“If I could get everyone’s attention,” Ellis calls out, keeping his voice level and low. “I’d like to introduce you all to the Lost Souls last day.”
The last sound to be heard is Myles’ fist landing on a Crow’s cheekbone and then a weird silence falls over us all as everyone looks my way.
With the Lost Souls distracted, the Crow’s take advantage and pull their guns, the ones who don’t already have them out. I can count four guns pressing against Lost Souls heads within a beat. Old ladies move together banding as one, it’s the girls who hang around the club wanting the brother’s attention who are shrieking and screaming.
“Now that I have your undivided attention, would you cock-fucking-suckers drop to your knees and for the love of peace and harmony, keep your women quiet or I will.”
Zara moves besides another club girl who is physically shaking and wraps her in her arms. One by one, Lost Souls drop to their knees and I sense Ellis’s ego growing taller with every dropped soul at his command.
I feel Mason’s eyes on me from across the bar, and he nods. I understand him to be saying, he’s glad the baby is gone, but he’s pissed I’m still here. So am I.
I didn’t really have anything to do with the twins when we were in school, I kept to myself and they treated school like their own personal entertainment show, but I knew they were there if I needed them.
I never did need them then, but I needed Mason tonight and I didn’t even know it.
“If you could all keep it down, I need to make a call,” Ellis yells.
This guy is insane and we’re at the mercy of him until help arrives. The younger club members and kids of the club used to wonder what it was like when the older brothers fought like this, now we know, and it’s worse than I ever imagined.
“Tell me how much you love him,” he says to me as he scrolls through the phone. “Tell me how you can’t live without him.”
“Why? Would it change anything, you asshole?”
His eyes blaze with excitement and he forgets he was making a call. “Oh, we’re going to have a lot of fun with a mouth like that.”
He runs the back of his fingers down my cheek and I involuntary cringe away from him, but it only excites him further.
Leo
I can barely breathe. Bracing my hands on the side of the prospects van, the cold metal does nothing to help me think straight. My girls are in there and it’s all because of me. Every brother, every woman and every child, my child, is in danger because I killed Roman and I’ll never ever fucking forget this moment of being helpless and completely to blame.
My dad warned me my actions would have consequences and while I didn’t disbelieve him, I thought I could hold them at bay and away from my girls. I was wrong, so fucking wrong.
“So, how’s making catastrophic decisions working out for you now?” Slade snaps.
“Not now, yeah. Once this is done you can say, I told you so.”
And I’m sure he won’t be the only one I’ll hear it from, not that I don’t deserve it. It’s true, but right now, we haven’t got time for it.
Digging my phone out of my pocket, I find my dad’s number and walk away from the others. My finger hovers over my dad’s name on the screen and I hit call and press the phone to my ear, all the while keeping my eyes on the clubhouse in the distance. I can’t see anything, I can’t hear anything, but it still soothes me to watch the place in some way.
“Son, tell me what I’ve just heard isn’t true.” Are the first words I hear down the line.
“It’s true, give me the go ahead, and we’ll take it back.”
There’s no hesitation, or silence where he thinks it over.
“No, stay where you are and wait for my order.”
“Wait? For what?”
“Leo,” he warns, drawing my name out slowly. “Don’t go against me, not in this situation, and not tonight. You’ll only act on your emotions, you won’t use your head and that’s what you need.”
I can actually feel my blood boiling under my skin. Rolling my neck does nothing to relieve the building tension. Clenching my free hand does nothing to simmer the rage. Nothing is working. If anything, it’s getting worse.
“You know your granddaughter is in there, don’t you? How the fuck do you expect me to go in there with my head?”
My anger is spiking, and my skin now feels like it’s on actual fire as my blood boils over.
“I’m fully aware who is in there, son, and I’m telling you to stay fucking put. Do not move…”
I hang up and launch the phone across the nearby field. I can’t stand being told what to do at the best of times, let alone when my daughter and fiancé are in real danger. I’m not stupid, I know Ellis will go for India if he can’t get to me. It’s a classic move and it’s working, it’s most definitely getting to me.
“What did he say?” Harper asks, coming up behind me.
“Nothing I want to hear,” I grunt, and she rests her hand on my shoulder.
“Rayna is India’s world, when a mom loves her baby like she does, no harm can ever come to her.”
She might not have the opportunity to protect anyone, even herself, if Ellis has his way. A mom’s strength is fierce when it comes to her babies, but so is a man’s need for revenge when his brother was murdered before him.
Keeping my eyes on the clubhouse, a phone rings out behind me and Slade’s voice fills the air.
“She what?” he gasps. “Is she there?”
She?
Spinning on my heels, Harper is quick to follow me back to the brothers. Slade’s entire family is inside and he’s the quietest of us all. Everyone here has someone in that building and all we’re doing is waiting on an order from my father.
It’s never been so clear their trust in him is infinite and in the scramble of my thoughts bombing around my head, I decide to out my trust in him too. Not that I fucking like it.
Slade holds out his phone and I take it, knowing dad will be pissed at me for hanging up on him.
“Rayna’s here.”
