Chapter 10
The world was perfect.
That's what I told myself the next morning when I woke up with Arlys in my arms.
I wasn't the only person awake at dawn.
Her baby nudged my hand where I had placed it against her belly.
I smiled against her hair.
It felt good.
It felt right.
The three of us.
It was a good start.
Waking her up was even better.
I watched her along the side of her belly as I fucked her away with my tongue.
The smile she gave me?
Fucking perfect.
When I got her to work later, it took everything in me not to stay and make love to her on every flat surface in the shop.
And a few others.
I could be creative.
Everything was going great.
Which should have told me something.
It should have, but I had work to do and while Pres might understand why I wanted to be balls deep in my woman all the damn time, Club business was just that. Business.
So I went, heading out of town for a quick recon of another Sons of Decimation tip, those bastards.
Two fucking hours away, and that's where I was when I got the call.
I didn't recognize the number, but I picked it up anyway.
"Hello?"
If it had been a scam call, I'd fucking take their heads off.
Instead, it was a woman's voice on the line. "Sir, this is Jackson Ridge Medical Facility. We're calling about a Miss Arlys-"
"What the fuck happened?"
"Sir?" Her tone said, 'don't fuck with me,' but I didn't fucking care.
"I'm two hours outside of down. What's going on?"
A soft sigh came through the phone, and I wanted to beat someone's face in. "She was in a minor car accident-"
Car accident?
Why wasn't she in the shop?
"She has a minor head injury-"
Three words that didn't belong together Minor-Head-Injury.
Nothing about a head injury was minor in his mind.
"She's here resting, but she wanted us to let you know."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
As soon as she hung up, I was on the phone to my Pres.
He told me he'd get someone over to the hospital to watch over her and I felt better about that.
Better but not okay.
Fucking asshole.
Whoever hit Arlys' car was a fucking asshole and he'd end up in a shallow grave somewhere if something happened to her.
I was an hour outside of town when I got another call.
This one was on my caller ID.
The computerized voice that came through my headphone said:
DIESEL
"Yeah?" I didn't have time for pleasantries.
Diesel didn't care. Which is why I liked him.
"She's not here."
"She's not... at the hospital?"
"Naw, man. We got here and the nurse is freakin' out. Arlys isn't where she was supposed to be."
"Security?"
"Not in this area. She was just here for observation so no security guys."
"Cameras?"
"We've got them looking into it now."
"Find her, Diesel."
"I know what she means to you, man. We'll find her."
I kept driving because that was all I could do at that moment.
ARLYS HUNT
I had to pick my battles.
That's what I kept telling myself.
It was a mantra that got me through the worst years of my life.
Sure, I could fight tooth and nail but that only ended up with my teeth chipped and my nails torn.
So I sat there in the passenger seat of Kent's car, waiting for a battle I could win.
He was upset.
Agitated.
That just meant that he wasn't as smart as he should be.
My door was locked, but I could unlock it.
But, I wasn't about to bail out of the car.
Where would I go along this stretch of road that seemed endless?
And the asphalt?
If I jumped out, how would I protect the baby?
So I sat there, listening to him grumble under his breath.
"... did you hear me?"
I tried to keep my voice as level as possible. "Yes. I hear you."
"It's all your damn fault, Arlys. I don't know how, but you ruined my life."
I didn't know how either, but since when had Kent ever listened to any answer I gave him?
"Since you left, I lost my job. I'm behind on the house payments. The bank is calling. What did you do?"
I opened my mouth to say 'nothing.'
He wouldn't believe me.
He'd been drinking. I could smell the faint scent of it in the car.
"I'm taking you home. And when we get there, you're going to fix it all, Arlys. Do you hear me?"
I swallowed first. "I hear you."
Kent nodded and gripped the wheel tighter.
"I thought you'd come to your senses before this, but you actually filed that shit in court!"
I didn't say a word then.
"You filed for divorce and now my whole life is falling apart."
I couldn't tell if he was sad or confused.
Or a dangerous cocktail of both.
"So we're going to go home..."
I felt like he was in a cycle and repeating himself.
"And you're going to fix it."
