Maverick (Carter Brothers Book 5)

by Lisa Helen Gray

  “If it’s any consolation, I’m actually scared for you,” Max says, shuddering.

  “Please, Mav, you need to do something.”

  “Like what?” I ask, laughing at his pleading expression.

  “I don’t know. Tell her I can’t,” he says, exasperated.

  “What, can’t perform?” Max asks seriously, looking down at Matt’s crotch.

  He splutters, looking at Max in disgust and fury. “What? I can perform perfectly fucking fine, thank you.”

  “So… go perform,” I tell him, wiggling my eyebrows.

  “Ahh, fuck. I’m going to hell,” he mutters, before sulking off, Tish following smugly behind.

  Max and I turn to each other, pausing for a moment before bursting into laughter. My stomach hurts and I have to bend over to get my bearings.

  “What are you two laughing about?” Teagan asks, smiling as she tucks herself under my arm. I pull her close, kissing the top of her head.

  Lake isn’t far behind, her face bright as she skips up to Max, kissing him on the cheek.

  “Nothing.” I chuckle as Max turns to Lake, smiling.

  “Was everything okay?”

  “Yeah, Mum said to tell you that she’ll see us tomorrow, and to thank Malik and Harlow for the invite. The music and excitement were too much for Cowen to handle, so they decided to take him home.”

  “Still pissed he beat me at that dance-off,” Max frowns and Lake giggles, shaking her head.

  “Can the bride and groom make their way to the dance floor for their first dance,” the DJ booms. Turning towards the stage, I pull Teagan to my front, holding her close.

  I catch Denny taking food off Harlow, helping her off her seat. Malik is struggling with Mason, growling something at him, most likely threatening to kill the DJ since he said he didn’t want to dance. Verbally, Harlow agreed, but what Malik didn’t see―but I did―was her fingers crossed behind her back.

  Mason says something to Malik that has his head turning to the dance floor, his eyes softening. Following his gaze, I see Harlow standing in the middle, looking as beautiful as ever.

  James Arthurs, “Say You Won’t Let Go” starts playing and I smile at how quick Malik relaxes, pulling Harlow as close as she can get with the huge bump between them.

  “They’re so happy,” Teagan whispers, resting her head on my shoulder. I look down to find her eyes shining bright, happiness pouring out in waves.

  Movement to my left catches my attention and I find Max being pulled onto the dance floor, Lake laughing at something he says. He smiles at her, love and happiness filling his eyes, burning my chest.

  The same thing can be said for Myles and Mason as they drag Kayla and Denny out to the dance floor. Seeing them like this makes everything I endured worthwhile. I’d do anything if it meant they got to where they are now.

  “Come on.” I smile, taking Teagan’s hand and pulling her over to the dance floor.

  Her arms wrap around my neck, her body fitting perfectly against mine. The last time we stood like this was at Denny and Mason’s wedding. So much has changed since that day, but I wouldn’t change a thing if it meant I got to be here with her in my arms.

  “I love you,” she whispers, her eyes sparkling. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing her say those words.

  The way she looks at me, like I hung the moon and stars, has a flurry of emotions fighting their way out. My heart is full, the hole and ache that once consumed me no longer there.

  “I love you too,” I tell her, leaning down to capture her mouth.

  Grinning against her lips, I pull back before twirling her around, lifting her off her feet. She laughs, throwing her head back, never looking more breathtakingly beautiful than she does in this moment.

  Slowing down, I slide her down my body, swaying to the soft flow of the music as we become lost in each other’s eyes.

  I’m snapped out of it when I hear Faith giggling. I turn to find her dancing with the same kid from earlier―a little too closely if you ask me.

  “Oh, hell no!” I growl, taking a step forward to warn the kid, but Teagan pulls me back, giggling. I’m about to argue but my name being called over the music gains my attention.

  Evan is on the edge of the dance floor waving me over, his phone against his ear. His expression is hard, and I know whatever it is, isn’t going to be good.

  Everything happens at once after that.

