Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
GRANITE
“How did it go this morning?” Ink slipped into the seat next to me.
I tore my gaze away from Alyx moving around the kitchen making pancakes.
I shifted. “Not good.”
“Yeah, I bet. Guess it’ll be a stupid question if I asked if they were okay.”
“She kept asking questions. Questions I couldn’t answer.” I took a sip of my strong, black coffee. “She wanted to know if it was the Pythons. If it was club related.”
Ink leaned closer, glancing at Alyx. “What did you tell her?”
“That it was an attempted hijacking gone wrong.”
“Son of bitch,” Ink cursed. “Sucks that we can’t put the blame on the real fuckers. Tell his wife what really happened.”
“Yeah.”
Ink tapped his finger on the table in front of us. “They’re gonna need protection.”
“Already done. Dutch has a crew staying put in the area. Although I doubt they’ll go after Junkyard’s family. They don’t got nothing to do with this.”
“With the Pythons, you never know. God,” he sighed, “I feel so fucking torn, you know? I wanna get back out there, fuck up more of these assholes.” He shook his head. “But I can’t leave her. Not for long, anyway.”
I sat back, watching Alyx again. “You love her, don’t you?”
“I dunno, man. I just feel like I have to make this right for her.”
“Yeah.” I patted him on the shoulder. “We all feel that way.”
Dutch and Manic came strolling into the kitchen, and Manic paused when he saw Alyx at the stove. He pointed at her but looked at me. “What she doing?”
I grinned. “Pancakes.”
“Hell, yeah. About time we eat something other than fucking pizza.”
Dutch took a seat across from me, and Manic slipped in next to him.
Manic shot me a cocky smirk. “Your woman is making pancakes for us.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’d say that’s one step closer to her becoming your old lady, huh?”
“Manic,” I glared at him, “shut up.”
Dutch folded his palms together and placed his hands on the table. “Where’s Onyx?”
I took a deep breath. “I dunno. I’m not exactly his favorite person at the moment.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever been his favorite person,” Manic chimed in, and Dutch knocked him with his shoulder.
“What? Just saying it as it is, brother.”
I shook my head, and Alyx came sauntering over with plates. “Just a fair warning, I was, like, ten when I last made pancakes. You might be getting rubber on a plate.”
The guys laughed, and Manic rubbed his palms together. “Girl, it can’t taste worse than Dutch’s cooking.”
“Fuck you.”
Alyx let out a laugh, and at that moment, it was the most beautiful sound in the world.
Her face lit up, her smile reaching those amazing sapphire blue eyes.
Everything about her was so light, airy, like she didn’t have a care in the world.
It was the first time I saw her like that.
Even before I took her, she always seemed like she carried the world on her shoulders.
Hardly ever smiling. And since she came here, I saw her cry more than I saw her smile.
If I had a brick for every goddamn tear this woman cried the last few weeks, my path to hell would be perfectly paved by now.
Alyx placed the plate with pancakes in front of us. The sweet scent of sugar and cinnamon was tantalizing, and I was pretty sure Manic started to drool.
Alyx tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. “I hope it tastes okay.” The shy tinge of pink on her cheeks was exquisite, and when her eyes met mine, time stood still. It was there, in her eyes, the confirmation that she was mine. Completely. Wholly.
Manic was about to grab a pancake when I slapped at his hand and grabbed the plate. With my attention fully focused on her beautiful face, I held the plate out to her. “Ladies first.”
What was a pink shade on her cheeks had now turned a bright red. She glanced from me to the plate, then back to me like she was searching for courage, or permission in my eyes.
I simply nodded. “She’s not here anymore, Alyx.”
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. For everyone else, this moment would seem futile and insignificant.
But as she reached out, taking a pancake from the plate, I knew it was a huge motherfucking moment in her life.
A huge step. No one was forcing her to eat, or not to eat.
She was making this decision on her own. No threats. No deals. Only her.
I gave her a half smile as she took a bite.
God knew I wanted to watch her as she ate that motherfucking pancake, every bite one giant ‘fuck you’ for her psychopath mother.
But it was a big moment for her, and she was already uncomfortable enough just by eating.
She didn’t need me to gawk at her as well, so I played it down and placed the plate back on the table.
The guys dug in like savages, eating like they were the ones who had been starved half their lives.
As I glanced from Alyx, to Ink, to Dutch, to Manic, watching the looks on their faces as they passed the syrup and butter around, eating pancakes.
Talking and laughing, they seemed like men without a care in the world.
