by Addison Jane
Our footsteps fell in perfect time as we sprinted toward the front doors, missing several old ladies and a young guy with two kids who thought we were in some kind of race and tried to leap out of their cart and join us before he grabbed them.
“Kid!” I screamed out across the parking lot, switching to his real name, when I didn’t get a response. “Ty!”
His head appeared above the SUV for a brief second as Holly and I raced out of the building and onto the asphalt. Gage was screaming, and all I could think of was putting him down and checking he was okay, that I hadn’t missed anything or squeezed him too tight.
“Don’t look back,” Holly ordered, and I kept my eyes focused on the car across the parking lot. While it wasn’t easy to see in past the dark tint on the car windows, I knew exactly what Kid was doing.
A car screeched to a stop, and Holly and I both stumbled.
“I’m trying to fucking run here!” Holly screamed at the driver, throwing her hands in the air dramatically, the driver throwing it into park and reaching for the door handle before Kid appeared beside us with a military-style weapon strapped across his chest. The driver quickly changed his mind, throwing it into reverse and switching his route.
Kid’s lip curled up in a sneer, and I could see the way his finger twitched, as though he was ready to put it straight on the trigger and fill the fucking building with bullets. “Get in the car. I sent an SOS. They’ll be roaring in here any fucking second.”
He’d barely taken a breath before I caught the distinct sound of motorcycles at high throttle. We were only a few blocks from the clubhouse which was not so fucking smart on the ex-husband’s part. But I guess maybe he hadn’t been anticipating Holly.
Neither had I.
SHOTGUN
I barely managed to kick my stand out before I was off my ride and reaching for the door handle of the SUV that held everything I fucking gave a damn about.
Kid was sitting on the hood, his eyes narrowed as a couple of cop cars pulled into the supermarket parking lot, eyeing him cautiously before their gaze was drawn to me and the other six men parked protectively around the vehicle.
We made the police nervous.
Neither of the two vehicle’s occupants opting to get out and rather just speaking into their little walkie-talkie machines.
Yanking the door open, Avery’s eyes instantly shot up, widening for a brief second before she realized it was me. Her body sagged, but she continued to jostle the small screaming child in her arms.
“He okay?”
I chose to ignore the fact that Holly was sitting in the front passenger’s seat.
Not exactly aware of what the hell she was doing here.
Avery nodded. “I think I gave him a fright, and he’s feeling the energy swirling around me.”
“And you?”
She pressed her lips into a fine line and smiled—a smile I could tell was forced.
“I’m oka—”
“You’re not okay, but I’ll take it for now. Only because there’s something I need to fucking do more than lecture you about lying to me.”
Every nerve in my body itched to wrap the two of them up and usher them the fuck out of there, back to somewhere I knew I could protect them. Here in the middle of a supermarket parking lot was not that fucking place.
And that was exactly what I was going to do.
When I was finished with Garrett Drake.
“Kid will take you back to the clubhouse.”
“Shotgun…” The worry was evident in her voice’s tone and the way her brow pinched so tight the skin was no longer a blush color but simply white.
I pulled back out, my hand on the car door. “I’ll be there soon.” Gage’s cries were seemingly weaker, he was becoming more tired. He’d give in soon and fall asleep. I could hear it. I knew it. And it shocked the fuck out of me just how well I did now know him.
With no response, I shut the door and turned to Kid, who was waiting with his shoulder leaned into the driver’s door.
“You better go in before these bastards head in there and buy your buddy Garrett’s king of the world act.” He scoffed loudly and shook his head, his gaze returning to the police, who still hadn’t moved. “Us… dirty bikers. Him… hoity-toity suit wearer.”
A couple of my men chuckled under their breath at Kid’s disdain.
Though, it wasn’t a lie.
If that murderous bastard and I stood up against a brick wall and they told the shooters killing one of us would make the world a better place—I’d be dead within a breath.
That was this life.
The one we chose at least.
“Get them home,” I ordered, and instantly he was back, his orders clear and in no way misunderstood. “Boys, try and give me ten minutes,” I announced to the rest of my club while my feet moved for the supermarket. At least two police officers watched me stomp to the front doors and slip inside before they attempted to get out of their cars and stop me.
If they even did.
I couldn’t tell you.
I had one fucking thing on my mind, and it was to find the asshole who was so fucking determined to catch my attention that he’d already murdered one woman I gave a shit about and now he was going for number two.
I’d seen plenty of pictures to know who the fuck I was dealing with, so my aim was fucking on point when I caught him standing at the end of an isle with an employee, his face puffing and red, though his posture seemed relatively at ease.
Maybe he thought he’d won this time.
He was wrong.
I stepped forward, drawing my fist back to deliver the most satisfying blow ever, and an army of fingers grabbed hold of my wrist, halting the powerful punch from following through.
“You don’t wanna do that,” Austin ordered with a motivational squeeze, to back the statement up.
“Oh, trust me when I say I really fucking want to,” I argued, looking back at him through the corner of my eye.
“I’ll let you talk to him.”
“Words don’t break bones.”
