by Dana Arden
“So, this bitch runs with the Chaotic’s.” Brute asks David.
“Yep, her dad was a Chaotic.”
“Who’s her dad?” he asks.
“I don’t know what the bikers called him and he’s been dead for years so I never met him, but her mom called him Wiz.” David responds.
“Really.” Brute turns his head back to me. “Your Wiz’s little girl. I bet your pops is rolling in his grave. The Chaotic’s couldn’t even protect a brother’s daughter.” He faces away from me. “This is the second time you’ve taken her from them?”
“Yeah.” David nods excitedly at Brutes unassuming praise. “It was easy. They never saw me coming both times.”
“So, what do you need from us?” Brute ask.
“I need an escort to the Georgia/Florida border. Once there, I’m straight. I’ve got a secluded place where we’re going until the MC gets tired of looking for her.”
“When do you want this done?”
“As soon as possible. I want out of this shithole and back to civilization.”
“I’m going to need a couple of days to get everything in place. That sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds like a plan.”
Brute looks me over again and if being naked in front of five bikers I don’t know isn’t daunting, having a man old enough to be my father check me out is sickening. I lower my head, so my need to spit in his face won’t get me battered and bruised anymore than I already am.
Chapter 22
Brute
Wiz’s fucking kid is tied to the ceiling, naked, dirty and I came into this little deal with the thought of revenge and money on my mind. As much as I want to shove my middle finger in the air at the Chaotic’s, I can’t. Wiz was a good man. He had my back when we were growing up and if the tables were reversed, I know deep down he would never stand for being apart of something that involved my kids.
Walking out of the abandon house, I turn to my Road Captain, Banshee. “I can’t go through with this, brother. Her dad was one of my best friends when we were kids.” I say as I shake my head.
“It’s fucked up, but it’s money and it’s a way to get back at the Chaotic’s.” He answers bluntly.
“Yeah, but at the expense of some dumbass who could take her to Florida, dice her up and feed her to the gators. If that was your daughter, what would you do?”
“I fucking find her and kill the bastard that had the balls to take her from me in the first place. But she’s not my daughter nor is she yours and she’s with our rival.”
“I know, but I’ve got this feeling I can’t get rid of. Something’s majorly off with that douche.” I stand beside my bike and ponder on my decision for a few minutes. “We’re not heartless bastards. Yes, we may do some fucked up shit, but we don’t stand for harming women or children. I know he’ll continue to hurt her or even worse kill her if she doesn’t jump as high as he wants.”
“You’re the Prez. Whatever you think is best, we do.” Banshee says as he scratches the scruff of his beard.
“Time to pay the Chaotic’s a visit.” I rally my men and we straddle our bikes. Maybe some good can come out of this shitty situation.
Chapter 23
Chase
Lily’s been gone for four days and we aren’t any closer to pinpointing where he has her. The Florida chapter has check David’s address in Florida, but nothing. There’s still no action in his financials. We rode down every road, street, side street and parking lot we know of up highway 9, no luck.
I’ve barely eaten or slept and the same can be said about Jake. I kept him home from school the Monday after the attack. He’s not the same little boy. If anything, he’s worse than he was when he was sitting in that hospital bed the first time I saw him. He’s not responding to me or the kids and if a brother gets close, he cringes and tries to make himself smaller.
On Tuesday, I sent him to school thinking getting him back in his routine would help a little. He wasn’t at school but three hours when I got a call from the principal.
“Mr. Hinson, this is Ms. Price the principal at your son’s school. I need you to come pick him up.”
“Is he alright? What happen?”
“He’s been suspended for fighting.”
“Are you sure we’re talking about the same kid?”
“I’m as surprised as you are, but yes. We can discuss it when you get here.”
Getting to the school, I parked and stomped into the office. There sat my son with a busted lip and a puffy eye. A few seats down sat another little boy, much bigger than Jake. He didn’t look any better than Jake; lip busted, nose bleeding.
