I’d seen that look before. I’d seen those curls, all frizzy from the sheets, her face all puffy, her lips red and swollen from kisses. I knew what that meant, even if she didn’t have that sheet wrapped around her naked body, screaming ‘just-fucked slut’.
That little scene only served to rile up my anger.
My baby boy was most likely in that room and this slut was naked with some big, hairy biker dude in there? Fuck her. She didn’t deserve to be around my boy. He deserved a better life.
A life with me.
I’d lose Lily, hire the best nannies money could buy and give him the life of a king. I’d show him what it was to be a man. That would be the best gift I could give him. Stability. Love. Knowledge. And most of all, the skills needed to get through this world as a strong man.
I’d teach him to fight.
To be a survivor.
To be a warrior.
Nothing would ever bring my boy down, not as long as he had me in his corner.
Fuck Scarlet. He didn’t need a mother, all he needed was me.
What was she going to teach him, anyway? How to be a whore?
No way.
That boy was mine.
And the time had come for me to step up and claim him.
The stars had aligned perfectly, leading me here at just the right time, and he was right behind door number thirty-two at the Roadhouse Motel…just waiting for his father to whisk him away to the good life…
Daisy
Alex was usually awake before me, but he’d been up late last night and it was still fairly early. We’d all piled into our rooms after being ushered to the motel, tired and disoriented. They’d only been able to spare four rooms, moving a few of the firefighters around to accommodate us.
Ryder, Grace and Cherry took one, we took one, and Riot, Lacey, Frankie, Wreck and Slade decided to make a slumber party out of it.
“I’ll take the floor,” Slade had offered. “As long as you guys don’t try to get freaky while I’m sleeping in the same room with you. You know I’m not into that wild stuff now that I’m settled down with Diana.”
“You’re a buzz kill, dude, how would that ever happen?” Riot teased back.
I was amazed at how nice everyone was being to us.
The Gods were taking it all in stride, not fazed at all about having to stay somewhere else. I know they were worried about their property, but Ryder seemed confident the firefighters would do their best to save it. When they asked Jason to come help them, I was glad we could do something to repay their kindness.
The shower was hot, there was a restaurant just across the way…
We were safe.
I had nothing to complain about.
I finished up my shower with a smile on my face, my anxiety about the future weighing a little lighter on my shoulders today.
Whatever happened, I could handle it.
I’d gone through the worst things a woman should have to endure, and somehow, I’d made it to the other side. Sure, maybe having a new identity would present its own set of challenges, but if there was one thing my past taught me, it was that I was strong enough to get through anything.
As long as I had Alex, as long as I had Jason, no matter how long I had to wait for him, then I knew I could endure whatever life decided to throw at me.
I dried off in the bathroom, the door half open so I could hear Alex in case he woke up. Jason had left my skin raw and sensitive from his kisses, the rough scouring of his beard soft and scratchy, all at the same time.
I shuddered with desire, my body remembering the caress of that beard between my legs, his mouth pulling every ounce of pleasure from my quivering body…
Last night, and the night before that, had been life changing, instilling something inside of me that had been missing for so long. He’d opened my heart, my body…my soul.
I’d broken right open. That wall in my heart that had merely cracked a little before, now gaped wide open, the darkness inside of me now bathing in the pouring light of Jason’s love.
I’d submitted to it, accepted it, welcomed it…and now that the sun has risen outside, the dawn of another day beginning with a soft whisper — I was changed by him forever.
He’d taught me what love truly felt like.
I didn’t care that it was sudden. I didn’t care that the timing sucked.
I didn’t even care anymore that we were such strikingly different people.
All the pain of the past had led me here. And if someone told me today that if I could change the past, make everything I’d survived never happen, but I had to give up Jason to do it — I’d turn them down.
I was here.
How I got here didn’t matter.
What mattered, after the terrible journey I’d experienced, was my final destination — Jason’s arms.
I heard the click of the front door sound and wrapped a towel around my body before walking out of the bathroom.
“Hey babe, is that you?” I asked, rounding the corner as I called out. “How’s the broken leg?”
I stopped cold when I saw the room was empty, sure I’d heard the door close. I turned my head, my heart dropping when I saw the empty crib.
“Alex!” I cried, turning back to the room, scanning it as quickly as possible. Maybe he crawled out of his crib, I thought. He’d never done that before, but it was possible, he was doing new stuff every day.
“Alex!” I cried again, looking under the bed and dresser. My eye caught a red t-shirt on the bed and I froze. Slowly, I lifted it from the bed, my blood running cold as I saw the face staring back at me.
I threw it down and ran out of the room as fast as I could.
“Help!” I screamed. “Alex! Jason! Help!”
I scanned the parking lot, terror gripping my heart just as I saw an old beat up Chevy drive by right in front of me.
Luke’s creepy smile chilled me to the bone.
