Fox (The Road Rebels MC Book 4)

by Savannah Rylan

  “You saw those women. Tank, you saw them!” Gunner thundered at me. I stared back at him with narrowed eyes. I had promised Noelle that I was going to be safe tonight. But a part of me also wondered what she would have to say if she knew about the situation that those two women were in. Wouldn’t she want me to help them?

  I looked back at Axel, who was swinging his gaze from Gunner to me.

  “We need to rescue those girls from the Dragon Knights. We can’t allow them to get away, not even with a single girl,” I said to Axel. He narrowed his eyes at me, surprised that I was making a rash emotional decision, but then he looked at Gunner again. He knew that I wasn’t asking for permission, I had already decided.

  “Take four guys. I’m not sparing any more men on this suicide mission. Make sure that the Dragon Knights get the message,” Axel grunted, and I turned to Gunner and tipped my head once at him.

  “Let’s go, brother,” I said to him.

  “Where are we going to go?” he asked, jumping off his bar stool.

  “Where we last saw them,” I said, and we left the bar together, with Hunter and Glock following us.

  ***

  What were the chances that the Dragon Knights would still be where we left them, but there they were. The four of us had parked our bikes at the same distance away, a faraway street light was the only source of light. We were out in the open, at the junction of deserted roads, with stretches of trees on either side.

  It was a strange place for a drop-off, but then, the Dragon Knights had reduced greatly in numbers, and they were aware that they were constantly watched. So they had clearly picked this place, where they believed we would never think of looking for them.

  The two girls were still there, being passed around between the five DK members, while the two Four Skulls guys watched and laughed. They were discussing business, while the girls whimpered and tried to weakly fight against their captors.

  One of the girl’s skirt was rolled up, and her bare legs were on display now. I knew exactly what was going to happen to her in a few minutes. The Dragon Knights were going to test her, try her out, before putting her up on the market. It made my stomach churn.

  “We’re outnumbered, brother,” Glock hissed as we stalked towards the group. He was saying something that I was starkly aware of.

  Gunner was walking beside me, his weapon loaded and pointed in the direction of the Dragon Knights.

  “Yes, but they don’t know we’re coming,” I said and glanced at Gunner. He seemed grateful that I had agreed to do this, that he had my support on this. But he was my friend, one of my best friends and I knew he was at war with himself. Moreover, I couldn’t stand the thought of two helpless women, being beaten up or raped by these assholes. They had violated the MC code of conduct, and now they were going to have to pay for it.

  We were close enough to the group to take a shot now, and I knew that if we drew any closer, they would see us.

  I cocked my gun, pointing it at the group. These were the very guys who had taken shots at me and put me in the hospital. The only thing was that they had no idea I would be eternally grateful to them for bringing Noelle into my life in turn.

  “Cover me,” I growled, giving my brothers just a few seconds notice before I opened fire on the group.

  My brothers shot as well, while I aimed at the heart of one of the Four Skulls who had a tattoo of a snake winding up his neck. One pull of a trigger and he had fallen with a thud on the street, a patch of red started spreading on his white t-shirt, and the two girls screamed and crouched down on the street.

  Once again, I was walking straight into the line of fire. I was breaking the promise that I had made to Noelle, but she would have to understand…that I was doing this for her.

  ***

  I was right. We had caught them by surprise.

  We had just enough time ahead of them, to take our first shots before the Dragon Knights pulled their guns out too. I had already killed one of the Four Skulls, while Gunner had shot a Dragon Knights in his leg.

  They had opened fire on us as well, and there was nowhere to hide except to retreat into the trees. Neither Gunner nor I were going to do that. We kept striding ahead, firing our guns at them, while bullets missed us. The other Four Skulls member had been shot too now, and he ran back towards his car, trying to get away.

  Glock took shots at his car, but he managed to drive off with one flat tire. The Dragon Knights were shooting us now, and we shot back. The only thing running through my head was that I was going to betray Noelle’s trust. If I died tonight, she would never forgive me for making her a promise that I couldn’t keep.