A rush of breath escapes me, and my thighs start to tingle, creeping on the edge of numbness.
“How? I mean, are they okay? I swear, if there is one mark on them, I won’t be waiting on no fucking orders.”
“Leo, a prospect showed up just now with Rayna, India is still there. According to the prospect, Ellis got to India before she could get in the truck and she told him to get the baby out of there. He came straight here.”
He must have passed us as we were heading back. My daughter passed by me and I never knew, it makes me feel sick. I should know where she is at all times.
“Mason’s the one who got them away, but he had to go back in for Myles when Ellis got to Indie.”
“Tell me she is fine,” I beg to hear.
“She’s fine, a little grizzly but she’s fine, Leo. We’re leaving now, we’ll bring her to you, and you can see for yourself.”
Hearing that I feel marginally better, but I still can’t breathe without pain while India and everyone else is still inside.
“Yeah, good. Okay. I’ll just wait here then.”
This time, it’s him who hangs up and I pass the phone back to Slade.
“He’s coming here.”
“He needs the hospital,” he hisses, clearly pissed with his president and best friend.
Patting my pockets down, I find my pack of smokes and dig out my lighter. The first inhale of poisons is bliss, I take another drag and another and exhale the smoke into the night’s air. Harper once again joins me and stands a little closer than usual, she leans in and lowers her voice when she speaks.
“It’s us he wants, no one should suffer because of us.”
She’s firm, and she believes every word, partly because it’s the truth and partly because she’s stronger than anyone gives her credit for, me included.
“Dad is on his way, we wait,” I tell her, mimicking him.
“I was thinking if I could talk to
him, maybe…”
“Yeah, and what does your husband have to say about that?” I snap, looking over my shoulder where JJ stands watching us.
She means well, but she underestimates JJ and his need to keep her safe. I can’t keep my fiancé safe, what makes her think I’ll keep her from harm when it comes to Ellis, not that I wouldn’t try, but when it comes to that man, I seem to fuck up on the regular. Taking one last pull, I inhale hard and flick the butt to the ground.
JJ isn’t going to let her go in there, not without him, not even with him. My best friend isn’t too deep with his feelings, he’s pretty much an open book, but not when he’s with Harper. She has become his everything and he isn’t afraid to show it in front of anyone. There is no way in Hell she is going anywhere near Ellis with or without his permission.
I light another cigarette and keep my eyes on the clubhouse. My brother is next to step up beside me as Harper returns to her husband. Another few inches and he’ll be as tall as me.
“She’ll be fine, they all will,” he says, and I remain quiet. “Dad would stop telling you to think with your dick and think with your patch.”
Since when did he become the voice of reason?
“What would you tell me?” I finally ask.
I’m not as close to my brother at the moment, and that’s my fault. I do wonder though, what goes on in his head? Since his ‘friend’ ran out of town he’s been a moody prick. We all thought he’d move on and forget about her, but he hasn’t.
“I’d tell you I like India so don’t do anything that will get her killed.” I snort and tear my eyes away from the club. They land on my brother and he’s not finished. He has something on his mind, and I wait for him to continue.
Rolling his lips, he finally says, “And try not to get Tor killed. I wouldn’t like that either.”
“Tor?” When did my kid brother start shortening Victoria’s name?
“You know who I’m talking about, prick,” he grunts.
“I wasn’t aware you and her were a thing.”
“You aren’t aware of anything that doesn’t involve you or yours.”
I go to have a snap at him, but nothing comes out and then he’s walking away, throwing over his shoulder, “Don’t get them killed.”
Reverting my gaze back to the club, I hold my ground and vow to right every wrong without anyone getting killed.
It’s an agonising hour of Slade’s silent treatment, JJ and Harper’s hushed arguments and Luca’s brooding before the sound of the prospects truck approaches us, it’s music to my ears. Finally my dad is here, but more importantly, I can see for myself my daughter is unharmed.
Sparky rides close behind the truck and sighs with relief when he sees JJ sitting on his bike with Harper leaning against him. He mutters something to my dad who is still sitting in the truck about Bonnie being inside and then heads for his son.
Mom is sat on the back seat with Rayna in her baby seat. She looks peaky and her shoulder is bandaged. I reckon she could have been shot in the heart and she’d still be here in this truck against doctor’s orders.
“Don’t say a word, I’ve got the strongest painkillers the hospital had, I go where my granddaughter goes,” she tells me before I even open my mouth.
Dad gags on fuck knows what in the front seat and mom subtly shakes her head for me not to mention anything. They should both be in the hospital and yet, because of their deep-rooted love and loyalty to the club and to the brothers and their families, they wouldn’t be anywhere else right now.
“We need to figure out what we’re going to do before I lose my shit.”
Instead of answering, dad leans on the door to open it and chucks up, half hanging out of his seat.
My girl manages to sleep through his hurling, and I place my hand on her belly so she knows I’m close. She always sleeps better when my hand is on her, it must make her feel secure or some shit.
“What would you do if you were me, and think on it before you speak,” he groans, pulling himself back onto his seat.
I don’t need to think on it.
“I’d be planning an attack.”