“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, racing after the truck as he sped out of the parking lot, turning right and heading away from the motel. I ran after him, my hands outstretched as I tried to get a grip on the tailgate but he was too fast. I ran out of the parking lot behind him and onto the empty highway, the sound of Alex’s cries pouring out of the open window as I watched the truck speed away and head right towards the fiery flames that devoured the pines on both sides of the road ahead.
“No! Alex! Alex!” I screamed, falling to my knees, the thick smoke stealing my view of the truck as it disappeared down the road.
A second later, Jason was lifting me to my feet, his face aghast as I explained what happened.
“Stay here,” he said, after he’d rushed me back to the parking lot where the rest of the Gods and the ladies were waiting.
“Let’s go,” Jason barked. “Ryder get in the truck with me. The three of you get on your bikes. He’s got the baby!”
The men hopped into action, Riot, Slade and Wreck quickly starting up their bikes and rolling out of the parking lot without a word. Ryder jumped into Jason’s truck and I followed behind.
“I’m going with you,” I insisted.
“You should stay here,” Jason growled. “It’s not safe.”
“He’s got my son, I don’t give a shit about being safe!” I shouted, ignoring the fact that I was only wearing a towel.
Grace grabbed my arm, pulling me back gently.
“We can help from here,” she said, her whisper firm and urgent. “Let them go. We can call for more help. I have friends on the police force. We’ll find them.”
I took a step back, my eyes searching Jason’s.
“Go!” I said. “Go get him, please!”
“I promise, babe,” he said, his eyes peering deeply into mine. “I promise.”
“Go, go…” I nodded, tears falling down my face.
He threw the truck in reverse and backed out of the parking space, his tires squealing as he turned the corner and sped down the street.
I turned away and c
ollapsed in Grace’s arms.
Bones
Catching up to the asshole was the easy part, it was deciding exactly how to stop him that was going to be difficult.
The road was closed for a good reason.
Fire roared around us violently, the towering trees on the sides of the highway engulfed by raging flames that danced around us. We followed close behind Sullivan’s truck. Me and Ryder in front and the rest of the Gods behind us.
Sullivan swerved from lane to lane, attempting to avoid the showers of sparks landing on the highway in front of him.
“What the hell should we do here, brother?” I asked Ryder.
“We gotta keep the kid safe. Just let him keep going. He’s gonna hit a road block at some point. If the fire doesn’t get him first.”
“If he hurts that baby,” I warned, my voice a low, angry growl. Rage filled my veins and once I got my hands on this asshole, nothing was going to stop me from pummeling him to an inch of his life.
“He’s gonna be alright, man, we just gotta stay calm. Right now, Sullivan’s freaked out. He thinks we’re going to attack him or try to run him off the road. If we just hold back, he won’t do anything rash either.”
“We can’t just let him escape, man!” I shouted, desperation washing over me.
“That’s not what I’m saying, Bones,” he said. “Just hang back and see what happens.”
It didn’t take long to see what was going to happen, because Sullivan leaned his head out the window, looking over his shoulder. I thought he was going to give us some sort of hand signal, but then I saw the gun in his hand.
A second later, the bullet was flying into my windshield, shattering it as Ryder and I ducked out of the way, swaying to the side of the road. I righted the truck, my anger rising.
“Motherfucker!” I shouted.
Neither of us had slowed down, in fact, he sped up even faster, whipping around the curves of the winding highway at increasingly unsafe speeds.
“He’s gonna fucking crash,” I said. My heart sank when I thought of Daisy’s face. There was no way in hell I could tell her that her baby had been in an accident. “Fuck, man…”
“Stay calm, stay calm,” Ryder said.
Sullivan’s truck fishtailed around another curve, my breath catching in my throat. He straightened his truck, then leaned out the window and shot towards us again. The bullet ricocheted off my hood with a blinding spark.
“He’s insane,” I shouted to Ryder.
“Sure fucking is,” he replied. We kept following, the flames around us growing higher as we drove on, slicing through orange walls of flame that devoured everything in their path, the road the only thing keeping the two fires from joining into one massive inferno.
“This is so fucked up,” I said.
“Watch out!” Ryder yelled, just as a huge tree toppled in front of us, landing with a huge, thundering roar onto the road in front of us. I slammed on the breaks, skidding to a stop inches away from it.
“Fuck!” I shouted, pounding on the steering wheel. “Fuck!”
I watched helplessly as Sullivan drove off, safely on the other side of the fallen tree, flames falling all around his truck, like some dystopian nightmare that I’d been thrust into, a scene I knew I’d never be able to erase from my memory.
And if I didn’t figure out some way to get that baby back, I’d never be able to live with myself.
I jumped out of the truck just as Riot, Slade and Wreck turned off their bikes. The scream that escaped from my soul was full of anguish I’d never felt in my life. I watched Sullivan disappear down the road and I wanted to shred everything around me into pieces.
“Goddammit!” I screamed.
“We’ll get him,” Ryder said, his voice laced with all the anger I felt inside of me. “I promise, man. I fucking promise.”
