I could be, though, one day.
And I will.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Hello?” Skylar says into the phone. We both just did a workout, Izzy joining us toward the end, and now we’re all dying on the floor, the soft mat underneath us cushioning our bodies.
“Who is this?” she asks, sitting up. “Mom?”
We’re suddenly all on alert, and Izzy rushes off to call Chains in, the two of them returning in seconds.
“What do you mean you’re in trouble? You’re usually the one starting the trouble,” Skylar states.
“Don’t let on that we know she’s involved,” Chains whispers.
“Neville might have told her we went there, though, which would give it away,” I also whisper.
Fuck, Izzy mouths. “Just see what she wants, but don’t give anything away.”
“I can’t hear what you’re saying, you’re breaking up,” Skylar says, frowning. “You want me to come and see you? You’re hurt? Mom, I haven’t even spoken to you in a very long time. Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Did you call Logan?”
She looks to us and covers the phone. “She’s saying she’s hurt and at the hospital, and wants me to come there to see her. She has something to tell me.”
Chains shakes his head. “Ask her which hospital she’s at and tell her you will be there soon.”
Skylar asks, and recites the information out loud so we can all hear it.
“Okay, bye,” she says, and hangs up the phone. “Oh my God, what is she planning now? She’s probably going to try to kidnap me or something.”
Chains is already on the phone to Temper, relaying what just happened. “What do you want us to do?” He nods a few times, and then hangs up the phone.
“What did he say?” I ask.
“He said to stay here, and they will head to the hospital. She’s anticipating our next move, and she has to already know that we won’t send Skylar in,” he says, looking to the woman in question. “So what is she playing at then?”
“Maybe she wanted to draw the men out,” I say, and we all share a look.
Chains instantly stands and rushes out the gym, probably going to check the security and put the clubhouse into lockdown mode.
“Let’s go tell Dee what’s going on,” Izzy says, pulling me and Skylar up.
When we head to the living room however, there’s no Dee. Izzy turns the music off, and calls out his name. “Dee?”
He’s not where he was last seen, getting the dance from the stripper, and he’s not in his bedroom, which is empty. We rush around the clubhouse looking for him, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell is going on?” I mutter to myself, sharing a look with Skylar. “Where could he have gone? He was drunk.”
“I don’t know. Let’s keep looking, though,” she says, and we split up, her going out the back and me going to the living room and kitchen once more.
“Dee’s gone,” I say to Chains when I run into him. “We’ve looked everywhere.”
“The front gate was left open,” he says to me, and then curses loudly. “Fuckin’ hell. Come on, let’s check the cameras.”
I don’t know why we didn’t think of that from the start.
We all watch the security footage, and lo and behold, there’s the fucking stripper dragging a passed-out Dee into his car and then driving away. I don’t know how we let this happen, under all of our noses, but it has. I honestly didn’t see this one coming, though. I need to start being suspicious of everything and everyone coming and going, because apparently you truly never know what the hell is going to happen next.
“You call Temper,” Izzy whispers to me. “You’re the only one of us who is not going to get murdered over this. Feel free to offer him sexual favors or something, anything, because he is going to lose his fucking shit.”
“What do I say? ‘Oh hey, Temper, we lost Dee. Yeah, I know there’s four of us in here, but apparently we didn’t even notice a stripper kidnapping him’?” I ask, eyes wide.
“Yes,” Skylar replies, shrugging.
Fuck.
He answers on the first ring. “We have a huge problem,” I say.
“What is it?” he asks, concern and worry laced in his tone. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” I promise. “But we don’t know if Dee is. The stripper kidnapped him—we just saw it on the camera. She must have drugged him, or maybe he was that drunk, I’m not sure, but she literally dragged his body into the car. She must do CrossFit or something, I don’t know.”
He’s silent for a few seconds. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Tell us what we should do,” I say to him.
“Put Chains on the phone,” he growls.
“It’s not Chains’s fault, Temper, we were all—”
“Abbie, put him on. Now,” he demands, tone full of steel.
Shit.
“Okay,” I gulp, and hand Chains the phone.
We can all hear the yelling through the phone, and I feel so bad. I’ve never heard Temper use that tone before, and it’s fucking scary. He sounds so mean, and he’s obviously lost control of his temper. I’m finally seeing how he got his name.
If he ever spoke to me like that, I’d probably cry.
No, I would definitely cry.
I don’t know how all four of us let a stranger one-up us, but it happened, and it’s not a good feeling, especially after the chat I just had with Skylar about not wanting to be a damn liability. I know it’s none of our faults, but we could have paid a little more attention and checked in on Dee, who we knew was drunk and acting a fool.
Chains ends the call and scrubs his hand down his face. “What a fuckin’ mess. Temper’s coming back here now, Saint and Renny are staying there and seeing what’s going down at the hospital. Heaven help us all.”
“He’s not that mad, right? I mean, he got the yelling over and done with, so I’m sure he’s going to walk back into the clubhouse with a clear head and an idea to fix this whole mess.”
Chains gives me a funny look, then pats the top of my head. “Ahhh, Abbie. Love truly is blind.”
