by Brook Wilder
“Did you manage to call Mason?” I asked.
“Kayla did for me.” Amber looked up at the ceiling. “I hope she got out of there. She wants out.”
“I don’t blame her.” I cupped Amber’s face, gently turning her towards me. “Do you still want out?”
“Yes.”
“Even if it’s with me?”
Amber didn’t even blink at that. “Yes. I made a mistake, and I won’t do it again.”
I sagged in relief. Amber didn’t protest as I kissed her, sighing as I pushed my tongue into her mouth and slid along hers. It felt like heaven. After everything, Amber was back where she belonged.
I wasn’t planning on letting go. Not now, not after we’ve gotten out of here, not ever.
And we needed to move. We couldn’t stay down there forever, and the Cartel could find the secret door. I eased Amber back and took her hand.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
Once we were out of there and I was mended, I was going to make it up to Amber. In any way I could. Amber deserved that much, at least.
I jumped when there was a loud bang that echoed around the passage. Amber collapsed and hit the ground, almost taking me with her. Then I saw Fernandez coming into the passage, pointing a gun at my face. The man was bloody, his free hand clutching at his stomach, and his face pasty.
I snarled and charged. Fernandez fired again, the bullet whizzing past my face and ricocheting off the wall. I plowed into Fernandez, knocked the gun away, and both of us landed in a tangle of limbs.
Fernandez lashed out and punched me in the gut. I jammed my elbow into Fernandez’s face. Something broke, and warm blood sprayed. I saw Fernandez’s head bouncing off the bricks.
I could only see red. I threw punch after punch, swinging until both my arms were screaming at me and my hands were covered in blood. Fernandez lay beneath me, unmoving and covered in blood.
There was no way he was getting up from that.
“Diesel?”
That snapped me back to reality. Amber. Unable to get on my feet, I pulled myself back up the passage to where Amber was. She had rolled onto her side, and was slumped against the wall.
I stared in horror when I saw blood on the ground and smeared against the wall. “No! Amber!”
“Diesel? I’m cold.”
Amber’s eyes were starting to close. I hauled myself closer and managed to lift her into my arms. Settling her across my lap, I held her close as he tried to stop the blood from the wound on her shoulder.
“No, don’t you dare. Don’t you dare die on me. Amber!”
Chapter Forty Two
Kayla
Seeing Amber being escorted out like that, dressed as lamb to the slaughter, had solidified Kayla’s decision to leave. She hurt all over, and her chest felt like it was about to explode. Another encounter with one of the Russians would more than likely kill her.
She had accepted her lifestyle as a whore a long time ago, but this was too much. Kayla wasn’t about to be used and abused to this level. Even her messed up mind told her this wasn’t right. She deserved more. Seeing Amber having a sliver of that made Kayla want the same.
Her parents had said she was good for nothing. Khloe had made her feel worthless. Kayla didn’t want to feel worthless anymore.
As soon as Amber had been taken downstairs, Kayla found her backpack in the back of the closet and began to pack. She had managed to call Mason using her spare cell phone, and he was planning on sending reinforcements immediately. Chances were they would already be outside. If that was the case, all Kayla had to do was wait for the guards outside the back stairs to be distracted and leave their posts; then she could slip out.
She wasn’t about to be caught in the crossfire.
Kayla was shoving a couple of t-shirts and a pair of jeans into her backpack when one of the other prostitutes came hurrying in. She was still in her black negligee, with her black hair loose about her shoulders, a black silk robe in her hand. Kayla barely stopped, although her heart stopped racing when she realized it wasn’t a Russian or a Cartel.
“Frankie! You scared me!”
“I saw you and Amber acting strangely, and I got curious.” Frankie shrugged her robe on, eyeing Kayla’s backpack. “What are you doing, Kayla?”
“I’m getting out of here.”
“You what?”
Kayla sighed, grabbing at her sneakers and shoving her feet into them.
“You’re not deaf, Frankie. You heard me.”
“I was hoping I hadn’t.” Frankie looked positively horrified. “Are you nuts? Khloe’s going to kill you. If she doesn’t, the bikers will when they get hold of you.”
“The bikers aren’t going to hurt me.”
“They’re killers!”
Kayla sighed. Frankie despised the GRMC. She had never given a reason why, but she expressed her hatred whenever one of them was in the brothel. The bikers found it amusing, which pissed Frankie off even more.
Kayla stood, facing down the furious Amazon.
“And you think the Russians or the Cartel aren’t going to kill us?” she shot back. “Besides,” she added as she started coughing again, “This cold will kill me if they don’t.”
Frankie snorted.
“They’re not going to care who they kill. I saw some of them on their bikes outside just now. A lot of firepower with them. They won’t care who they hit.”
