But I had to get Amy back. I had to go out there and save my daughter. For the first time, my life was split into two halves. I didn’t know who to save first and where to turn to – to make sure my two girls were safe.
When I lost Amanda, I had been terrified of raising Amy alone. I had known the nature of my career and how dangerous it could be for her. I had been terrified of raising a child. As time had passed, though, I learned how to find balance – I had offered Amy a good childhood and a safe life, despite what I did for a living.
Now, everything had changed. Amy was in the hands of a murderer, and Hazel was pregnant with another baby that I had to protect – another target someone could use to get to me.
For the first time since Amanda left, I wondered if I should have had any children at all. It was too late now. I had to get Amy back – to make sure that my unborn child would never suffer this fate.
When I became a biker, I knew the life I had chosen was a dangerous one. I understood the risk. On my journey as a biker, working my way up in the gang, I lost people I cared about. People had died, and I was upset, but it had all been part of the life. I hadn’t stopped and considered if perhaps I should leave that life behind.
I was considering it now.
I loved what I was, and I loved what I did. If I weren’t a biker anymore, I wouldn’t know who or what I was at all. But if that means Amy, Hazel, and my unborn child would be safe, it was worth a try. Nothing could be worse than what I was feeling presently – uncertainty, fear, worry.
Chapter Thirty-One
Hazel
Amy and I were in an art gallery. I was trying to explain the color theory to her. She didn’t seem to understand what I was saying even though she was a very clever girl.
“Listen carefully,” I said for the hundredth time. “Blue and yellow make green. Look.” I pointed to one of the paintings but stopped short. The painting I was pointing to was of Christopher Maxwell’s face, and he looked at me with those wanted eyes. The painting was so well done it seemed real. Too real.
I turned around and looked at the other paintings. They were all in different styles and different colors, but they were all of Maxwell. Every painting looked so real. I felt I could reach out and touch him, and I would find his skin warm and pliable.
I stretched out to one of the paintings, my fingers inching closer and closer. I didn’t want to know if the person in the painting was real, but I couldn’t help myself. Just before I touched the painting, the face smirked at me, and I jumped back.
“Amy, stay away from the paintings,” I said.
I spun around to see where she was. Amy stood in front of another painting of Maxwell, and she was mesmerized by it.
“Amy! Get away from there!”
But it was as if Amy was in a trance, inching closer and closer to the painting. I watched in horror as her fingertips touched the canvas. Maxwell laughed, opening his mouth, and every painting in the gallery gaped at me. Amy screamed as the painting sucked her in and Maxwell swallowed her whole.
I sat up in bed, screaming. The image of Maxwell swallowing Amy was so real it was difficult to convince myself it had just been a nightmare.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Logan said. He was in bed next to me. “It was just a nightmare.”
I started crying. I knew it had only been a dream, but it had been so vivid, so real.
“He has Amy,” I wailed. “Oh God, Logan, what are we going to do?”
Logan wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tightly against him. He rocked me back and forth like a child, making soothing sounds and slowly I stopped crying. The nightmare withdrew, and eventually, it was just me and Logan in the semi-dark bedroom.
“We’re going to get her back,” Logan promised.
I believed him. I looked around. The room was dimly lit by the silver light falling through the partly closed curtains. I was completely disorientated, unsure of the time. I felt groggy after the sedatives I had taken.
“What time is it?” I asked Logan.
“It’s just before sunrise.”
“Have you slept?”
Logan shook his head. “I’ve been asking around – getting everyone involved. We’re going to get her back, Hazel.”
Logan explained to me what he had been doing the whole night. The only reason I had been able to sleep was because the doctor had prescribed sedatives. I had been so stressed and panic I wouldn’t have been able to sleep either.
Now that I knew Logan had been making plans to get Amy back, I felt better. I was relieved I was here with Logan and not at home. With his arms wrapped around me, I felt like he could drive away a little bit of the darkness that had settled inside of me. Logan and I were in this together. This was our joint burden to bear, and no matter what happened, I knew we would have each other.
I touched Logan, tracing his profile with my fingertips. It was as if I desperately wanted to commit his face to my memory, to remind myself what was real in this world and what wasn’t. Remnants of the nightmare still clung to me, but I shook off the terror, pushing it away.
Logan ran his hands over my arms, over my shoulders, gently pressing against the muscles. I took a deep breath and let it out with a shudder. Logan was the protector, and I knew I would be safe with him. I closed my eyes and let him drive away the stress and the pain.
