Lady Guardians: Ride For Free

by Hadley Raydeen

  “Leave me, did she?” Luther snickered. “Steph has been by my side every step of the way. Come out, dear. Tell them.”

  We all turned to look as one of the back doors opened and Aunt Stephanie stepped out dressed in colors, not of the Lady Guardians, but gold and red forHell’s Bitches, the female club of the Hellhounds.

  “Stephanie! What in the hell are you wearing?” my mother barked, trying to step toward her sister. But the men at her side grabbed hold of her, pulling at her arms. I winced at how tight they gripped her.

  My aunt’s bright blue eyes scanned the room taking in every face as if she was surprised to see us all there. When her gaze landed on Starla, she let out a strangled gasp.

  “Mom, what the hell?” Panic and grief showed on Star’s face.

  “I had to, Star. It’s for the best. Don’t hate me.” Steph’s voice was small.

  Star’s hand came to her mouth as she held back a sob.

  “What the hell does that even mean?” I didn’t realize I spoke until Eli held out a hand to hold me back. “Looks like your Aunt Stephanie is a goddamn traitor,” he said out of the side of his mouth to me. Before I could warn Eli to watch his mouth, I heard a growl from Buck like I’d never heard before. He lurched forward, obviously not about to let his woman go for the likes of Luther.

  It all happened too quick for me. Guns aimed at their target, the loud sound of multiple shots fired.

  Eli covered me with his body, knocking me to the floor.

  I could see Zach attempt to do the same to Starla from across the room, but Starla screamed a war cry and could not be held down so easy.

  “Stay down,” Eli said as he looked up, surveying the damage.

  “Like hell.” I wiggled from his grasp. “Mom! Dad! Are you okay?” Hell, I’d just gotten them back. I couldn’t lose them again because of the bastard Hellhounds.

  “Christ, you are stubborn,” Eli mumbled.

  “You just now figuring that out?” I shot him a glance. I jumped up from the floor, and he let me go as I jetted across the room. My father helped my mother from the cement floor as I flung myself at her and then my dad.

  “Baby girl,” he embraced me.

  “Dad, I thought I lost you,” I cried.

  “You know me better than that. I’m not going anywhere.” He grinned that familiar lopsided grin I missed so much it hurt.

  “Dad?” I heard Eli say behind me. We turned to see Eli stand over his father who’d taken at least one of the bullets.

  “Is he okay?” My father let me go and came over to Eli. Just like my father to show concern about the rat bastard even though just about everyone he knew was in a world of pain.

  I looked around as I finally took in the sound of men and women’s voices I hadn’t heard earlier speaking alongside Justice, the president of the national chapter of the Lady Guardians. She was dressed in the normal pink and steel vest decked out with different patches and, of course, the wings of the Lady Guardians adorned the back. She spoke into her phone.

  “We need an ambulance like yesterday. We have a few people down. I’m not sure of the extent of injuries.”

  Several people in black and white Guardian vests, as well as pink and steel Lady Guardian vests, were handcuffing the members of the Hellhounds that still had the nerve to be in the room. Some of the Ladies were covering the girls on the stage in jackets and escorting them out of the room.

  I knew there were several police officers that were members of the club. That made it convenient in situations such as these. I wish they would have done something before it came to this. I guess they needed the proof, and now, they had it.

  I watched as Eli stood over the man he called father. The man held his abdomen as he looked up at his son. Blood trickled through his fingers like a river. I couldn’t hear what he was saying to Eli, but I swear, if that nasty looking bullet hole in his gut didn’t kill him, I’d finish the job myself. He’d done nothing but tear up my family all twenty-five years I’d been alive and beyond.

  “Oh my God, Stephanie!” My mother’s sob shook me out of my plot for revenge.

  I looked over as Starla fell to the floor beside my aunt. My mother went to her side, barking out orders about holding a cloth to the wound. I stood numb as I looked at my aunt. Her eyes fluttered shut.