  Gunner grabbed the hand of one of the girls, just as I took another shot at a DK. Nearly all of them were injured, and I saw that one of them was lying bleeding on the street. Hunter had taken good aim at his groin, and he was going to bleed to death. He deserved it. They all fucking deserved it for what they had done to Brooklyn and the other women.

  I grabbed the hand of the other girl, and the remaining Dragon Knights started running.

  The girls were screaming and crying, as we started pulling them towards our bikes. Hunter and Glock kept their guns trained at the DKs, shooting at their bikes while they tried to get away. They hadn’t even bothered to pick up their brother who was still on the street now, bleeding.

  It was the four of us, against four of them now, but they had already retreated. They had already given up.

  Gunner and I brought the two girls to our bikes, and they hadn’t stopped shaking or crying.

  “Shut up! We’re trying to save you!” I thundered at the girl whose hand I was still holding. She stopped screeching then and stared at me like she was in disbelief.

  “Where are you taking us?” she asked and I saw the raw fear in her eyes, and my voice softened slightly.

  “Somewhere safe. We came here to rescue you,” I said, while Glock and Hunter walked back towards us. The Dragon Knights had all vanished, but they had all been injured as well.

  “Think they got the message?” Glock grinned, and I saw that he was unharmed. Hunter too wasn’t bleeding.

  “Oh my God! He’s been shot!” the girl beside me screamed, and I turned to see Gunner keeled over. The girl he had caught was standing over him, her hands clasped to her mouth in horror. Gunner’s leg was a bloody mess, he had a bullet still lodged in his calf as far as I could tell.

  “Fuck!” I growled and crouched down beside him.

  “I’m fine. I’m fine. It’s just a graze!” Gunner argued, as he tried to stand up, but he was wobbling on his feet. I reached for his shoulder and kept him straight.

  “We need to take you back, you need to get that bullet taken out,” I hissed at him, and Gunner shook his head.

  “Not the hospital man,” he resisted against my tug, and I smiled at him and thumped his shoulders.

  “Remember when I said the same thing and you took me anyway?” I said, and even though I knew that Gunner was in pain, he tried to smile at me.

  “Mother fucker,” he cursed under his breath as I dragged him to my bike. He was losing a lot of blood and fast, and I positioned him on my bike. Hunter and Glock took the girls on their bikes, and I could see the relief on their faces. They trusted us now.

  When I sat on my bike, behind me, Gunner tried to keep a hold of me.

  “What about my fucking bike?” he growled, through the pain in his leg.

  “We’ll deal with that later,” I said as I accelerated.

  We’d achieved what he had set out to do. We had rescued the girls who were going to be used for prostitution by the Dragon Knights. Before I met Noelle, I wouldn’t even have hesitated to take on a mission like this one, but I was surprised at myself for hesitating tonight. For not going with my gut and doing the right thing. Was Noelle going to change everything? What was going to happen when we had the baby?

  I tried to ride my bike as slowly as I could, while I took Gunner back to the Rusty Pelican. I could sense him
trying his hardest to not moan. I knew what a gunshot wound could feel like. I had experienced it myself, but Gunner was putting up a brave front.

  I didn’t plan on taking him to the hospital, now that we had Noelle in our midst. As I rode my bike, I extracted my cellphone from the pocket of my jeans and dialed her number.

  She was still groggy when she answered the phone, and her voice immediately brought a smile to my face.

  “Hey, you, when are you coming home?” were her first words, and I still couldn’t believe that home now wasn’t the apartment I had lived in all these years. It was where Noelle was.

  “Not for a while, princess. I need you to make your way to the Rusty Pelican instead. Do you think you can do that?” I asked, and there was silence on the other end.

  “Are you okay, Tank?” she asked, and I detected the fear in her voice.

