by J. M. Walker
“See you soon,” Piper whispered.
We said our goodbyes but even after talking to the twins, it didn’t make me feel any better.
“I’m scared,” Piper finally said.
I wasn’t a man who got scared often. Not until Piper and I started doing our thing and I ended up in jail as a result of my rage taking control of me. Only when that happened and I was taken from her, did I actually become scared.
Scared that I would never see her again.
Scared that I would never meet our daughter.
Scared that I would never be able to tell Piper how I truly felt.
Even after telling her that I loved her and confessing those feelings, it wasn’t enough. There was so much more I wanted to tell her.
We continued driving in silence. I drove us past the road that would lead to home. I went down every side street I could and yet, the SUV was still following us. When we reached the outskirts of town, a shuddered breath left Piper.
As the headlights got closer, I could almost sense the depravity rolling off the person driving the vehicle. I would bet my life that the mayor had set it up. Price was out for blood and because of me, Piper and Brynlee were now brought into this mess.
When we got a couple of miles outside of town, the SUV sped up.
“Jaron,” Piper gasped. “They’re going to hit us.” As soon as those words left her mouth, the SUV bumped the back of the car.
My eyes shot to Brynn. She had fallen asleep, thankfully, so she was none the wiser but if the vehicle kept hitting us, she could get hurt. I just prayed that she would never remember this shit.
“Hold on,” I told Piper and pressed my foot on the gas. If I had been by myself, I would have driven off the road and into the field, but I wasn’t. My main focus was keeping my girls safe.
The SUV continued speeding up, hitting the bumper and backing off. They were fucking with us and that pissed me off.
“Grab my phone and call the second last number that called me,” I told Piper.
She did as she was told, thankfully not asking any questions. She placed it on speaker, her wide eyes burning into the side of my head.
When a click sounded on the phone, my eyes shot to the rearview mirror. I couldn’t make out who was driving the SUV behind us. “Tell your boys to back the fuck off,” I growled.
A deep chuckle sounded from the other end of the phone. “Do you kiss Piper with that filthy mouth?”
A soft gasp left her.
“Ah, it sounds like she’s there with you,” Price taunted. “Piper, how are you? Did you miss me?”
“What do you want?” I asked even though I already knew the answer.
“I want something of yours, Jaron. Something you don’t deserve but have anyway. I want you to fucking pay.”
Piper’s hand trembled, the phone shaking in her grip.
“You can have me. You can do whatever the hell you want to me but leave my girls out of this shit.” Even though I said those words, I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I was also grateful that Piper didn’t argue. She may not have been around the biker life until meeting me, but she also wasn’t stupid. She knew when to keep her mouth shut when it came to hers and our daughter’s safety. Especially when she could be pregnant again, her life was all that mattered to me.
“Yeah, you see.” Price paused. “That doesn’t work for me. You took my son.”
“He almost raped me,” Piper said, voicing her thoughts. “That bastard should have gotten more than what he did.”
My head whipped around.
She raised an eyebrow, daring me to say she was wrong. She wasn’t. But Price wasn’t one to be messed with or egged on. He was going to use her words against us.
“Listen, you little bitch. Maybe you shouldn’t have teased my son then we wouldn’t be in this fucking hell,” Price growled.
I grabbed the phone from Piper, took him off speaker, and held it up to my ear. “I will give you one last chance to call your boys off. If you don’t, this will be war, Price.”
“That’s Mister Mayor to you, Jaron.”
“Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you actually earned my respect. Forgive me for not noticing.” The sarcasm dripped from my voice.
“Jaron.” He chuckled. “I’m going to have so much fun ripping Piper apart. I was going to feed her to my dogs, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to keep her for myself. You know what else I’m going to do? I’m going to record every single detail and send it to you, so you can watch her die.”
The sound of the click in my ear, forced a curse from my lips. Tossing the phone in Piper’s lap, I gripped the steering wheel and pressed my foot against the gas as hard as I could.
“Jaron, what happened? What’s going on? What did he say?”
I didn’t answer because I couldn’t. I needed to get these fuckers off our tail. I needed to end Price before he made good on his threat. I needed to keep Piper and Brynlee safe.
I was pissed that she let her mouth get away with her, but I was more pissed that I couldn’t do anything about it. My temper had gotten the best of me before and I almost lost Piper as a result of it.
“Jaron.” Piper’s scream pulled me from my thoughts.
As soon as I reached for her hand, the SUV’s headlights were the last thing I saw before everything went dark.
Jaron
The only thing keeping me from just up and quitting, was the fact that Piper had my baby at home. She gave birth a week ago and I hadn’t been able to talk to her yet. Sammy and Cyrus had both gone over to check on her and Brynlee. They reported back that they were both healthy and safe. That was all I cared about. As much as it hurt that I wasn’t there, I was thankful that Sammy and Cyrus could be there for her.
They were the brothers I never had. We were family without being blood related. But even though we didn’t share the same DNA, we shared a bond that most blood relatives didn’t. Sure we fought, argued, and let our egos get in the way every now and again, but I couldn’t ask for two better men to look after my girls when I couldn’t.
