Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Bye, Stone,” the girls called. Beck ran back to hug him before she left.
“Have fun,” Stone called back, relishing Beck coming out of her shell.
“I do believe this is the happiest day of my life since you got out of prison, brother,” Emerson remarked.
“Why?” he prompted.
“Because I can see the contentment radiating off you. You’re truly happy, and you deserve it,” Emerson explained, coming around the divider to hug him.
“Oh, me too, me too,” Harry sing-songed, joining them.
“I am content, in love, and so excited to be a dad,” Stone admitted.
“Let’s stop the mushiness. I’m going to need to have tissues at my station if we keep this up,” Sprite interrupted, fanning her face with tears on her cheeks. “Stupid hormones,” she muttered.
Roam pulled her into his arms and wiped her tears with a tissue.
Stone took his first walk-in. The man wanted a small outline of the flag on his arm, which shouldn’t take long.
He had the design, applied the transfer, and started inking.
It was the guy’s first tattoo, and Stone waited to see how he’d handle it.
Turns out, he handled it well because he fell asleep while Stone was working.
Once finished, Stone went over the care instructions and took him to the front desk to pay.
“Thanks for coming in,” Stone nodded, handing over the care sheet.
The door flew open.
“Stone, come quick,” War panted.
Stone ran after War, following him down the block to where a crowd was gathered. Deborah, Taylor, and Regan were standing with Naomi, who had her arms wrapped around them. But what had his attention was Beck—she was being held hostage in the middle of the street with a gun pressed to her head.
Stone pushed through the crowd to Naomi’s side, touching each of his girls to let them know it was going to be okay.
“Dad, let Beck go and we can talk about this!” Tori shouted.
“No. Everything’s gone,” Aaron snapped, his eyes wild. “The feds froze my accounts. A friend paid my bail. I need to get out of the country. Give me money and I’ll let her go as soon as I’m safe!”
Stone clocked each and every member of the MC scattered around Aaron, but Stone didn’t see any way that someone could do something as long as Aaron’s gun was pointing at Beck.
“Watch out! My bull broke out of the trailer!” Jake Bremerton yelled.
Stone looked for an opening. Jake would never have faulty equipment that a bull could break out of. Jake’s bull had been part of a float in the parade.
Snorting and hoofbeats could be heard on the concrete.
Aaron was turning different ways, trying to see where the danger was coming from.
Aaron wasn’t pointing the gun at Beck; he was waving it around, but he still had a hold of Beck by the neck.
Stone tried to get Beck’s attention to have her drop to the ground to give them a chance, but she was staring at Locks.
Beck grabbed something from her pocket and stabbed it behind her into Aaron’s leg.
He let go of her with a bellow, and she ran toward Locks.
Before Aaron could formulate a plan, a lasso dropped over his head and then tightened around his arms. Whoever had lassoed him yanked hard, so he fell, hitting his face on the concrete.
Stone ran toward where Locks had Beck in his arms.
“Beck?” Stone called out, his heart hammering against his ribs.
As soon as she heard his voice, she turned and threw herself into his arms.
“I was so scared, but I kept telling myself someone would come,” Beck said softly.
“It’s okay. You’re all right,” Stone whispered as he patted her back, holding her tight.
“You got her? I’ve got a brother to teach a lesson to,” Locks growled.
Stone nodded, leading Beck back to where Naomi, Taylor, and Regan were.
“Oh, baby,” Naomi cried, putting her arms around Beck.
Stone kept an eye on Aaron, but he didn’t need to worry. Jake Bremerton had hog-tied Aaron for Locks and was carrying him over to his pickup. He tossed Aaron into the bed of the truck and tossed Locks the keys.
“Bring it back when you’re done using it. My hands are taking the stock back in the other truck and trailer. I’ll ride Midnight home,” Jake said, motioning at his horse tied to the parking meter.
Stone held his wife and girls until his heart calmed down enough that he felt he could talk calmly.
“What happened?”
Naomi listened as the girls recounted the tale for the fifth time, adding new memories as they told it. Then it was as if everything was good. They asked when they could head over to the barbecue.
She and Stone had both been shaken up after watching her father hold one of her daughters at gunpoint. She would have been happy hiding out for the rest of the day, but Regina had come by and reminded them that Aaron didn’t deserve to ruin the girls’ first Fourth of July at Bluff Creek.
They’d attended the barbecue for supper that the club had thrown and played numerous lawn games that were set out. Beck wasn’t shaken up at all, it seemed. She was first in croquet and came in second in cornhole with her teammate Benji.
Now, they were sitting behind Beth and Flick’s house as the kids played laser tag, waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks.
“How’s that heart rate, Naomi? Has it calmed down yet?” Harry asked.
After the incident, the Ellis siblings had stuck like glue to the girls. Harry especially had made sure Beck knew it was okay to be upset and talk about what happened.
“It’s better,” Naomi answered. “I’m torn, though. I want to know what happened to my father and at the same time, I don’t. Does that make sense?”
“It does. Even though my mom wasn’t what I consider a good person from the time I was ten and older, it still hurt when she left because I remembered the good times when she cuddled me on her lap in the rocking chair and sang to me,” Harry shared.
“That’s exactly how I feel. I don’t ever want to be around my father again because he didn’t help me when I needed it, but I still remember the dad who used to take me on the carousel at the carnival,” Naomi said.
A counselor would probably have a field day with her, but maybe it was time she talked about all this with someone who was a professional. She’d also ask Cannon who he and Hank went to. She didn’t want the girls to be bottling things inside instead of dealing with them.
Frankie came over and flopped down beside Emerson and Harry. Although Frankie worked at the tattoo studio and had lived with the Ellis family in the RV before Stone got out of prison, she’d been spending more time apart from them.
“What’s with the face, Frankie? Was the Kate Spade purse you wanted sold out?” Harry teased.
Naomi hid a smile at Frankie rolling her eyes.
She was quite the clothes horse. Everyone else was in shorts, capris, and shirts for the holiday party.
Frankie had a lacy sundress, four-inch-high heels, a large-brimmed hat, and so many bracelets on her wrists that she sounded like a wind chime when she moved her arms.
“Very funny. There are just some people who get on my nerves, but in a small town, it’s really hard to avoid him,” Frankie grumbled.
“You should fuck him out of your system, then you won’t care.” Emerson deadpanned.
“Sometimes you guys really annoy me,” Frankie huffed, getting up and walking off.
“What did we say?” Harry wondered aloud, watching her go.
Naomi had no idea what they were talking about, but she saw her man walking toward her.
She got up and went to meet him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he pulled her in for a kiss, leaning his forehead on hers when he pulled back.
He stared into her eyes for a minute but wasn’t saying anything.
“Just say it,” she softly prompted.
“Would you be upset if I took a short ride to deliver a package somewhere?” he asked.
Naomi stared at him, trying to decipher his meaning.
“Is my father the package and the delivery going to be to law enforcement?” she surmised.
“Yes. Locks is going to take him in because leaving Oklahoma broke his bail agreement. It would be a three-hour round trip to Dodge City jail and back,” Stone explained.
“I won’t be upset. This way, I’ll know for sure he is gone and not able to hurt our girls,” she reassured him.
“Thank you. Love you, and see you in a little bit. Finn and Ben are going to hang close and will be happy to do anything you need,” Stone promised.
“Got it. Go!” she urged, kissing him on the cheek before heading back to the girls.