by Sam Crescent
“Weren’t you in the Nomad chapter? Don’t you like not get involved in any of this?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah, I was in Nomad, but I came back to see if this settling down business is all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Settling down business?” Brianna asked.
Out of all of the women, she was the shy one.
“Yeah, testing it out.”
Angel frowned as she looked toward Adam. “Why are you testing it out?”
“A woman,” Rose said. They all turned toward her. “I’m right, aren’t I? Every guy’s weakness is another woman, unless of course it’s a man.”
Adam sighed. “Fuck me.”
“Hey, language,” Angel said. “My son is there.”
“Dad says worse, Mom.”
“Not in front of me he doesn’t.” Angel smiled at her son. Lash did have a problem with his language. All he seemed to know was cussing words, and he knew it drove her crazy when he used them in front of their son. Anyway, that was a problem for another day.
“Your mom’s right. Curse when she’s not in hearing distance.”
“Adam!”
Anthony chuckled. “Good one.”
“So, this woman, who is she?” Angel asked.
“She’s a woman I’ve met on the road. Well, I passed through this town several times, and she works at a mechanic’s shop. She’s handled several repairs to my bike.”
“Wow, Adam has the hots for a woman,” Rose said. “Why didn’t you say anything? We’d have invited her around. Believe it or not, us women can be very inviting.”
Angel chuckled. Baker had tried to get them to help. Millie was proving difficult though, but Angel didn’t blame her. Baker hadn’t exactly made it easy for her to fall in love with him.
Adding some chocolate chips to the bowl, she splashed in some vanilla. When the milk was scalding, she poured it over the chocolate, and waited a second.
“What would be the point? She’s settled, and I’m not. It doesn’t exactly bode well.”
“So all of this time you’ve been experimenting?” Kelsey asked.
“You got it.”
“I feel used,” Prue said.
Angel whisked the chocolate and milk, and then when it was smooth and lovely, she poured it into cups, before carrying them toward the table. “I think it’s sweet what you’re doing.” She handed him a cup and went back for more. When everyone had a cup, she stood, facing the table, sipping on her hot chocolate. “I don’t think it would be fair for you to pursue a woman that you wouldn’t know if you were going to be with from one day to the next. I get it.”
“Thank you.”
Movement outside of the kitchen caught her eye, and she saw Millie. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
Pouring some hot chocolate into a cup, Angel made her way outside.
Millie was sitting on the swing staring up at the night’s sky.
“It’s dangerous to be out here on your own.”
“I know, but it helps me to think. I’m not used to being kept under lock and key.”
“It does take some getting used to.” Taking a seat beside her, Angel sighed. “It really is beautiful out.”
“Yeah, it is. Baker’s gone.”
“He’s gone to try to get rid of the threat. Let’s hope you can open your shop soon.”
“I hope so.” Millie took a sip of her hot chocolate.
“Can I ask you a question?” Angel asked.
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you want to be with Baker? He’s a sweet guy, and loving.”
Millie sighed. “Every time I look at him I feel like a bad person. I know he’s sweet, and he’s loving.” Millie stopped, licking her lips. “I am an awful person.”
“No, you’re not.”
“He lost his wife and his kid. The blow hit him so hard that he stopped baking, stopped with his own business, and became part of an MC. Baker hasn’t accepted what happened to him. He’s not gotten over what happened. How can I love a man who is always going to be in love with his former wife?”
“You don’t know that.” Angel’s throat felt thick with tears.
“Yeah, I’m probably wrong.” Millie sighed. “I’ll just have to wait and see.”
****
Paris jumped as alarms started to blaze. There had only been silence since Lola had returned.
“They’ve come,” Lola said.
“What?”
“Your friends. The ones that you said would help. They have come.”
Staring up at the ceiling, Paris smiled as best she could. They had come for her.
****
The house was clear. Stink walked from room to room, looking for any sign of Andrew. Entering a room toward the back, he saw a bunch of computers. The screens showed the security footage of the hospital. They were connected in.
“Score,” Whizz said, coming into the room. He did some typing, and he chuckled. “Oh, he found out what I did, all right. There’s no way this man is leaving the country.”
“How do you figure?” Stink asked.
He saw the droplets of blood on the floor. There wasn’t a lot, and it was smeared. Pulling out his torch, which happened to be a gift one year from Sandy, he followed the direction of the smears.
“I sent customs the relevant documents. His face is going to be everywhere.”
“Why didn’t we do this before?” Stink asked.
“We didn’t know who he was, and I didn’t have an updated picture. Andrew is a connection to Gonzalez.”
“Yeah, and if the authorities get him, it’s prison. He can make friends with people in prison. We need this fucker dead, Whizz,” Stink said.
He stormed out of the room, following the blood, and came to a door. Gritting his teeth, he opened the door, and pointed his flashlight into the darkness. He didn’t see any signs of anyone. Reaching around, he found the light switch, and flicked it on.
“Help!” It was a single feminine cry.
“Someone’s here,” Stink said, calling out.
