by Smith, T. O.
"Yes!" Drake shouted. I couldn't even begin to imagine how he was feeling at that moment. "There's a blood trail through the club house though, and it stops at some tire tracks. Cole, I need her fucking found!" Drake roared.
"I'll get some men on it. Call my dad. He's got some contacts that can help you." Cole said.
Drake hung up and Cole handed me back my phone. "Holly . . ." I breathed out. "Fuck, Cole, do you think . . .?"
He sighed and shrugged, obviously knowing where my question was headed. "You sure you want to know what I think?" He asked me. I nodded. "I think Holly is being tortured, and I think they're going to kill her. I think Lilly is going to be left without a mother."
My heart constricted. That poor little girl. Fuck, Holly. I had pretty much forced her to go back to Drake, and now look at the fate she was suffering. She didn't want to go back. She wasn't made for this life.
Fuck, the guilt.
Cole grabbed my hand and rubbed soothing circles on the back of it. "It's not your fault. When I was up there, Holly was happy and trust me, it wasn't fake. I'm sure Drake is dealing with the club member who was supposed to protect her. This is not your fault." Cole reassured me.
Cole's phone went off and he answered it. "Yeah?" He asked.
"We need you and Brian here, now!" Katie yelled through the phone. "We're under fucking attack!"
"I'm on my way." Cole said.
Cole hung up and looked at Brian. "Let's go." He looked down at me. "You'll be safe here. It's a hospital." He assured me.
I nodded. He kissed me quickly. I grabbed his hand tightly. "Be careful." I whispered.
He nodded and jogged out of the room. I laid in the bed for a couple of hours, twisting and wringing my hands, worried out of my mind. What was happening? Was Cole hurt? Did he get killed? How many people died? Was anyone taken?
Fuck, the questions.
My room door flung open and two of the men from the DM crew stormed into the room. I tried to get off of the bed, but the monitors prevented me from doing so. Fuck, I didn't have any weapons on me. I wouldn't be able to take these two on. I had no fucking way to protect myself.
They ripped the monitors off of me and dragged me out of the bed. I fought against them. I couldn't let them hurt me. I couldn't let them fucking take me.
They dragged me out of the hospital. Dr. Kline rushed over. "You can't take her!" He shouted.
"We'll fucking kill everyone in this hospital if someone stops us, do you understand?" One of the men snapped.
They continued dragging me out and threw me in the back of a van. I tried getting the door open, but it was locked from the outside. Tears poured down my face. I bet this was going to be the same shit, just another crew. I had a baby to protect. I couldn't let them fucking do this to me!
“It's no use." A familiar voice said.
I swung around and saw Holly leaning against the side of the van. "Oh my God, Holly!" I exclaimed. "Are you okay?!"
She shrugged. "I'm a bit injured, but I'm fine otherwise." Her gaze landed on my stomach. "Amelia, you've got to protect that baby." She whispered.
I leaned against the wall of the van. "I'm going to try my hardest, but they were strong. I couldn't get them off of me. My fucking phone is still sitting in the hospital room." I muttered.
I wrapped my arms around my belly. I felt a nudge against my wrist and I gasped, looking down at my belly, feeling another light nudge. Tears poured down my face. My baby was very much alive still. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to protect it.
Please, God, let me be able to protect this baby.
I felt a hard jolt a while later and I fell forward. I groaned as I pushed myself back up into a sitting position. I realized we weren't moving anymore. Holly and I looked at each other in fear. This only meant one thing; we had reached our destination.
The back of the van doors were flung open, and I was met by the sight of Drake and Carlos. I heard a groan of pain from the front of the van, but I didn't care. Drake reached in and pulled Holly out. I felt the van tip and I shrieked in fear. "Get her out!" Drake hollered at Carlos.
I felt the van start to fall. I squeezed my eyes in fear, my body shaking. I was going to fucking die.
Carlos jumped in and pulled me against him tightly, holding me protectively. I screamed as I felt us falling. Carlos groaned in pain when we finally stopped falling. "Come on." Carlos grunted. "We've got to get out. We're in a river."