Come to find out, the other little shit started talking about how Jake was a loner and didn’t have a mom. Jake took offense and started screaming at the boy that his mom was Toots. After that he ran at the other boy and started swinging.
Since he’d already gotten in trouble at school, I didn’t punish him. He’s already suffered enough with Lily being taken and us being nowhere near finding her. Everyday that passes, Jake turns into a ghost, staring off into space.
The club went on light lockdown since the only one that was threatened was Lily. Jake and I have been here everyday and every night, him waiting and me searching for a place that we haven’t thought of.
On Thursday, Dani brought Rory, Tate and Lyla to visit Jake while Church was going on since Jake didn’t want to leave. He barely acknowledges them and Dani gives me a pitying look.
“Anything?” Dani ask.
I shake my head. “Nothing. I need to find her, Angel. He needs her. Shit, I need her. What the fuck am I going to do if we can’t bring her home?”
“What did I tell you when you were worried about Jake being yours and what you were going to do?” I nod.
“But, he was there and alive. She’s gone and I don’t know what kind of condition she’s in.” I say past the lump in my throat.
“We’ll find her, Chase. You’ve got to stay strong. He’s going to need you strong,” she points to Chase on the couch staring at the wall, “and Lily’s going to need you when she comes home.”
All I can do is nod. I know I need to be strong for them, but I feel like my heart has been ripped out and the oxygen has been sucked from my lungs.
***
We’ve been in Church for over thirty minutes, doing the same shit we did yesterday and the day before. Everyone is beyond frustrated. I’m about to open the meeting room doors when Benny bust through them.
“Sorry.” He says frantically. “Prez, we got a problem. Rioting Devils are outside the gates asking to speak to you.”
“Fuck, just what we fucking need.” Rudy bellows as he gets up from his chair and we all follow him out to the front gate.
“Rudy.” The Devil standing closes to the gate says.
“Brute.” Rudy responds. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“Wiz’s kid.” He says two words that knock the fucking wind out of me.
“Alright then, let’s take this inside.” Rudy says as he motions for Benny to open the gate.”
We all stride back into the clubhouse, through the hall and into Church once again.
Seated facing Brute, who’s the President of the Rioting Devils, I ask. “What do you want with Lily?”
Brute stares me down. “I just came from an abandon house over in Coal Mountain where a skinny prick named David has her tied to the ceiling naked.”
I jump from my chair ready to charge this motherfucker if he doesn’t start speaking faster, Spook grips my shoulders. “Hooo, Chase. Let the man finish.”
“I will but he better start speaking faster. My patience is nonexistent at this point. She’s been gone for four days and she’s probably been hanging like that the whole time.”
Brute holds up his hands in surrender. “She’s alive and you’ll now know where she is, but I agree. She’s not going to survive hanging much longer. David hired us to escort him to the Georgia/Florida line. Once he mentioned the
Chaotic’s, of course, I was all over it, but once I saw her and he told me she was Wiz’s, I couldn’t do it. Wiz was a good man to all of us and he’d never stand for the way she’s being treated. That’s why I came here. We’ll tell ya where she is and collaborate on how to get her out of there tonight or the earliest you can do is the morning.”
I look to my Prez. “We’ve got to get her tonight.”
Rudy nods. “Let’s sit down and figure this shit out as fast, but as precise as we can. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves and I want that fucker brought back alive.”
Every man around the table gives Ruby a chin lift and then the Chaotic’s and the Devil’s forge a plan to rescue my Babe.
Chapter 24
Chase
It took us less than thirty minutes to come up with a reasonable plan to extract Lily from David tonight. The women and a few of the brothers are staying behind to protect the clubhouse incase this ordeal with the Devils goes south.
We had to call in a few favors from our boys in blue, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle, like getting an SUV that didn’t look like any of the ones the club or its ol’ ladies have. Then we managed to get Goober to agree to a traffic stop. He was more than willing. He grew up with Wiz to and even his kids used to play with Lily when they were young.