He reached his left arm down and pulled out a beer can.
Where it came from, she didn't know, but it was in his hand, and he took his other hand off the wheel to pop the top.
I put my hands over my belly and closed my eyes.
I wasn't someone who prayed a lot anymore. I'd done my share and then some as a kid, but God never answered me, but I started praying again in that passenger seat, hoping for a miracle, but how was Logan going to find me?
LOGAN "THIEF" ZANE
The call I was waiting for turned my whole day around.
They'd pulled the images from the security cameras at the hospital.
It was grainy AF, but they saw the car she'd gotten into.
And the license plate.
I got the information and more.
They were hot on the trail of that car, and I joined in on the chase.
It was her ex-husband, Kent.
Okay, so the final divorce hadn't gone through, but he'd taken Arlys and that just might end up with him face down in an unmarked grave.
I could do that to him and not lose any sleep.
I might just do it if I got to him first.
The road he was on was an old one, straight from Jackson Ridge and off along the old Route to the next town.
He didn't know where he was going, not really.
If he did, he wouldn't have picked a straightaway with no off-ramps or places to hide.
He probably hadn't planned this.
Running off of emotions.
That made him dangerous.
I thought about what Arlys had told me. He didn't seem to care about her or her health. He seemed to care about the judge deciding to take money from him to pay for the baby.
But he'd only be on the hook for that money if they were divorced.
If she wasn't living with him.
Yeah.
He'd come for her, but it wasn't about her.
It wasn't about loving her.
It was about possessing her.
Kent might be trying to take her away, but he didn't know a very important detail.
I smiled and it wasn't a nice smile.
It was hard.
Feral.
Kent Hunt might be trying to take Arlys away with him, but they didn't call me 'Thief' for nothing.
I opened up the throttle and leaned into the wind.
I knew I'd have my brothers at my back.
That's what we did for each other.
ARLYS
I could hope that we'd stop to sleep somewhere, but with the way Kent was wound?
I didn't think he'd stop until he was ready to drop.
I didn't want us to go that far.
If he fell asleep at the wheel, what was going to happen to me and my baby.
And yes, I didn't consider the baby Kent's.
He didn't deserve her.
Or him.
"What the fuck?"
I lifted my chin and turned to look at Kent.
He had his hands on the wheel, white-knuckled and flexing.
Kent narrowed his eyes as he looked out of the windshield.
"What a stupid fuck!"
I leaned forward, too. Narrowing my eyes at the road ahead.
There was something in the road.
I just didn't know what it was.
"I think he's coming at us!"
In my heart I knew who 'HE' was.
Don't ask me how.
I think it was just faith.
Or hope.
Or just some wishful thinking on my part.
But in my head?
I put my hands on my belly and hoped that baby could hear my thoughts.
'Daddy's coming, baby.'
'Daddy's coming.'
LOGAN "THIEF" ZANE
What Kent lacked in heart, he made up for it in being stubborn.
I admit, trying to block the road with a motorcycle wasn't a smart thing, but I had to work with what I had.
So I went back and forth across the road, slowing him down.
And I found out that Kent, at heart, was a coward.
He could have mowed me down.
He could have done it easily.
But he didn't.
I could see him shouting.
Pounding his fists on the wheel.
It wasn't me that stopped him.
Not really.
Not that I'm ashamed to admit it.
He finally stopped because he saw more than a dozen members of my club behind him.
He knew he was caught.
He knew that we were going to follow him and stop him.
He was a coward.
And he stopped because he knew we were going to stop him sooner or later.
When he came to a stop, the car was flanked with my brothers, holding guns on him.
He kept his hands on the wheel while I moved to the passenger side and opened the door.
Havoc leaned in the driver's side window and cracked Kent across the cheek, knocking him out cold.
I pulled Arlys into my arms and lifted her off her feet.
She didn't argue.
She didn't complain.
She leaned in against me, her head on my shoulder.
No one saw the tears that fell.
I only felt it on my skin.
That day.
One that lone stretch of road.
I earned my road name all over again.
I stole Arlys back from her piece of shit ex and I made her my wife the day her divorce became final.