We watch him walk away, looking like he’s about to go to a funeral.
“What’s going to happen now?” I ask the girls.
“We’re going to have to go and find Dee or wait until the stripper calls us and tells us what she wants,” Skylar guesses, covering her face with her hands. “What the fuck else can go wrong today? I don’t even know what’s happening anymore. I need a drink.”
“No one is drinking, you’ve seen what happens,” Izzy murmurs, leading us back into the living room. “I can’t believe this has happened. I mean, everyone should have questioned why Dee had a stripper in the clubhouse, but it’s not like the men haven’t done this kind of shit. Mainly before we came into the picture, but still.”
“I don’t think anyone saw this coming.” Skylar sighs, glancing down at her phone. “I didn’t see my mom calling me either, though, so let’s just say that anything is possible right now. I messaged my brother Logan asking him if Mom called, and he said no. So it must be bullshit, because Logan is her firstborn and favorite; there’s no way she wouldn’t have called him if something was truly wrong.”
“Maybe she was distracting us so the stripper could sneak Dee out,” I suggest, wincing. “I mean, it did the trick.”
Skylar blinks slowly a few times. “Fuck.”
“What does she want with Dee, though?” I ask.
“Maybe he was the only one she could get a hold of. I mean, he’s been going to that strip club a while now. Remember, he even wanted some new clothes to impress some chick. Maybe Georgia noticed that and got the girl on her side,” Izzy suggests, tapping her long nail on her cheek. “I just don’t see where she’s going to take it from here. There’s nothing in particul
ar that she wants, right? What the hell is she going to do with Dee?”
“Use him to make us do what she wants?” I guess. “Who knows? I guess we’re going to find out, but I hope Dee is okay.”
“Temper will find him,” Skylar says with conviction. She believes in her president, there’s no doubt.
We hear Temper before we see him. “You had four people to protect,” he says to Chains, his sinister voice echoing through the clubhouse. “I trusted you, and now Dee is fuckin’ gone. I am seething, Chains. Seething.”
“I know I fucked up,” Chains admits. “I’m sorry. I’ll do anything to get him back, all right? Just tell me what you need me to do.”
Crow comes over to us and sits down on the couch. “This is fucked.”
“So fucked,” Izzy adds, touching Crow’s shoulder. “What the hell are we going to do now?”
“I’m going to stay with you. Temper and Chains are going to try to get Dee back,” he explains to us.
“How are they going to do that?” I ask them.
“They’re going to the strip club Dee has been going to recently and go from there. I don’t know if there is a concrete plan—I think they’re just going to have to wing it.”
That sounds fucking stressful.
“I’m going to go and change the code on the gate, because we don’t know if the stripper knows it. Dee was out of it. Fuck it, I’m changing the codes on everything. You three, do not fucking separate, and do not move. I’m not allowing anything else to go wrong today.”
“Okay,” we all say at the same time.
“I’ve never heard Crow speak like that to us,” Skylar points out. “He must be freaking out.”
Temper enters the room, his eyes coming right to me. I get up and go to him without a word, and his arms come around me. “It could be worse, at least that’s what I’m telling myself.”
“They aren’t going to hurt Dee, are they?” I ask softly, brow furrowing. “I just don’t understand how we are going to fix this.”
We.
I’m as invested in this as they are.
“You just worry about staying safe, all right? I’ll go and get Dee back, only so I can kick his ass myself,” he mutters, resting his forehead against mine. “Please, stay here and stay out of fuckin’ trouble. I love you.”
“We will, and I love you too,” I promise him. “Stay safe. If Georgia is involved, I think we can agree we don’t know what to expect.”
“And next time one of the men try to use you like a fuckin’ shield for my anger, tell them to fuck off,” he growls, kisses me, and then leaves the room.
“Dee is going to be all right, isn’t he?” I ask them, cuddling in between them on the couch, watching the door Temper just left through.
So much can go wrong right now, and it’s nerve wracking just waiting here and hoping for the best.
“Yep, he will be fine,” Skylar says. “We will all be fine.”
She sounds confident, but I’m not so sure.
They have no real plan. We don’t know what they want with Dee in the first place, or what they have up their sleeve, and we have no idea what they’re about to walk into. I can almost feel my mom’s anxiety flowing through me, or is that my own now?
“Is Ariel going to be okay?” Skylar asks Izzy. “Are they alone at your house?”
“No, they’re all at Trade’s house, so they will be fine,” Izzy replies, frowning. “But I left Shadow at home—I should have brought him here. He would have barked anytime anyone came near the clubhouse.”
Crow comes in, and hands us each a loaded gun. “You all know what to do?”
We all nod, and I’m so glad I took the time to learn how to shoot and use various guns, or I’d be so fucked right now.
“Okay, good. Just a precaution,” he says, eying each of us in turn. “We don’t know what to expect right now, but we’ve got this. No one is going to come here and try to fuck with us, I’m going to make sure of that.”
Crow has clearly been pushed to his breaking point, and fair enough—they fucked with one of us.