Simple. He planned his own attack years ago when my mom was taken, why is this situation any different?
“What about our women?”
I go to snap a come-back, but he carries on. “Brothers have old ladies and daughters in there, if they’re caught in the cross fire, it’s me who has to sit with them and feel their pain. Not you.”
“India is in there.”
“So is Bonnie, Kyla, Victoria. Our decisions can’t be about one person, or they’ll all die.”
He sounds terrible but he’s speaking the truth. Rayna whimpers and I unbuckle her and hold her in my arms, and she settles back down. She smells like India and I inhale it all. It brings a new pain thinking about her in there with him.
“She’s going to need feeding soon, and we don’t have any formula.”
I hear my mom and jerk my chin at the two prospects lingering around. Using my free hand, I hold Rayna close and dig out the loose cash I have in my back pocket.
“Go to the store, buy her formula and get your asses back here.”
“No, go to the cabin,” Dad pipes in and pulls out his phone as the prospects head out.
Shaking my head, I don’t say anything. At least he’s making a call about doing something. Rayna will sure as shit be safer there and it’ll be nice for her to be home.
Swaying my girl in my arms, she stays asleep as dad puts his phone on speaker. Everyone quietens around us as the ringing echoes into the night. Every ring is a nail to my brain until he answers.
“Who am I talking to this time?” Ellis says.
“It’s Cas and you’ve put me in a difficult situation.”
“It’s quite simple really, give me Leo and Harper, and everyone walks out of here unharmed, well, no more harm will come to them.”
Dad goes to talk but the prick keeps talking.
“But you know what? I kinda like it here, I might stay a while, you’ve got twenty-four hours, or the usual threats will be thrown out and I’ll start killing your brothers.” His sarcasm sinks into my every bone.
The line goes dead, and I’ve got one day to prove to my dad he should let me go in there. However, the look on his face as he watches me a little too closely, he’s not going to let me go anywhere.
“He’s got us bending over for him and he’s fucking enjoying it,” Sparky says, anger evident in his tone.
“Maybe you should think about Leo going in, while he’s focused on him, we can strike an ambush and get the women out, give our brothers a fighting chance.”
Everyone turns to Slade and by the looks of it, I’m the only fucker who thinks he’s talking sense.
“You’re only saying that because it’s Leo,” Sparky mutters, and dad nods, agreeing with him.
“He’ll kill my son on sight, even you know that.”
“You’re thinking like a father, it’s nothing I wouldn’t do for Kris, you for Lana or Sparky for Bonnie. Fuck, there have been times we’ve done it, even you remember that. Our boys are no different, it’s how we raised them. Are you now telling me you don’t have faith in them?”
“It’s not about having fucking faith, brother. He’s given us twenty-four hours, we’ll get to the cabin and come up with a plan. As it stands, there are way too many variables standing in our way to go in there now and we don’t have enough weapons on us to attack. I’m thinking like the president, my son is one person, but never forget this Slade, I wouldn’t put Leo in a situation I wouldn’t put any one of us in and if this was any different, I wouldn’t let you go in there either.”
Pursing his lips, Slade turns his back on us all and straddles his bike. No one says a word, all waiting for dad to speak.
“As much as I don’t want to leave, we’ll get to the cabin and go from there.”
And with that said, everyone starts to move and gets ready to ride. Harper kisses JJ’s cheek and c
limbs in the car with mom and dad. I lean in the back door and put Rayna back in her seat. Mom is tired and her eyes hang heavily, but she won’t stop until her granddaughter is safely away from here. I trust her more than myself when it comes to my daughter.
India
His grip tightens in my hair and the clumps he must be pulling out are causing tears in my eyes. He doesn’t let up as he drags me with him across the bar. He grabs a chair as he passes his gun over to one of his Crow brothers. He dumps the chair in the corner, away from most of the people inside and away from any exits and throws me down on it.
The impact doesn’t bother me, the rush of relief my head feels when he lets go of me is intense and leaves a web of tingles scattering over my scalp. There’s not a peep to be heard in the bar apart from the chair Ellis is currently scraping across the floor. It echoes around us when it stops, and he sits down facing me, too close for my liking. I can’t make out if he is calm or rushing with adrenaline. He’s not a bad looking guy but it only makes it worse, I can see how Harper missed his true nature. His brother hands his gun back to him and he then proceeds to use it to stroke the cold metal down the side of my face.
“It was because of you he shot my brother.” He’s not asking me, he’s telling me like I don’t already know this fact. “All because you were pushing out his spawn, my brother had to die like he was a no one outside those gates.”
His eyes are crazy busy, and they don’t rest on one thing for very long. He’s not settled, and his rush is scaring the hell out of me, not that I will ever show him how much.
“My child is not spawn,” I grind out through protectiveness and fear.
“You’re lucky your child is not dead,” he throws at me. “I allowed her to be taken away so I could concentrate on you. I have no problem putting a bullet in her little head as much as I would shoot her daddy. If you think you know me, or you can play me, well, I wouldn’t advise that.”
His One Regret: Sons Of Lost Souls MC Book Four Page 2