casey Cooper?” For some reason Storm, or rather, Gavin’s expression changed from one of shock to curiosity and familiarity. He peered at me closely and mouthed a word at me behind James’ back… Ven-de-tta?
What? He knew Vendetta? I balked at him, glad that James wasn't looking at either of us.
Black. Spades. He mouthed.
I gave him a tiny nod, and he straightened, turning away, moving over to the other bikers, talking softly amongst each other. What the hell is going on?
“In a couple of hours, the girls will disappear… and you’ll pay for the mistake I made so many years ago…” James mumbled to himself. He wasn’t speaking to me, more like to himself. I stared at him, wondering what the hell he meant? I heard them reference his son, Shay, several times. Which meant…
“Shay,” I whispered.
James’ gaze snapped up to mine, and I saw the hurt and pain there at the name.
“What-what did he do?” I asked, almost too afraid to ask the question.
James sucked in a deep breath through his nose and held it, like he was bracing himself, before he finally said, “He was my son. And he’s the first one who gave Elias what was basically a big, Fuck you. ”
I caught that he’d said that Shay was his son. That explained so much about how Elias threw him in James’ face and the emotional response that brought about for him. It also meant I once had a big brother, one I would never get a chance to know.
“If I could, I would, too,” I said.
James flinched at that, reaching through to pull me close again.
“No. You don’t get to do that. This time, it’s my turn.
” He glanced over to where the other Beasts were watching us closely, and I noticed how most of them were also inspecting me closely, most wearing expressions of similar shock on their faces.
I was guessing Shay and I must have looked quite a bit alike.
After looking into Keith’s face and not seeing any part of myself there, to look into James’ and see pieces of myself, to hear about a brother I never knew of, and to think I shared so much with him, actually filled me with warmth.
“Storm?” James called to him.
“Yeah, Sheik?” Gavin stepped forward, arms crossed over his chest.
“We’re getting these girls the fuck out of here. Fuck this bullshit! It’s made me sick for years, and I can’t fucking take it anymore.”
One biker with curly brown hair and brownish-gray eyes raised his brows in surprise. He had a scar that ran from the edge of his left brow down part of his cheek, yet he still managed a smile despite the old injury. “Yeah? We finally going to give Elias the big, fuck you ?”
“That’s right.” One corner of James’ mouth curled up in the smallest hint of a smile, and I sensed the tense, defeated atmosphere shift to one of hope.
Even the girls were listening in rapt attention.
“We need to figure out how the fuck we’re gonna get these girls out of here.
” He glanced back at me and reached up, his rough, calloused fingers gently touching my cheeks. “All of them.”
Gavin actually grinned, the sight only making him look more menacing than before, but he almost laughed in relief. “Thank you, God! I’ve been fucking waiting for this.”
“Yeah, kid?” James chuckled half-heartedly. “You been waiting for me to find my balls, eh?”
He shrugged, “I knew you would, eventually.”
“What do you have in mind, then?”
Gavin smirked and reached into his pocket, pulling out a burner cell, just like the one Vail gave Micha, and flipped it open.
“I just so happen to have a friend who might be able to arrange something. Just keep in mind, when he and his crew get here, you all gotta put your shit aside and fucking man up if any of us are gonna get out of this alive, yeah?”
None hesitate. The Beasts all murmured in agreement, and Gavin pressed a button on the phone to make a call.
“I swear to fuck, if Jeremy beats them here…”
“He won’t. They know this area of the docks well, and I let them know what sort of security we saw set up in the area,” Gavin reassured James for the hundredth time.
While they paced and bickered, I heard them addressing the scar-faced guy as Silver, or Aron, as he was breaking into the cells to get the girls out.
He’d already gotten the first one open and was working away on the second while I watched from behind bars.
Every so often, James came over and reached through the openings, pulling me close in some semblance of a hug.
“Got it!” Aron stepped back, swinging the door open, and the girls all hurried out, clinging to each other and shaking.
The other Beasts approached them carefully, talking to them softly as they instructed them on the plan.
Gavin had been on his phone, going back and forth with his “friend” on the game plan.
“Apparently, one of their guys has a boat. He used it to sneak across the St. Lawrence into the states in the past before they went clean. We’ll get the girls over there until the Faceless are dealt with, and then bring them back up when Elias’s head is thrown into the river.
” I liked his optimism, but it seemed too easy, and my nerves were practically fried.