CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
We’d hidden among the copse of trees that surrounded the warehouse where Caleb was holding my woman and her father. I was still reeling from the shock I felt that Kick had allowed me to tag along with Knox, Angel, and Ink so Knox could place the tracker on the van that we’d seen in the CCTV images on the night he’d taken Zoe, which was parked out front.
It’s taking everything I had inside of me not to run in there all guns blazing and single-handedly get rid of the asshole and rescue my woman, but my brothers talked me down off the ledge. I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to do that, who knows how many men he had working for him. I couldn’t just assume he was working alone.
But the longer we waited, the less likely we would find her alive. It was killing me not being able to just go in there and consequences be damned. But I had to listen to our Prez if I wanted to remain in the club. I’d already been on thin ice with him from my earlier recalcitrant behavior, and I wasn’t willing to make things worse.
Knox places the tracker on the underside of the car, just as the doors swing open, and there he is with my woman dressed in some thin, sheer, filmy shit in this cold weather, my jaw ticking in anger when I notice she’s got nothing on underneath it. Son of a bitch! Clenching my hands at my sides, we move back towards the trees to avoid being noticed.
“Looks like they’re on the move.” Ink states, and it takes everything inside me not to punch captain obvious in the face.
“No shit.” I grimace, flicking the back of his head with my palm. We’re both the same age, but Ink has been part of the club since he was fifteen, found by Kick rummaging through the dumpster at the back of the clubhouse for food
I want to get on my sled and drive after them, but I need to tell Kick what we’re doing first. Dialling his number, I impatiently wait for him to answer, as I watch the fucker bundle Zoe in the front seat of the car. He walks around the hood, his eyes twitching, watching his surroundings, gets in behind the wheel before he starts the engine and they drive away.
“Chains, everything okay, brother?”
“It’s done.” I tell him. “But they’re now on the move. This was just a courtesy call to let you know I’m going after them. Bring a cage.” I throw my phone in Knox’s direction, hearing Kick’s irritated sigh.
“No one saw you?” Tiny asked.
“No one. It was an easy in and out.” Ink replies.
“That’s great. Okay, stick to Chains like glue, I don’t want him getting his ass busted like last time?” Kick says as I fight not to roll my eyes like a schoolgirl.
“You got it, Prez.” Knox replies. “We’re following him. I’ll send you the app where it shows his car. Download it to each of your phones, we’ll see you soon.” He rings off and hands my phone back before we all four get on our sleds and finally head out.
The van has a small head start, but we soon catch up, keeping a safe distance so that he doesn’t make us out that we’re following him. If he does anything to hurt my girl, his death will be long and painful.
We follow for another few miles, my heart racing in my chest, when the car suddenly swerves all over the road and crossing the middle lane into oncoming traffic. Shit! I watch in horror as the car swerves towards the barrier and the waiting ditch and trees, my voice catching in my throat, the screeching tyres on the asphalt sound loudly in the still mid-afternoon air. The car crashes into the barrier, then the trees, with a sickeningly loud crunch.
Thankfully, we’re the only ones on the road, I get off my sled before it’s come to a complete stop and watch it slide on its side. I”m completely preoccupied with Zoe and her well-being, that it doesn’t even register.
“Zoe?” I call out, as I run towards the crumpled wreck of the van, praying for the first time in my miserable life.
I take off my cut, wrap it around my arm, and stop at the passenger side; with one hit, the glass shatters. Zoe’s eyes are closed and I can see she has a cut on her forehead. I reach inside and touch my hand to her delicate throat, almost collapsing in relief when I feel a strong and steady pulse.
Her appearance—from her hair, down to her sunken eyes and the way what she was wearing hung off her—suggests that she has been through hell and back over the last few days, and I hope it hasn”t irreparably harmed her. But if he did, he was going to pay with his life, and I would bring her back to me, however long it took.
The glass breaks on the other side, and I see my brothers, Ink, and Angel dragging Caleb’s ass out of the space where the window used to be, a smirk on my face at his groan of pain. My only consolation in this whole mess is that he looks even worse than Zoe.
I hear a soft moan coming from my woman, and her eyes flutter open. Seeing the beautiful moss green staring back at me with what I can only describe as adoration, just about unmans me.
“Bodie?” She rasps, clearing her throat.
“Yeah, little one, I’m here.” I soothe her as I try to undo the seatbelt that has saved her life. In the end, having to cut it from her body.
Luckily, I’m able to open her side of the car with no problems, as I crouch in front of her. I make a mental note of getting Kick’s ol’ lady, Everleigh, to look at her when we get back to the clubhouse.
