by Ada Stone
Garrison shrugged his oversized shoulder. “Hell, probably. They’ve got a dozen of these suits running around. Most of them are hovering over Delano and Sorenson, thinking they’re the main threat, though as far as I can tell no one’s caused any trouble in that direction.”
I relaxed a little at that information. It was a relief to know I hadn’t just gotten everyone killed real fast.
Garrison continued. “But the guys at the gate are already long gone and the boys in the back are waiting for your signal. If they get spotted, things are going to go bad very quickly.”
“What about the pool house?” I asked, gesturing to the building beside us. I had sent a couple of guys to check it for Lia and wondered if they’d been caught.
“Hell, I’m not sure, boss,” Garrison admitted. “I think there was a guard there, they said, and I have to assume he’s down for the count. If another guard finds him, they’ll sound the alarm.” Garrison looked sideways at Lia. “What about you, little lady? Anyone know you’re missing yet?”
She shook her head, looking flush with excitement, not to mention her climb down and the quick run that followed. I thought it made her look sexy, beautiful. I imagined those flush features beneath me. Pulling myself back from the urge to wander into a daydream of sexier, happier things, I focused on Lia’s response.
“I don’t think so,” she told him uncertainly. “There was a guard down the hall from me, but I told him not to come in and he looked more interested in watching the stairs rather than checking on me.”
“Good,” I threw in. “Hopefully that’ll buy us some extra time.
Garrison agreed with me. When a guard strolled past us, smoking a cigarette and looking more bored than anything else, we made our move. We snuck out behind him, making a break for the fence. As we ran, I told Garrison, “Give the boys a call. Tell them we’re headed back to the fence and it’s time for a retreat.”
Garrison pulled out his phone and sent a mass text message, the easiest and subtlest way to get ahold of everyone at the same time.
Then we focused on getting our own asses out of there.
We hit the fence and I looked first at Lia, then Garrison. Over the top of her head, he returned the look. He nodded once, then got down on one knee, threading his hands together to create a foothold. “C’mon, honey, time to get you up and over.”
She looked over at him, clearly nervous. When she glanced back at me, I gave her an encouraging nod. “Go ahead. I’ll come up right after you and we’ll drop down together. Don’t worry; we did this coming in.” Well, not exactly this. No one had been hefted over and the drop down hadn’t been soft, but if I could get up there with her, I could help ease her down. The baby would be okay and so would Lia.
She smiled weakly at me and was just about to wedge her foot into Garrison’s hand when we heard the sirens. Her head shot up, eyes wide and staring towards three cars that had just entered through the gate. Two of them were police officers, but the third… “Oh god. It’s my dad.”
I frowned grimly. “Go, hurry.”
But she shook her head. “What about everyone else? The other Road Roses are here! They’ll be caught.”
I shared a look with Garrison that communicated what I expected of him just then. He nodded curtly. I turned back to Lia to answer her. “Listen, don’t worry about them. They’ll get themselves out. You’ve gotta trust that they can do that.”
She hesitated, but nodded her head.
“But before we go any farther, there’s something I have to say to you.” She held her breath, her cheeks flushed and eyes still wide. She looked hopeful, painfully so, and I wasn’t quite sure why. I swallowed heavily and said, “If you want to go back, this is your chance. If you stay with me, your whole life will change. It has to. You should know that I’m a wanted man. You should know that I can’t stay here in Mount Rose. You should know that I’m the kind of guy who’s going to work in tattoo shops and bars and lead a motorcycle club, because damnit that’s the kind of man I am.”
I searched her eyes, those big, blue eyes. I didn’t know what I was looking for. Maybe something less than desperation and closer to affection, but there was too much going on to be sure of what I saw there.
“But you should also know that if you come with me tonight, I will always keep you safe. I will always protect you and take care of you. Whatever dreams you want to pursue, I’ll support them. I’ll respect you as your own person, no matter what. And you’ll never be a prisoner with me. The moment you want to leave, go.” There was something close to tears in her eyes and I pushed forward with the last, careful words. They were soft, barely more than a whisper. “All I ask is that you keep the baby.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Amelia
I knew before I left the hospital what I wanted. Maybe it wasn’t the kind of thing that most girls my age in my particular situation wanted. Maybe it wasn’t even the smartest decision. Who turned down an inheritance like the kind my father inevitably would leave me? No one, I thought, but it didn’t change how I felt. Yes, the money would make my life easier in so many ways, but it wasn’t worth it to me in the end. What I had to give up to get that money was my unborn child—and the man I now knew I loved.
Except he doesn’t love me back, I thought as I stared into his dark eyes.
There was no question in my mind that this baby was very important to him. In fact, I thought it just might have meant the world to him. But that affection and adoration didn’t necessarily extend to me. I knew that he would stick around and help me raise this child, whatever he felt for me, because he’d told me how his father had abandoned them after his mother got pregnant. But that was out of duty and a lingering need to not be like his biological father.
