Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
AVERY
The sound of my phone going off on the counter draws my attention from the dough I’d been mixing for a cake I wanted to make for Hammer.
I found out from Malice his birthday is today, and I intended to surprise him with dinner and dessert.
Oh, and maybe something else to go along with it that involves whipped cream and his mouth on my body.
Dropping the spatula, I reach out and grab my phone. I frown at the number that pops up.
Why is my security company calling me?
Sliding my fingers across the screen, I put the phone to my ear. “Hello.”
“Hello, is this Miss Lester?” a man asks.
“Yes, it is,” I confirm as I leave the kitchen in search of Hammer. I don’t like the fact the security company is calling me today.
It’s been two weeks since Hammer got angry at me and then the sex after he found me outside.
Oh, how magnificent it was to feel him taking me the way he did.
My heart still aches for realizing the depths of his loss for his brother.
Since then, though, we’ve talked more. He’s told me stories about him and his brother.
About his brother and sister-in-law. Even told me about the night they were killed and why.
Although, he’d been reluctant to tell me at first.
I’d told him about growing up with my horrible family, and I told him about Adam coming into the shop.
To say he got pissed is an understatement.
‘You can’t keep shit like this from me, baby.
When it comes to you, if something happens, I’ll fuckin’ go ballistic.
Next time, Avery, you better come straight to me.
Granted, that is a moot point since that shit is never, and I mean, never gonna happen again.
’ He’d growled those words and punched his fist through the wall.
That night he’d taken me in the same way after he’d been angry and found me outside.
I’ve also come to realize something about him.
He loves me. Hammer doesn’t have to say the words.
He shows me. He lives by that code of actions speak louder than words, and I have to admit he’s right in this case.
Plus, he’s told me I’m his world. No man would be as protective as he is unless he cherishes them the way he does me.
Scanning the main room, I find my man at his table with a few of his brothers laughing.
I start making my way across the room as the man on the phone starts speaking.
“Miss Lester, I’m Mitchell calling about the alarm going off at Rise-N-Shine Coffee.
We’ve put a call out to the police,” Mitchell says mechanically.
“Um, thank you for letting me know. I’ll, um, I’ll just call them and find out what’s going on,” I say, ending the call as I get to Hammer’s table. He’d been looking at me as I closed the distance between us.
“What’s wrong?” he demands. Reaching out, he pulls me into his lap and positions me the way he wants me. I don’t mind this because, to me, it’s comforting.
I tell him what the security company says just as Cy runs into the room panting. “Prez, shit, there’s a fire at Avery’s coffee shop and house,” he states.
If I hadn’t already been sitting on Hammer’s lap, I might have collapsed to the ground from losing the feeling in my legs due to the news Cy just broke to us.
“Shit,” Malice snarls, slamming the chair back as he stands up.
“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” Gunner sneers, his fist landing on the table.
“What’s happening?” Rogue demands, joining all of us along with several others, including Axe, who must have just gotten back in from a trip down to visit Simone.
From what he’s told me, she’s coping with being there and getting the help that she needs.
Evidently, what I said sank in somewhat, according to Axe.
“Rise-N-Shine Coffee and Avery’s house have been set on fire, just heard the addresses on the scanners while I was working,” Cy mutters.
“Let’s go,” Hammer growls, standing to his feet.
“Avery, I know if I say for you to stay here, you’ll refuse and try to go out by yourself, so I’m tellin’ you now, if I let you come with us, you keep close to me, or one of the brothers.
You don’t step away from any of us.” I nod in response because let’s be honest, my mind is running a mile a minute at the thought of the fact, I’ve lost everything.
A thought dawns on me at this moment. The shop had been open still. Leanna opened this morning and got off at noon. Quinn went in around nine and got off at three to pick up her daughter. Willow, oh god, she’d been working this afternoon.
“Willow,” I croak, my eyes widening as I climb on his bike behind him. “Hammer, Willow is at the coffee shop.”
“Fuck,” Malice roars and takes off on his bike, having heard me tell Hammer about Willow.
Hammer doesn’t say anything but rather starts his bike and guns it behind Malice.
The rest of the guys follow. I close my eyes and keep myself pressed tight to Hammer’s back.
He speeds down the road and only slows to come to a halt at the end of the road to the street.
It’s blocked off by fire trucks and police officers.
I hop off the back and start toward the trucks, only to be jerked back. “Sunshine, gotta stay with me,” Hammer growls.
