Only half-listening, I unbuckled Billy and pulled him up and into my arms, trying to be careful with his arm. He rested his head on my shoulder and I kissed his cheek, my tears sliding off of my nose, onto his nose. He had fever, which worried me. Especially since I didn’t know what was under his bandage.
“Mommy, that tickles,” he said, giggling, as more of my tears dripped onto his skin.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Does your arm hurt a lot?”
His smile fell and he nodded.
I kissed his forehead, relishing in the baby shampoo scent I’d missed so much. At least they’d kept him clean and fed. “We’ll bring you to a doctor and see if they can help you feel better.”
“Okay,” Billy replied and then turned to Joanna. “Hi.”
“Hi. Goodness, you poor little guy,” said Joanna, her eyes soft. “Your mommy is here now. She’ll take good care of you.”
“Yes. Thanks to you,” I said, unable to thank her enough.
“I’m just relieved that he was still here.”
“Me, too.” Although, the thought of what he must have gone through during the last couple of weeks made me both angry and frustrated. I looked over at Joanna. “Let’s get him out of here.”
“Stop where you are,” said a man’s voice firmly.
Stiffening up, I turned around and saw a balding, middle-aged man, with glasses, pointing a revolver at me.
“Well if it isn’t the medical genius himself,” said Joanna dryly. “This is the guy I was telling you about, Raina. Jacob Slether.”
I gritted my teeth. “You’re the man whose been experimenting with my child?”
“Put the boy down or I’ll shoot you in the head. Right in front of your son.”
The thought of Billy witnessing that made me hesitate. “You’re really going to shoot someone carrying a child?”
“If you don’t put the boy down, yes. Most definitely. I’m actually a very good shot. Betty,” he said, much louder, “you’d better call Phillip.”
She reached for the cell phone, sitting on the dark granite counter, and began searching for the number.
“Put the gun down before someone gets hurt,” said Joanna, talking a couple of steps toward him. “I’m sure Phillip would be extremely angry with you if you hurt Billy, even if it was by accident.”
“Get back,” he said, cocking the gun. “Or you’ll be the one who gets hurt.”
She raised her hands in the air and gave him a dirty look. “Fine. Just be careful with that thing.”
He waved the gun back toward me. “We have a plane to catch soon and I’ve got no time for games. Now, you put the child down or I’ll shoot Joanna.”
“What?” I gasped.
“Mommy… I want to go home,” moaned Billy, putting his fingers into his mouth. He laid his head down on my shoulder once again.
“I know, honey. I know.” Determined not to leave without my son, I looked back at Slether. “Listen to me, if you just let us leave, we won’t say a word. I swear to God.”
He laughed coldly. “Right.”
“I’m serious. I don’t want anything to do with the law. I just want to take my son home. Please, let us go.”
“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. Now listen, I’ll give you ten seconds to put the kid down or I’ll just start shooting. One… two…”
Before he could make it to ‘three’, Joanna ran out of the room, screaming her head off as a distraction. It was almost comical.
“Dammit,” growled Slether. “Betty, stay here with them.”
She picked up the gun from the counter and pointed it at me again.
Slether ran off.
Still not believing that she’d fire the gun at us, I decided to act. I held onto Billy as tight as I could and ran toward the basement.
She gasped. “Stop! Jake! She’s getting away!”
I made it to the stairs and raced down, frantic to get my son out of the cabin. As I took the last step, I heard someone following me. Thinking it was Betty, I glanced over my shoulder and to my dismay, found that it was Slether coming after me.
“No,” I mumbled, running toward the media room. Before I could make it, Slether fired the gun, shooting me in the thigh. Crying out in pain, I stumbled to the ground while trying not to land on my son. The next thing I knew, he was pulling Billy out of my arms.
“Mommy!” cried Billy.
“Let him go, you bastard!” I screamed, watching in horror as Slether ran away with my son.