That still didn’t mean he cared for me. Not really. Oh, I was sure there was some affection there. He enjoyed my body, sliding his hands over it and his cock inside of it, and I did, too. But physical lust wasn’t the same as love, I understood that now.
Because I was in love.
I wanted him physically. I loved his strong muscles and his carved abs and the way his cock stood at attention every time I was near or bent over or doing something I shouldn’t be. But that was only part of it for me. I loved the way he was a strong leader to his men. I loved the way that he was determined to do the right thing by this baby and me, even though he could have walked away from it a month ago. Even though I had all but asked him to do just that. I loved the way he laughed and teased, the way he was around his men. There was a connection there that I couldn’t deny, something that brought out a sweetness in him that I didn’t think other people realized.
So maybe he didn’t love me, so what? He cared enough for me—and the baby—to come and rescue us from my father before he could force me into something terrible. That was enough for me, I told myself. That was enough to live off of. And maybe it would be enough to grow into love.
I could hope.
The sirens sounded around us and by now I could hear my father shouting. I couldn’t make out his words, but I wasn’t trying very hard either. I no longer cared what he had to say, because there wasn’t anything he could say that would convince me to stay. He was going to force me to lose this baby and he was going to force me to give up Luke, the two things I just couldn’t do.
I stepped closer to Luke, putting my hands against his chest. He had looked up towards the sounds of sirens and my father, so I reached up my hand, caressing his jaw with my fingertips and pulled him back to look at me. His eyes were deep and dark, troubled and intense. I offered a smile, then pushed up and kissed him. It was chaste and soft and a second later I pulled away.
“I know what I want,” I told him seriously. “I want to have this baby and I want to be with you. We can make this work. It won’t be easy, but that’s how I know it’s worth doing. Everything that I’ve ever done that was easy, wasn’t worth the time I put in to it. But this…this is worth every second.”
He cracked a smil
e at me then and lifted me up, pulling me tightly against his chest as he kissed me deeply. This one wasn’t chaste. He devoured my mouth and my hands tangled in his thick hair. I breathed him in and let his tongue slide inside me, exploring my mouth as he held me against his body.
We might have gone on like that forever under different circumstances, but we definitely didn’t have time for things like that today. To confirm that thought, I heard Garrison clear his throat behind me. Even with that and the sirens and my father’s yells, it took a moment longer before Luke broke the kiss. When he did, we were panting and I felt flushed. All I wanted to do was have more time with him. Private time that involved us both being naked and lying in bed.
I shook my head to try and clear it of the thoughts. At the same time, Luke lowered me back to my feet and nodded at me. “Time to go.” And before I could say anything, Garrison hefted me up off my feet and started climbing the fence himself. I let out a squeal as I realized that he was carrying my body weight and his both over the fence without much difficulty.
Definitely a giant with giant strength.
As we made it to the top of the fence, but before we dropped down the other side, I finally could start to make out what my father was saying.
“Amelia! Come back!” he cried as he ran towards our general direction, and for once he truly sounded distressed. I took satisfaction from knowing this, though it probably wasn’t fair. After all, he for once actually looked like a panicked, uncertain, at a dead end father. Except that I knew part of that was only show for the police. The other half was less about me and more about his reputation, his money, and the knowledge that if I left, I would never come back. “Please, honey, please come back! Don’t let that criminal do this to you!”
I wanted to yell back at him that Luke wasn’t a criminal—which, okay, he was technically, but he was a good guy, too. I also wanted to tell my father that he wasn’t doing anything to me. I was making my own decisions, the right ones for myself and my baby. But I didn’t bother, and it wasn’t just because Garrison was already beginning to crawl back over the top of the fence towards the ground. The sounds from inside were growing fainter, while police sirens were growing louder. I realized that more were coming and they were on what was now our side of the fence.
For a second, I panicked. They would definitely see us as we climbed down! But they didn’t seem to. The squad cars just sped past us quickly as they headed for my father’s house. Thankfully, the Road Roses had picked this place carefully. The location was covered almost entirely by vines, trees, and bushes. It had been deliberate on my father’s part, I was sure, as a means of disguising the ugly gate that he’d insisted in having around the whole house. Now I had to assume that he would be more than a little pissed off to realize that deliberate plan to make everything pretty on the outside had once again backfired.
As we made it down to the ground and Garrison finally planted me back on my feet—he didn’t even seem breathless, though I felt breathless enough for the both of us—I turned to him. I demanded to know, “What about Luke? What about the other Road Roses?”
He waved me off. “Luke is already headed over the top,” he told me even as he grabbed my wrist and began tugging me along.
“And what about the others?” I demanded, not bothering to struggle against his grip. It was clear to me that if he didn’t want to let me go, he wouldn’t. And while I didn’t like not having a choice—there’d been far too much of that lately—this didn’t make me nearly as angry as my father. This man was only doing what he knew Luke wanted him to do. Get me to safety.
