Hounds Ascend

by Erika Blount

  Lilly was sleep deprived and began to get antsy the longer she sat cooped up in the hospital room. While Linc catnapped and Mindy dozed off, Lilly took that opportunity to slip out of the room unnoticed. She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she had to get out of that hospital. Now that she knew Mindy was going to be just fine, there wasn’t a need for her there.

  Besides, the Moccasins had already kidnapped her. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to do something like that again, especially since Asher made it a point that this wasn’t how they did business. No matter what Cass said, something in Lilly believed that Asher was genuine.

  She wound her way through the people in the hospital until she made it to the parking garage. As usual, she forgot which row she parked Betty in. She rolled her eyes at herself and began walking through rows of trucks and cars. Finally, at the end of the third row she looked down, she found Betty. Lilly decided after she got on the road that she was going to the clubhouse first. Maybe some of the guys would be there by now.

  Upon her arrival, she realized she was right. There were two motorcycles parked out front. One was Scott’s and the other looked like Old School’s. Lilly walked in and found Old School sitting at the bar alone. Scott was nowhere in sight. Old School’s head whipped around in her direction.

  “You better be careful sneaking up on us old men,” he said with a hearty laugh.

  “I figured you’d look before you shot,” she countered, pulling up a seat next to him.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you were a state away?” he asked.

  “I’m sneaky.” She pulled a cigarette out and he lit it for her.

  “Thanks, old man.” Lilly winked at him and nudged him with her elbow. He had grown on her since she’d been hanging around.

  She checked her phone to find a missed call from Cass. She excused herself and hurried up to her room to return his call. She was anxious to hear about what he had been up to.

  Dialing his number, she plopped on the bed and kicked her shoes off. It rang twice before he picked up.

  “Hey, baby.”

  “Hey.”

  “How’s Mindy?”

  “She’s good. Better than I thought she was going to be. Thanks for telling me, by the way.” The sarcasm in her voice didn’t go unnoticed.

  “I didn’t want you coming home until I took care of shit. Guess that didn’t matter though cause here you are. If something would’ve happened to you again…” he trailed off and Lilly heard him sigh before he continued.

  “I’m glad you didn’t get into harm’s way.”

  “Where are you?” she asked.

  “At the gas station down the street from our clubhouse. I’ll be headed there soon then I’ll come to the hospital to see you.”

  Lilly scoffed. “Don’t bother. I’m at the clubhouse, so I’ll see you when you get here.”

  “Damn it Lilly.” Cass huffed.

  “See you soon,” she said sweetly before hanging up the phone. When he got there, she had questions and she knew he had answers. It was time for her to be in the know about what was going on especially because it was threat to her as well as the club.

  Ten minutes later, Lilly heard the door to the clubhouse slam followed by heavy footsteps climbing the stairs. The door to her room slung open then slammed shut once Cass was inside. He looked like hell. His hair was everywhere. His face was covered in road grime. His jeans were nearly black from whatever the hell he had gotten all over them.

  Her heart panged at the sight. Above all else, though, was the scowl on his face. He wasn’t happy with her in the least. He un-laced his boots and took them off before walking toward her. The silence was eerie and Lilly almost wished he were screaming instead of not saying anything at all.

  “Why are you so fucking hard-headed?” he asked.

  “I wasn’t just going to sit in another state while my best friend was in the hospital. If you want a woman that doesn’t give a fuck about people, I suggest you go find someone else, Cass, because that isn’t me.”

  “I know you give a fuck about people which is exactly why I didn’t tell you! We didn’t know that they only went after Mindy because they thought she was Linc. We only knew that they went after her. Having you here could’ve meant they would’ve gone after you again, and this time who’s to say we would have been lucky enough to get you back alive?”

  “I don’t give a shit about that! I wasn’t going to let her sit in a hospital in a condition that I didn’t know the severity of. What if she was dying and only had the rest of the night last night before she was gone? Then how would you have felt? Because I can tell you how I would’ve felt, Cass. I would’ve lost my fucking mind and I would’ve blamed you!”

  Cass shook his head, stood up, and slammed his fist into the wall above the bed. The wall caved easily under the strength of his blow, leaving a gaping hole and an echoing thud. He shook his head again at the damage before walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

  Lilly heard the shower turn on and considered getting into the shower with him, but the bed was too comfortable considering the last place she attempted to sleep. She would talk to him once he got out of the shower since their conversation hadn’t been going that well to begin with.

  But the longer she laid there, the heavier her eyes got. She focused on the sound of the water beating down in the shower, letting it lull her to sleep. Her mind, for the first time, was so tired that it was quiet, and she didn’t have a million thoughts before sleep made her its prisoner.

  The sound of a gunshot ripped Lilly from the peaceful slumber she was submerged in. Disoriented and confused, she bolted upright in the bed and looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was alone. Cass was no longer in the room or bathroom. She listened carefully for any indication that things were going awry downstairs, but she didn’t hear anything else. She leaned over to open the drawer on the nightstand beside the bed, knowing Cass kept a piece in there.