Using all of my strength, I got back to my feet and limped over to the stairs, frantic to get Billy back.
“I don’t think so,” said Betty, standing at the top, her gun pointed down toward me. “You aren’t getting him back and we don’t need any witnesses.”
I raised my hand. “Please. He’s my son,” I begged. “You can’t do this.”
“It’s already been done,” she said smirking.
I stared past her and saw Joanna coming up behind Betty. She shoved the older woman forward, sending her tumbling down the steps. Horrified, I got out of the way, as she landed near my feet, her neck broken.
“Hurry!” called Joanna, turning away from the stairs. “Before he gets away!”
Lightheaded and in a world of hurt, I climbed up, focusing on nothing else but getting my son back. As I reached the top of the staircase, I heard the sound of an automatic garage door. Panicking, I stumbled through the cabin, toward the front door. When I made it outside and onto the porch, I saw a red SUV kicking up dust as it headed away from the house.
Slether was getting away.
“No!” I screamed, dropping to my knees.
“Bullshit. I’m not letting him get away with this!” hollered Joanna. She began running toward my car, as if there was still a chance in hell that they could be stopped.
But then a miracle happened – an old pickup truck pulled out of the woods and slammed into the front of Slether’s vehicle, halting it.
I gasped in surprise.
A blonde guy jumped out of the truck, pointing a shotgun toward the SUV.
“Don’t fire!” I screamed, horrified. I got to my feet and limped toward them. “My son is in there!”
“Get your hands in the air and get out of the truck or I’ll blow your fucking head off!” ordered the man, his gun trained on the driver’s side window.
Instead of obeying, Slether tried starting the SUV, but the engine wouldn’t turn over.
Pissed off, the stranger shot his gun, hitting the side-mirror. “Don’t fuck with me, asshole. Get out, now!”
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the door open and Slether get out, his arms in the air.
Another guy ran past me, coming from God knows where. “Stay back, Raina,” he called over his shoulder.
Recognizing the patch on the back of his cut, I didn’t know whether to be grateful or pissed off.
“Who are those guys?” asked Joanna, jogging back to me.
“They belong to a biker club. The Gold Vipers,” I mumbled, wondering what they were doing there.
“Are they on our side?” she asked as we watched them get Slether out of the SUV.
“I guess we’re going to find out soon enough,” I said, limping toward them.
Chapter 27
I drove like a bat out of hell on my bike, reaching Waterloo around six p.m. When I finally made it to the cabin, the cops were there. One of them was interviewing Tail on the porch, who nodded when he saw me. I nodded back.
“Hey,” said Raptor, walking over to me. “Some crazy shit, huh?”
“Sounds like it. Where’s Raina?” I asked, looking around.
“She’s already gone. They took her to the hospital.”
“Is she okay?” I asked. I knew she’d been shot and was worried about her.
“Sounds like she’ll be fine. The bullet only grazed the outside of her thigh,” he replied. “She’ll be sore for a while, but nothing major to worry about.”
“What about her boy? Bill
y?” I asked, still in shock that he was alive.
“Joanna took him to the hospital, to be with his mother. There’s an APB out for the guy responsible for kidnapping him. Phillip Davis.”
“The brother-in-law?”
“Yep.”
“Is that Dr. Frankenstein?” I asked, nodding toward one of the squad cars. There was a man in the back, watching us.
“Yes. There was also an older woman involved. Apparently, Slether pushed her down the steps. He’s denying it, but both women swear he did it.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “You think that’s the truth?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.”
“Which hospital did they take her?”
“Saint Rose’s.”
I pulled my phone out to get directions. “I’m going to head over there. Are you going to need a ride back to Jensen?” I asked, glancing at pickup. “We could call a couple of the prospects to drive out here and pick you up.”
“Adriana is already on her way.”
“Okay.”
Tail walked over a few seconds later.
“How’d that go?” I asked.