While I stared down at the picture of Piper holding our newborn daughter, I ran my thumb along the colored image of them. She was beautiful and had a glow about her. Brynn was staring up at her mama and even though I wasn’t there, I could feel the love they already had for each other.
I craved the day that I could meet our daughter and see Piper again. A question had crossed my mind on if we would have still been together if she hadn’t gotten pregnant. I wondered if Piper felt the same way. The question had only crossed my mind once before I knew the answer was yes. She wasn’t pregnant when I went to Paris for her. She wasn’t pregnant when I found her at that bar and fucked her in the bathroom. She was mine before she had my baby growing inside of her.
From the moment I remembered being attracted to her when we were teenagers, I wanted her. And now that she was in fact mine, in almost every sense of the word, things were threatening to tear us apart.
But I refused to back down.
No matter the cost.
A loud ringing erupted in my ears. Pain slid between my eyes, forcing a breathless gasp to escape me. I tried thinking back over the last little bit. I didn’t know what had happened but what I did know, was that I hurt. Everywhere.
Opening my eyes, I blinked once and then a second time before my vision cleared and I looked around me. The car was in a ditch with smoke coming up from under the hood.
Clicking the seat belt free, I did a quick scan of my body. When nothing seemed broken, I looked around me.
Piper was still beside me, but her eyes were closed. There was a gash on her head.
“Fuck,” I bit out. I leaned over her, checking her pulse. When I felt the beating of her heart beneath my finger, I kissed her cheek. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Satisfied that she was okay, I turned around to check on Brynlee. They say that when you’re on the verge of death, you see a white light and your life plays ou
t before you, but they never tell you what happens when your daughter disappears.
So many different emotions traveled through me, they were damn near suffocating.
How could I tell Piper that her daughter was missing?
Bile rose to my throat at the thought we would never see her again. Anger tore through my soul that Price had taken it this far.
The car seat was empty with the belt unbuckled, and the back door was open. The SUV who forced us off the road, was nowhere to be found and neither was our daughter.
Opening the driver’s side door, I left the vehicle and searched around it for Brynn, but I couldn’t find her. I kept thinking over the past few weeks. Did I make the right choice in being with Piper? If I would have stayed away, maybe Price would have left them alone. The things he wanted to do to Brynlee as she got older, forced the air from my very lungs. This was going to kill Piper. She would never forgive me.
“Jaron,” I heard Piper call out from the car.
Fuck, what was I going to tell her?
“Jaron, where’s Brynn?” she cried. “Where is she? God, my baby. Where is she, Jaron? Tell me!”
I rushed to her before she left the car. As I ran around to the passenger side door, she left the vehicle and fell to her knees.
A scent hit me. It smelled like…
“Gas.” Shit. I grabbed Piper and all but dragged her to the road away from the car just as it went up in flames.
“Brynlee!” she screamed, trying to push away from me and run toward the car. Her cries of anguish ripped through my very soul.
“She wasn’t in there, baby.” I wrapped myself around her. “I promise she wasn’t.”
“Where is she?” Piper sobbed, gripping my hoodie tight.
“Whoever was in the SUV must have…they…” My throat closed, my tongue thick.
“No!” She shoved away from me and took a step back toward the car.
“Stop.” I grabbed her hand, pulling her back against me. Just when I was about to ask her if she had her cell phone, a vehicle started coming down the road toward us. My heart jumped to my throat.
“Is that them?” Piper asked between sniffles and soft cries.
“I don’t know who that is.” I stepped in front of her, shielding her from whoever was driving down the road.
“Jaron, I need my baby back.”
“I know. I’ll get her.” If it was the last thing I did, I would find Brynlee. I would find our daughter and make the bastards pay for taking her in the first place. If Price thought me killing his son was bad, just wait until I got ahold of him for taking my baby girl.
***
(Piper)
I was stuck in my head as the vehicle rolled up toward us. I didn’t know who it was or if it was the same vehicle as before. The one who ran us off the road and took our daughter.
My baby.
The pain etching through me was nothing I had ever felt before. It was like these bastards had taken a piece of my soul. No. They took my whole entire being. If we didn’t get her back, there was no point. I couldn’t move on or get over it. Jaron and I were talking, we didn’t fight as much anymore, we loved each other, and now this. This would destroy the progress we’d made.
“Who are they?” I heard myself ask.
“I don’t know.” Jaron kept his hand in mine.
The SUV came to a stop a few feet away. Three men filed out of the vehicle. Two were large and reminded me of the bikers I had spent some time hanging around while Jaron was gone. The third man was smaller. Much smaller in fact. He was still tall but had more of a swimmer’s build. He reminded me of Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds. His hair was longer, the ends hitting just above his ears.
“Who are you?” Jaron asked when the Spencer Reid lookalike came toward us followed by one of the bigger guys.
The third man stood back. He moved his leather jacket, revealing two guns in a holster sitting on his hips.
