Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Loyal!” I scream so loud my throat hurts as he drops to the ground.
The prospect grabs me around the waist as I try to move forward and pulls me back.
“I’m sorry, you need to stay here,” he tells me.
“No, no, no! He can’t be dead. Tell me he’s not dead. I need to get in there. I’m a nurse, I can save him,” I beg as I try to pull away.
“Sami, get it fucking together. This isn’t the time for a breakdown,” Savage barks from his perch.
“Easy for you to say when you are all the way back here,” I snap.
I watch as his jaw twitches, but he doesn’t look away from his scope. Where his barrel is pointed is beyond me, but clearly it’s not doing any good.
“Police have entered the gate, and I have audio,” Dex says.
“Let’s hear it,” Savage tells him.
“Sami, you’re going to want to see this,” Dex tells me, not looking away from his tablet.
The prospect lets go of me, and for a second I contemplate rushing toward the fight, but I move to Dex instead.
“What is it? What do you see?” I demand as I come to stand next to him.
“Look.” He points to one of the four drone cameras he has up in the air.
I watch as Loyal groans, rolling himself over.
“He’s alive,” I say breathlessly as I watch him get up.
“Why won’t you die?” Billy screeches as the cop cars swarm them.
“Put the guns down!” the cops demand, using their car doors as shields.
“We will gladly put the guns down, officers, once they stop aiming at us,” Fang tells them.
“This isn’t how this was supposed to happen. She was supposed to come back to me and realize it was a mistake. Does she know I hired your PI company? That you were one of the people I paid to dig into her, to find out why she was leaving me? Instead, you took what wasn’t yours,” Billy rants.
I suck in a breath. “Is that true?” I ask quietly.
“Partially. He did hire our club’s PI company.
Yes, Loyal went to look at his now-house when it was on the market with Bailey to try and spy.
They found nothing, so Bailey returned his money and said she wasn’t taking the job.
That’s it, though. He only went with her for the one job, never personally dug into you himself,” Dex tells me as his fingers move across the screen.
“I don’t understand…” I mutter to myself.
“I don’t know what to tell you. You’d have to talk to him. Do you want my opinion though?” Dex asks.
“Go for it.”
He shrugs. “Who cares what happened before you two met. It’s not like you both don’t have a past. Did you feel pressured into being with him? Do you feel like he stalked you? Do you feel like he did anything out of line?”
I shake my head slowly. “No…”
“Then who cares what your ex thinks. As long as you two are happy.”
I look down at the camera, to where Loyal is.
Is it maybe a little creepy that he possibly bought the house next door because he wanted me the moment he saw me? Yeah, a little, but I meant it when I said he never made me feel uncomfortable. Like this relationship wasn’t my choice.
He might have orchestrated a run-in, but that’s where it ends.
“You know what, Billy? You’re right. I only knew about her because of you.
You brought her onto my radar. You, and no one else.
Yeah, I liked what I saw and wanted to get to know her, but I left the ball in her court after I introduced myself.
Sami has always called the shots when it comes to us.
So you can say whatever it is you want, but you’re wrong.
I didn’t manipulate her, I just love her.
That’s it. Which is a lot more than you ever did for her. ”
“You can’t love her. She’s mine! Mine. Mine. Mine!” Billy rants.
“Put the gun down now, sir,” one of the cops says.
“Dude, you’re bleeding,” Happy says as he comes to a stop next to Loyal.
“Where the hell did he come from?” I mutter.
“The shadows,” Dex says, unhelpfully.
“Want me to put my finger in it?” Happy asks, making me groan.
“Say no, Loyal,” I plead, even though he can’t hear me.
“Sure,” my dumbass of a boyfriend says.
He hisses when Happy does it, making me slap my forehead.
“That’s so unsanitary it’s not even funny,” I mutter.
“It’s a graze. You’ll make it,” Happy tells him.
While I’m relieved, I’m also annoyed that he likely gave him an infection by touching it.
“You know w-what? I don’t care what you have to say. You’re all going to die. I have explosives on the plane, and I’m going to take all of you out!” Billy says.
“He’s lying,” I say before he can even finish his sentence.
“How do you know?” Savage asks from his perch.
“The way his voice trembled slightly in the beginning. It’s his tell.”
“On it,” Dex says before Savage can even issue an order.
“Fuck this, I’m out,” one of his goons says as he drops his gun and steps away from Billy’s side.
He takes two steps, and Billy shoots him.
Billy’s eyes go wide and he pales as he watches the guy fall to the ground.
The next thing I know is Billy is being tackled to the ground.
Farrah falls forward, landing on her hands and knees.
I watch as my baby girl scrambles toward Loyal.
He jerks away from Happy and meets her halfway, pulling her into his arms. He doesn’t stop, though, as he rushes her back toward cover as he comforts her.
“Guns down!” some cops yell, and true to their word, the brothers do once the guns are no longer trained on them. They set them down and hold their hands up in surrender, ready for whatever comes next.
“Go,” Savage says quietly.
Not needing to be told twice, I run. Right toward my future and what’s mine.
I hiss when the cop moves my hands behind my back.
“Sorry,” he mutters and I know he means it because he’s one of ours.
My brain is fuzzy, though, and I can’t remember his name for the life of me. Too bad I didn’t look at his name tag before he stepped behind me.
