Chapter 5 #3
They led me farther from the beach, rounding the corner to the side of the restaurant.
We chose this location was because of its seclusion, compared to other venues.
The beach front property was down a dirt road, surrounded by foliage rather than tourism.
The large parking lot had plenty of space for the number of motorcycles and vehicles in attendance, and the owner was a customer of the club’s brewery.
We rounded a corner—and my captors stopped short. A rusted, navy blue panel van was parked haphazardly amongst a slew of motorcycles. Between it and me were at least fifteen Royal Bastards, some smoking, some not.
My eyes widened as all the talking ceased, and as one, they all turned to face me. I had never been so scared or relieved in my life as cigarettes, cigars, and blunts were dropped to the ground and iron was pulled from waistbands, shoulder holders, and boots.
Smoke, the President of the Tijuana, Mexico, chapter, stood in front.
Next to him was Maverick, the President from Atlanta, King, the VP from Detroit, and Pink, the President from St. Louis.
My emotions on hyperdrive, I took in the grim expressions on all of them, bouncing from member to member in the span of a single second.
Tick Tock, the SAA from New Orleans, and Reese, the SAA from Kansas City, as well as Capone and his friend Aero, from Atlantic City.
Creed from Jacksonville towered over most of them in the back, and I caught sight of Lynx from Canada and Hurricane from Yonkers beside him.
A few of them had their women beside them, but they were quickly ushered to the back of the pack.
I wasn’t entirely sure what possessed me, but I threw my elbow backward.
I didn’t care what part of my captor I hit, I just wanted to force his gun away from my belly.
Something crunched and hot liquid splattered across the side of my face, down my neck, and over my pareo.
But I ignored it. The second I felt the metal of his gun pull away from my belly, I dropped gracelessly to the pavement, catching myself first on my hands and knees before rolling onto my side.
Gravel and road debris from the parking lot bit into my skin as I folded myself over my belly, bringing my legs up and ducking my head below my hands.
I covered my ears, expecting to hear a barrage of bullets, like fireworks in the night. Instead, a distinctly familiar voice in a low, Californian accent snapped, “Don’t even think about it, motherfuckers.”
I peeked my right eye open and looked up in time to see the smaller of the two men drop his gun to the pavement.
He raised his hands as he lowered to his knees.
But the bigger man, the one who had held his gun to my belly and now bore a bloody nose, hesitated.
My heart hammered in my chest, fear renewing, as I watched indecision flicker across his face.
A terrifying war cry filled the air. I flinched, reclosing my eyes and burying my face under my hands and arms, as the sound of flesh colliding with flesh echoed through the parking lot.
Seconds later, hands gripped my shoulders as the obvious signs of fighting continued.
I jumped, and on reflex, looked up to see Bacon kneeling over me. The man looked fucking pissed.
The relief I felt at seeing Bacon relaxed me, and I dropped my hands. My baby was safe. If Bacon was here, then so was—
I looked to my left, where Aloiki knelt over the Latino man. His knees pinned the thug’s arms to the ground as he pummeled the man’s face with his fists. Blood and teeth sprayed everywhere as bone cracked beneath the onslaught of Aloiki’s assault.
Bacon helped me sit up more. Leaning against him, I grabbed for my belly.
I hadn’t gone down hard, but I still waited with bated breath until I felt my son kick roughly inside me.
I let out a shaky breath of relief, more tears streaming down my cheeks.
I’d never been so happy to have my uterus treated like a punching bag as I was in that moment.
Suddenly, my eyes flew open and I turned towards Bacon. “Beetle! He was shot—”
“We know,” he said calmly. “Tommy’s inside with him. How are you?” He picked up my hands and started to examine my scraped palms.
I looked down at my once pristine white skirt and grimaced.
Blood coated it, and I could feel it on the side of my face too.
“I think I broke his nose.” I choked with barely restrained anger.
If I wasn’t so heavily pregnant, I would have done a lot more to the bastard than just break his fucking nose! He’d threatened my son’s life!
Bacon smirked, pride shining in his gaze. “Yeah, you did.”
As the sounds behind me shifted, I turned in time to see Capone pull Aloiki off the very dead man on the pavement. Lesū Kristo, the man’s face was completely obliterated. I watched as Aloiki pushed Capone off him, and then he rushed over to me.
Aloiki took my face between his bloody hands, his eyes wild as he looked me over. I was a complete mess, scraped up, blood-splattered, and tear-streaked, but he held me like I was the most precious gem in the world.
“Hōkūpa?a…” His voice broke on my nickname.
I’d seen a lot of emotions on Aloiki’s face over the years.
More often than not, it was sheer arrogance, but I also got to see wicked humor, joy, arousal, anger, sorrow, and determination.
But never, not in all the time I’d known him, had I ever seen fear on his face.
Seeing it now took me aback. I gripped him tightly, needing to reassure both of us that I was okay.
His eyes, as dark as my own, blazed. It took a moment for me to be able to get one of his hands off my cheek so I could drop it down to my abdomen.
Aloiki closed his eyes, a huff of breath leaving him, as our son kicked his hand through my belly.
Grunts and rustling to my right drew my attention as I saw my second kidnapper hogtied with a… Was that an extension cord? Someone had also stuck a belt around his mouth, gagging him, and a pink bow on top of his head.
“Wedding gift,” Tick Tock explained with a smile when he caught me looking.
Aloiki didn’t take his eyes off me. Like he could care less about what else was happening around us. “Tommy needs to look at you,” he told me sternly.
I shook my head. Now that the adrenaline was dying now in my system, I started to shake. “He’s with Beetle.” I turned my head over my shoulder at Bacon. “What about the staff? Everyone else? Did you find them yet?”
“They’re still looking,” he informed me.
Aloiki took my chin in his hand and turned my head back to face him. “Lu! Stop worrying about everyone else. You could have been seriously hurt! You could have died!”
“But I wasn’t.” Aloiki turned, wrapping his arms around me. I settled against him, craving his body heat like I was standing in the Arctic. “And they could be seriously injured or worse!”
“I don’t give a damn.” His voice brooked no argument. “I only care about you.”
The body of the man he’d just killed protecting me had already been moved, but my eyes landed on the blood stain in the parking lot.
There was something fundamentally reassuring about those words.
I didn’t need the reminder of why I loved this man, how special it made me feel that his attention was so solely on me, but it helped.
Amongst the fear and the chaos, it undeniably helped.
I let out a shaky breath, stealing both body heat and strength from him. “I warned you I was a mess.”
A snort escaped him as he dropped his face down into the crook of my neck. “And I warned you it wasn’t going to stop me from marrying you.”
“I’m covered in blood,” I argued.
Aloiki raised his head up, turning my face towards him. I’d wondered for a while if there was such a thing as a puppet kink, because damn I loved how he maneuvered my body to suit his needs. “You wear the blood of your enemy while protecting our son. Wear it with honor, Lu. You earned it.”