  “Yes, Noelle. Just meet me there,” I said and slipped my phone back into my pocket. Even though this conversation was short and to-the-point, I knew exactly what she was thinking. It was a quick reminder of how deeply she disapproved of my lifestyle.

  CHAPTER 23

  Noelle

  When I burst in through the doors of the Rusty Pelican, I wasn’t expecting the scene that I saw. The music was still loud, the place was still smoggy with cigarette smoke, but everyone seemed to be in a panic.

  I could see a crowd of Bad Disciples members crowded around the center of the bar, and drinks were being passed around. But as I weaved through the crowd, I also saw that Tank’s friend, Gunner, was sitting on a bar stool with his head thrown back and his eyes pressed in pain. Kylie and Brooklyn were crouched in front of him, screeching and panicked.

  “I don’t know what to do! I’ve never done this before!” I heard Kylie yell as I stepped towards them.

  “Please, just do something to stop the bleeding!” Brooklyn screamed, and I could see that she was crying. I hadn’t seen Tank yet, even though he was the one who had called me and asked me to get there.

  I was worried that something had gone wrong, that he was hurt. I had come rushing to the bar, and now I couldn’t even see him anywhere. I squeezed through people’s shoulders till I was standing directly in front of Gunner.

  He had a big deep wound on his calf, from what I could see and he was bleeding. I was reminded immediately of the horror of seeing Tank on the gurney in the hospital. I knew what that wound was from, he’d been shot.

  “Noelle!” Brooklyn screeched when she saw me and came rushing to my side.

  “Oh good, Noelle, you’re here. I wasn’t sure what to do,” Kylie straightened up from in front of Gunner, and I heard him groan.

  “He’s been shot,” I said, still in a daze and Brooklyn burst out crying again.

  “We don’t know if the bullet’s still in there. He needs to get stitched up,” she whimpered.

  “I’m not trained in this. I’m a physical therapist,” Kylie explained and I stared at the blank terrified faces of the two women. I knew that they needed my help, and time was of the essence if Gunner’s leg was to be saved. I was a trained professional and had dealt with thousands of emergency situations, and yet, right then, I felt like I was frozen.

  The only thought going through my mind was concerning Tank. Where he was, if he was safe and that he had promised me that he would keep himself out of danger.

  “Where’s Tank?” I asked as I walked towards Gunner. Adrenaline started to kick through my veins.

  “Noelle, you need to help Gunner,” Tank’s voice cut through the noise and panic in the bar, and I whipped around to find him weaving through the crowd towards me. I felt a jolt in my body. A sudden relief washed over me when I saw him.

  “Tank!” I yelled and lunged at him, just as he threw his arms open for me.

  “I’m fine, princess. Gunner is the one who needs your help now,” he said, and I nodded my head.

  “Okay, okay,” I cried, and I turned around and crouched down in front of Gunner. My hands trembled as I reached for his leg and he yelped. There was too much blood for me to see what had happened, or how deep the wound was or if the bullet was still in there or if it was just a graze.

  “Is he going to be all right? Is he going to be all right?” Brooklyn couldn’t stop screaming. All the noise and the music and the loud voices were destabilizing me. I was unnerved and frozen to the spot. My years of training had vanished, and all I could think about was that I was bringing a child into this world. That the father of my child was going to put his life at risk like this every day.

  “Noelle,” Tank placed his hands on my shoulders, and I looked up to find him staring down at me.

  “I’m fine. You have to believe that I’m fine,” he said, in a low whispering voice. I stared into his eyes as he held my gaze. He wanted me to see just how strongly he meant every word he was saying. I parted my lips, and a sound like a cry rose up in my throat.

  “We needed to save the lives of two women,” he said, and I could feel my shoulders heaving.

  “I’ll make sure you meet them and talk to them later. Right now, you have to take care of my friend,” he continued, in a soft, calm voice. The sound of Brooklyn’s cries rose in the background, snapping me out of my thoughts.