At least they were here. Kayla grabbed a few personal items from the dresser and shoved them into the backpack, zipping it up.
“They’re here because I called them. They’re here to deal with the Russians and the Cartel, not us. It’s us they’re trying to protect.”
Frankie’s mouth had gone slack with horror. Kayla would have found it amusing if it were any other situation.
“You… You called them?” Frankie spluttered. “What the fuck, Kayla? Why would you do that?”
“Because Amber asked me to.”
Frankie snorted, her face turning into a scowl.
“I don’t know what she was thinking, having a baby with a biker.”
“You make it sound like Amber planned to get pregnant.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Everyone wants a sugar daddy.”
“Amber’s not like that.” Kayla slung her backpack onto her shoulder. Her chest was burning up again, and the room was starting to sway. “Besides, I thought you wanted to get out of this life as well.”
“I do. But not at the expense of walking in front of flying bullets.” Frankie sniffed and turned on her heel, stalking towards the door. “If anyone wants to rescue me, I’ll be in my room. They get a free ride if they can get me out unscathed.”
Kayla rolled her eyes as the other woman left her room.
“Stupid bitch.”
She didn’t have time to think about the selfish whore. Gunfire was already starting downstairs. If she was lucky, the back stairs would be unguarded now. Kayla had a chance to leave.
And she was right. The guards Khloe had stuck there to stop anyone sneaking out had gone, having been drawn to the fight downstairs. The sounds of gunfire made Kayla’s head hurt and her ears ring. She grimaced and hurried along the hall, pushing through the door and down the stairs. The stairs were beginning to tilt, causing Kayla to bump into the walls. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to end up in a heap. Already everything was starting to go fuzzy.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Kayla turned. Khloe was at the top of the stairs. Her eyes were wild, her hair mussed about her shoulders. She looked like she was possessed. With Kayla’s blurred vision, she certainly looked demonic. Kayla leant against the wall, trying not to tip over.
“I’m out of here.”
“I never said you could go, Kayla.”
“It’s not up to you anymore, Khloe.” Kayla coughed. That hurt the worst. “And I need to get to a hospital. I’m seriously ill.”
Khloe started coming down the stairs, sauntering like a predatory an
imal. She sneered at Kayla.
“You think the police won’t arrest you for prostitution when you’re at the hospital?” she goaded. “You think you’ll get treated when you can’t afford it.”
“I have to try.” Kayla didn’t care as long as she got somewhere safe. “I went along with this life because I didn’t know anything better. Now I know I can’t live like this. I refuse to be killed because someone gets off on it.”
“You work for me. You belong to me.” Khloe grabbed at Kayla’s throat. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Kayla was struggling to breathe, and she panicked. She clawed at her throat, scratching at Khloe’s arm. The whole world tilted sideways, and then Kayla found herself falling. There was a scream from Khloe, and then everything was turning over and over, Kayla’s body feeling like a rag doll.
Then she slammed into something hard, her head exploding and making Kayla see stars. She lay there, her eyes closed, trying to get her bearings back. When she did open her eyes, Kayla’s vision was very blurred. She could see the stairs, but there seemed to be two flights, and they weren’t aligning. Then she saw Khloe, lying in a heap nearby. Was she dead?
Kayla heard the sound of someone shouting and running footsteps. Then someone was kneeling beside her, cradling her against a solid, warm body. A hand stroked at her swollen cheek, brushing her hair away.
“Kayla? Kayla!”
Kayla could vaguely see a shadow over her, but she couldn’t make out his face. The warmth, however, was enticing. She gave a little smile and leant into her savior as she closed her eyes.
Chapter Forty Three
Diesel
When I first came round, I had no idea where I was. The last thing I remembered was staring at the ceiling of the passageway after I had killed Fernandez. My body had been close to giving up, and I had been tempted to let sweet nothingness take over.
I was lying against something soft. My clothes weren’t sticking to me. And there was a an insistent beeping in my ear that annoyed me. I tried to swat at the noise but felt something tug in the back of my hand. What the…?
Then I remembered something. Someone had found us. I had no idea how, but Amber and I had been taken out into the street. Two ambulances were there, and the noise of people milling about made my head hurt. I remembered seeing Amber being put on a gurney, barely moving, and moved towards one of the ambulances.
That was when I started panicking. “Amber!”
I tried to get up, but a burly paramedic was standing over me, gently but firmly easing me back onto my own gurney. “Stay calm, Mr. Jacobsen. You shouldn’t be moving.”
“Fuck you.” I had snarled. “I’m going with Amber. Where is she?”
“She’s on her way to the hospital. As you will be, once you calm down.”