Without hesitation, she wraps her arms around my neck as I gently do the same, carefully pulling her from the wreckage as she buries her face in the crook of my neck.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” I ask softly, placing a kiss to her temple. Her only answer is a small shake of her head.
Just at that moment, the rest of my brothers arrive, two prospects getting out of the cage that they drove in. I smile for the first time since finding Zoe in the wrecked car.
I make a beeline for the cage, but Kick steps in my path, his face telling me exactly what he thinks of my rash behaviour.
His eyes scan Zoe, and I could see that he was debating how much to say to me. He can chew me out about my insubordination another time, I needed to look after my woman right now.
“How’s she doin’?” he asks. I force down the answer I want to give, instead saying,
“Apart from some cuts and bruises, she seems to be doing okay.”
“Caleb is in the back of the cage,” he tells me, and I nod at him silently, heading off in that direction before Kick’s words stop me.
“You and I are gonna sit down and talk about what happened today.” The warning in his voice was unmistakable, and I clear my throat nervously. I admit, I do sometimes go off half-cocked and don’t listen, but I love all my brothers, including my President.
Throwing the keys to my sled to one of the two prospects, I tell him to take my sled back to the clubhouse, and to be careful with her, even though she’s a little banged up. Angel will look her over for me and bring her back to good as new in no time.
Opening the back door, I slide in, manoeuvring myself so that I have Zoe seated on my lap. There’s no way I will let go of her until I know she’s safely tucked away back at the clubhouse.
And maybe not even then.
“I thought I would never see you again.” She cries in the crook of my neck, and I tighten my hold on her. I’d thought the same thing, but I would never tell her that. That I was losing hope in ever getting her back again. She never needed to know that.
I hold her tight as the two prospects return and sit in the front.
“I’m right here, baby,” I soothe her, “I’m never letting you go again.” I vow, as my thoughts go to the asshole hogtied in the back of the van, a dark Plexi glass divider up so that Zoe couldn’t see him and he couldn’t see out. I was looking forward to spending a few hours alone with him down in the basement back at the clubhouse.
Returning my attention to Zoe, I look her over slowly. “He didn’t hurt you, did he, little one? If he did, so help me, I’ll kill him right now.”
She places a hand on my chest, a small smile on her face, even though she looks tired and rung out, she’s still the most beautiful creature I’ve seen in my life. With just that small touch, I can feel myself calming down. Taking a deep breath, I lower my lips to hers and kiss her tenderly.
“He never touched me. Please, we need to go back to the warehouse. My dad’s being held there.” Her tears are now streaming down her face in rivers, breaking my heart for her all over again.
I nod my head in the affirmative. “We will, but first I need to know you’re safe, we’re taking you back to the clubhouse.” I tell her. I know she wants to argue the point further, but I’m not letting her sway me on this. Not this time. Her dad has held his own with the motherfucker, he can wait a few more hours. I bring her head back down onto my shoulder, and I can feel all the fight leave her body.
“Let’s move.” Kick calls out to everyone. Setting fire to the wrecked cage, all my brothers get onto their sleds, and with the van in the middle, the rest of the club riding in protective formation, we return home.
Not once did Zoe let me go, her hands always touching my arm, or linking her fingers with mine. I liked it way too much, but I knew it was more out of fear than anything else. I was going to do everything I could to ease her fears over the next few days, weeks, and months. However long it took.
That asshole wouldn’t be around much longer to terrorize her, anyway.
She’d fallen asleep in my arms, and over an hour later, we were driving into the parking lot of the clubhouse; I held her firmly in my arms as we got out of the cage, trying not to wake her up.
I strode with her in my arms to my room, ignoring anyone who tried to stop me. Kicking the door closed behind me with my booted foot, I gently placed her on the bed, and would’ve turned to leave the room until I heard her say.
“Please stay.” Those words were doing inappropriate things to my nether regions, my cock pressing painfully against the zipper of my jeans.
I couldn’t react this way right now, her crazy ex, a man that used to be my best friend, had taken her and held her captive for days. His crimes against my woman wouldn’t go unpunished. But first, Zoe needed me, and I wouldn’t let her down again.
Removing my clothes, I left my boxer briefs on; sliding under the covers, I wrapped her in my arms, kissing her lips softly when all I wanted to do was devour her. But I force myself to be gentle. In a few days, I can go back to the way things were between us, but she needed some time to get over her ordeal. With her in my arms, it didn’t take any time at all for Zoe to fall into the abyss of a deep sleep, and I followed soon after.