  I lift my foot to take a step towards him, my eyes never once breaking contact. The next thing I know, I’m flying through the air, my ears ringing from what could only be an explosion.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  TEAGAN

  Alarms blare, coming from all directions, the ringing in my ears deafening me. My body trembles as I sit up, rough fragments of stone and glass falling from my bruised body. I look around in a blind panic, my vision murky due to the smoke and dust stinging my eyes. My eyes widen, taking in the destruction and carnage going on around me.

  How did this happen?

  One minute everyone was smiling and dancing, and the next I swear I heard a bomb go off at the same time the floor shook and rumbled beneath me. Then there was nothing; everything went black.

  I swallow the vomit crawling up the back of my throat, trying to remain calm when I’m anything but. I want to believe this was all a mistake, that this was all a bad dream, but I know better. Everything felt too real―the pain, the panic, and the unbearable fear.

  A sick feeling worms its way around inside me as my gaze flickers across the room to where I last saw Faith.

  My heart stops when I don’t see her.

  Oh God, Faith!

  “Faith!” I cry out, stricken with fear when I see a tiny form trying to get up from the floor.

  With shaky limbs, I go to stand, but my vision blurs, dizziness causing the room to spin. I fall to my knees, shards of glass cutting into me.

  “Faith!”

  Everyone around me is as scared as I am, some stopping to help other guests, others stepping over the more seriously injured, frightened as they fight their way to the exit. Everywhere I look the scene becomes more horrifying―blood pouring from open wounds, terrified expressions on everyone’s faces―but it’s the screams that will forever be burned into my memory.

  Crawling across broken glass, I get closer to the small huddle, my stomach dropping when I realise it’s not her but Sam, the little boy she had been dancing with before the explosion.

  When I reach him, I hold his head in the palms of my hands, gently checking him over for any injuries, seeing nothing but a few minor cuts on his arms and face.

  “Sam, sweetheart, have you seen Faith?” I ask shakily.

  “I want my Mummy,” he cries, clinging to my torn dress.

  My heart breaks for him. Looking around, I see a man close by. “Hey, you! Excuse me!” I shout. He turns, his eyes unfocused and glazed over. “Please help me. Take him to safety.”

  He shakes his head in a daze, looking towards the exit and then back to me.

  Just then an explosion shatters the optics along the bar and a spray of glass rains down on us. I cover Sam with my body, protecting him as a scream tears from my throat.

  When I turn back towards the man, he’s gone, wobbling his way over to the exit.

  “No, no, no,” I scream, glancing around for my daughter. “Faith? Faith! Please, someone help me.”

  “Teagan?” I turn to Max, but something in the rubble has me pausing and I look back.

  Then I see it.

  Her shoe is poking out of the rubble, lying at a weird angle. Putting Sam down, I leap across the wreckage, trying to get to her as quickly as possible, my heart in my throat.

  “Faith,” I sob, my vision getting blurrier by the minute. A wave of dizziness makes me sway, but with as much strength as I can muster, I begin picking through the debris.

  “Please, God, no. No, no, no,” I chant, trying to uncover her body.

  A hand falls over mine, warm.
I scream, ripping it away to get to my girl.

  Please no!

  Those same hands help lift the rest off her. The minute the last piece is taken away, I get a good look at her. I fall back on my heels, an agonising, blood-curdling scream ripping from my throat.

  Pain like nothing before fills every fibre of my being and I struggle to breath.

  “No!” I scream.

  The last thing I see is Maverick, his dark eyes locking on mine, witnessing the devastation and pain inside me.

  I open my mouth but no sound escapes, not even a puff of air.

  Then nothing once again.

  I succumb to the darkness.

  MALIK

  “Malik.”

  Why the fuck is Harlow screaming… and right in my ear?

  “Malik!”

  Coming to my senses, I open my eyes, smiling when I see my beautiful wife. Then I register the suffering and alarm in her eyes, and everything around me comes into focus.

  My eyes widen at the state of the room. There’s a huge gaping hole in the ceiling not too far from where I’m lying. A fire burns in the far back, everyone running around in a panic. I cough, stunned and shocked.