  “No no! I’m not going to lose you, Mom. Don’t you dare do this to me!” Starla yelled.

  Zach came to my side just as my knees weakened. His strength held me. “Come on, hun. Let’s back up and give the paramedics some room.”

  “Aunt Steph,” I whispered, then looked at him. Zach’s eyes, a usual brilliant blue, had darkened and a look of worry clouded his handsome features.

  “I know, babe. Come on.” He rubbed at my arms as he practically picked me up and dragged me from the spot I was rooted.

  “Go with him, baby girl. Get out of here. I’ll call you with an update.” My dad was in my ear, but I couldn’t hear any of it.

  They wouldn’t do this to me anymore. I was the youngest, but I wasn’t frail. They couldn’t keep secrets and lies from me and mask it with the rainbows and flowers of the Guardians and Lady Guardians. This was our family, damn it, and I was as much of a part of it as they were.

  “Kyanne! No!” Zach’s voice was in my ear as I grabbed for the gun in his hand. I looked down at it not recognizing it as one of the guns he owned. He had two, and this was not one of them. I narrowed my eyes at it and then up at him. He stilled my hand on the gun as he looked me in the eye. “Not like this, babe. Not with all these cops around. They will not hesitate to take you in. I can’t let that happen. He isn’t worth it.” He looked over at a bloodied Luther being hoisted onto a gurney.

  “There is nothing we can do here, okay. The paramedics will get your aunt to the hospital, and they will work on her doing the best they can.” He slid the gun into the waistband of his jeans, nodding at Starla as they wheeled my aunt out of the clubhouse. He turned back to me and cupped my face with his strong hands bringing my forehead to his lips. “God, I was so scared when I saw you on that monitor.” He shook his head.

  He wrapped an arm around me as we followed the paramedics out the Hellhound’s clubhouse.

  What monitor?

  Chapter 13

  Kyanne

  Of course, I didn’t listen, even though Zach, my mother and father told me I should get some rest.

  Get some rest my ass. How could I rest at the time like this?

  I’d no sooner gotten my parents back and now my only aunt is fighting for her life. No, I’d rest when I’m dead. Now, my place was here. For my aunt, for my mother… for my sister.

  All of these people had some explaining to do, including my father, but now wasn’t the time. I’d save that for another time or place. I looked up and down the hall. My dad wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I’d worry about him later. At least he was safe.

  Other than a few bumps and bruises inflicted by the Hellhound’s thugs, he was okay. Right now we just needed to get Aunt Steph out of the woods.

  I watched Starla as she paced the hospital hallway. Elias had been splitting his time between sitting with Star and going to see about his father that sorry excuse for a human.

  Eli had tried to calm Star but what good that was doing as she wrung her hands in front of her, murmuring to my mother?

  “I think she was undercover, Aunt Stel. She had to be, right? She wouldn’t turn on the Guardians. Not like this. Never like this. Right? And with the Dogs? No… I swear to God. I feel like I don’t even know my own mother. I shouldn’t be feeling like this when she is in there fighting for her life,” Star rambled.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of that later, Starla. Don’t you worry. Let’s get your mom pulled through this first and then we can interrogate her ass.” My mother rubbed her back and Star covered her face with her hands. I wanted to go to her to offer some bit of comfort but I was no good to her when I was a mess my damn self. I was wound tight. I hated every bit of this. Just on
e nightmare after the next. This is the part of this life I couldn’t stand.

  “Kyanne, what are you still doing here, baby girl? I thought I asked you to take her home, Zachary?” My father’s voice broke through my thoughts. I was sitting across from my mom and Starla in the hallway. Zach was by my side as usual. My dad looked down at our hands connected and Zach pulled away and sat up straight. But, I reached for his hand again, clutching it in mine. I know my Dad could be intimidating being the president of the club and everything, but I was still his baby girl. He wouldn’t say anything to me.