“Who we are doesn’t matter,” one said. His friend who was still standing by the SUV, was big but this one was large. With tattoos lining both sides of his thick neck, his piercing blue eyes locked on us. Bits of silver sprouted from his black hair. He had dark scruff on his strong jaw that held a hint of gray. While he looked to be in his late forties, a gold nose ring made him almost appear young. It was a contradiction, the metallic ring sparkling in the sunlight. “We saw the vehicle pull out of the parking lot and start following you.”
“You couldn’t have done something before they ran us off the road?” Jaron bit out, tightening his hold on my hand.
“This isn’t a movie, kid.” The man looked at his friend before back at us. “You two need to go to the hospital.”
“No. We need to find our daughter,” Jaron told him.
“Your daughter’s missing?” the man with the nose ring, asked.
“Yes,” Jaron answered, his voice cracking. “She was taken before we woke up. We don’t even know if she’s…”
A dark shadow passed over the other man’s face. He appeared to be younger and even though he was much smaller than his two friends, there was an air about him that I didn’t like. His clothing didn’t seem to mirror his personality either. He was definitely no Spencer Reid, even though he could have been his twin. With dark blue jeans, a button-up plaid shirt with all sorts of pastel colors, and a light gray vest, he seemed almost geeky. When he caught me staring, the corner of his mouth pulled up into a smirk.
My stomach twisted. Inching closer to Jaron, I grabbed his hand.
He looked down at me, probably wondering what the hell had made me suddenly so nervous but I couldn’t explain it.
This guy…he terrified me.
“Someone took your daughter?” the larger man asked.
“Yes, they did,” Jaron said, his voice rough.
The smaller man who had been silent this whole time, turned around and headed back to the SUV to join his other friend.
“Jaron.” I grabbed onto his hoodie, leaning my head against his strong back. Everything inside of me hurt. From my bones to my muscles. My body ached but I needed Brynn. I needed her in my arms. I would never again take it for granted that I had her with us, always.
“We’ll get her,” he said, reaching around for me. He pulled me into his side, hugging me tightly and keeping me close.
“We’ll drive you to the hospital,” the man who had stayed behind said.
“No. We’ll go somewhere else. The hospital isn’t safe.” Jaron grabbed my hand, slipping his fingers between mine. “We’ll go see Shadow.”
Shadow, or Nero Wolf, was Bee’s grandfather and a retired biker. He had his own little hospital at his clubhouse which was safer than going to an actual hospital. No one asked questions there.
“We’ll take you.” The man spun on his heel, pulling a phone from his pocket.
“Wait.” Jaron stepped forward. “Did you see who took our daughter?”
The man’s face softened. “No. I’m sorry, we didn’t. We were driving home, saw the other SUV start following you. They were sitting in the parking lot and pulled out as soon as you left the grocery store. So we started following them. We were cut off by another car and then got stuck behind a tractor. We finally made our way to you and saw the explosion but we thought it might have been too late.” He put the phone to his ear. “Yeah, I’d like to report an accident.” He gave the location and hung up before the dispatcher asked for anything else. “Call whoever you need,” he said, handing Jaron the phone.
When we reached the SUV, Jaron paused in his steps. He looked down at the cell in his hand before meeting my gaze. “I don’t know who to call.”
“Everyone, Jaron. Call every single fucking person we know.” My eyes welled. “I need my baby back.”
He nodded, putting the phone up to his ear and walking away. “Dad, I need your help,” he said, his voice trailing off as he stepped out of earshot.
“Here.”
I looked over my shoulder.
The man who
had stayed behind was now sitting in the passenger seat, holding a bottle of water out the window.
I hesitated but ended up taking it and downing half the bottle. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
“I’m Piper and he’s Jaron,” I said, breaking the unnerving silence.
He nodded again, rolling up the window.
The back door opened then, revealing the guy who made me nervous for some unknown reason. The two men in the front of the SUV were tattooed up to the nines. With dark clothes and black leather jackets, they looked like bikers. But their jackets had no patches, so I wasn’t sure who they were.
“Who are you?” I asked even though I knew they weren’t going to tell me.
“We’re here to bring you to wherever you need to go, sweetheart,” the younger guy in the back of the SUV said. “That’s all you need to concern yourself with.”
“I need my baby,” I said on a sob.
“Piper.” Jaron came up behind me, pulling me into his arms as I cried against him. “We’ll go to Shadow’s and go from there. But most of the police are paid off in this area. We can’t trust them. I have other people looking into this shit.” He cupped my face, leaning down so he was at eye level with me. “We will get her back. I promise you. But you need to get checked out.” Because I could be pregnant going unsaid.
I stifled another sob and nodded.
Jaron kissed my forehead before brushing his nose against mine. “I’ll kill him for hurting you.”
My throat burned, the tears rolling my down cheeks again.
He helped me into the back of the SUV, holding me against him as he shut the door behind. He gave the driver the address. Jaron tried making conversation with them and I knew then that he was scared. He wasn’t a talker, but he was trying to distract us. There was a possibility that we would never see our daughter again and that thought alone was enough to drive us both mad.
“What do you guys do?” Jaron asked, tightening his hold on me.
The younger man shifted beside me. “We help people.”
The driver’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.
“Thank you,” Jaron muttered.