Celia stood rigidly off to the side, spinning her wedding band in a slow circle around her finger. “Mikey, we have to be prepared for things to get worse once we do this—”
“Oh, it’s gonna get worse. See, those motherfuckers have called the shots for years now. They’re convinced they have us all figured out.” I pulled the matches from my back pocket with a smirk. “What do you say, Celia? Ready to blow those misconceptions to shit?”
She clapped me on the back again before pressing a kiss to my temple. “You’re just like your father. Alright, let’s do it. Lauren, the minute it goes up, alert Jimmy. Dakota, you’ve got Kate. And remember, stick with your partner.”
“Hey,” I interrupted. “Who’s robbing this train—me or Jesse James? Now…” I turned back to Lauren, lowering my head until our noses were touching. “You good, Red? Practiced your breathing? Remember what I told you, there’s no crying in biker wars—”
“But it’s completely safe to fight until the third trimester,” Dakota added, tapping the side of her nose with a wink.
I pulled back to run my hands over my face with a shake of my head before bringing them to rest against her belly.
Lauren jutted her chin up with a defiant smirk. “Any more words of wisdom you care to impart, Tex?”
“Yeah. Let’s all play a great game out there.” I swatted her ass and moved until my mouth covered hers, swallowing the witty retort resting on the tip of her tongue. My hands moved to her hips, squeezing as if to remind myself that she was real. Lauren tilted her head to the side, deepening the kiss while greedily exploring my mouth with her tongue.
As a kid, I’d wanted to be the hero, never imagining that the world I wanted to save would someday rest under the palms of my hands.
Knowing it was now or never, I reluctantly pulled back, wondering if the men who’d dropped the first atomic bomb felt like I did, this fear that the world would never be the same.
By lighting the match, we were changing the entire game, and that came with a lot of fucking variables.
“Hey, Mike?” Lauren called softly. “I’ve got some advice for you now.”
Thank Christ.
Finally, someone realized that I shouldn’t have been the brains behind the operation.
Her nose wrinkled, as if what she was about to say caused her pain. “You, um, you might want to find that mint now.”
The crease disappeared from between her brows and, as much as she tried to fight it, her laughter echoed across the empty porch.
I shook my head in mock disappointment. “Jesus, darlin’, you’re gonna blow our cover. Maybe we tackle the issue at hand first, and then I’ll guzzle a bottle of mouthwash if it’ll make you happy. Zane, you ready?”
He propped the back door open and poured a line of gasoline out into the grass. “With the breeze, it’s gonna catch fast. Dakota, maybe you go on ahead.”
“I’m not that slow,” she grumbled, pulling her cell phone from the waistband of her leggings. “I’ve got the text ready to send to Kate. Just tell me when.”
Lauren nodded. “Good to go here, Tex.”
“Ma?” I cocked my head to the side and looked at Celia.
“Don’t call me that,” she said, keeping her eyes on her watch. “Okay… now.”
I struck the match and dropped it. Any fears that we hadn’t used enough accelerant were quickly alleviated by the sight of a bright orange fireball, spreading through the inside of the house like a tornado.
Light gray smoke began pouring through the open doorway and from under the roof like a thick fog, the heat forcing us to move quickly through the side gate toward the street.
We went down as the front window exploded, sending fragments of glass and wood through the air like something from a pipe bomb. Any minute now, the neighbors were going to come running out to investigate.
“Debris!” I announced. “We got debris!”
Dakota did her best to keep up but ended up stumbling and falling into the grass. Zane managed to scoop her up before looking back at me with a shake of his head. Right about then, another window exploded from the side of the house.
So, there was a slight chance we’d gone overboard with the gasoline.
The wind quickly caught the smoke coming from the broken windows, drawing it around us until the other houses disappeared from view.
It was exactly what I’d been hoping for… in another two to three minutes when we were speeding away. We might as well have been caught in a blinding snowstorm with as much visibility as we had.
Kate pulled up in Grey’s truck, her mouth hanging wide open in shock. She’d have to save all questions until the end. With as fast as the fire was spreading, there was a good chance that first responders were already en route.
The ground vibrated beneath my feet, and I jerked my head to the right and left, straining to see the threat through the veil of smoke.
Even with Dakota in his arms, Zane reached the truck first. When he heard the deep rumble, he cocked his head to the side as if trying to place the sound. “Mike?”
“Everybody in the truck!” I roared.
I knew exactly what I was hearing, but thought we had more time.
Like something out of a movie, everything seemed to slow as the first motorcycle turned onto the street. Lauren turned back, her eyes widening in horror.
The sounds from the fire faded away as the other bikes came into view and I reverted back to the nine-year-old kid hiding in the closet.
“Mikey?” Celia’s voice called to me. “It’s okay. Please talk to me.”
My mama talked real sweet to lure me out sometimes, knowing it was better to give the monster what he wanted. “Just get it over with,” she’d whisper.
I pulled my knees up to my chest and rocked back and forth, wondering how long I’d have to wait Celia out.
I hadn’t meant to break it… I’d only wanted to help…
The sound of footsteps grew louder, and I held my breath, knowing that if she found me, she was going to take me to Mr. Grey for a beating.