  “Malik! Malik!”

  Harlow.

  “Fuck, babe, we need to get you out of here,” I say, my chest squeezing painfully with pure fear, needing to get her and our babies to safety.

  “No. No. I… Malik… the babies,” she pants, her face scrunched in agony.

  Fuck no.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, swallowing back my fear.

  “Oh God, it hurts so much!” She screams. My eyes widen in horror when she hugs her stomach, her face tight, reddened from pain.

  Looking around, I see Max close by helping a crying and scared-looking Kayla and Lake to their feet.

  “Max, help,” I yell, wiping my burning eyes with my sleeve.

  Hearing the desperation in my voice, he turns. I curse when I see the side of his face is covered in blood. His eyes flicker to me, then to Harlow before he turns back to the girls, yelling something over the roaring chaos of the room. He hands Kayla off to Lake, pushing them towards the door.

  “Please make it stop. My babies,” Harlow sobs.

  I brush her hair back, resting my forehead against hers, trying to push aside my alarm and dread. I hate seeing her like this; having my insides ripped out would be less painful.

  “We need to get out of here. The fire is spreading,” Max says, coming up on the other side of Harlow.

  “Help me.” I order him to take her other side. Together we try to help her to her feet, but then another agonising scream escapes. Her back bows in pain, leaving us no choice but to lower her back to the floor.

  “What the fuck. Where are you hurt?” Max asks, looking over her body, his eyes round.

  “Oh God, no,” she moans.

  I clutch her hand in mine. “What is it, baby?” I ask, a fear so brutal filling me, it’s suffocating. I run my hand through my hair, everything inside me trembling as I think of what to do.

  My brain can’t focus on anything but her.

  I can’t lose her.

  “My waters just broke,” she pants, a sheen of sweat lining her forehead.

  “You’re having your babies?” Max yells, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. “Here? Now?”

  “Max, get some fucking help, now!” I roar, pushing him away.

  MAX

  The look on Malik’s face is enough to make any grown man piss himself, but I can understand his urgency. Harlow doesn’t look good at all, and the way she’s clutching her stomach….

  I shake my head.

  Please let my nieces or nephews be okay.

  But it’s not just about her being in labour. The place is on fire, the smoke getting thicker by the minute, and everyone is screaming; it’s pure and utter chaos.

  “I’m going to get help,” I assure him, getting up.

  The minute I turn, I run straight into Mason. His face is covered in blood, his eyes red and wild as he looks around with jerky movements, his arm held tightly to his chest.

  “Where’s Denny? Hope?” he shouts frantically.

  Grabbing his shoulders, I give him a gentle shake, getting his attention. “They’re fine. Hope wasn’t in here. She was outside with Mary,” I remind him.

  He sags against me, swaying slightly.

  “What about Denny?”

  “She’s outside. She left with Kennedy,” I tell him, hiding the fact that it took me and a few others to drag her out. She’d been hysterical when she couldn’t find him. “We need to get Harlow out of here. She’s in fucking labour. We can’t find Mav either. Myles is trying to search for him whilst helping others get out.” I cough into my hand, the smoke becoming thicker.

  “Holy fuck,” he breathes when he sees Harlow.

  “Get some fucking help,” Malik roars.

  I start to go, but Mason stops me. “I’ll see if the medics are here and bring in a stretcher.”

  I nod, watching him leave before turning back to Malik.

  “Faith? Faith! Please, someone help me.”

  I turn to the voice, squinting through the grey clouds of smoke. “Teagan,” I shout. Her head turns in my direction but she stops, turning back to look at something.

  Time seems to stop and dread fills my stomach when I see what has her attention―a small arm hanging limply through the plaster and stone.

  Fuck no!

  “Myles,” I shout, my eyes wide from fear, my gut twisting painfully.

  MASON

  Rushing out of the club and into the night’s cool air, my lungs burn painfully, coughing uncontrollably as I clutch my useless hand to my chest.