His physical touch drove away the fear and opened the door to desire. In the darkest night, Logan and I were there for each other and what I felt for him consumed me. It was better than dealing with the fear that clawed at the back of my mind. Logan’s hands slid slowly down my shoulders and onto my chest. His hands found my breasts, and he massaged and squeezed them. My breasts were full and swollen with the pregnancy, and his massage offered some release.
I tipped back my head and sighed. Logan’s lips found mine, and he kissed me. I melted against him, letting the emotions I felt for Logan take over. Logan reached for my pajama top and pulled it over my head. I lifted my arms to help him. When I was topless, Logan went back to caressing my breasts, running his hands over my body, worshipping every inch of me.
It was slow and sensual, so different from the fucking we had done before. There were so much love and consolation in his touch, and I realized that this must have been what making love felt like. I had never been close enough to a man to feel like this before.
I liked the warmth that spread through my body. It was different than lust, different than raw arousal. It was safe and solid.
I returned the favor. I pulled Logan’s shirt over his head and put my hands on his skin, caressing him. I ran my fingers through his chest hair, felt the individual muscles bunched beneath the skin. Logan and I lay down on the mattress, and our bodies were close to each other, bodies only fractions from touching. Logan slid his hand onto my belly and paused there. He was so invested in family.
Logan sat up and helped me remove my pajama shorts before he pulled his off, too. He lay down next to me again, and we faced each other. We were completely naked. We both knew where this was heading and we were both aroused. I was getting wet, and Logan was already hard and straining toward me. But it wasn’t about that right now. It was about having each other, about being together, and about being stripped of everything that could get between us.
Logan’s hand slid between my legs. I was so wet. Our connection, our companionship, was as much of a turn on as our fucking and lustful attractions had been. Logan slid his fingers into my slit, and he groaned at the same time I gasped. He kissed me while he ran his fingers up and down my slit.
I shivered and jerked when he flicked my clit, rubbing me up into a frenzy. I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the sensation. Warmth and desire and ecstasy flowed through me as Logan pushed me closer and closer to an orgasm. His fingers were magic on my clit. I had never been with someone who knew exactly how to touch me the way Logan did.
I got closer and closer, but Logan drew out the orgasm, making me wait for it, torturing me. He alternated playi
ng with my clit and pushing his fingers into me, making me cry out. I didn’t have to stay silent now that Amy wasn’t in the house. I pushed the thought of her away. I didn’t know about everything that had gone wrong.
Logan distracted me by pushing his fingers into me and pumping them in and out several times. He slowed down his motion again, moving his thumb onto my clit. With the double onslaught, I didn’t last very long before the first orgasm rocked me. I moaned and cried out as my body contracted and pleasure washed over me.
When I could breathe again, the orgasm slowly subsiding, Logan pulled me closer to him again and kissed me. His cock was hard, pressing against my crotch. I gently pushed him, so he was on his back and climbed onto him, straddling his hips. My stomach wasn’t very big yet, but it was uncomfortable to do anything involving Logan being on top of me.
I lowered myself onto his dick and sighed as he pushed into me. He felt so big. I rocked my hips back and forth, riding him. Logan put his hands on my hips, guiding me as I slid up and down his cock.
We picked up the pace, rocking faster and faster. My breathing became shallow and erratic as I rode Logan. My clit rubbed against his pubic bone, and I was sensitive after my first orgasm, but the beginnings of a second orgasm already built inside of me, and I gasped and moaned.
I leaned on Logan’s chest with my hands splayed over it, his pectoral muscles moving beneath my palms. His eyes were on mine, and it was more intimate than anything we’d ever done before. It was almost as if everything that had happened to us had pushed us closer together, and since we had confessed our love to each other, we were on a different level. We were a team, we were in this together. And no matter what, we had each other.
The second orgasm ripped through me out of nowhere, and I leaned forward, trying to hold myself up with my belly between us. I cried out as my pussy contracted around Logan’s dick, my body clamping down on him. I gasped and moaned. Logan held onto my hips, helping me balance and he took over, doing all the work despite me being on top.
He started bucking his hips, fucking me from beneath. He rammed into me, pushing harder and harder until I cried out and gasped and moaned. My face was inched above his, and he craned his neck to give me a quick kiss.
“I love you, babes,” Logan said, and it was the first time he’d told me he loved me during sex.
I wanted to tell him I loved him, too, but the third orgasm hit me, and I gasped and moaned instead. Logan orgasmed the same time I did, pushing himself deeper into me and jerking and spasming.
When Logan was finished, his cock softening inside of me, I rolled off him and collapsed next to him on my side of the bed, breathing hard. Logan rolled onto his side to face me again and put his hand on my hip, maintaining contact even though we were finished. I had noticed that lately – he was a lot more tentative, taking care of me and making sure to show me love and affection.