“But Willow?” I can’t bear the thought of something happening to her. She’s become one of my friends, and I’ll blame myself for her pain.
“I know, baby, stick to me. We’ll find out,” he says calmly. Almost too calmly.
Nodding, I allow him to guide me over to where a police officer is standing.
“Dexter,” Hammer mutters in greeting.
“Hammer, might wanna get your VP in check,” the officer says, nodding in the direction where Malice is now yelling in a fireman’s face; Gunner and Axe both are holding him back.
“Fuck. We’ll get him, but there was a woman in there,” Hammer states in a deathly tone.
“Sorry, Prez, but if anyone were in that building when this went up, they wouldn’t have made it out.
The fire was set in both the front and back entrances,” another man says, joining us, this one being a firefighter.
One I seem to recognize, but with the soot on his face, I can’t make out who he is.
However, him callin’ Hammer Prez tells me he’s a part of the club.
“You sure about that?” Hammer asks, moving us away from Dexter and closer to where Axe and Gunner are holding Malice back.
“Yeah, I’m sure, but I’m also sure no one was in the building. I went through it myself since I knew the inside,” the firefighter mutters.
“And you didn’t find anything, Tap?” this comes from Malice.
Wait a minute, Tap’s a firefighter? So that’s why he’s missing from the clubhouse several days at a time.
“No. I’ve gotta get back in there and help salvage whatever we can, but the entire shop is gone,” Tap grumbles.
Tears well in my eyes at his confirmation of what I can already see for myself.
“Thanks, prospect,” Hammer says, then turns us to his brothers. “If Willow wasn’t in the shop, where could she be. In fact, where the fuck is Knuckles? He was supposed to be here.”
“Ugh, Prez,” Brass calls out.
“What?” Hammer snaps.
“There’s something in the alley over there,” Brass grumbles low enough for those near to hear him.
“Go check it out,” Hammer commands.
Brass, Gunner, and Axe stalk off and head in the direction of the alley.
Something pricks at the back of my neck, and I furrow my brows as I glance around the area.
My breath catches in my chest, and I stiffen in Hammer’s arms as I stare at the car across on the opposite corner to where all of the bikes are parked.
Standing there is my brother, Adam, grinning maliciously at me, but what has me scared is who’s with him.
Andrea, with her hand covering Willow’s mouth as she glares at me.
“Hammer,” I say, needing his attention. He must sense something wrong because he turns in the direction I’m staring at and curses. He releases me and takes off at a dead run in their direction. I take off after him. This is all my fault.
Adam and Andrea move quickly and start trying to shove Willow into the back of the car. She tries to fight them, but Andrea leans down and bites Willow. I know she’s biting her because that’s what she does. Bites someone to get them to comply.
Willow screams, trying to fight more. Adam glances behind them, and I can hear him curse as she throws Willow to the ground. He jumps in the car with my sister, and they speed off. Leaving Willow behind, thankfully.
Getting to her side, I fall to my knees and pull her to me. “I’m so, so, so sorry, Willow,” I cry.
“Avery,” she cries and hugs me to her as well.
“They’re horrible. Worse than what you told Quinn and me.
Oh God, they did this as a message. To you and the club,” she says, breaking into a sob.
“You—your brothers killed Knuckles and said that’s one down.
I— if you don’t do, as they say, they’ll keep coming.
Next time, it’ll be Quinn and her daughter they take, and when that happens, they won’t be so lucky as me.
This was a warning; they wanted you to think they were taking me. ”
Tears run down my cheeks as I lift my gaze to look at the men now surrounding us. All of them look murderous, but it’s Hammer’s and Malice’s eyes that I see the burning rage in that causes me to shiver.
“Come on, Sunshine, let’s get you and Willow home,” Hammer growls, holding his hand out to help me up.
Malice moves and lifts Willow clear off the ground and cradles her to him.
“When we get back to the clubhouse, brothers, we’re goin’ on lockdown, and I’m callin’ church,” he says as he guides me to his bike on the other end of the road.
Mutters of agreement surround me, and though I should be nervous about what’s goin’ to happen next, I’m not. The reason for this is because my man prides himself on being who he is. He’s protective, ruthless, and will do whatever he has to to protect those around him.
I feel no remorse for what I know is coming my family’s way, but they started this all, and now Hammer’s gonna finish it. My only prayer is that he and everyone else isn’t hurt in the process.