  In the middle of the street are six ambulances, all with crowds of people surrounding them, fighting to get medical assistance. Running to the closest one, I push through the crowd, grabbing the shoulder of the first paramedic I see.

  “Sir, you’ll have to wait,” he says, turning back to treat someone I don’t recognise.

  “No. My sister-in-law is in labour. She’s carrying twins and is in too much pain for us to move her.”

  He glances over at MC5, smoke pouring out of it, and shakes his head, looking scared.

  “The fire brigade will be here any second,” he informs me, swallowing when he sees my stormy expression.

  “We don’t have time. She needs help now,” I yell, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him. He opens his mouth, but he doesn’t need to utter a word for me to know what he’s about to say. “Fuck this.”

  Shoving him out of the way, I move through the crowd, reaching the ambulance. I’m filled with relief when I see a stretcher near the backdoors, blankets folded on the top. I throw them in the back before pushing the bed through the crowd, wincing at the unbearable pain in my arm every time someone knocks into me.

  “You can’t take that,” the paramedic snaps as I pass him.

  “Watch me,” I shout, not even looking in his direction.

  “Mason,” Denny yells. When I turn, she’s rushing towards me, tears streaming down her face. I catch her with my good arm, pulling her close and breathing her in. “Thank God you’re okay.”

  She sobs against my chest and it kills me to pull away, but Malik and Harlow need me more right now.

  “Denny, I need to go back inside, Harlow’s in labour.”

  “Harlow’s in labour?” she asks, paling. “C’mon, we have to help her.”

  I stop her, folding her against my chest. “Go be with Hope. We’ll get her out, but I need you to be strong and stay here where I know you’re safe.”

  I can tell she wants to argue, but she must see the desperation on my face because she nods, leaning up to kiss me.

  “Go. Hope and I will be here waiting.”

  Fuck, I love her.

  Grabbing the back of her head, I slam my lips to hers in a quick, passionate kiss, relieved she’s really okay and I’ve seen it with my own eyes.

  Life withou
t them isn’t a life worth living.

  “I love you,” I breathe against her lips.

  “I love you more. Be safe.”

  With those words, I rush back into the building, practically dragging the stretcher behind me over the debris.

  “Thank fuck,” Malik says when he sees me, his face pale, looking scared and vulnerable for the first time in his life. My heart hurts for him.

  “C’mon.” Moving, I help him get Harlow on the bed, her screams turning my stomach. She doesn’t look good, her expression dazed and her skin awfully pale.

  We turn when a thunderous roar echoes around us. My eyes widen in horror when I see Maverick holding a limp Faith in his arms, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  Please, no.

  MYLES

  “Get him out,” I shout to the two men who came in off the street to help with the casualties.

  I take one last look at Evan, praying he’ll be okay before moving to help the next person.

  “Myles!”

  Turning, my eyes land on Max. He coughs, pointing across the room. I see Teagan knelt over something, distraught. Not far is Sam, the son of one of Malik’s motocross friends, crying.

  “You,” I yell, grabbing the first capable person I see. “Get that boy out of here.”

  He nods, moving quickly to get to Sam, as I head over to Teagan.

  When I see what has her so torn up, my stomach turns and I fall to my knees in front of her. Covering her bloody hands with mine, I try to get her to let me help, but she slaps my hands away, not stopping as she frantically tries to free Faith.

  Please let her be okay.

  A wave of panic hits me and with quick movements, I lift the larger piece of debris. Faith’s face comes into view and I gasp, stricken by the horrifying sight.

  “Teagan,” Maverick yells, but his voice is drowned out by Teagan’s gut-wrenching cries.

  “Teagan, baby…. No! Teagan,” he shouts as I watch, my heart aching as she falls to the floor unconscious. “Myles?”

  I meet his eyes, my body frozen, not knowing what to do as I give him a pained look. How do I tell him? This will break him.

  Then he sees her.

  His face… God, I’ve never seen such sorrow and grief in all my life. Tears flow freely down my cheeks as he falls to his knees, pure despair in his haunted eyes.