Water started flooding into the van almost instantly. Carlos pulled me out and he held my hand in his tightly as we both fought to get to the bank of the river. The current was strong as hell though, not making it any easier. He climbed onto the rocks and pulled me up. He helped me onto dry, flat land and sighed, yanking his shirt off. He had a deep gash in his shoulder that was bleeding badly. "Carlos!" I exclaimed, rushing over to him.
I grabbed his shirt and pressed it against the gash, applying pressure to try to slow the bleeding. "Are you okay?" He asked me.
I nodded. "I think so. You stopped me from getting injured or hurting the baby. I owe you so much." I muttered.
He chuckled. "You don't owe me anything." He looked around us. "Sucks that our phones are ruined. I don't think they're ever going to find us way the fuck out here." He muttered.
I stood up. "Come on. We better start walking then."
He got up, holding his shirt against his gash. We started walking through the trees, trying to find our way back to the road. After what felt like forever, we finally found the road. I groaned and sat down, rubbing my belly. I had been getting pains in my stomach. I had to get to a hospital.
"I hope they find us soon." I muttered, looking up at him.
He sat down beside me. "You need to lie down. It's almost dark. I'll stay awake and make sure you're safe. You need to rest. If there's a chance you're in labor, hopefully lying down will slow down the process."
I laid down with my head on his thigh. Before I could even begin to doze off, a familiar truck skidded to a stop beside us. Cole and Travis jumped out. Travis helped Carlos up when Cole lifted me into his arms. "We need to go to a hospital." Carlos said. "I think she's having contractions."
Cole set me into the backseat and tossed his dad the keys. "Find a fucking hospital." Cole told him harshly.
Cole jumped into the backseat with me and put my head on his lap. He rubbed my belly soothingly with one hand and held one of my hands with his other. Travis sped off, laying rubber. When we got to a hospital, they rushed me back immediately. Cole quickly stripped me out of my wet clothes and put me into a hospital gown. The nurse came into the room and hooked me up to the monitors. Cole held my hand tightly, worry creasing his features.
The nurse sighed. "You're having contractions.” She said, confirming my worst fears. “We're giving you another shot and then we're going to send you to a hospital closer to your home, okay?"
I nodded. Cole squeezed my hand tightly in his. Our eyes met and he leaned down and kissed me desperately. "I'm going to kill whoever did this to you." He told me quietly.
I shook my head at him. “You won’t have to. I think they’re floating down a river by now.”
Cole sighed, leaning down to kiss me again. I swear, I was going to give this man a fucking heart attack one day.
Twenty
I glanced up as Cole came back into my room. I was at the hospital closer to home and Cole rarely left me alone. The only time I was alone in the room was when Cole went to get something to eat from the cafeteria or something of the sort. If he had to leave the hospital, he made someone stay with me, and usually that someone was Brian.
I had been in this place for two weeks now, and I was fucking sick of being here. I was rarely let up to go walk, and I was starting to get really pissed off and restless.
"Find a doctor and find out when I can fucking go home." I spat at Cole as he walked into my room freshly showered.
He smirked at me. "Hello to you, too."
"I'm serious." I ground out
through my clenched teeth. "I'm tired of being in the hospital. I can't do anything. I bet if they didn't have to let me up to go piss, they wouldn't even do that. I want to go home." I demanded.
Cole sighed. "It's best for you and our baby. You have to remember that." He said gently, trying to reason with me.
I wasn’t beyond making deals with him and the doctor at that point. I was tired of staring at the same white walls all of the time. I was tired of doing nothing but watching tv and lying down. I needed to go back home.
"Cole, I'll deal with a wheel chair. I just want to go home." I whined.
His eyes widened in surprise. "You'll seriously sit in a wheel chair for the rest of your pregnancy?" He asked, almost as if he didn’t believe me.
I nodded, meaning it from the bottom of my heart. "Yes." I told him desperately. "Please, Cole, I just want to go home."