I couldn’t remember the last time the atmosphere around us felt so light, having my brothers seem so relaxed.
I looked back up at Alyx. “Thank you,” I silently mouthed, and she shot the most heavenly smile that crashed against my chest, ricocheting to my heart.
The moment was fucking perfection. It was like her being here managed to make the air not so goddamn heavy.
Even Ink smiled, chatting with a mouthful of pancake, like he managed to forget about all the shit that had happened.
I was about to reach for a pancake when the chatter stopped abruptly, everyone looking toward the back door.
“Hey, Onyx,” Dutch said, taking another bite. “You want a pancake?”
I looked at my brother, and our eyes met.
The despondent look on his face, his eyes glum and uncertain, had me seeing the little boy he used to be years ago. The boy I had to take care of, protect, love. We couldn’t all be the same, and I couldn’t expect Onyx to be like me, think like me, act like me.
A moment passed with not a single word spoken, yet we said everything we needed to say. He was my brother, and no matter what happened between us, there would always be a place for him at our table.
“Have a pancake, brother.” I held up a plate, and he came over, removing his gun from his back and placing it on the counter.
Alyx turned, the warm smile still on her pretty face. “You better grab one before Manic eats it all.”
Onyx stopped at the side of the table and held out his hand toward Ink. “I’m sorry.”
Ink chewed, glancing from Onyx down to his hand, and back up. He nodded then shook Onyx’s hand. “Yeah, bro. Me too.”
Yup. This was turning out to be a pretty fucking good moment. A bunch of dirty bikers laughing and eating pancakes. Go figure.
Onyx grabbed a chair and sat at the side of the table, reaching for the last pancake.
Alyx pointed over her shoulder. “I guess I’ll need to make more, then.”
“Hell, yeah,” Manic exclaimed, a greedy grin on his face.
Just as Alyx turned, the door blasted inward with a deafening crash, almost torn from its hinges, and chaos erupted. Masked men forcefully rushed in, loud, angry voices shouting, all while pointing guns in every direction. Then there was the sound of glass breaking as Alyx dropped the plates.
God, it all happened so fucking fast, it was like my mind couldn’t register what the fuck was happening. All I could think of was Alyx.
“Police! Get your fucking hands up!” the men screamed at us, pointing their guns right at us, the glint of their badges around their necks flickering.
“Alyx!” I yelled, and for a second she turned to me, the fear on her face slicing through my skin like razors.
Ink jumped up, flipping the table over, and I launched myself in Alyx’s direction. But someone slammed into my side, knocking me into the wall, the impact ripping the air from my lungs.
“Get your fucking hands up now!” someone screamed, but I refused to take my eyes off Alyx, the need to get to her shooting adrenaline to every bone in my body.
Alyx dropped to the ground, arms covering her head, her hands shaking.
Jesus Christ.
I reared back and punched the fucker pinning me against the wall right in the face. I slammed my knee in his stomach, pushing him to the ground as he hunched over.
“Dutch!” I yelled. “Get Alyx!”
“Granite!” I heard her scream, and I went fucking savage, growling, roaring like a fucking demon as I flung my fists, wanting to tear apart every fucker who stood between me and Alyx.
It was fucking anarchy with too many faces, making it impossible to fucking focus. All I wanted to do was get to Alyx.
“Granite!”
“Alyx!” I yelled, pushing through a goddamn wall of men so I could get to her. But men came from behind and slammed me into the ground. “Onyx!” I cried, and he turned my way after slamming his fist in a cop’s face. “Get Alyx. Get her out of here.”
Immediately, he started to rush to her when a loud crack erupted, smoke blasting fucking everywhere, and I could no longer see any of them.
All I felt were hands and bodies pinning me to the ground.
I jerked hard, desperate to push myself up, fighting to get free.
But the harder I fought, the more men rushed to hold me down.
“Alyx!” I narrowed my eyes, desperately trying to see through the gray smoke. My nose burned as I inhaled, the smell of sulfur potent and overwhelming. “Alyx! Fuck!”
Gunshots fired, bursting through the blinding chaos, and my heart stopped. It fucking stopped.
“Get her out of here!” I heard someone yell, and then I lost it.
A roar ripped from my throat, hitting the goddamn roof as adrenaline exploded in my veins. I had no idea where I got the strength, but somehow, I managed to jump up, knocking down the fuckers around me.
“Granite!” I heard Ink call. “Granite!”