What if he was like my old man?
What if he didn’t stop until he was tired?
The closet door popped open with a loud creak before Celia knelt beside me, taking my hand in hers. “You’re hurt.”
I looked down at the blood on my palm, and shook my head. “I’m okay. I didn’t mean to—you just seemed so tired and Katy was real fussy. I wanted to help you and wash up the breakfast dishes, but I used too much soap, and it was too slippery—” I held back my tears because real men didn’t cry like pussies. They took their punishment with their heads held high.
“Hey,” she cradled my palm. “I’m not mad. Accidents happen. I wish you would’ve just told me, but it’s easier to run and hide, isn’t it?”
I nodded and whispered, “I’m sorry. Is Mr. Grey—”
“He’s not here, Mikey. This will be our little secret, okay?”
I nodded again and lowered my head with a sniff. She’d never know I was crying.
She sighed. “Look, I know that it’s hard to believe, but someday you’re going to grow up to be big and strong. And, instead of running away from the things you’re afraid of, you’ll stand your ground and fight. Right now, though? I want you to promise me you’ll run and hide. Promise me you’ll stay safe.”
When she saw the bikers, Dakota began fighting to get out of the truck. Zane caught her in his arms, wrapping his body around hers like a shield. Lauren’s mouth opened in a scream I could no longer hear as she reached for me before Celia managed to pull her inside the truck.
They were safe… that was all that mattered.
The men pulled their guns just as the driver’s side door opened and Kate stumbled out, her eyes wild with fear.
Promise me you’ll run and hide…
Stand your ground and fight…
She stood frozen in the middle of the street, directly in their path. I tried waving her off, screaming over the roar of the bikes, “Katy! R
un!”
My sister shook her head and mouthed the word no, pulling me into my own worst nightmare. It was the same every time, my legs moved as if fighting a current while the person I loved lay just out of reach.
Only this time I wouldn’t wake up…
She reached my side at the same time as the first biker, and I didn’t even think before knocking her down to the grass and facing them head-on like a human shield.
There was no time to draw my weapon.
My body jerked as the first pop filled the air amid Kate’s screams of terror. They came in succession, and it wasn’t until my ass landed beside her, and the breath left my lungs that I realized every single one of them had been accurate.
I stared up at the smoke-filled sky until Kate’s face came into view. Her mouth moved, screaming something that looked like my name over and over, but my ears were still ringing from the gunshots. As my eyes drifted shut, and the sounds from the bikes faded into the distance, I took comfort in the fact that she was safe.
When I grow up, I’m gonna be one of the good guys…
Chapter Twenty
Celia
While Athena represented intelligence and military strategy for the Greeks, Ares represented the violent and physically untamed aspects of combat.
The god of war was not a favorite among his people because of his dangerous and uncontrollable tendencies on the battlefield. He was also known to react savagely to even the smallest of slights.
Ares.
The embodiment of violence and destruction.
A man governed by hedonism and bloodlust.
Just like the Sons.
The entire time I’d been laboring under the delusion that there was a motive, something they wanted from us. But they were no better than Ares, fighting just to fight.
Which meant we had to become Athena.
The fierce and ruthless warrior was trusted enough to wield the shield and thunderbolt of Zeus. She protected civilization from those who sought to destroy it.
Lauren’s hand tightened around mine, and I squeezed back, both of us fully aware that our salvation lay just beyond the locked doors of the surgical unit.
“We have one shot at getting the Sons,” I mumbled, retracing every step of the plan in my mind.
What was it Mikey had said?
War could either be approached with brutality or intelligence.
As we weren’t able to outnumber them, we had to outsmart them.
Lauren’s chin dropped to her chest, her arm resting against her belly as if reassuring her daughters that their daddy was going to be okay.
Comedian burst into the family room, his gaze darting from face to face, looking for answers. He crossed the room when his eyes landed on mine, dropping to his knees in front of me. “Is he?” His eyes pleaded for me to lie, to tell him there had been some mistake.
My shoulders curled forward as I shook my head. “We don’t know anything. He was—” I mashed my lips together. “He was hit five times.”
“Christ.” Comedian rocked back onto the heel of his boots before running a shaky hand over his eyes. “My boy.”
Lauren’s fingers twitched against mine, her teeth sinking into the flesh of her bottom lip until it turned white as if to keep herself from screaming.
Comedian reached out and placed his palm against her thigh. “He’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. I’m gonna handle this shit, you hear me?”
Her head bounced up and down like a bobblehead doll, but she continued staring right through him with glassy eyes.
“Good girl.” He squeezed her leg and stood up.
We jumped as the door opened suddenly, expecting the doctors, but it was Betsy. She mashed a fist to her mouth, moaning, “My baby boy.”
Comedian went to comfort her, but she brushed off his attempts before approaching me with rage in her eyes and venom in her words. “You did this to him!”
Lauren squeezed my hand until my fingers went numb while keeping her focus on the door.
“You took my baby and tried to make him a soldier! Did you think this was a game? Did you think he wouldn’t get hurt?” She all but screeched.