“Fine. Seemed like they had more questions about our club than anything else. Don’t worry, Tank. I didn’t make it worth their time.”
“I wasn’t worried,” I replied. Tail, although sometimes rash in his decisions, was already proving to be loyal. Everyone seemed to like him, especially the club whores. They were already fighting over him.
“By the way, Adriana is picking us up,” Raptor said to him.
“That’s good. My truck is toast,” replied Tail.
We all turned to look at it. The front corner was smashed and it was leaking something.
“Sorry, brother,” I said. “We’ll take care of you.”
“It’s okay,” he replied. “I was thinking about buying a new one anyway. I need it for work.”
Tail, and another member of the club, J.T., had recently started a small roofing company.
“Good. At least let me help you with the down payment on a new one. It’s the least I can do.”
He grinned. “Well, fuck, I can’t say ‘no’ to that.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “That was quick thinking on your part. I’m proud of you.”
Looking pleased, he waved his thumb toward the SUV. “I saw him taking off with the kid and knew something was cagy. I could have chased him down, but something told me that it would have ended badly.”
“You made the right choice,” I replied, as my phone began to ring. When I looked who was calling me, I swore.
“Are you on your way?” Frannie asked when I answered.
“Something came up,” I told her. “I had to leave town.”
She sighed. “Jessica worked hard on this meatloaf. She wanted to see your reaction.”
“I’m sure it’s fabulous. Tell her I’m sorry and will make it up to her.”
“How about you tell her?”
Before I could argue, Jessica was on the phone with me.
“What’s your excuse this time?” she teased.
Fortunately, my stepsister was too sweet to be a much of a bitch. “This time? What are you talking about?” I asked, lightheartedly.
“Seems like you’re avoiding us, Tank,” she said. “Especially my cooking.”
“Believe me, I’d rather be seated at the table, eating your meatloaf, than what I’m doing now.”
“Which is?”
“Let’s just say that the club had to rescue a kid and reunite him with his mother.”
She inhaled. “Really? You guys did that?”
“Well, Tail and Raptor did. Anyway, to make a long story short, I had to leave town, to join them. I won’t be back until late tonight, I’m sure. Can I get a raincheck on dinner?”
“Of course. How about next Sunday? I’ve got a lot to do in the next few days, otherwise I’d make something else sooner.”
“That would be great. Have you heard from the Judge lately?” I asked, still wondering what exactly was going on between the two of them.
“We’ve spoken on the phone a few times,” she replied. “He has some things to take care of and then is supposed to return to Jensen.”
“You two seemed pretty tight the other night.”
“Yeah. I know,” replied Jessica, a smile in her voice.
“What’s going on?”
“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure,” she replied. “But once I find out, you’ll be the first to know.”
“He’d better not be playin’ my baby sister,” I said, teasing her. “I’ll have to hunt his ass down and take care of business.”
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure Jordan is not just out for sex. At least, I hope.”
I heard Frannie gasp in the background.
“Mom, go away. Stop listening to our conversation,” Jessica said, laughing. “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”
I heard some mumbling in the background, but wasn’t sure what Frannie was saying.
“I gotta go,” I said, looking back at Raptor who was watching me curiously. “I’ll be at the dinner table on Sunday. You have my word.”
“Okay. Hope you like fish, because I’m making salmon.”
“Love salmon.”
“Good. Talk to you later.”
“Definitely.”
“What was that about the Judge?” asked Raptor after I hung up.
“Oh, yeah… I’m surprised you didn’t know. Your brother has been getting busy with Jessica.”
He looked surprised. “Really? I’d heard that something had happened between them in Alaska, but wasn’t sure.”
“They’ve been talking on the phone, so it might be serious. From what you told me, he’s not much of a conversationalist.”
“No. He’s not,” Raptor said, looking amused.
“I don’t know what he’s been saying to her, but she sounds like she’s on cloud-nine, the way she talks about him. Anyway, I’m outta here. You guys need anything, give me a call.”