  Lilly grabbed the nine-millimeter and turned the safety off before chambering a round. If anyone was coming in here with bad intentions, she wasn’t going down without a fight. Rising to her feet, she tiptoed through the dark room toward the bedroom door that was halfway open. Peering out, she didn’t see anything, but she could hear people talking. She strained to make out anything that was being said to no avail. She eased the door open a little bit more, pistol in hand and ready to shoot, and tiptoed a few steps out of the door.

  “Just grab their book and get the hell out. Meet me at the spot in twenty.” Lilly heard a man talking in a hushed voice before the front door to the clubhouse clicked closed. Whoever was there wasn’t supposed to be. The realization that a shot had been fired had Lilly on edge. She replayed their morning over and over in her head. Hell, she didn’t even know what time it was or how long she had been asleep, and the clubhouse’s lack of windows didn’t help any.

  She couldn’t see what was going on down below and the only way she was going to get a glimpse was if she walked down a few of the steps, putting herself in the line of sight for anyone between the bar and the front door of the clubhouse. Thinking better of it, she eased her way back into the room and checked her cell. It was already six in the evening.

  Opening her text thread, she tapped out a message to Cass.

  Lilly: Someone’s here at the club house. Shots fired. I’m okay, but get here ASAP.

  She pressed send, double checked to make sure it was on silent, then slid it into her back pocket. She drew Cass’s nine and tiptoed into the hallway again. She could hear rummaging coming from downstairs and it sounded like it was coming from the meeting room. Without further thought, she went as quickly and quietly as she could down the stairs.

  Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest, but she kept walking forward. She peered into the meeting room and found the back of a Moccasin cut facing her. He was kneeling down, trying to break into the cabinet that sat behind the head chair. From what Lilly could see, he didn’t
have a weapon on him. Good. I have the upper hand.

  Lilly kept the gun trained on the intruder and commenced to sneaking up behind him. When she was close enough to press the barrel to the back of his head, she did just that. He froze in place and lifted his hands in surrender. She shoved the cold metal harder into the back of his head, trying to scare him into not moving. She’d never done anything like this before and she was surprised that she was keeping her cool for as long as she had.

  She needed to say something to let him know she was serious, but she was scared if she spoke and he realized she was a woman that he’d somehow get the gun from her. She’d seen it happen so many times on television, but she still didn’t know what to expect.

  Gathering all the courage she had in her, and channeling some of her anger toward these bastards, she found the nerve to speak.

  “Don’t you fucking move.” Her demand was met with a raspy chuckle, which only fueled her anger.

  “Or what?” the man countered.

  “I won’t hesitate to decorate that cabinet with pieces of your brain.” Lilly dug deep inside herself to find the most stern, threatening voice she had.

  He chuckled again, but didn’t move. She smiled internally because her warning appeared to be working. For that, she was relieved because the last thing she wanted was blood on her hands. She was scarred enough from watching Cass kill two men in front of her. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she could pull the trigger if he did do something stupid.

  “I’m going to remove this barrel from your head and I want you to replace it with both your hands, interlocking your fingers.”

  “Oh yeah? That’s what you want me to do? Fuck you, bitch,” he spat, but didn’t move.

  Lilly pressed the barrel as hard as she could into his head, his words only pissing her off further.

  “I fucking said...” she gritted, moving forward to press her foot in the center of his back. “To put your hands here.” She pulled back and hit him with the barrel.

  “Dammit,” he growled, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his head.

  “I knew you’d come around to see it my way,” she purred.

  “Again, fuck. You. Bitch.” He enunciated each word with hatred, pressing Lilly’s buttons. She pushed hard with the foot that was centered on his back until he was on the floor. She stood with her feet on either side of him, still aiming at the motherfucker’s head in case he got cocky.

  He landed with an “oomf” before things got out of hand. He was laying flat on his stomach one minute, then the next he had grabbed her ankle and she was sitting on her ass looking up at what she could only guess was another “throw-away”. His dark blue eyes were sunken in and he had this empty, far-away look in his eyes.

  Size was something that Lilly didn’t quite notice, but when he stood up, she saw just how big this guy was. It wasn’t that he was muscular, but more so that he was tall and broad. In fact, there wasn’t any muscle on him and he looked sickly. His arms were visible, and just like the others, he had track marks and bruising. Sitting there beneath him, she no longer felt like the badass that she thought she was moments before. The good thing was that, somehow, she had held onto the gun on her way to the ground. The bad thing was that he was in a position to easily gain the upper hand.

  Lilly focused on her next move, because whatever it was going to be, it needed to be good. She hadn’t shot a gun in months, and she wasn’t that good at it. She didn’t understand the way “aim” worked because when she thought she was going to hit one spot, she hit the polar opposite.

  What she did know was she didn’t want to kill this man, though she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if he got his hands on that gun. Taking a deep breath, she lifted the gun higher and pointed it at his head, hoping the look on her face was more deadly than terrified.

  “I bet you’ve never even shot a gun before.” When he spoke, Lilly could see that he was missing most of his teeth and the ones he did have were either chipped or black.

  “You willing to take that chance?” she asked, her eyes daring him to make a move all the while she prayed he wouldn’t. She didn’t want to take a chance on firing this damn thing.