“Words won’t get you arrested and let him walk out untouched,” Austin growled under his breath, his eyes on the perp. “Don’t make me put you away instead of him.” He gave me a shove, forcing me to the next aisle where Garrett was chatting with Austin’s partner, her notepad open and pen scribbling across the paper.
“Barton!” Austin called from behind me. “Let’s compare.”
She frowned, eyeing the both of us before finally tucking away her pen and stepping past me.
Austin shuffled them backward, putting enough distance between us that I could have a few quiet words with this fucker without them overhearing, but close enough that they could intervene quickly when he realized he’d made a mistake letting me get him alone.
“Marcus Hall.” The way he said my name was like he knew I hated it. As if he was very aware of the salt he was sprinkling over an open wound. “Such a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“Is it?” I challenged, inching closer, actively aware of the people who were still moving around us in the busy store, the eyes that were watching every flinch and twitch of my muscles. I had to keep my cool. The microscope was always focused on me—the one who was always going to come out second best—and not because I was less powerful, but because my clothes were rougher, my hair messier, and my vocabulary far more fucking colorful.
I should have wiped the smirk from his face with the can of beans just to his left.
“We all think we know who our wife spreads her legs for, always certain it’s only us,” he rambled, rolling his shoulders back, the first sign he wasn’t as good at controlling his emotions like he was trying to portray. For a man like him, betrayal was demeaning. It was embarrassing—a strike to the ego.
“Mine, though…” He clenched his jaw, and the moment of emotional breakdown lasted less than a second before he was laughing it off and shaking his head. “She was always pushing the boundaries,” he clarified.
Like that was the kind of explanation I needed. As if I was just going to be like, oh okay, I understand now. “Always pushing, never satisfied.”
“That why you killed her?”
The playful laughter became lower, his chin falling to his chest before he looked up at me through the tops of his eyes. His dark irises became like black pools, the whites around them only making them sink further into the depths of hell.
If I wasn’t sure before, I was fucking sure then.
This guy had fucking problems.
One’s that were so built-in, so fucking ingrained, only a bullet was going to fix.
I stepped in closer, holding his demonic gaze, letting him know I wasn’t fucking scared. That I had demons of my own, and they were a lot fucking scarier than his. “What about me? I was there, too. Takes two to tango,” I taunted, testing him, baiting him. Hoping he might lose it first so could at least claim self-defense when I broke his jaw. “I knocked her up, and she was so sure it was mine it must mean you two weren’t doing the deed on the regul—”
He jerked toward me, expecting me to flinch.
I didn’t.
Because I wanted him to hit me.
I wanted an excuse to bring this bastard to his knees, and I wanted witnesses to say he moved first. Unfortunately for me, Garrett Drake wasn’t just a murderer. He was a fucking pussy.
His hands shook as he swiped them through the front of his thinning hair and pulled at his cufflinks. “If you make me look like an idiot, make me look weak… I will return the favor.” Straightening his tie, he forced his shoulders back again, the darkness in his eyes slipping away like a monster slinking back into the safety of the shadows. “An eye for an eye, you know how it is.”
“Yeah, I know.” I smirked, my hand shooting out and grabbing the front of his perfectly ironed suit and scrunching it in my hand as I stepped in closer.
“Shotgun!” Austin’s warning was sharp. His footsteps slowly moving closer.
I lowered my voice. “You come near my woman or my son again, and I’ll make sure I give Emma her eye for an eye and splatter your bedroom ceiling with your blood… while you’re still breathing.”
“Shotgun, let him go.”
Warning number two.
For someone whose mask is pretty damn solid, the panic in Garrett’s face was obvious. More so in the way he spluttered out his next words, though they were barely a whisper in the air. “You kill me. I’ll make sure you never find Thayleah. And do you really want the blood of two sisters on your hands?”
“Shotg—”
I shoved the bastard back, sending him stumbling into the shelf of canned beans before holding my hands up in the air and turning to Austin, who was tucking his gun back into the holster at his hip. “I was on warning three,” Austin growled, his nostrils flaring.
“We’re practically second cousins twice removed.” I grinned, Austin’s sister not only being Meyah’s best friend but also her sister-in-law. “That should earn me at least four and a third warnings.”
“Get out before my fourth and a third warning is shoved straight up your goddamn ass,” he snapped under his breath before adding quietly, “I’m not joking, Shotgun. I’m not going to miss out on booking this fucker because of your fucking alpha male bullshit.”
“He killed my son’s mother,” I growled under my breath, my joints clicking loudly as I curled my fingers into fists, annoyed I felt like I was repeating myself to Austin again and again. I get he thinks finding evidence and locking Garrett up was gaining some sort of justice, but there would be no fucking justice for Emma until he was dead.
“Go home,” Austin ordered before stepping around me and toward Garrett, who was making a show of dusting off his suit.
I turned and made for the exit, finding Repo and Shake hanging out a few feet away, watching the show. “Way to warn me about Austin almost putting a bullet through the back of my skull.”
“I was getting ready to yell zig,” Repo commented with a shrug, a smirk on his face as they strolled out of the store beside me.