“Will do,” said Raptor.
“See you back in Jensen,” Tail said.
I walked back to my bike, got on, and headed toward the hospital.
Chapter 28
“Mommy, I wanna go home,” pouted Billy. He was sitting on Joanna’s lap while we waited for the doctor to return. Fortunately, my wound wasn’t as bad as I’d thought and had only required stitches. The bullet had barely grazed my leg.
“I know. We’re almost done here,” I said, squeezing his knee. “Then we’ll go home.”
“Did you bwing Bunny?”
Bunny, a brown floppy-eared rabbit, was his favorite stuffed animal and he’d dragged it around everywhere. I’d slept with it ever since the night Billy had been pronounced dead. “No. I’m sorry. But, he’s waiting for you at home.”
“I want him now,” he demanded.
“Soon,” I replied. “We’re waiting for the doctor to write a prescription to help your ear.” I’d already given him children’s pain reliever medicine. Apparently, he really had been shot, but from what the doctor said, it looked like it was healing fairly well. As far as his temperature being high, the doctor had found that Billy had an ear infection and was going to prescribe medication for it.
“Daddy gave me some aweady,” he said. “Last night.”
“Honey, Uncle Phillip is not your daddy,” I said, wanting to kill the son-of-a-bitch with my bare hands.
“He tole me to,” Billy said.
“You have just one daddy. His name is Mark,” I said, trying not to show how angry I really was.
“He’s in Heaven,” said Billy, repeating something he’d heard quite a few times.
“Yes, baby,” I replied, touching his cheek. “Your daddy is there. Someday you’ll see him again.”
He grinned. “Okay.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called, thinking it was the doctor returning.
A head peeked around
the corner and I almost choked on my own saliva.
“Hi,” said Justin. “Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure,” I replied, raising my hand to my hair, which I knew was probably a mess.
Justin entered the room carrying a bundle of roses and a stuffed German Shepherd puppy. He grinned when he saw Billy sitting on Joanna’s lap.
“Hey there, little guy. How are you doing?” he asked him.
“Okay. Whose puppy is dat?” Billy asked, pointing to the toy.
“I don’t know. He followed me down the hallway, insisting that I find someone named Billy. I figured he was yours.”
Billy shook his head. His eyes were wide. “No.”
Justin walked over to the side of my bed and held the stuffed animal up to his ear. “What’s that you say?” he asked the toy. “I think you should say it louder.”
Billy giggled as Justin turned the stuffed animal toward him and began talking in a high-pitched voice.
“Woofy… woof… woof. I want to go home with you, Billy.”
“You do?” Billy asked, surprised.
“Yes. Woof.”
My son looked at me. “Can he, mommy? Pease?”
Laughing, I nodded. “Yes. How can I say ‘no’ to either of those faces?” I replied, meaning Justin’s, too. He looked so sweet, trying to make Billy smile.
“Here you go,” said Justin, handing him the stuffed animal.
“What’s his name?” Billy asked, hugging it against his chest.
“He didn’t say. I think you’d better come up with one,” he replied.
“Tuffy. I’m naming him that because he’s stwong. Wike you,” said Billy, pointing at Justin’s thick arms.
“Now that is a good name,” said Justin, fluffing his curly hair. “Good choice, kiddo.”
“Thanks.”
“Who are the flowers for?” asked Joanna, also amused at watching the exchange between the rough-looking biker and my small son.
Justin looked at the flowers. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. These are for you,” he said, holding them out to me.
“Thank you,” I replied, staring up at him. The pain medicine they’d given me must have been doing some strange things, because I was actually happy to see him.
“You’re welcome.”
I grabbed the roses, brought them to my nose, and inhaled. It had been so long since I’d gotten flowers. “They’re lovely.”
Breaking The Biker (The Biker Series) - An MC Gold Vipers Motorcycle Club Biker Romance Novel Page 11
