B-ry: A Steel Paragons MC Novel (The Coast: Book 4)

by Eve R. Hart

  I thought about those questions and what my answers might be. The truth was, I wasn’t sure about many of them right now. Not the heavy life ones, anyway.

  And I realized that I didn’t know any of the answers for him. I had never asked either, even if I might have thought about it a time or two. Maybe I was scared to know the answers. What if they weren’t anything near what I hoped for. Or worse, what if they were. Because at that time, I had thought this man just barely wanted to be in my life.

  It cut me. How we both had been so wrong and stupid.

  Then, I thought about it deeper. Was it really that important that he knew my favorite color? Or what kind of food I enjoyed the most? Wasn’t the real proof of love that he saw what other people didn’t? That he knew little things about me that I had never even noticed?

  “I like the color orange. I don’t know why, I just do,” he said giving his own answer. “I don’t mind spicy food, but I don’t like it so hot that my ass burns when it comes out the other end. I don’t like to read novels because I’m not a huge fan of excess words. I want the information as straight and boiled down as I can get it so I prefer to read things in article form. In case you couldn’t guess, I like to work out in my spare time.”

  I was smiling as I listened to him go on. And, yes, I had guessed he worked out a lot. With a body like that, he had to. It was nice to know all of that but those were the questions I had burning in my brain. I had hoped he would go on without my having to prompt him. I was still a nervous wreck and trying my hardest not to fall apart.

  “I honestly never thought about the future until you came along,” he said and I could hear the truth in his words. I began to silently cry harder. “And I’ve thought about it a lot recently. I want kids and I want to raise them in this life just like I was. I want to bring up strong children surrounded by the love of every one of my brothers. My family.”

  That shocked me. Like everything came to a jarring standstill. My heart. My breath. Time. A high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears and I wondered if I was maybe still asleep and dreaming. Because as messed up as the timing was, I could see it all too. And I wanted that beautifully vivid image that had started to burn itself into my mind.

  “It’s probably not the right time to be talkin’ about this with you, but I don’t want to waste any more time. I feel like we’ve fucked this whole thing up long enough. I’m laying it out there. It’s your choice to decide if you want to take it or not.”

  His words weren’t a threat. They were a soft plea. I could hear the truth and honesty in his tone and not an ounce of bitterness.

  I didn’t even think that I really had to decide, my heart had already done it for me. I wanted a future with him. And kids. That part got me the most. And I had seen how the club embraced their own and anyone that was lucky enough to be brought into the fold.

  I didn’t know why I had felt like such an outsider, but maybe if I tried a little harder and actually stood proudly at Bryan’s side, then I would become a part of it too. So the thought of my children growing up with so much love and protection, well, it did something to my heart. It was warm and started to beat with a new kind of rhythm. For the first time in… oh, maybe forever, I felt so happy and excited about the possibilities of what could have been ahead of me.

  And then it hit me, none of that really mattered. The kids. The club. The house. The car. The… whatever. Bryan could have said that he wanted to go live in a shack in the middle of Alaska and I would have followed him there.

  Because I loved the guy.

  Before I could answer or even say anything back, a knock sounded at the door. Bryan called for them to enter and a second later, Iron was walking in.

  I rolled over and sat up. My head wasn’t happy about the sudden movement but at least it wasn’t pounding now. Bryan’s hands were there, holding my shoulders to keep me steady. Then he fluffed the pillows so I could lean back a little.

  “How ya hanging in there, Laurel?” he asked me, flashing a small, but genuine smile.

  “Oh, you know,” I said with a forced laugh and a shrug. “I suppose I could be worse.”

  He gave a twitch of his lips to let me know he saw through the attempt at humor.

  “We’re gonna make sure you’re taken care of, okay?”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate it. And for… all the other stuff, too.”

  I shouldn’t have been thanking him. I wouldn’t have been in the situation I had been in if it wasn’t for this club.

  But something inside of me just couldn’t hate them. Not any of them. It wasn’t like they had made the guy crazy or whatever. It wasn’t like they made him kidnap me and keep me locked in a cage for weeks. Though they were wrapped up in this somehow, it wasn’t their fault.

  “I hate to do this to you, but can you tell us anything else? Maybe something you missed or overlooked?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered honestly.

  I couldn’t even remember what all I had told them before. I had been half out of my mind then. I still was. I felt like I was waiting for it all to hit me and I feared the moment it all came crashing down.

  “He-he got angry. He was so mad because you didn’t get or figure out his clues or something. At first, it just seemed like he had this simple plan. Take me then you would come running. But then I sort of told him that… um, that I wasn’t that important to… anyone here. And I may have let him know that I wasn’t a very good friend and no one probably knew I had been gone.”

  Bryan looked away. I wasn’t looking directly at him but I could see his head turn out of the corner of my eye. What I had said had been the truth, and I wondered just how long it was before any one of them noticed I wasn’t around.

  “How long did it take you?” I asked coldly as I shifted my focus to Bryan. “How long until someone realized I was missing?”

  Bryan’s eyes went to the floor. I shifted my focus to Iron and asked the same questions with my eyes.