  “Dad, I need to be here for the family. I’m still here because I told Z I didn’t want to leave.”

  The look on my dad’s face was disapproving, but before he could speak his mind on what he thought about it, a doctor walked up to us and tore the surgical mask from in front of his face. His expression didn’t look completely grim, so I hoped he was the bearer of some good news.

  “Family of Stephanie Saxon?”

  Starla jumped from her seat. “Yes, she’s my mother.” Her voice sounded frail as my mother stood with her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

  “Tell us you have good news, Doc; that is my only sister in there,” my mother choked.

  I’ve not seen her like this ever. And, now, within a matter of weeks, I’ve seen anguish and worry on her beautiful face not once but twice; first my dad and now my aunt.

  She deserved some good news. Hell, we all did.

  My father came back from what we thought was an early grave. We need the same news for Aunt Steph.

  My father came to my mother’s side, putting a hand to her back.

  “What’s the word, Doc?” he asked.

  The doctor nodded as I stood. Zach followed me and awaited the news.

  “So, Stephanie suffered a G.S.W, a gunshot wound, to the upper right-hand side of her chest. Thankfully not her left or…”

  “Oh my God, her heart.” Starla shook her head.

  The doctor shook his head. “Correct. But, we call this type of gunshot an ‘air sucking shot’ because the hole sucks in air while she was awaiting the EMT’s attention. This lead to a collapsed lung. Now, they were able to stop the intake of air by closing the open wound with an occlusive dressing. We were able to find the bullet and repair some of the damage. However...”

  Damn it, there always had to be a bad side to every good.

  I looked up at the doctor as he took a long sigh. “For the love of God, spit it out already. Will my aunt make it?” I cried.

  “Kyanne!” My mother scolded, and I felt like I was a fifteen-year-old again. How could they all stand there patiently waiting for this information? My skin was crawling. I knew Star was about to jump out of hers. She shot me an appreciative glance. I nodded at her in an ‘I have your back, big sis’ kind of way.

  The doctor continued, “Right, so remember the spine is also included in the back of the chest. We needed to be very careful about the movement of the patient in transport as well as once she was in the hospital. We did the best we could, but we are watching her recovery.”

  “What are you saying?” my mother spoke up.

  Oh, look who is the impatient one now. I side-eyed her.

  “There may be some damage to your sister’s spinal cord. We are keeping her under observation to see what that will mean for her once the swelling decreases. She is heavily sedated at the moment coming out of surgery.”

  “When can we see her?” Star asked.

  Before the doctor could answer, a siren sounded for a code on the floor.

  Doctors and nurses took flight down the hall in the opposite direction.

  I looked back as the doctor was about to answer the rest of Starla’s questions before he took off down the hall. Eli was right behind him.

  I looked up at Zach. “Do you think that is about Luther?” I asked the man at my side.

  “I intend to find out,” my dad said, answering my question and walking away from us. Zach turned to me. “I’m going to go with your dad. I’ll be back.” He landed a kiss on my forehead and followed my dad in the direction of the chaos.

  I looked back at my mom and sister. Mom greeted Justice who had just entered the ER.

  I walked over to Star as she fell in a chair with her arms wrapped around herself.

  “Are you cold?” I asked, shrugging from the leather jacket I wore realizing hers was missing. She always wore one when she rode her bike. But, I realized her bike was probably still at the club since she had ridden in the ambulance with her mom over here. “Yea, I threw my jacket over my mom when they brought her in. I have no idea where it is now.”

  “It’s probably back with her belongings….” I realized she was still shaking. I knew it was a little chilled in here from the a/c, but Star was clearly shaking from nerves and not the cold. I threw the jacket around her shoulders anyway and took her hand in mine. “It’s gonna be okay, Sis.” I put emphasis on the word since she’d always be cuz or sister-cuz to me. Now she was really my sister. There wasn’t much to get used to other than we shared a father now. Nothing else had changed. Star was still Star. My badass, bike riding, leather wearing… relative. But right now, she needed me to be those things for her.