And I needed it with everything that was going on. I shifted closer to him, and he put his arm around me, pulling me to lie on his chest again. I pressed my ear against his chest and listened to his heart beating. It was a sound that I had come to love; the reminder that everything would be okay as long as we stayed together.
Logan planted a kiss on my hair, and we sighed together. I was exhausted. The sedatives were still in my system, and the emotional roller coaster I was on, and the pregnancy, all took its toll. But I knew Logan had me. All we had to do now was get Amy back.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Logan
Hazel lay in the crook of my arm, her head on my shoulder, and I held onto her like I had never held onto her before. We were caught in a bubble; the day was only just starting, and we were going to head out and get Amy back. This was effectively the start of the war if Maxwell wasn’t going to relent.
But right now, Hazel and I were caught in a spell where time stood still. It was the calm before the storm, and I wanted to enjoy it for as long as I could.
“What have you planned?” Hazel asked.
“I called every gang member and associate in the city. They are all on our side after Emmerson died. They want to stop Maxwell as urgently as we do.”
“And they’re all with us on this, even if it could be dangerous?”
I nodded. “This is where you will find out what loyalty means.”
Being part of the gang, and having associates that were willing to drop anything for me when I needed them, was one of the reasons why I liked doing what I did. Being a biker came with the code of honor that very few people had, and I respected and revered the system that brought people together in their time of need.
This wasn’t about breaking the law or being rebellious. It was about standing together for the greater good – even if the greater good was not something everyone understood.
“I want to be with you when it all goes down,” Hazel said.
I shook my head. “Absolutely not.” I couldn’t afford to put Hazel in danger again. What if something happened to her, too?
“You can’t keep me away from this, Logan,” Hazel said, sitting up.
“Fuck, yeah, I can. I’m not putting you through whatever is going to happen. It’s not safe.”
“Amy is like a daughter to me, too. And once this is all over and we are together, she will effectively be my child as well. I’m worried about her, as you are. I don’t care what you arrange for my safety, but I want to be there.”
Hazel looked at me with bright eyes that were as determined as I felt. She had a point – since I had involved her with Amy to teach her this graffiti art, Amy had come to mean as much to Hazel as she did to me.
“I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you,” I admitted.
Hazel put her hand on my cheek. “We’ll make sure nothing happens to me. But I have to be there.”
I couldn’t argue with her. I understood what she was going through – I was going through the same – and I knew Amy was as important to Hazel as she was to me. Hazel was emotionally invested in every area of my life now. Wasn’t this what I had wanted? Wasn’t this what it meant when I said to her that I loved her? I couldn’t confess my love to her but keep her out of my life; unfortunately, it was a package deal.
“Alright,” I conceded. “But we’re doing whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
Hazel agreed.
I climbed out of bed and found my phone again. It was time to call everyone together. One by one, everyone informed me they were ready to meet me wherever I told them. It was good to have so many of them together, to have so many people at my back. It felt like we were doing something about this instead of sitting on our asses and hoping for the best.
Now that I had called all my people together I realized how many were loyal to me. No matter what happened, we were going to get Amy back. This was not going to last forever. The kidnapping, the murders, the beatings… This was where it all ended.
Something had to give, and today was D-Day.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Hazel
Logan and I drove to the warehouse that Lisa used for secret art galleries and underground art shows. Logan had sent the word out that we were to meet there, and by the time we arrived, the lot was packed with cars and motorbikes. I couldn’t believe how many people had arrived.
When Logan said he had asked everyone he knew to pull together on this, I had never dreamt he would literally have an army behind him. It felt great to know so many people were on our side. It made me believe that it was possible to get Amy back.
I was relieved Logan had allowed me to accompany him. My argument had been that Amy was like a daughter to me, too, but Logan could very well have made other arrangements for me to keep me out of harm’s way. I felt he respected me enough to let me go when it was what I really wanted, and it made me believe we could make our relationship work.
When we walked into the warehouse, it was packed with people from all walks of life – from bikers to executive looking businessman, to women that looked like they
were housewives, among others. It was impressive to see the loyalty and respect that Logan commanded.
Alice came to greet me.
“You’re here, too,” I said, surprised. I hugged her.
“Of course,” she said. “You and Logan are very important to me, and I will do what I can.”
Earl was also present with a handful of police officers that were willing to turn a blind eye to the legalities of what was going to happen. He nodded at both of us when I made eye contact with him.
Lisa came toward us after we had greeted the people that needed to be acknowledged. She gave me a hug.
“I’m so sorry this has happened,” she said. “I hope you know that we’ll do everything it takes to make this right.”
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