“Do what you got to do,” I tell him.
My chest hurts like a bitch from the gunshot I took to the vest. My arm stings from the graze. All wounds I will happily take in order to have Farrah here and safe.
“Loyal!” Sami screams out as I start to have cuffs placed on my wrists.
“Don’t arrest him, he did nothing wrong,” Farrah demands.
“I’m sorry, it’s protocol,” the officer tells her.
I look over at her. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Ma’am, stay back,” the cop demands.
“Mom!” Farrah rushes into her arms, and I watch as they hold each other tight, tears trailing down their faces.
Worth it.
When Sami pulls away, she dries her tears and faces the cop. “He was shot and is actively bleeding. Someone stuck a finger in the wound, meaning it was exposed to God knows what. He needs medical attention immediately. Let me help. I’m a nurse. Please.”
When her voice cracks on “please” I feel the cop behind me soften.
“He will be taken straight to the hospital. I will take him myself,” he tells her.
“He needs to go in an ambulance,” she argues.
“Mami, the bleeding is slowing down. I’m fine. I’m sure there are other people who need an ambulance ride more than I do.”
“But…”
I shake my head. “It’s fine.”
“What happens now?” Farrah asks.
“Now we take everyone to the station or the hospital if they need it. Then we start collecting statements. Would you like yours here or at the station?” the cop asks.
Sami looks at Farrah. “Whatever you want.”
“Station. If they go to the station, so do I,” Farrah declares.
“Thank you, Officer Davis.” Sami smiles.
Davis. That’s it. How could I forget Davis?
“It’s no problem.” Davis waves someone over. “I’ll give you three a minute,” he says before stepping away.
With no hesitation, Sami walks over to me and cups my face before slamming her lips onto mine. All too soon she pulls away, and I rest my forehead on hers.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you that I saw you before I bought the house and was interested in you even then.”
She shakes her head. “That doesn’t matter. Not now. I might want to talk about it later, but honestly, I don’t care. Not in the least. I’m more concerned about if you’re okay.”
“You took a bullet because of me,” Farrah sniffs.
I pull back from my girl and look at her daughter. “Come here. I can’t exactly hug you, but I think you need one.”
With no hesitation, Farrah walks over and throws her arms around Sami and me. The three of us stand in a circle, my hands behind my back and their arms around me.
“Thank you for not killing him,” Farrah says quietly.
“I knew it would be the last thing you would want. Despite all of his bullshit, he’s your dad.”
When I shrug, I hiss, pulling the angry fucking hole in my shoulder.
“Be careful,” Sami hisses as they pull back.
“What do you want us to say?” Farrah asks as she glances around, making sure no one is watching.
“Tell them the truth,” I say right as Davis walks up.
“Ready?” he asks.
I nod at him. “Yeah.”
He looks at the women as he grabs my arm. “My colleague, Officer Mayhem, will be giving both of you a ride to the police station.”
Mayhem steps forward and nods. “Ladies, if you’ll come with me.”
Sami looks over at me. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see you soon,” I tell her.
I watch as the two of them walk hand in hand toward the police cruiser and sigh, letting the pain finally register.
“Ready for medical attention?” Officer Davis chuckles softly.
“Dude, you have no idea,” I mutter as we head to his car.
Lying in the hospital bed, I stare up at the ceiling as I listen to the officer write notes on his pad of paper.
“And how did you know that Farrah was in danger?” he asks for the third time.
“Like I told you before, I gave her a bracelet that had a built-in panic button. She sounded the alarm, so I pulled up the tracker and saw they were on the move in the middle of the night. If you know Farrah, you would know that is very out of character for her. It was clear something was wrong.”
“And how did your club get involved?” he asks.
“She’s family.”
“Her father is saying that you are interested in her and wanted to keep her for yourself.”
I chuckle and look at him. “Anything Billy Abrahams says is most likely a lie, and that is most definitely one. Talk to Farrah, she will tell you that I’ve never so much as flirted. I’m dating her mom. That’s it. She’s the one I’m interested in, not Farrah.”
His pen stops moving, and he looks at me in confusion. “But the daughter is closer in age to you than the mother.”
I nod slowly. “I’m aware. I like my women older, more mature.”
His cheeks turn red, and he looks back down at his notepad, sure to ask me another question he’s already asked.
“So what you’re saying is you didn’t start the fight?”
“No, we even have drone footage. It will show you that Billy Abrahams was trying to kidnap his daughter. It’s his people who fired first. We were just trying to stop him.”
“Where do you think they would have gone if they ended up in the air?”
“I have no idea, but knowing him, I’m sure you will find a paper trail.”
He shuts his notepad just as I hear the sound of rushing footsteps.
“That’s it. We can’t formally arrest you until we know more. It’s probably a good thing you weren’t holding a gun when we showed up.”
The curtain is ripped back, and both Sami and Farrah come into view. The cop nods at them and steps out. Both rush into the room and throw themselves at me, making me wince in pain.
“Sorry,” they say in unison.
When they start to pull away, I shake my head. “Don’t you two dare. Get back in here.”
Carefully they wrap their arms around me and hold me tight. I take what feels like my first real breath all night.
All things considered, we got really fucking lucky tonight, and I don’t know what I would have done if we hadn’t.