And now they can pay the price.
Chapter Twenty-Five
When we hear someone yelling at the front of the clubhouse, we all share a look.
“What the hell is going on now?” I whisper, looking to Crow. “What do we do?”
“Temper knows the new code,” he says, frowning. “Come on, stay behind me.”
We all go to the front of the clubhouse, guns in hand, and peer through the window. Standing there is Chains, and he’s carrying Dee in his arms.
“Open the gate,” Skylar says quickly. “It’s Chains and Dee!”
Crow rushes out and lets them in. If he only told Temper the new code, I guess the other two wouldn’t know it, but where is Temper? I look behind them, waiting for him to arrive. Did they go in two cars? Or did he take his bike?
Chains comes inside, carrying a battered Dee, who is sporting a broken nose and is covered in blood. “Is he okay?” Izzy asks Chains, touching Dee’s face.
My heart is racing, and I don’t know if it’s because Dee looks like he’s been through hell, or because Temper has still yet to walk through those doors to tell me that everything is going to be okay.
“He’s fine, just a little beaten up,” Chains says.
“Where’s Temper?” I ask him, brow furrowing. “Why isn’t he with you?”
What happened out there?
Chains ignores me, and continues to carry Dee into his bedroom, laying him on top of the sheets. I follow behind, waiting for someone to tell me what the hell is going on and where my man is. I can feel myself about to snap, about to lose control as panic and fear start to take over me. Skylar looks over Dee, and tells us that he’s a little battered, but going to be okay.
“Chains,” Crow says, stopping him with his arm on his shoulder. “What happened?”
“We went into the stripper’s bar—they were expecting us. All the mercenaries were there, about ten of them, not to mention Georgia, and there was more of them than there was us. They offered Temper a trade. Him for Dee, and we get to walk away unharmed. If he didn’t agree to that trade, they were going to kill us all, starting with Dee.”
“I can’t believe Georgia. I think I’m going to be sick,” Skylar says, running to the bathroom.
“Fuck,” Crow whispers, turning to me, and pulling me against him. “Abbie, it’s going to be okay. We’ll get him back. He’s not going out like this, no way in hell.”
I’m still trying to process the whole thing. So now we have Dee back, but they have Temper? Was this their plan all along? What are they going to do to him? Does he look like Dee does right now? Are they hurting him? What if Georgia has had enough playing around and is going to kill him? What if he’s already gone?
He said he’d come home to me.
I guess being with the president means being with someone who will always put himself last, someone who always has to be the hero. But you know what?
Crow is right: Temper is not going out like this.
“Where is this stripper’s bar?” I demand from Chains. “Where?” I yell when he doesn’t reply. “Tell me!”
I don’t care what I have to do, but I’m going to try anything.
I did not just get this man only to lose him.
“What are you going to do?” Skylar asks me as she comes back from the bathroom, holding on to my arm and making me look at her. “You can’t just walk in there, Abbie. Temper would be devastated if you did that, and it wouldn’t end well. The men just tried the same thing and look at what happened. We need a new plan, a better plan, or this isn’t going to end well.”
“I’m devastated!” I growl. “I don’t care what Temper thinks right now, I just want to save him. He might not be around to care if we don’t do something now. And I don’t
care what I have to do. You’re right, I just need a better plan.”
Think, Abbie, think.
“Georgia was there?” I ask Chains.
He nods. “Yeah, she was. The mercenaries are hers. She’s calling the shots.”
Shit.
“I’ve got an idea,” I say, looking at each of them in turn. “But I’m going to need all of you, and Skylar, I’m going to need a huge fucking favor from you.”
“Anything you need,” she instantly says.
I don’t know if this is going to work, but I’m sure as hell going to try anything that I can.
* * *
“Skylar, I can’t be fucking walking into some situation where I’m going to get shot. I have a family and I need to be there for them,” Logan says, shaking his head.
“We have a family too,” she says. “And it’s our mother pulling this bullshit, and you’re her favorite kid. You’re the only leverage we have over her.”
“Please,” I say, looking him dead in the eye. “I can’t lose him.”
Logan groans, his head falling back on his neck. “I cannot believe you are trying to drag me into this shit. Are you sure Mom is the ringleader of this? I don’t know what the hell is going on, Skylar.”
“Logan, you don’t know me.” I start willing him to understand the severity of the situation. “But your mother has hired men to come after the MC. And while that may not affect you, I get it, but on both those occasions innocent people were around and could’ve been hurt. The first time, I was there and could’ve been shot. The second time your sister, Izzy and myself were also there. She doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as she gets her revenge, and that even means Skylar. Your mother is a loose cannon.”
Logan looks back and forth between me and Skylar, and I think he must sense my desperation. “All right, come on.”
I don’t know how the hell we talked him into this, but it was all I could think of, because I remember Skylar telling me how Logan was Georgia’s favorite and that she really did love him. It’s all I can think to use against her, but I know it’s a long shot. It’s not often people will agree to walk into a strip club and face a potential gun fight, pretending to be a captor we will harm if she doesn’t do a trade.
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