  “A week,” he said holding his head high. At least someone had the decency not to try and hide the truth from me.

  “A week,” I whispered and closed my eyes. That stung. To know that I hadn’t been around a week before someone even thought about me. Or to check on me.

  But could I really be mad at anyone other than myself?

  “You said clues?” Iron said pulling my focus away from all the sadness that washed over me.

  “Yes, but I don’t know what. He never told me. At one point, he was so mad that he threatened to cut my finger off and send it to you. But he didn’t.”

  “The hell?!” Bryan raged from beside me. I placed my hand on his knee in hopes that it would calm him down.

  “I didn’t know how far he was going to go.” I shook my head. As much as I didn’t want to think of what happened right before I escaped, I knew they needed to hear it. “The man with the accent had said something about giving him three more days…”

  I went on to explain everything, trying to recall all the little details that I could. I explained how he was running out of time and I was scared what would happen to me. How he got so mad that last time. And how I ended up looking like, well, this.

  “He said I was nothing but a whore. That all women were. He pinned me down and undid his pants. He tried to… put it in my mouth, I think that was what he was going for. I don’t really know. But he couldn’t get it to… work. Thank, God. It hit me, after all of the things he had said. I think I was too old for him.”

  The thought turned my stomach. It was all I could do to not to jump off the bed and run for the bathroom. All of it. It was so horrible. He was so horrible.

  “I think he killed his little sister,” I went on. I was starting to feel tired again and I just wanted to get this all over with. “He said something about his father, and the club, I think. Payback for killing his father, maybe? I don’t know.” Everything was fuzzy and I was having trouble remembering if I had already told them that part.

  “It’s okay, L
aurel,” Iron said. “Just tell us what you remember. How did you get out?”

  “After he beat me or whatever, there was a knock on the door. I guess he thought I was out cold or something because he walked out and left me on the floor. I heard arguing, it was the man with the accent. I managed to get the window open and jumped out. That was when I ran into… someone and they brought me here. I don’t even know where that guy came from.”

  “He was at the house next door. Saw you trying to get out the window and rushed outside.” I was thankful that Iron filled in the gaps for me.

  “He knew you were looking for me?” I asked though it wasn’t really a question. I had never seen the guy before but he seemed to know about the club. “And did you guys do what he said you did? Did you kill his father?”

  Iron looked at Bryan pointedly. They shared some kind of secret eye code or something. It was clear that they weren’t going to say anything. Which made me a little bit mad.

  “Laurel, B-ry and I are going to step out and talk about something. We’re going to try and figure this all out, okay? Why don’t you just rest for a bit? I’m sure this has been hard on you.”

  The way he said it was sweet. Almost like he did care about me a little.

  However, those weren’t the words that I wanted to hear and I wasn’t dumb enough to miss that it was a distraction.

  “No,” I said defiantly as I stared him down.

  Who was this woman speaking from inside of me?

  And where had she been all along?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  B-ry

  The air grew thick and time seemed to hit the pause button.

  No.

  I couldn’t believe she’d said that. And by the way her chin jutted out and her eyes were dead-set on Iron, I knew she wasn’t about to back down. Oh, I would have fucking bet there was more coming.

  “I don’t want to hear ‘this is club business.’ This involves me. Me! It happened. To. Me. I get to know what is going on because I deserve to know what happens to this guy. So, don’t give me some its club business… bullshit.”

  I had never seen Iron so stunned in my life. To be fair, it was hard to notice. But I could tell. It was the way his brows went up just a hair. And his eyes didn’t blink for a long time. And the way he was frozen as stiff as a statue.

  It was the kind of shock that said he wasn’t quite sure what to do with what just happened.

  Me?

  Well, I was hard as hell. I mean, damn. That woman had just stood up to the president of a motorcycle club. I knew it was really inappropriate, but all I could think of was pulling her onto my lap and letting her ride that pissed off fire right out of her.

  Oh, and she said bullshit. Which had me trying my hardest to stifle a damn laugh.

  I cleared my throat because it seemed I was starting to fail at that last part.

  “I’m sorry, princess,” I said as coolly as I could manage. “Did I just hear the word bullshit come from those lips?”

  She cut her eyes over to me and I couldn’t help but smirk as that fire was aimed at me.

  “Bullshit. Say it with me, biker boy. Bull-shit.”

  I saw a fraction of softness slip into her eyes and the fact that the corners of her lips were twitching told me she was having trouble keeping her guard up right now. And because of that, I couldn’t even stop the words as they went from my brain to my mouth.

  “I was so scared that I’d never see you again.”

  I didn’t care that it was awkward. Or that she might not have thought something along those lines about me. Or, ya know, the big one, that Iron was right there and there was shit that needed to be dealt with.

  “Okay, well, I’ll just…” Iron said.

  “Oh, no. Both of you. Horrible, people. I will not let you walk all over me. And I demand answers.” Laurel’s face looked stern but I could tell that she was flustered.

  “I gotta be honest, I don’t know what to do with you,” Iron said to her and I may have snorted. Because, yeah, I felt like that most of the time. “If I tell you the less you know the safer you are, will that work?”