The only issue we had was trusting the Devils to get her out of the house and into the SUV with David and not conjure up any suspicion.
Before we left for our post throughout Cumming and highway 9, Brute made the call to David. For the first few minutes of the conversation, I figured the plan was a bust, but somehow Brute convinced David to ride in a Devil’s SUV to the border and one of his men would follow shortly in his car.
The Devils left twenty minutes ago and I’m getting ready to leave to hang close to where Goober will be pulling the SUV over, but first I need to talk to my boy.
Finding him isn’t an issue; he’s been on the couch staring at the same damn wall for hours. “Jake.” I call. He doesn’t turn or even move to acknowledge me. “Jake, we found Toots.” He slowly turns his head like he’s the poltergeist and a small smile graces his lips. “I’m going to get your Toots and bring her home, okay.” He nods. I bend down and hug him. He stiffens and my heart drops to my stomach. “It’s going to be okay, bud.” He nods and I feel his tears run down the neck of my shirt. I pull back and look him in his eyes. “I need you to help Dani and Sadie get my room here cleaned so when Lily gets here she will have a place to lay down.” He nods and I squeeze his shoulder as I stand.
Fuck, Babe, we need you.
***
I’ve been waiting in my spot for ten minutes. It’s been radio silence for most of it other than Brute texting Rudy to say they’re in motion heading down highway 9.
Goober’s set up a speed trap at the bottom of a hill.
I’m about to text Rudy when I see the flashing blue and red lights trailing behind the SUV. I would’ve never thought those colors were beautiful before, but knowing I’m that much closer to getting my Babe back and Jake’s Toots makes them magnificent.
I watch as the SUV pulls to the side of the road and stops. Goober does the same and then exits the patrol car. He slowly walks to the driver’s side with his hand on the butt of his gun.
The SUV window slowly comes down. Goober speaks a few words and then Goober pulls his nine millimeter Beretta. He points it at the driver who gradually opens the car door.
I can hear yelling coming from the car and Goober looks around frantically. Something’s not right.
I get off of my bike and creep down the side of the road staying camouflaged by the tall grass. When I get closer to the SUV, I can see a man in the backseat waving his gun around while he holds Lily in a choke hold. With every movement he makes, her head his whipped about.
Brute’s in the passenger seat. He looks calm but the wild glint in his eyes says otherwise. Brute turns to face David and pulls his arms back hitting David in the nose. With David’s attention turned to Brute, I move hastily to the side Lily’s seated on. Thankfully, David released her when he was hit.
Coming up from the back of the SUV, I peek around to see Goober and Crush, Brute’s Sergent of Arms trying to get the backdoor open but the safety lock must be on.
I check the hatch to see if its lock and it clicks. I open it unhurriedly and when I’ve got enough space to crawl through, I do. I lightly close the door.
Brute and David are still arguing back and forth, but this time Brute has his gun aimed at David’s head. I take a chance and look over the seat and get a nod from Brute.
As quietly and quickly as I can, I wrap my arm around David’s neck and squeeze. He struggles, but while he’s occupied with trying to get free, Crush has unlocked Lily’s door and Ryker’s there to carry her out.
After a few more minutes, David passes out. Brute grabs David’s gun off the floor board where he dropped it. Crush crawls in and zip ties David’s hands and feet together, while Goober duck-tapes the dickhead’s mouth shut.
After he has been properly secured, I get out of the SUV and rush to where Ryker has Lily in the back of Dani’s Excursion. She’s pale, but she’s still breathing. Her lips are busted and cracked. She’s wearing an oversized t-shirt. Her arms and legs are covered in bruises. As Rudy goes to lift the shirt, I stop him.
“Let me do it. She wouldn’t want any of you seeing her like this. It’s bad enough the Devils saw her naked.” My brothers nod and step back. Trigger holds a flashlight over my shoulder with his head turned away.
Her stomach has bruises all over it. Some are the size of fingerprints and the others are big enough to be from fist. “Fuck.” I yell. “She’s covered in fucking bruises. She’s got a cut on her chest too. I think we need to take her to the hospital.” The flashlight clicks off.
