Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Allora
The plan for protecting me in New York is intense.
Almost the whole crew will be there—Landon, Elliott, Chris, and two of the new guys, Eric and Ron.
In addition, Daniil and Courtney will be in New York on a short babymoon, a chance to get away before the new baby arrives.
Micah is staying home with Luna, who’s excited to be on babysitting duty while they’re away.
So even though Daniil and Courtney are technically not on protection duty, they’ll be close by just in case.
It’s a lot.
But at least I get to go.
Except I feel like a teenager asking permission to go on a field trip and receiving grudging permission. Not only that, I have to have five chaperones. I won’t be able to breathe without someone watching me.
“Allora?” Daniil is watching me, curiosity on his face.
“I’m listening.”
“Do you have anything to add?”
“No.”
He hesitates but then nods. “All right. Then I guess we’re done for today. Luna and Courtney are making hotel reservations and I’ve chartered a plane so we don’t have to fly commercial.”
“What do you need on our end?” Silver asks.
“Just keep your people out there asking questions. I’m wondering if your…girls have noticed anything.”
“I can ask Layla to reach out,” Metal offers. “She’s still close to a few of them.”
Great. Things have gotten so bad they’re getting my dad’s sex workers involved.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Things wind down and my dad, Metal, and Thunder get ready to leave. It’s late in the day, and my stomach is growling but I don’t know what the plan is for dinner.
“Allora.” Dad calls my name and I walk over to him.
“What’s up?”
“You’re mad about the motorcycle.”
“No, just confused.”
He sighs. “It’s not complicated, honey. Just a gift to my daughter’s boyfriend. If he doesn’t take it I’m going to sell it because I don’t need another bike.”
“So you’ve said.”
“Why do you have to make something out of everything?”
“I’m not making anything out of anything,” I say quietly. “Thank you for the Harley. Landon seems really excited.”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t bullshit me, Allora. Just tell me what’s bothering you.”
“Nothing. Okay? This is between him and me. Nothing to do with you.” That’s partly true but the rest of it is too complicated to get into with my father.
“Fine. I’ll see you when you get back from New York?”
I nod. “Yup.”
“Be careful,” he says quietly. “I know they’ll protect you but you stay aware of your surroundings. Anyone who makes your radar go off. Better safe than sorry.”
I feel a twinge of guilt.
He’s been saying that to me and my mother for my entire life. He genuinely worries, and there’s a legitimate reason for him to at the moment.
“I will. Promise.”
“What are you guys up to tonight?” Metal asks, coming over to join us. “Anything fun?”
“Uh, no. I’m on lockdown, remember?”
He grimaces. “Well, when this is over, maybe the four of us can do dinner. Layla really enjoyed hanging with you.” He pauses, lowering his voice. “She doesn’t have many friends. A lot of women are…judgmental about her past profession.”
“She’s sweet,” I say warmly. “And yes, I’d like to get together again.”
“Take care. Have fun in New York.” He and Thunder leave, and Dad seems reluctant to join them.
“I’ll be fine, Dad,” I say. “Landon isn’t going to let anything happen to me, not even if we’ve hit a small bump in our relationship. We just have to talk some things out. Don’t worry.”
“You’re my only child. I always worry. Even when you weren’t talking to me.”
“Call or text any time,” I say gently.
He searches my face for a second, seems to decide I’m okay, and then hugs me tightly, gently tapping my cheek with the flat of his hand before he heads out.
“Courtney invited us to eat here with everyone,” Landon says. “You want to or would you rather head home?”
“We can stay. We don’t have anything to cook at home.”
“Okay.” He puts an arm around my shoulders and we walk back into the conference room since that’s one of the only rooms that isn’t under construction and is big enough for all of us.
To be fair, dinner is fun. Most of the crew is here along with a couple of the new guys’ wives.
Everyone is smart, friendly, and easy to talk to, and for a little while I forget about the kidnappers, the sex trafficking ring, and the damn motorcycle.
Of all the things I should be upset about, my father gifting Landon a motorcycle shouldn’t even be on the list.
But it is.
Landon doesn’t understand.
In some ways, I don’t even understand. I just know how things make me feel and nine times out of ten, anything to do with the club makes me uneasy.
Whether it’s because of what happened when I was a teenager, the loss of my mom, or a bunch of things put together, it’s hard to tell.
But I love Landon enough to be honest with him.
After we’ve eaten, we hang out and talk with everyone for a while, but I lean over to whisper in his ear around ten o’clock. “Let’s get out of here.”
“You ready?” He quickly turns.
“Yeah. I’m tired and we need to talk.”
“Okay.”
We say our goodbyes, get in his SUV, and he turns left onto the main road out of here.
Headquarters is a little off the beaten path, so there’s really only one road in and out. Once we get to Temecula, he’ll have options for which way to go. And he takes a different route every time.