  As if by a miracle, she heard the sound of pipes wracking outside. They were here. She sighed in relief as the guy’s face distorted from confident to worried at the sound of motorcycles parking and engines being killed. Just like those engines, this guy would be next.

  Panic crossed over his face and Lilly could see that he was debating on something when he lunged at her. She rolled to the right, swiftly moving the gun out of his reach but not moving herself out of the way. His body barreled into the left side of her, knocking her flat on the floor as a gunshot rang out.

  “Cass!”

  She screamed his name as loud as her voice would allow. She didn’t know where the gunshot had come from or who it hit, if it hit anyone. Her heart accelerated, and she was freaking out until she realized she had fired the gun in her hand in an effort to not let it go upon impact.

  She looked toward where she had shot and exhaled a breath of relief at the hole in the wall that was on the back of the building. The man was up again in an instant and still trying to get the gun from her hands when Cass, Scott, and Snapper ran into the room.

  Cass didn’t speak a word. He ran up behind the guy, pulled his shoulder to turn him around to face him, and began pummeling his fists into his face. Cass’s brows were furrowed deep, his breathing was rugged, and his mouth was in a set line.

  A large hand wrapped around Lilly’s arm while another set on top of the hand that held Cass’s nine. She looked up to see Scott at her side, easing the gun from her firm grasp and helping her to her feet. He didn’t say anything, but led her out of the room. He shut the door behind him, leaving Snapper and Cass alone with their intruder. Lilly’s hand flew to her mouth and tears pooled in her eyes at what she saw. Old School was lying on the ground by the bar in a pool of blood. Thick, red trickles oozed slowly from his side.

  Gater was kneeling next to him, holding his head up off the ground and Leo was behind the bar, rummaging through a first aid kit. She stared blankly down at someone she had grown closer to in the past few weeks and fought to maintain control of her emotions. He’s going to be okay. He has to be.

  She didn’t find Clayton or Brock anywhere, though. Lilly felt a pair of eyes on her, then remembered Scott was still standing at her side. Looking up at him, his face was impassive, as usual. He always looked sort of angry or at the very least, agitated.

  The last time she was attacked by the Moccasins, they were directly attacking her to get to Cass. Now, they didn’t seem to give a fuck one way or the other who it was they hurt, they were attacking the entire fucking club. Lilly seethed with fury the more she thought about what was going on.

  These low-life, bottom of the barrel junkies were trying to kill Hounds because of a war that they started.

  “This is bullshit,” she said, looking around the clubhouse.

  “Yeah.” Scott’s one-word response let her know that he wasn’t going to say very much on the matter. He was like that sometimes when it came to club business. The front door to the clubhouse opened, catching her attention. In walked a man seemingly in his fifties, with metal-framed spectacles and a black suitcase-like bag. He was dressed in a normal T-shirt and blue jeans with black shoes. His face was grim as he approached Gater, who was still seated on the floor next to Old School.

  Once the man knelt down and opened his bag, it was quite obvious he was the doctor. Unable to watch anymore, she turned away from the scene before her and walked to the other side of the room where there were a few tables set up next to a cigarette machine.

  She’d been hanging out here so much, she knew where the key was for the machine and quickly undid it, grabbing a pack of menthols and a lighter from inside. She lit a cigarette and sat down in the chair closest to her.

  When she slid her hand in her back pocket in search of her phone, she came up empty. I
t must have fallen out in the scuffle between her and that junkie Moccasin. There was no way she was getting her hands on it anytime soon, either. She imagined Cass and Snapper would be busy for a while with him, especially considering the condition they found Old School in when they came in.

  That was a sight she wasn’t sad that she was missing out on. She could already picture the look Cass got that sent chills down her spine, and not the good kind of chills. He was a force to be reckoned with when someone messed with what was his. Almost on cue, she heard a howl echo from their meeting room. She almost laughed at it. He had come in here expecting things to go a completely different route, but now listen to him.

  She was grateful that she didn’t have to be the one to kill him, though. She replayed the events of the evening in her head as she took one last pull from her cigarette then dabbed it out in the ashtray. Her mind traced over every detail, everything that she could or should have done differently. Sighing, she stood up from the table and headed upstairs.

  The first thing on Lilly’s list of things to do was shower, and fuck did it feel good to get clean. She stood beneath the shower head, soaking in the steam and hot water that flowed onto her. She washed away all the bullshit, all the worries, all of everything that was unwelcome in her life. For only a few moments, she needed peace and tranquility and she was trying her damnedest to achieve it.

  But, like anything else, it was short-lived. A knock on the bathroom door cut through the silence she was very much enjoying.

  “Yeah?” She tried and failed to hide the irritation in her voice.

  “Cass sent me up here. Said to tell you to pack your bags and get ready to leave.” Scott was on the other side of the door, barking out Cass’s orders.

  She rolled her eyes. “Alright.”

  Toweling off, she went straight to the closet and packed a bag. At least if they were leaving together, then she would get some sort of explanation on what the hell was going on. He had to have gained intel from the man in the meeting room.