He sighed and nodded. He kissed me. "I'll go find the doctor."
He left the room, and I did the childish thing of twisting my fingers in my lap, hoping to get my way. I desperately wanted to go home. I was tired of sitting there, missing out on everything back at the club house. It sucked not being physically at the meetings and only being able to make decisions through the phone. I was so tired of being there.
Dr. Kline came into the room followed by Cole. He checked my vitals and the machine monitoring the baby and nodded. "You have to stay in a wheel chair if you're not in bed, Amelia.” He told me sternly. “You don't get to ride your bike. It's important that you do not get stressed out." He looked at me, giving me a stern look. "If you end up in this hospital again, Amelia, I will not allow you to go back home until you deliver this baby, understand?"
I nodded. "Trust me, I'm going to do everything possible not to come back here." I muttered.
He nodded and unhooked me from the machine. He left the room and Cole helped me into my clothes. A nurse came in with a wheelchair. "I assume you've already paid for it?" She asked me.
I looked at Cole for confirmation only to see that he was already nodding at the nurse. "Yeah, it's paid for."
She nodded and I sat down in it, sighing. I wasn’t exactly happy about the wheel chair, but it was better than being stuck in the fucking hospital all the time.
Cole pushed me out of the hospital and out to his truck. When we got to the club house, Cole pushed me inside. Brian grinned at me. "Finally got out, huh?"
I nodded, smiling. "I can't ride until after I have the baby, but it's nice to be back here around all of you fuckers."
Travis and Katie came out of the living area and smiled when they saw me. "Good to have you back here." Travis told me, gripping my shoulder as he walked past.
I nodded and looked up at Cole. "Call a meeting." I told him.
"Everyone in the meeting room!" Cole hollered.
He pushed me in there and up to my spot at the table. "Look at that belly." One of the guys said. "Getting big there, aren't you, Amelia?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "I'll be glad when it's over so that I can finally start riding again." I retorted.
I loved my kid, don’t get me wrong, but I really missed being able to ride my bike, and being involved in club retaliation. I missed it all.
"You won't want to do anything for a while." Katie said, coming into the room and taking a seat. "Especially when you'll be getting up every two hours to feed the baby."
I shrugged. "It'll be alright."
When everyone was in their seats, Cole started the meeting. "Amelia, you're the one who wanted the meeting, so what's up?" He asked me, cocking an eyebrow.
I leaned forward, lacing my fingers together on the table. "What's the word on the DM?" I asked.
Cole ran a hand down his face. "Nothing yet. They've all gone into hiding. We can't find them any-fucking-where." He muttered. “They’re not even on their territory.”
I sighed and leaned back. "So, I'm guessing our men are just sitting up in London's Tears territory just sitting on their asses?" I asked.
Cole nodded. "Yeah. I don't want to bring them back yet in-case London’s Tears randomly get attacked."
I looked over at Travis. "You have contacts. Get on finding one of them. If we can get at least one member, then we can get some information out of him." I told him.
"I've tried-." Travis started, but I interrupted him. I was done playing games with this whole fucking situation. They had almost made me miscarry; I wanted those fuckers to pay.
"Try harder." I snapped. "I was fucking kidnapped, and I could have drowned had it not been for Carlos. So, fucking try harder."
He glared at me. "I don't take fucking orders from you." He ground out through clenched teeth.
"I'm your fucking VP." I snapped at him. "You're no longer in a position to tell me what you are and aren't going to do, so fucking do as I say and start getting in touch with people and finding out where these bastards are hiding, or get the fuck away from this table."
He clenched his jaw, but didn't say anything else. I looked at Cole. "Is there anything I don't know about that I should?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "No. Anything else you want to bring to the table?" He asked me.
I shook my head. He ended the meeting and everyone left the room. Cole ran his fingers through his hair, sighing tiredly. "Amelia, what in the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" He asked me.
I looked over at him. "You and I both know this shit didn't start with us. It started with our parents.” I told him, sighing, “They made the decisions to go to war with other clubs, and to get us involved in guns and drugs. We just have to follow what they started and finish everything." I told him.