“I’m here. Ink, where’s Alyx?” The smoke slowly started to dissipate, and I rushed ahead in the direction I saw her last. But she wasn’t there. I searched for her, but she wasn’t fucking there among the masked faces.
“Ink! Where the fuck is Alyx?” My heart thundered in my throat, my spine numb with fear—the fear of losing her.
I frantically searched around me and spotted Dutch on the floor clutching his chest as blood oozed through the slits of his fingers. “Jesus Christ! Dutch!”
“Find her. Find Alyx first,” he ordered as he steadied his back against the wall. “Find her.”
It was a fucking frenzy of violence and mayhem around us, but I managed to rush out the door, wild with the need to find her.
I stopped on the back porch, panicked and turbulent as I searched around me.
“Granite!”
I heard her. I fucking heard her voice, but I couldn’t find her. For a second, I hesitated while trying to find her when two men crashed into me, and I got a mouthful of fucking grass as my head hit the ground.
“Alyx!” I bellowed, feeling like panic was about to crack open my motherfucking spine while I fought to get free. “Alyx! Jesus fucking Christ! Alyx.”
“Stop, or I will shoot you,” the motherfucker behind me yelled while his knee pressed into my spine. He grabbed my wrists and twisted my arms behind my back while another guy pushed my shoulders down. Fighting back proved futile when I felt the cold metal of the cuffs around my wrists.
“You fuckers are making a mistake!” I growled, and that was when my eye caught movement in front of us, a black van pulling up. It happened so fucking fast, but when I saw Alyx being dragged to the van by more masked men, my heart wanted to jump out of my goddamn throat.
“Alyx! There. There she is. Go help her!” I thrashed, gritting my teeth, certain they would break at any moment. “Alyx!” No one was listening to me. They weren’t fucking listening.
“You motherfuckers! She’s right there. Let me fucking go.” A fist slammed into my side, but I was too focused on Alyx to even care about the pain that exploded up my ribcage.
I bent my knees, and with every ounce of power I had, I pushed myself up, knocking one of the fuckers to the ground. “Go help her!” But it was too late. The van door closed, and I heard the tires speed across the asphalt. “No! Jesus. No!”
One of the cops moved in front of me, and I reacted by slamming my head against his motherfucking nose. Blood gushed down his face as he fell, and I lurched to the side, stars exploding behind my eyes.
“You son of a bitch. Where is my daughter?”
I paused and looked up, right at the PC’s face. “What the fuck did you do?”
“Where is my daughter, Granite? She was in there a second ago, and now she’s gone.”
“Someone took her!” I squirmed, feeling like a goddamn rabid dog, ready to tear everyone and everything apart. “Let me fucking go so I can find her.”
“You’re not fooling me again, Granite. Not this time.”
Someone jerked me up, and I yanked forward. “Someone took her!”
“Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“I swear to God!”
The PC’s face hardened, and he swung his fist, slamming it into my gut, and I tried to launch myself at him as a second pair of hands grabbed my shoulders.
“All this time, you pretended to look for her, and you had her all along.”
My breaths came out rapidly, my entire body shaking. “You’re making a fucking mistake.”
“Take him to the precinct. And search this entire goddamn house!”
Onyx came running out. “What the fuck, man?”
“Onyx. You need to find Alyx.” My body shook, panic gripping every bone tight.
“What the fuck is going on? Let go of my brother.”
A cop jumped in front of Onyx, and Onyx didn’t hesitate for a second, slamming his fist right in the cop’s jaw and sending him ploughing to the ground. It took all of two-point-three seconds for Onyx to eat dust as two more cops grabbed him, cuffing him as well.
“You filthy motherfuckers, let me fucking go.” He jerked, and I thrashed. But we were fucking surrounded.
I didn’t stop fighting, not for a second.
It took four men to drag me to the cop car, and as one of them pressed my head down, trying to force me into the back seat, I launched to the side, and they momentarily lost their grip on me.
I swung a leg and kicked one of the sons of bitches in the balls and knocked him down with a shoulder.
I needed to go find Alyx, and that was all I cared about—getting her back.
All it took was an unexpected blow to the head, and I staggered to the side before I got shoved face first into the back seat of a cop car.
My skull was on fire, my mouth dry, and adrenaline burning the inside of my veins. Jesus Christ. What the fuck was happening? Alyx got taken, and I had no idea who it was. Dutch was shot and bleeding inside the house, and Onyx got cuffed as well.
It was fucking pandemonium…and Alyx was gone. Every second they had me in cuffs was a second she was taken farther away.