  “When did the doctor say we could see her? I didn’t hear him over all this,” I said, waving in the air at the commotion still happening around us.

  “As soon as they get her settled in from surgery,” Starla answered, her tone flat, her eyes sunken in from crying.

  I nodded my head and patted her knee. “It’s gonna be okay, Star. You know Aunt Steph is a fighter. She is gonna come out of this and be ready to kick some ass and take some names. Especially that piece of shit in there. Am I right?” I looked in the general direction of the alarms and medical orders being tossed about.

  “I hope that motherfucker dies.” She shook her head. “I know that is so bad to say since I… I love Eli, but…” She looked at me.

  “I totally understand. But, you know we are gonna talk about that loving Eli stuff, right?” “As soon as we talk about you and Zach having sex on your bike.”

  My mouth dropped open, and she laughed at me. “Busted.”

  “You didn’t see anything, did you?” I asked, beyond embarrassed.

  “No, ya skank. It smelled like sex and your clothes were barely covering your ass when I walked in.”

  I broke out in a fit of giggles. God, it was good to laugh for a second. It was all I could do to keep from crying. My mom eyed me while she was talking to Justice and went back to her conversation.

  I sobered the laughing. It really wasn’t the time or the place for that, but it was good while it lasted and we both needed the distraction.

  “How do you think our moms got over the whole sleeping with the same guy thing? I mean, you are my new found sister and I love you, but I’d cut a bitch if I found out you were with Zach before me.”

  She looked at me sidelong and didn’t say anything. “Oh, Christ on a Triscuit, Star. Don’t tell me you and Zach…”

  She patted my knee back and stood up. “I’m gonna go see if my mom is ready for visitors yet.”

  “Oh hell no. What you are gonna do is answer my damn question.”

  I got up, going after her.

  Chapter 14

  Zachary

  I watched Eli pace the floor back and forth. I thought he might start wearing a path in it if he didn’t sit his ass down. As much as I wanted to be there for a friend, I wanted to be there more for my family, The League and Lady Guardians. Especially my lady… I wrangled that thought in though because, technically, she wasn’t mine, yet.

  If I had anything to say about it, that status would be changing sooner rather than later. I didn’t know exactly how long I have loved Kyanne Trent. Could have been since the first time I met her, but she meant so much to me.

  More than the bastard lying in a coma right now; I didn’t give a shit about that guy and all he did to the Guardians. I needed to get out of here. I didn�
��t care if this guy lived or died.

  I stopped Eli mid-pace. “Hey, man, you're really not doing much here anymore, pacing the waiting room like this. You already got word on your dad’s condition. I realize he’s your pops and all. So, if you want to stay here and wait to see if there is any change, I understand, but I feel like I should be over with my girl. You know your girl’s over there, too...going through it. Her mom got shot, too…” He turned and looked at me as if I hadn't said anything, “Did you hear me, man?” I tried again.

  “Yeah, yeah, sorry. I should go see how Stephanie is doing; you’re right. Are you going over there now?” His voice sounded hollowed and void of emotion, almost robot-like.

  “Yea, Ky texted and told me Steph is in recovery. They are going in to see about her now.” I watched Eli, and I wasn’t even sure if he’d heard me.

  But, he nodded once indicating what I’d said must have registered, and then he looked up at me. His eyes were glassy and distant. He didn't look like his usual self like he had hours before when we had the plan to go in and get Buck and Stella out of the clubhouse. He knew about his father. Hell, it was his idea to go in and get them out. We all knew there were risks.

  I didn’t know if I liked the way he was looking now. Unsure and regret etched every feature. He looked like a person who remembered his family was still his family and he needed to be faithful to them. I’d hoped Kyanne would feel that way about the Guardians but no one needed Elias feeling that way about the Hellhounds, especially Star. That would crush her.