Garrison answered me over his shoulder. “The ones who can get over the fence will. The ones who can’t shouldn’t be in any trouble.”
My eyes widened at that. “How can you say that? You just broke in to rescue me!” For which I was eternally grateful, but my father would definitely spin it as kidnapping not rescue, and the law would fall on his side, given that he was the mayor and I was his daughter.
Garrison jerked me down to the ground behind a bush as another cop car flew past. We waited there for a moment and he dropped his voice to answer me in a whisper. “Sorenson and Delano haven’t technically done anything. They went to the front door, they knocked, they asked about you. No one can do much of anything to them for that, no matter what kind of spin doctors your father gets a hold of. At the very most, they can try to get them for trespassing, but I doubt even that would stick. They’ll be questioned and then they’ll be released. The others are already heading for exit points. No one’s getting left behind, honey.”
Something eased just slightly in my chest at the knowledge that they’d planned this so thoroughly, but I wouldn’t truly feel better until I saw Luke. I glanced behind us. “Where is he?”
I turned back to look at Garrison just in time to see him quickly smooth out a frown that had come over his face. He was worried, too, it seemed, and that definitely didn’t make me feel better. “C’mon,” he told me, motioning towards where I could now see a row of motorcycles parked, hidden amidst the bushes. “We need to get moving.”
But I jerked back. I wasn’t going anywhere without Luke and I told him as much. “We have to wait. Luke isn’t here yet!”
Garrison fixed me with a glare, his frown deep and his eyes worried. “Look, we did this all for you and Luke isn’t going to be too fucking happy with me if this all goes sour because we wanted to wait and make sure he was fine. He’s a big boy, he can take care of himself.”
But still I resisted. I didn’t want to leave without him. I was terrified that I would never see the father of my baby again and then what would I do? How could I ever expect to do all of this without him?
I opened my mouth to argue further with Garrison about how leaving Luke behind simply was not an option for me, but before I got even the first word out, we heard sounds behind us. The rustling of trees, the “oomph” of someone dropping heavily into the dirt. We froze momentarily, sure that it wasn’t Luke, but the police coming over the fence after us at my father’s order. But then he broke through the foliage at a run, frowning as soon as he saw us.
“What the hell are you guys doing standing around? We need to get the hell out of here! The cops haven’t realized where we are, or how many of us there are, but it won’t take them long to start putting numbers together. We need to be gone before that happens.”
I was so relieved to see him that I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms around him. Relief washed through me as soon as we collided, though our embrace was short lived. He squeezed me once tightly, the quickly pulled away. “Jesus, you guys, we need to move!”
He grabbed my arm and I happily let him drag me towards the motorcycles. I heard yelling and sirens behind us, but thankfully, I didn’t hear any gunshots.
“The others?” I questioned as we arrived at the bikes. Garrison and Luke both got on and revved up the bikes. I slipped behind Luke, wrapping my arms around his middle to hold on. This feels right, it is right. This is definitely where I’m meant to be.
Above the roar of the motorcycles as they peeled out of the underbrush and onto the road, going the opposite direction of my father’s house and the multitude of people currently causing problems there, I heard him call over his shoulder at me, “They’ll be out in no time! They’re already halfway to the bikes!”
They must have gone over the fence at different locations and I only hoped that they would make it out fine. But even as I thought it, I selfishly found myself grateful that at the very least the man I loved most got out.
…
We drove for several hours to get out of Mount Rose and away from the police that would be following us. It wasn’t the easiest of drives and by the time we finally stopped at a bed and breakfast, I was exhausted and my legs were shaky. The place we’d picked to stay for the night was a little mom and pop place, not where you expected to find a fugitive biker and his pregnant girlfriend.
“Are you sure the others will be okay?” I ask
ed as I sat heavily on the bed, falling back from exhaustion and the general stress of the day. I’d asked a bunch of times already and it was probably annoying, but I was honestly worried, and more to the point, I didn’t want to sit in silence.
Luke nodded in my direction, taking off his boots and his shirt as he got himself comfortable. “Yeah, they’ll be alright. I got a text from Garrison. He says that the police are questioning Sorenson and Delano, but we expected that. They’ll walk away clean and clear. No one can prove they were involved with my escape or your so called abduction.”
I snorted at that. “Abduction,” I scoffed. “I’m nineteen. I can make my own adult decisions.”
Luke nodded in agreement. “Yeah, which is why even if they accuse Delano and Sorenson of being involved with what happened, they’ll probably still walk. Any good lawyer will argue exactly what you just argued, that you’re old enough to make your own choices. Doesn’t matter who your father is; he can’t change that.”
We fell silent. He was right, but it didn’t really ease my worries. I wouldn’t feel better until I knew they were no longer being held by the police, though I supposed I would just have to wait it out. Besides, I still had other things lingering on my mind.