As much as I wanted to remind her that she hadn’t lifted one finger when her ‘baby’ relapsed, I kept my mouth shut. For better or worse, she was his mother. If blaming me eased her mind, I’d take it.
I curled my hand into a tight fist. This would be the last time I sat in a private room, waiting to hear the fate of my family.
We had to end it.
Unable to sit still for a moment longer, I released Lauren’s hand and got up to move. As I set a manic pace around the room, I continually checked the clock on the wall, fighting to recall how long we’d been waiting.
I’d sent Zane and Dakota home when it became clear we weren’t going to know anything for hours. As Nate came off-shift, he’d done his best to give us updates before convincing Kate to get some sleep. She’d been almost catatonic with grief, blaming herself for what happened as if she could’ve changed the outcome.
Angel sat silently in the corner, picking at his lips with trembling fingers. “Should’ve been me, Celia.”
I paused, sure I’d misunderstood.
“Should’ve been me,” he repeated. “Kid just got sober and had his whole life ahead of him. Babies… a wife.”
“Hey,” I sank down in the chair beside him. “Don’t talk about him like he’s already gone—”
“Ain’t he?” His watery brown eyes met mine. “You heard the doctors. He’d lost so much blood…”
His jaw settled into a hard line. “Should’ve been me. I ask myself every day why I’m still around, you know? Tryin’ to figure out what unfinished business the saints need me to handle. I think I finally know what it is.”
“What?” I whispered.
“Jamie. Maybe they ain’t gonna take me ’til I find my boy. Just tell me how in the hell I’m supposed to do that, knowin’ that his son is dead? His mama trusted me to take care of him when she was gone, and I couldn’t do the same for his kids.” His voice broke off in a sob.
I lay my head on his shoulder and squeezed my eyes shut, going over every step of the plan in my mind, refusing to accept the idea of failure.
And then I did something I hadn’t done in years.
I prayed.
The doctors entered, and I fought my way back over to Lauren, my feet heavy as if they were being weighed down with concrete blocks.
Once, when I was younger, I’d gone to the local amusement park and purchased a ticket for the main attraction—the Death Scream roller coaster. As the car slowly climbed the first hill, each ominous click along the wooden track seemed to ratchet up my anxiety, leaving me to question what had possessed me to put my life in danger in the first place.
My fear increased when we finally reached the top, only to stop moving altogether. It seemed as if we hung over that drop for ages.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Sullivan,” the older doctor began with a shake of his head. Lauren choked out something unintelligible, and I felt the car shift almost imperceptibly. “We did everything we could—”
Just when I’d become convinced that we’d remain suspended forever, the car was thrust forward, and we entered a free-fall.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kate
“Katy! Run!”
I jerked awake suddenly, still hearing Mike’s warning echoing through my skull. His voice was the strongest in the middle of the night, pulling me from a dead sleep to alert me to the danger that surrounded us on all sides.
Nate’s breathing remained deep and even as I slipped out of bed and into the bathroom. I softly closed the door behind me, not bothering to turn on the light. As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, I noted that there was more than enough moonlight streaming in from the window above the tub for me to see the dark circles rimming my eyes.
I flipped on the faucet, splashing some of the cold water onto my face before pulling my bath towel from the hook. My kn
ees buckled beneath me. I sank down to the tile, mashing the fibers against my face to stifle the sounds of my sobs.
In some weird ritual born out of tragedy, I left the faucet running, as if my body needed a soundtrack of running water to properly grieve.
For the past three weeks, the bathroom had become my sanctuary, my safe place to purge the overwhelming guilt I felt when I thought of what Mike had sacrificed in his final moments.
Because of me, he was dead.
One minute he was here and the next, he just wasn’t.
His daughters were going to grow up without their father because he’d died protecting me. I wailed into the expensive cotton towel while my brain replayed every second of that night in slow-motion.
Mike had been standing in the yard, seemingly lost as he looked up and down the street. I saw the motorcycle the same time that he did, and when the others turned to follow, my only thought had been to get him into the vehicle.
Why had I run after him?
If I’d just waited even half a second more, he would’ve come. Instead, I put myself in harm’s way, forcing him to make a split-second decision.
His life… or mine.
After deciding on cremation, Lauren announced that there would be no funeral or memorial service, widening the ever-growing rift between her and Mike’s mother.
It was obvious that she was in denial, refusing to accept the fact that her husband was gone. It had also been made abundantly clear that I was the last person she wanted counseling her.
With Mike had gone our only chances of finding my father and ending the war. Any plans that had been in place withered and died on the vine.
Dakota returned to her job as store manager of Bella Beauty, while Zane, even with the knowledge that the department was corrupt, went back to wearing a badge.
In fact, the only reason we weren’t all sitting in jail for arson and homicide was because Jimmy had moved heaven and earth to make it seem as if we were never there.
When my weeping became hiccups, I lowered the towel and pressed the heel of my hands to my heated eyelids. My head ached from the force of my tears, and I knew, even without the mirror in front of me, that my face resembled that of a boxer who’d lost his big fight.
Savior: Silent Phoenix MC Series: Book Five Page 25