“I think I would have zagged,” Shake added with a frown.
Jesus Christ.
“So, he’s still breathing.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Anything come of that fun interaction?” Shake enquired.
“He’s got the girl. That’s a sure thing.”
“So, she’s still alive?”
My head bobbed, and the silence that followed from both of my brothers let me know we were all thinking the same thing.
Why?
A thought that had me fighting to keep walking instead of turning around and storming back in there to demand what the fuck a guy like him wanted with a teenage girl, though I could hazard a guess.
This bastard needed to die.
There would be no rotting in a jail cell for him.
Not on my fucking watch.
SHOTGUN
“He was just trying to scare me.”
“He was trying to scare me,” I corrected, strumming my fingers on the bar.
Avery rolled her eyes like it was no big deal, but the reality was—she was fucking lucky. Lucky she managed to keep her head straight, lucky Holly was in the right place, lucky Kid had been waiting with artillery no bastard wanted to mess with. But really, luck had nothing to do with it. This fucker had come for her.
No, not her.
Gage.
Would he have done something? Or was he just trying to scare her?
No, he was trying to fucking scare me. To let me know how close he could get to her, to my fucking son, and how easily he could take them from me. This was his warning. It might have even been more than that if Holly hadn’t appeared and stepped in to protect them. Which was the only reason I wasn’t kicking her the fuck out of my clubhouse right now, even though the hairs on my neck were still standing up in warning as I watched her cuddle close to Slate.
“I’m surprised she hasn’t dropped dead from your death glare,” Avery teased, following my gaze. It hadn’t taken the two of them long to crash together like a car accident. Holly being the sassy hot mess Slate often went for.
I bared my teeth, leaning into her as she sat up on the bar, her legs on either side of my body and her fingers in my hair. “She was in the right place today. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s put you in the wrong place before.” Silence greeted me, and I twisted my body, lifting my eyebrow. “Since when do you bite your tongue when you’ve got something to say?”
“I do pretty well at putting myself in the wrong place if you hadn’t already realized.”
“Don’t make excuses for her,” I argued. “She’s toxic.”
“She’s troubled.”
“Avery…” I growled, knowing she was only arguing because of loyalty. Not because she actually believed Holly had suddenly had a change of heart and gotten clean.
I had to keep my eyes on it.
There was something not right.
Something I wasn’t about to let touch Avery.
Sunday was the only night the club got to drink and spend time together because every other fucking night of the week, members and girls were rostered on rolling shifts at Empire or Dynasty. Sunday was the day we barbecued as a family and relaxed. Friends of the club often joined us. Other clubs too sometimes.
It was a time to hang out with the people we cared about. They deserved it. We deserved it.
Avery hadn’t moved from my side since we’d stepped back into the fucking clubhouse. Not to eat. Not to change Gage’s diaper. Not to help with dinner.
She stayed with me the whole time, and I didn’t give a fucking damn.
That SOS call today had fucked with my head. Not knowing what the fuck I was going to find when we showed up. Not knowing whether I was going to lose her.
Or Gage.
Or fucking both.
It was like feeling someone reach down my throat and take hold of my heart before trying to rip it clean from my bo
dy. The pain was nothing I’d ever experienced before. It was a different kind of heartache. A different kind of fear. The kind that let me know I would do fucking anything for them.
To protect them.
To keep them with me and in my life.
That ache in my chest I got when I thought about how I could ruin Gage, how I didn’t deserve to be his father, that was nothing compared to the pain I felt today when I imagined possibly losing him. It was a slap in the face. One that maybe I fucking needed.
The wave of hungry people moved past us, eager for food, though neither of us moved. Avery, because she was polite like that. Me, because there was something else about to go down, and I wasn’t about to let anything distract me.
“I keep thinking about Micah,” Avery whispered softly, dragging my attention back to her. I raised my brow and cocked my head at Avery, letting her know to continue.
She sighed. “How do these men get away with this stuff? They’re so rich. So powerful. So above the damn law. This guy, he took Emma, he took Gage’s mom from him, and he still gets to walk around like he’s fucking king. Like nothing can touch him.” Her voice caught, and I leaned in, grabbing her face and pressing my forehead to hers, but she didn’t stop, her hands twisted in my hair and curled into fists. “The guy who killed Micah, he gets to destroy my life, then sit in a cozy jail cell for the rest of his. Three meals a day. Someone to do his cooking, the cleaning—”
“Stop!” I growled, reaching for her wrist and removing the tight grip that had my scalp stinging. “Look at me.”
Her narrowed eyes were brimming with tears, the anger and injustice thick in them.
She talked a tall game, telling me she hadn’t been affected by what happened today, but it was beginning to sink in, and honestly, I’d been waiting for it.
“Money does not make them invincible. It makes them vulnerable,” I reassured her, making sure her eyes were connected with mine. I wanted her to hear this, and I needed her to see the promise in my eyes. “They will get theirs. Micah’s killer included.”
Her sparkling eyes opened wide. Her mouth fell open like she was about to ask what I mea—