“Are you breaking up with me?” he asks, staring straight ahead.
“No. I just need you to understand how my father operates.”
“Babe, he was being nice.”
“He was but my father is never nice without an ulterior motive.”
“What’s the ulterior motive with the bike?”
“I don’t know yet. But trust me, it exists.”
“Allora, I stay alive because of my gut and nothing about your dad sets off that tickle that tells me something is off. He’s bent over backwards to be accommodating to you, respecting your boundaries, even inviting me into the fold to an extent.”
“That’s just it—I don’t want you in the fold!” I say in frustration. “I want nothing to do with that life. I’ve explained this to you more than once. Why can’t you trust me on this the way I trust you with pretty much everything else?!”
“But when I asked that of you the other night, you didn’t answer.”
I knew that would come back to bite me.
And the silence in the SUV is deafening.
The road ahead of us is dark other than the reflection from the headlights.
There are no houses or stores, just a long stretch of two-lane highway that seems to reflect the bleakness of my mood.
“You want me to give back the bike?”
“It’s not about the bike!” I snap. “It’s everything.
The way you were all buddy-buddy at the cookout.
You and Metal making plans to work on the bike together.
I need you to keep your distance. I’ve spent more time with my dad since the kidnapping than in the last five years total, but that’s not going to continue when this is over. ”
“Let me get this straight. You can be friends with Layla, who’s connected to the club, but I can’t be friends with Metal.”
“No. Yes. Fuck, I don’t know. I just know that once you start spending time at the club, you get sucked in. And I can’t be with someone who’s part of that.”
He actually laughs, which pisses me off. “Honey, you can’t possibly think I’m going to join a motorcycle gang?”
“It’s a club,” I mutter, since that distinction has been burned into me since the day I was born.
“I’m not a biker, and I have no plans to be. I’m merely trying to have a relationship with your dad because I thought we were going to be together. If we’re not, then I have no reason to ever talk to him again beyond whatever he has going on with Daniil.”
“That’s another thing—why is there anything going on with Daniil? Other than me, there shouldn’t be any connection between them.”
“That’s above my pay grade.”
“You and Daniil are family. You’re considering buying into the company. Why would it be above your pay grade? You’re literally a part owner.”
“Not yet. And until I am, that’s all Daniil.”
“Has Elliott bought in?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t even pretend you guys don’t talk about everything.”
He doesn’t respond so I know I’m right.
“Allora, what do you want from me? And I need you to be very specific. I already told you I’m not good at relationship stuff so I’m not sure where to go from here. Tell me what you want and I’ll let you know if I can be who and what you need me to be.”
“Why would I—fuck! Where did that car come from?” I grip the arm rest as Landon swerves. A pickup truck literally came out of nowhere, pulling out right in front of us.
“Allora.”
“Scared the shit out of me,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“Allora.” His voice is hard, louder than necessary.
“What?” I turn to him.
“Get my phone. Code is 66245. Rage is a favorite contact. Call him on speaker. Don’t ask questions.”
He’s never barked orders at me like this before, so I grab his phone, punching in the code and pulling up Elliott’s name.
“Yo.” He answers on the first ring.
“They found us,” Grim says. “We’re about fourteen miles west of headquarters. Not quite to Temecula. They’re going to box us in.”
“I’m coming.” We can hear him moving.
“Get Luna to track us.” He disconnects.
“Landon, what’s—”
“They’re in front of us and behind us,” he says, swerving and trying to go around the truck in front of us but can’t because there isn’t enough room.
There are trees growing along the side of the road on both sides, and no shoulder.
“I’m sure there’s at least one more vehicle coming, probably two.
They’ll box us in and I won’t be able to stop them. ”
“What do we do?”
“Can you handle a gun, baby?”
“Yes.”
“There’s one under your seat.”
I reach under me and fumble around until I find it.
“Shoot to kill. There’s only one magazine in there.”
“Landon, what—”
“I don’t know how many there are or what kind of fire power they have, but you need to fight.”
“I will.”
My pulse races and adrenaline surges through me.
This can’t be happening.
If they get to you, I’ll already be dead.
His words echo in my mind and I grip the gun tightly, trying to control my breathing. I don’t want them to get me and I really don’t want Landon to die.
“Promise you won’t die,” I whisper.
“Baby…”
“Promise!” I hiss through tears.
“I promise.” He doesn’t look at me.
I scream as two vehicles come out of a break in the trees, one on either side of us, flanking our SUV. Landon tries to get around them but they block his progress and then the truck in front of us slams on the brakes.
“Hang on, baby.” He has no choice but to brake as well. He tries to reverse but there’s a huge truck behind us and now there are men in masks pouring out of the vehicles that are on either side of us.
“Landon, what do we do?” I cry.
“Fight like hell.”