  Laurel shook her head at the Prez and I was a little worried for her.

  “Laurel,” I said softly but with an edge of warning to it.

  “Don’t you Laurel me,” she practically growled.

  “We’re still trying to put all the pieces in place,” Iron said with a sigh. “We think we might know who took you. But that’s all I’m going to say on the matter. We are going to track him down. That I will promise you.”

  It looked like he was going to add something else but the sound of his phone ringing halted him.

  After he answered it I heard one word ring out.

  Explosion.

  Iron’s eyes cut to mine for a split second, then he was walking out the door. I jumped up to follow him.

  Outside he stood tall, the phone to his ear and the other hand resting on the top bar to the balcony railing.

  It killed me to stand there and wait to find out what the hell was going on.

  “Meet you at the hospital,” he said then ended the call.

  His eyes met mine. His jaw clenched as he shook his head.

  “Who?” I asked trying to push down my panic.

  “The house was rigged. One of the prospects walked right into a tripwire. Blade pushed Mouse out of the way. He’s trapped under the rubble and I don’t know how bad it is. Mouse said help just got there. Two prospects and Dade were inside.”

  “Fuck!” I roared.

  “I’m going. Get Mason updated then get your ass to the hospital.”

  Then he was gone.

  “Stay here,” I said as I opened the door.

  Only she wasn’t where I’d left her in the bed.

  No, she was trying to jam her feet into some shoes while she pulled at the tape holding the needle of the IV in.

  “Laurel,” I said with that edge of a warning. “I need you to stay here. I’m going to get your sister to stay with you and I’m having some brothers watch the room.

  “I’m going. Don’t try and stop me. I can either get a ride with you or I will find another way.”

  “Pain in my ass,” I mumbled under my breath knowing full well that I wouldn’t be able to stop her. “Sit and stop messing with it.”

  I went to the bathroom and got the first aid kit under the sink. Then I went and sat on the bed beside her. As gently as I could, I removed the needle and held the gauze tightly against her skin. I smoothed a piece of tape over it and then tossed everything back into the box.

  “Your face,” I said after I’d gotten to my feet and looked down at her.

  “Oh, right,” she said and her body sagged like she had forgotten for a moment.

  “Go to my room and grab a hat and a hoodie. You remember which one it is?” I pulled out my keys and handed them to her in a hurry. She gave me a nod and I was a little shocked that she remembered. “Meet me out front.”

  I took off to the front, dialing Mason’s number as I ran.

  “There was an explosion and Iron’s on his way to the hospital,” I said before he could even get a word out.

  “Shit,” he said. “How bad?”

  “Not sure yet. Know they are trying to pull Blade out now.”

  “Alright, I’ll call everyone in and meet you there.”

  I ended the call as I pulled open the back door to the main part of the compound.

  “What’s going on?” Lake asked as he saw the look on my face.

  “There was an explosion. Iron is on his way to the hospital. I need you to get Brand and Cable and fill them in. And if you see Fitz and Charming, tell them too.”

  “Fuck,” he said running his fingers through his hair.

  “Mase will get everyone else. I’m taking Laurel. Tell Brand to let Cami know so she’s not worried.”

  With that, I ran out to the front.

  I wish that things hadn’t gotten insane, for more reasons than one. But the thing
that stuck out the most right now, was how sexy Laurel looked in my club hoodie that I usually wore to the gym, and my black ball cap. There were things that went though my mind that were not appropriate given the situation that surrounded us. The thing that really got me though, was that she looked like she was ready to go. She hadn’t taken long to get where I needed her to be. Which was good, because there wasn’t a second to waste.

  “You good to go on the bike?” I asked because I needed to get there as fast as possible but I also wanted to keep her safe.

  “Yes,” she replied then turned the hat around so she could fit the helmet on.

  Damn, that was cute.

  She wasted no time climbing on behind me and wrapping her arms around my waist.

  Once we got there, I parked and bolted to the doors. I was half worried about leaving Laurel behind, but I heard her shoes pounding the pavement behind me.

  Iron wasn’t in the first emergency waiting room. I dragged Laurel down the hall and found him tucked away in a corner of the second waiting room on his phone, his eyes watching the doorway.

  “Can you tell me what exactly happened? I mean I heard the explosion part,” Laurel said in a hushed voice as her eyes swept the surrounding area.

  “Some brothers were checking out the house where you were kept. Someone hit a tripwire and the place blew up. But I don’t know how bad it is.”

  “Oh, God,” she said and her hand came up to cover her mouth. “I…”

  “No, don’t fall apart on me now, baby.”

  “Okay. Alright.” By the bobbing nod she was giving me, I didn’t think she was going to be able to hold it together.

  “Sit here.”

  I pointed to a chair and helped her lower down into it. I could tell she was still hurting and I hated that she’d come along. She needed to be in the damn bed, recovering and getting as much rest as possible. But I knew she’d never listen to me if I said such things.

  “They got Blade out but it doesn’t look good. Mouse is riding with him. Fire and rescue said it didn’t look good for the others, but they are trying to find them.”