He made his way downstairs to the basement, to find the dungeon. There, in two cages, he saw two women. One was curled up in a ball, the other on the floor. Both were naked.
“Paris, which one is Paris?” Stink asked.
“She is. She stopped talking. I think she lost a lot of blood.”
“Who are you?” Stink glanced toward her.
“Lola. I sent the message.”
The cages were locked. Several men made their way downstairs, including Whizz, Lash, Devil, and Sinner.
“Paris is unconscious.”
“This is a job for me,” Sinner said, going to his knees. He pulled out some wire and set to breaking the locks.
“Where did Andrew go?” Lash asked.
“Don’t know. He dumped us in these cages, and we haven’t heard anything.”
“Did you hear them leave?” Devil asked.
“No.”
“Call Ned. Warn him that Andrew got away.”
“He has a sidekick as well, Russell.”
“Spider did mention a ‘Sir’.”
Stink kept his gun aimed at the door, and something glinted, catching his eye.
“We’re in,” Sinner said. Two men went in, helping Paris. The woman was completely unconscious.
“Sinner,” Stink said.
“What?”
“Hurry up.”
“I’m working fast.”
“Yeah well, so did Andrew. He’s rigged the house with explosives. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Fuck it. Step back.” Sinner fired his gun, and the cage popped open. “Let’s go, princess.”
Lola tried to cover herself, but it was hard. In the end, Sinner removed his jacket, draping it over her shoulders.
“Go, go, go, go,” Stink said.
They ran out of the house, and kept on running, all of them heading toward the gate. Lola was too slow. Bending down, Stink shoved his elbow against her stomach, and lifted her up.
She wasn’t small, but he carried her, running.
They made it to the gate just as the explosion ripped through the house.
****
“Reduced to filth,” Andrew said.
“You told me there was no way they could get to you. No way they could find anything on you.”
“Well, I was wrong.”
The man Russell had once known as Master, who had seemed so strong, so resilient, was falling apart before his eyes. What was worse, he was part of it, and he couldn’t just walk away. Andrew had saved him, nurtured him, provided for him. The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds had taken that all away.
If you don’t leave, you’re going to die.
He didn’t want to die, but he was not a coward. He wouldn’t go down without a fight, not now, not ever.
“All the money is gone,” Russell said.
“Yes.”
“Your houses. Even your lawyer has been arrested.” Russell had gotten the call an hour after Andrew had talked to The Skulls. The cops were after his ass. Their informants, their allies had all scattered, terrified of being branded.
“Did I tell you The Skulls have a reputation for killing their enemies? No one survives. Not one single person. Creepy, isn’t it?”
“What the fuck is going on, Andrew?”
Andrew burst out laughing, sipping at the scotch he’d purchased. They had limited funds, and Andrew was drinking away the money they had.
“What is going on? I’ll tell you what is going on. We’re going to drink this scotch, and as we do, we’re going to come up with a plan to save us. It’s all we can do.”
“Fuck’s sake!” Russell growled the words out, getting to his feet. “That’s it? You’re going to give up.”
“I’ve got to wait for this to die down.”
Russell wasn’t going to roll over. There had to be a way, and he wasn’t letting his friend down.
****
The following day Spider stared into the hospital room that now held Paris. Lola was in another ward, a less critical one. Paris’s broken bones and lacerations had become infected. They’d had to reset her bones, and healing up the cuts. She was in isolation, and in a sterile environment. The doctors had also placed her in a medically induced coma to deal with the pain, and to allow her body time to heal.
“You got her,” Spider said. “You knocked me out.”
“Yeah, I did, and I’d do it again,” Devil said.
“She could die.”
“Yeah, she could.”
“He blew up his house.” The more Spider heard, the more he realized that Devil had been right to knock him out. He would have put the whole club in danger, and it would have in turn hurt his woman.
“Yeah. If it wasn’t for Stink finding it, we’d have all been dead.”
“Andrew was gone. That little prick working for him was gone as well.”
Devil nodded. “Whizz said it’s only a matter of time. He’s doing that facial recognition thing.”
“I want a piece of him when they find him.”
“We all do, Spider. Don’t worry. You’ll get your time with him.”
“Good. I’m going to go and see that other girl. What do you know about her?”
“Lola Sparks. She’s eighteen years old, and finished high school top of her class. From what Whizz told me, she’s almost as good as he is on the computer. He seemed impressed. Andrew took her from the streets, beat and raped her to do what he wanted. She’s terrified. Doesn’t want any computer or technology in her room.” Devil shook his head. “Whatever that bastard did to her, it has changed her.”
Spider nodded.
“I’ll walk with you,” Devil said.
They made their way down the long corridor of the busy hospital. Spider was exhausted, and even though Paris was safe, he wasn’t going to rest easy until Andrew was put in the ground.
Devil paused outside of the room. “Her family is being contacted.”
Spider knocked on the door, and opened it. “Hey, Lola, is it okay if I come in?”
Her room was bare. There wasn’t even a television screen in the room. “You’re Spider, right?”