“You promise?” I asked, sobbing. “I fucking promised, brother. I promised! I promised Daisy, you heard me! I told her I’d get her boy and now he’s fucking gone!”
Ryder grabbed me, pulling me in for an embrace that was half headlock, half bear hug. I leaned into him, my knees feeling weak, my hands trembling with shock.
“And we will! You aren’t fucking alone, okay? You’ve got the power of Solid Ground behind you. We will find this motherfucker, we will get that baby back and this prick will pay, do you understand me? Don’t you doubt that for a minute!”
“I promised, man,” I said, all the bravado I’d felt disappearing with Sullivan’s truck. “I promised.”
“We’re gonna find the baby, man, don’t worry,” Riot said, patting me on the back.
“Hell yeah, that prick’s gonna regret ever crossing the Gods. I can’t wait to get my hands on him!” Slade said, his hands clenched in fists.
“He won’t hurt the baby,” Wreck said. “He wants him, it seems like. Why else would he go through all this trouble to find us and take him? We just gotta find him and we’ll find the baby. It can’t be that hard.”
I nodded, meeting their eyes one by one.
“I really need you guys right now,” I said, feeling my strength trickling back into my veins.
“We’re here,” Riot nodded.
“We’re family, brother,” Slade said.
“We got your six, man,” Ryder said. “Let’s get back to the motel and get a plan together, call in some favors.”
“Yeah, let’s do this,” I said, taking a deep breath. Ryder reached for my keys and smiled.
“I’ll drive,” he said, stealing a look at my trembling fingers.
“Probably a good idea,” I said. “I need to get my shit together. I can’t let Daisy see me like this.”
“You’re a good man, brother,” Ryder said, as he steered my truck back towards the woman I loved. I had to tell her I failed. “She’ll understand.”
“I hope to hell you’re right.”
“She’s a smart woman. I’m right.”
I nodded slowly, doing my best to get a grip on myself.
He was right. She was smart, but she was also stronger than anyone I’d ever known.
She’d weathered many storms before this one.
I just wasn’t sure anyone could weather something like this…
Daisy
“He headed towards Portland…”
“We can’t get back to the clubhouse…”
“It’s Saturday…my resources might take some time to get back to me…”
Like ghosts, the information drifted into my brain without me really knowing they were there, but somehow I managed to decipher the message.
My boy was gone, first of all.
Luke had gotten away, driven off into the world with my most precious possession, my entire reason for living, at his side. I had no idea where he would have taken him. I didn’t even know where he lived.
Apparently, under any other circumstances, that would have been an easy piece of information to obtain, according to Grace. Riot had fancy databases that could have given him Luke’s address in a matter of minutes. Grace had friends on the police force that also had the same access.
And yet, those powerful resources were unavailable now, in the midst of a wildfire quickly growing out of control near a tiny motel in the middle of nowhere.
“I know where to go,” I said, the voices buzzing around me stopping all at once. “I need to get to Portland, then I can get his address.”
I turned to Jason, who was standing in the corner with a stricken look on his face.
“Can you get me there?”
“There’s a fallen tree in the way,” he said. “But I think I can call in a favor.”
He ran outside and was back in minutes.
“The firemen are loading up a crew to remove the tree right now,” he said. He turned to the Gods, huddled with their women in the tiny motel room. “Can we borrow a bike?”
“Take mine,” Ryder said. They exchanged keys and Grace handed me her helmet. “We’ll be right behind you.”
We ran
outside and Jason grabbed me, pulling me in for a tight hug. Tears threatened to fall from my eyes, that crack in my wall completely demolished now.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he said. “I promised you I’d bring him back.”
“You tried your best, babe,” I said, peering into his eyes, wanting him to know that I didn’t blame him. But I couldn’t talk. If I talked, I’d break down and breaking down was something I didn’t have any more time to do.
Maybe later.
Right now, there was only one thing I could think about and that was getting my boy back.
I pulled myself from his embrace and put on the helmet. It smelled faintly of Grace’s perfume, providing me with a little surge of strength.
It was coming in waves, in tiny bits, threatening to drain away at any moment, but I’d take it any way I could get it.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“Where are we going, by the way?”
“A place I thought I’d never return to…”
An hour later, I stood in front of Ruby’s door, my knuckles stinging from knocking so hard. I waited with my heart pounding in my ears, Jason standing next to me and the rest of the Gods waiting outside.
Ruby’s home smelled like roses. Ruby smelled like roses. And yet, everything about her was evil. There was nothing sweet about her, no soft velvety center, no shimmeringly vibrant petals.
Ruby was all thorns.
She opened the door, looking like the ice queen I remembered.
“Scarlet!” she cried out in surprise.
“I don’t go by that name anymore,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, stealing a glance at Jason. “What a surprise.”
“Are you surprised I’m not dead?” I asked.
“What? No, of course not,” she said.
“Did you fire your goons for not finishing the job?” I asked.
“Scarlet, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Stop calling me that. My name is Daisy.”
BONES: GODS OF CHAOS MC Page 23