  I turned back to Gunner, placing my hands on his legs. He was losing consciousness, and his body twitched from my touch. I peered into his wound, wiping the clotting of blood that was forming around it. I trusted Tank. I loved Tank. If this was what he wanted me to do, this was what I was going to take care of. The panic was replaced by adrenaline, and my body finally responded to me.

  “I need a list of things,” I said, to nobody in particular.

  “Give them to me,” Tank’s friend, Glock, had appeared at my side and I started calling out the things I needed to stitch up Gunner. After I was done, Glock ran to go and collect them.

  “And I need lights if we’re going to do this here, and everyone needs to stay silent. I need to pay attention,” I said, looking up at Tank.

  “Turn on all the lights. Bring all the lamps and torches you can find, and everybody shut the fuck up!” Tank was barking orders, but he was looking at me at the same time and had a wide smile on his face.

  ***

  The two girls were about my age, and their names were Joan and Candice. They were sitting on two bar stools now, their makeup running wild down their faces and every now and then, one of them cried.

  After I had stitched up Gunner and given him a cocktail of the painkillers that he needed, Brooklyn had tucked him into a makeshift bed in the back office, because I told her that he needed rest. He needed to make sure that he moved as little as possible for the next few days till the wound healed. He was very lucky, just like Tank had been, and the bullet had only grazed his leg. I didn’t need to perform any actual surgery. Brooklyn had hugged me tightly, crying as she thanked me for helping Gunner. Even though it had not been a tricky thing to do at my end, I understood why Brooklyn was so emotional. I would have been the same way if it was Tank.

  Once I was done with Gunner, Tank had brought me over to the girls he said that they had rescued. He allowed them to tell me their stories and I listened in horror.

  I felt so small and insignificant and foolish for being wrapped up in my own privileged world that I had no idea that there were women living this way in the same city as me. They could have been regular girls, with regular lives and a job like mine…instead, poverty and desperation had pushed them into life on the street. People like the Four Skulls and the Dragon Knights had planned on taking further advantage of that.

  I sat listening to their stories, which they ended with how Tank and his friends finally reduced them from being traded off to the Dragon Knights. After they were done talking, I looked at Tank, who had been standing by, leaning against a wall with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jeans.

  “I’m sure Rebecca and the other girls will make sure that you’re taken care of,” I said to them, and they nodded and stared down at their
laps.

  “Yes, Rebecca is arranging for a place for them to stay as we speak,” Tank said, and he came over and pulled me into his arms. Together, we walked towards a somewhat quiet corner of the bar.

  Because the Bad Disciples had successfully taken down members of the Dragon Knights and the Four Skulls gang, everyone was in a celebratory mood. Also, other than the casualty with Gunner, nobody else was hurt so everyone was in a good mood.

  While everyone else was celebrating, Tank and I talked.

  “I know you were worried about me,” he said and placed a protective hand on my belly. I couldn’t meet his eyes because I was at war with myself.

  I knew what they had done was a good thing, it was the right thing to do. If Tank, Gunner and the other two guys hadn’t stepped in when they did…those girls would have passed into the dark web of prostitution tonight and in all likelihood…would never have been recovered or found. That logic was at odds against my desperation to see Tank safe.

  “I was worried because I didn’t know what was going on,” I said, as he stroked my belly. His voice had become softer, and his hazel eyes were dimmer now too.

  “But I promised you that I was going to stay safe tonight,” he said, and I gulped and nodded my head.

  “Yes, I know…but you still ordered an attack, you still walked into a fire of bullets. Your friend nearly died from it!” I argued, and instead of getting angry, Tank reached for me, pulling me by the back of my neck and forcing me to place my head on his chest. He rocked me gently in his arms, and even though I wanted to scream and cry, he had managed to calm me down.

  “I’m sorry, Noelle. I agree, all that happened. I’m apologizing to you today, but princess, at this rate, I’ll have to apologize to you every day,” he said, and I forcibly drew away from his chest, to find that he was smirking as he stared down at me.