“She’s pregnant! That’s my baby…”
“I understand, Mr. Jacobsen, but you’re in no fit state to go with her like this.” The paramedic hadn’t even blinked or faltered. “Get yourself seen to, and then we’ll make sure you can see her. But not before.”
“No!” I tried to push him away, and pain flared through my bad shoulder “I need to be with her now.”
“Don’t make me sedate you.”
I scoffed. “As if that could knock me out.”
The paramedic had raised his eyebrows. “Push it and we’ll see.”
And I remembered that I had pushed it. I took a swing at him, and in response, he stuck a needle into me. The sedative kicked in quicker than I had expected. I felt bad for the man who’d had to wrestle me, but Amber’s welfare was the only thing on my mind. I wanted to be with her. With our baby.
Where the fuck was I?
My head hurt, but I managed to open my eyes. The lights were bright. Too bright. I groaned and shut my eyes again. “Fuck!”
“One moment.”
That female voice. I knew it. But where from? A few seconds later, it was back, this time closer. “I’ve dimmed the lights. Think you can open your eyes?”
I tried again. This time the light wasn’t as bad, although my head was still throbbing. The world came into view, and I saw that I was in a hospital room. My leg was in a cast and hoisted up in a pulley, bandages were wrapped tightly around my bare chest, and I felt gauze tickling my scalp. There was an IV stuck into my hand, attached to a bag on a stand beside me. A nasal cannula was on my face, delivering fresh oxygen. The gentle flow tickled, and I had an urge to blow my nose.
Almost as soon as I thought that, a tissue appeared in front of my face. “You’re all snotty. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I wasn’t about to argue. I allowed the cannula to be taken away for a moment, so I could blow my nose. Then the nurse stuck the cannula back in, sending a wave of welcoming oxygen to my lungs. I managed to turn my head, and the woman sitting on the edge of my bed came into view.
“Cassie?”
“Hey, you.” Cassie shook her head. “How you are still alive still baffles me.”
“I have no idea.” I gingerly prodded my chest and felt my ribs complaining, so I left them alone. “I must be stronger than I thought.”
“Not quite.”
“How… How long have I been out?”
“Only a few hours.” Cassie frowned. “The paramedics said they had to sedate you because you became violent.”
“I had to!” I didn’t know why I was trying to justify myself to Cassie. “Amber needs me.”
“She needs professional care from doctors, not you. And you were going to get yourself into bigger trouble if you didn’t get yourself treated.”
I snarled. “And what about Amber?”
“You’re not a doctor. And you were unconscious when Noah found you. You’ve been shot, you’ve got a dozen broken bones, and the CT scan the doctors have done will confirm if you have a skull fracture. And you still wanted to go to Amber?”
“She was shot, Cassie! Of course I did!” I tried to sit up, but it hurt too much to move. “Do you have any idea what that means?”
Cassie looked pained. Her hand instinctively went to her belly. “It might not mean anything. She and the baby are going to be fine.”
I bared my teeth. I had seen the damage. I knew that Amber and our child were in danger. And lying here, doing nothing, was not going to help anyone.
“Don’t make promises like that, Cassie. Amber loses blood, she’ll go into shock. If she’s panicking and her body is trying to save herself, our baby will die.”
Whether it was because of the adrenaline or not, I found myself crying. That hadn’t happened in years. I tried to swipe at my face to get rid of the tears, but I just tugged at the IV in my hand. And that hurt. Cassie reached over and drew his hand away.
“Take it easy. You don’t want the doctors to sedate you again.” She took a fresh tissue and gently wiped my cheeks. That gentle act had me crying all over again. “Don’t think about that right now, Diesel. Think about getting yourself better. Amber wouldn’t want you to make yourself worse because you’re worried about her. You’re not going to help when you’re like this.”
She was right. If I had been well, I would have said the same thing. But the boot was on the other foot, and I couldn’t think about anything other than being with Amber. If she was losing the baby, I wanted to be there for her. I didn’t want Amber to be alone.
“Goddamn it, Cassie! I need to be with her!”
There was a movement in the doorway. I looked up and saw Mason enter the room, closing the door behind him. He looked like he had just had a shower, although he had a patch of gauze on his cheek right under his eye. Noah was with him, his hair tousled and still dripping with water. He had a black eye and his arm was in a sling.
“Listen to reason and lie back down, Diesel,” Mason said firmly.
“You’re on her side, are you?”
“She’s my wife. Of course I am.” Mason reached Cassie’s side, Noah going around the bed. “Now, you need to lie down.”
“I need to be with Amber
right now.”
“And you need to calm down before you end up being sedated again,” Noah reminded me. “The nurses have been authorized to do it. Every time you come around, you start getting violent.”
“Every time?”
“This is the third time you’ve woken up,” Cassie added. “You won’t be treated if you keep going on like this.”