I pile into the truck with Ryker and Trigger. I cradle Lily in my arms and pray that we’ll make it through this.
***
Sitting in a chair next to Lily’s hospital bed is ruthless. She hasn’t budged since we got her out of the SUV and away from David.
There were constant obstacles to pass before I could even get in the room with her. Thankfully, we had Goober with us who informed the hospital we were coming and that Lily was a kidnap victim and possibly a rape victim. He even threw in that I was her fiance. I guess ol’ Man doesn’t contend in this place.
The hospital staff moved her to a private room and the doctor checked her over. They wanted to check her lady bits, but I refused and told them to wait for her to wake. She’d been violated enough.
Since there was the possibility of rape, they did blood test. After the poking and prodding, they let me know that she was dehydrated and would be sore for a few days to a week with the amount of bruising on her body.
Everytime I thought about the marks on her beautiful skin, I was furious. Her creamy white skin blemished with black and blue made me want to leave and beat the shit out of David, but it only lasted a minute and then I remembered that I couldn’t leave her, not now, not ever.
I called Dani to let her know what was going on, but Ryker had beaten me to it. My brothers, Dani, Sadie, Queenie, Razz, Winter and the kids were in the waiting room. She put Jake on and all he wanted was to see his Toots and make sure she was here.
A tap on the door announces the arrival of Jake being escorted by Rudy. When he opens the door and peeks around it, I see a mix of relieve and sadness. Jake runs towards Lily in the bed and I stop him.
“Bud, Lily’s been hurt and you need to be easy with her.”
He nods as tears build in his eyes. “I need to be close to Toots, Dad. She needs to know I’m here for her.” He croaks.
“You can lay beside her as long as you are careful. Watch all the cords, okay?” He nods and gently climbs up the bed to lay beside Lily with his hand caressing her cheek.
He begins whispering to her and I lean closer. “Toots, I’m here now. You can wake up. Toots, I got in trouble while you w
ere gone, but the boy deserved it. He said I didn’t have a mom, but I’ve got you, Toots. You love me and take care of me. I need you to wake up so you can tell that boy that my Toots is my mom.”
Rudy clears his throat. “Do we know if he…”
I know what he’s asking, but I don’t want to think about it, so I shake my head.
“How long do they think she’ll be out?”
“Not sure, they say our body’s sometimes shut down when their stressed. I hope soon.” Rudy nods.
“Me too, son. Just keep us posted. We’re all in the waiting room, even the damn Devils, if you can believe that.” He chuckles.
Before he turns towards the door, the sound of my woman halts him. “If you don’t watch your mouth old man, I’ll have Queenie put you in timeout like she does Trigger.”
Rudy spins around. If I’m not mistaken, there’s wetness at the corner of his eyes. He looks to Lily and then bends his head down and sucks in a breath before raising his eyes to hers. “Do whatcha gotta do, Lil. I’ve been cussing longer than you’ve been alive.”
Lily begins to giggle and then coughs continuously. I get up and hand her the cup of water from the table. “Here, Babe. Take it easy.”
Rudy helps Lily to sit up, while Jake holds the cup in front of Lily’s mouth. “Here, Toots. I got ya.”
“Thanks, hun.” She croaks. After a few sips, she gets resituated in the bed. “I missed you so much, bud. I couldn’t wait to see you. But I did here you telling me about getting in trouble and as much as I love you and I am your Toots, fighting’s not the way to solve your problems, especially ones like that. It doesn’t matter whether that boy believed you or not, because you and I know the truth, right?” Jake nods. “And that’s all we need.” She opens her arms and Jake lays his head on her chest. She flinches and I’m about to move him when she shakes her head no.
I move closer to her as Rudy sneaks out of the room. “Babe, I sure have missed you.” I lean down and place a soft kiss on her lips. “Fu...fudge, I didn’t think we’d ever find you.”’