"We need to get out of this shit." He told me.
I shook my head sadly. We couldn’t get out of it right now. If we thought we had issues now, getting out of this mess would only cause more shit. We already had too much to deal with as it was.
"Cole, getting out of it will just put cross hairs on the entire club and everyone surrounding it. Our enemies and the people we deal with will come after us and our families. It's best if we just continue what we're doing and deal with the problems we already have instead of creating more."
He looked over at me and then down at my protruding belly. "You really want this kind of life for our kid?" He asked me tiredly.
I grabbed his hand in mine, squeezing his hand gently. "Cole, we're fine, so our child will be fine. We can protect our kid." I assured him.
Cole snorted. "Amelia, I can barely protect you." He muttered.
I rolled my eyes at him. He didn’t need to beat himself up over me. It was mostly my fault I was always getting hurt in the first place.
"Maybe because I've always done stupid shit that got me into the wrong situations." I told him with a cocked eyebrow.
"You were taken from a hospital." Cole ground out through clenched teeth, running his fingers through his hair.
"I wouldn't have been in the hospital in the first place if I wasn’t trying to follow you up to London's Tears territory." I reminded him. No matter what, the problems I faced normally tied back to something stupid I had done.
Cole sighed and stood up, obviously done talking about our situation. He came over to me and gave me a light kiss. "If we can't get out of this mess, maybe our kid can get us out of the situation when they take over the president patch." He murmured.
He pushed me to our room and laid me on the bed. He crawled in bed beside me and pulled me against him. resting his hands on my belly. "It's so hard to believe you're twenty-three weeks." He murmured, kissing my shoulder.
I nodded, silently agreeing with him. I rested my head back against his chest. He rolled me onto my back and undressed me slowly, his lips gliding across my skin like a caress. I moaned softly. "C-Cole, is this good for the baby?" I managed to get out between my moans as he bit and sucked at my most sensitive spots.
"Of course, it is. I asked Dr. Kline." He assured me.
He pulled his clothes off and I bent my knees so he cou
ld get between my legs easily. He pushed into me slowly, and I arched my back, moaning. I wrapped my arms around him as he moved in and out of me slowly. "Fuck, baby, I missed feeling you wrapped around me like this." He whispered, running his hand down my side until he gripped my hip.
"Oh God, Cole." I moaned as he hit me at the perfect angle.
He smirked down at me with that classic Cole smirk, knowing exactly what he had done. He continued hitting that same spot. I dug my nails into his back as I came hard around him. He groaned. "God, I fucking love you, Amelia." He groaned into my neck.
I froze up under him, my eyes snapping open wide. "What?" I whispered.
Had I heard him right?
He quickly sat up and jumped out of bed, running his fingers through his hair. "Fuck, Amelia, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." He said quickly, his voice panicked.
What? He didn't mean it?
I felt my heart shatter in my chest. My chest physically hurt after hearing him say he didn't mean those words. I looked away from him, covering up with my blanket, and turning on my side away from him. Tears trickled down my face, but I forced myself to stay quiet. I didn’t need him knowing how much his rejection had hurt me.
"Amelia?" He asked quietly.
I felt him touch my back, but I shrugged him off. "Don't." I snapped at him, thankful that my voice was steady and strong despite the emotional roller coaster currently rushing through me.
The bed dipped suddenly, alerting me that he had sat down. He turned me over, and his eyes widened at the tears falling down my cheeks and wetting the pillow under my face. "Amelia, what's wrong?" He whispered, his face looking pained as he reached forward to wipe away my tears. "I thought . . . I thought you freaked out that I told you I love you." He murmured, his voice showing his confusion.
I shook my head at him. "I'm upset because you told me that you don't mean it." I whispered, my voice breaking as another tear slipped down my cheek.
He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me tightly, rocking me comfortingly. "Baby, I only said that because I thought you didn’t return the feelings." He whispered hoarsely into my hair, his arms tightening around me.