“Paris tell you about me?”
“Yeah, she talked about you. She always said that you’d save her.”
Spider moved into the room, keeping a careful distance. He lowered himself into a chair. “I couldn’t be there last night.”
“He hurt you?”
“His little minion did.”
“Russell?”
“Huh?”
“The guy who was with Andrew. His name is Russell.”
“So that’s the little shit’s name. I’ve got to find him at some point, and repay him for the damage he did to my girl.”
“Repay him?”
“When we find Russell and Andrew, it will be the last moments they take breath.”
“You’re going to kill them?” Lola asked.
“We’re going to kill them, and you’ll never have to worry again.”
Tears spilled from Lola’s eyes. “I like that.”
“It’s our promise to you, Lola. What you did, it was brave, and incredibly stupid. He could have killed you.”
“I deserve it. I did what he asked by hacking into the security feed. I helped him get in the hospital.” She tried to wipe away her tears, but more kept on spilling down her cheeks.
Spider couldn’t be angry with her. Everything she had done, she’d done out of fear. Andrew had the control—not Lola, not Paris, not any of them.
“Don’t cry. You’ve got nothing to cry about, or to be sad about. The fucker that hurt you, he’s the one that needs to suffer. If you ever need anything, come to me, and I’ll do what I can to repay you.”
****
“You’re really distracted today. Do you want to talk about it?” Sally asked.
Whizz shook his head, pulling out of his thoughts. “What?”
She smiled, tapping her head. “What has you staring into space?”
“Fuck, sorry. We were talking about your problem.” He leaned forward, resting his hands on the bed, and when he looked down, he noticed that where he was leaning was where her leg would have rested.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got to get used to it. It’s not exactly going to grow back.”
“You’re too strong for your own good,” Whizz said, running fingers through his hair.
“Mom told me what was going on. She was scared. Worried about you.”
“She didn’t need to be worried about me.”
“I bet the cops are having a field day. A mass shooting, a blown up building. Are you sure your name is Whizz for the right reason?”
He leaned back, folded his arms, and chuckled. “You, young lady, are getting very sassy.”
She took another bite of her breakfast, chewing. “When can I come home?” she asked.
“Soon, honey, soon.”
“I hate it here. I hate the nurses who come in, and stare at me as if it’s the end of the world. I don’t want or need pity. They can’t change what happened to me. Please, I’m begging you.” She placed her fork down, and he leaned forward, taking her hand.
“They’re here to help you.”
“Why can’t they look at me like you, or like Sandy, and Ned?”
“How do we look at you?” he asked.
“Like normal. Like I haven’t just lost my leg. Like my life isn’t going to be changed forever. They see a young girl who lost her leg, and I don’t want to see that. Yes, I’ve lost my leg, and so have a lot of people. They don’t cry about it. I want to be strong, like them.”
“Sweetie, your life is going to be changed forever. We’ve spoken to the doctor about this. Your prosthetic will need to be updated throughout the years. Not to mention you’re going to struggle to disassociate with your limb.”
“I know. Sandy told me that some people struggle. They imagine an itch, and it’s killing them, and they can’t scratch it,
or something like that.”
He held her hand tightly. “Sandy’s a doctor. She has seen so many people go through what you’re going through. Me, I know what a strong and capable woman you are. You went through shit, and instead of it making you weak, you became tough. You’re a fighter, Sally. My fighter, okay? We’re going to get through this together, as a family, and as the club. Ned, well, he’s become the voice of reason, which is what I’ve heard older people are.”
Sally chuckled. “I wouldn’t let him hear you say that. He’d wipe the floor with you. He told me yesterday that the problem with people today is they don’t know any respect. If you want to get up in this world, show some fucking respect.” Sally imitated his voice, which made Whizz laugh. “I like him.”
“That’s good to know,” Ned said. “I take it you don’t want these cookies?”
“Yes, yes, I do.”
Whizz got to his feet. “I’ve got to go and talk some business. Will you stay out of trouble?”
“Always.”
Shaking Ned’s hand, Whizz left the room, and made his way toward Lola’s room. The girl they had saved last night, he had some questions for. Standing outside of her room, he saw Spider talking to her.
Folding his arms, he leaned against the wall, and waited.
Sandy was rushing past when she noticed him. “Hey, have you seen Stink?”
“He’s waiting for you in the waiting room.”
“Thank God, we had a big road accident last night, and I didn’t want to be home alone.”
“You stayed?”
“Yeah. It’s shocking, but home without Stink isn’t home anymore.” Sandy patted his arm. “I’ve got to run. I haven’t seen him, and I really want to.”
Whizz watched her leave.
“You here to talk to her?” Spider asked.
“Yeah, she know anything?”
“No. He did a number on her.”
“How so?”
“No technology in her room.” Spider started back toward Paris’s room. “Thank you.”
“No problem. We’ve always got your back, remember that.”
Entering the room, Whizz held his hands up, showing he was no threat. “I’m the one you sent the message to.”
She was tense as he took a seat.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
