by Erin Trejo
The further we get in, the less shots are fired.
“We get them all?” Bullet hollers at Bomber. We climb over more bodies and my boots slide in the blood.
Bomber responds, “Looks like it. Micah, check that back room. Dax, cover his ass.”
I step up next to him and scan the floor. I’m satisfied with what I see, too.
“Clear!” Micah calls out.
“Fuck yeah!” Bomber roars. It’s a damn good feeling to have.
Chapter 53
Shannon
I’m not drunk but tipsy. It feels pretty good, too.
“Found you some friends,” Link calls out to me. I smile as I turn my head and see Danna. I’m not so happy to see Tyler, or his friends.
“Hey! I’ve missed you,” Danna hollers as she gets closer to me. I stand and pull her into a hug.
“I’ve missed you, too. Why are they here?” I ask so that only she can hear me.
“We haven’t talked in so long. I’m dating Jeremy. Tyler’s cousin.” I pull back and give her a smile. I’m glad she finally has someone.
“That’s really great. Congratulations.” Tyler walks closer and my nerves fire off.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Tyler.” I’m short and that’s how it’s going to stay. I don’t need his shit today, or any day for that matter.
“Look, I’m sorry, Shannon. I really do want us to be friends,” he says. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. Although, I don’t think Bash would be to happy with it.
“I can do friends. Drink?” I ask. The guys all say yes. I grab more glasses and set them on the counter playing bartender. I fill them up but I can feel Link’s presence close by. He isn’t going to go too far from me.
“So, why is it so quiet around here?” Jeremy asks looking around the clubhouse.
“They had some business to handle,” I say. I notice the look Tyler and Jeremy share.
“What is it you guys are doing here anyway?” I ask changing the subject.
“Danna basically forced us here. She wanted to see if you wanted to come out with us tonight. It was almost a hostage situation.” They all laugh, including me. I could see Danna doing that to them. She slaps at Jeremy before looking at me. “It wasn’t that bad. They wanted you to come too,” she grins.
“I don’t think so. Bash doesn’t want me leaving here right now. There’s too much shit happening.” Tyler’s eyes widen. His face reddens.
“So, you just follow his rules?” he asks with a pissed off tone.
“No. I respect what he asked me to do,” I clarify.
“What a fucking joke. You are his puppet. It’s all a mind game to him. Do you really think that he cares about you?” Tyler’s on his feet before I stand next.
“Yes, I know he does. And what we have is not your concern, Tyler. If this is what you had planned, you need to leave.” I point to the door to make my point.
“Guys,” Tyler says. The guys all stand and crowd around me.
“What the hell is this?” I ask looking around at them. No one says a word. No one speaks.
“Get the one back there.” I see Tyler pull a gun from the back of his jeans before passing it off to one of his friends.
“Don’t you dare! Link!” I scream when Tyler’s fist connects with my jaw. Danna is screaming in a hysterical fit.
“Shut her up!” Tyler snaps. Danna goes silent, only igniting the fire inside of me.
I glance to the left and see the other little fuck with a gun aimed at Link.
“What the fuck is this boys?” he asks, clearly looking amused by the whole thing. Frankly, I am too.
“It just so happens, that I knew your little boyfriend would be gone tonight,” Tyler says. My eyes jerk to Link’s before coming back to rest on Tyler’s.
“What do you want, Tyler?” I ask not knowing what the fuck is happening.
“You, Shannon. That baby. It should have been mine. None of this would have happened if you’d just chosen me!” he screams.
As he paces in front of me, all of it comes into view so clearly. Every piece of my puzzle connects like it was supposed to.
“You attacked me?” I ask. I already know the answer to that.
“It had to happen. I couldn’t have a bastard child. You are to carry mine and only mine. I tried to help you. Say that it was mine and all that crap. You didn’t want it.” He flicks his hand through the air.
“Which one of you bitches took my baby?” I know that this is all of them. This is all of the assholes that attacked me that night.
The only thing I can see is red. It’s like the room has been painted in blood. Their blood.
Chapter 54
Sebastian
“You happy with all this?” I ask Bomber as we look at the piles of cash the assholes had in the back room. No wonder they were hiding out.
“Damn right, I am. Just wonder whose money that is.” He points to the piles in boxes on the table in front of us.
“I ain’t heard shit. Bullet put a call into Basket. Either way, it’s ours now,” I chuckle before pulling out a cigarette.
I light it up and lean against the wall.
“Can I ask you somethin’?” I ask Bomber. He turns to face me and nods.
“You said to protect her even if you’re not around anymore. You know somethin’ we need to know?” I blow out a ring of smoke as I watch him for any kind of reaction.
“No. I’m just tired, Bash. All the fightin’, all the shit. It takes a toll on me, brother. It feels like this shit never ends.” I have to agree there. We’ve done this for a lot of our adult lives.
“She’s one thing you don’t need to worry about, brother. I’ve got her no matter what.” Bomber nods before crossing his arms over his chest.
“I know I was hard on you at first. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the idea but I can see how much you care about her. And if I’m bein’ fuckin’ honest, I can see the way she looks at you. You’re good for her no matter what I think.” He’s giving me his blessings in his own way. It’s nice to hear though.
I look up to Bomber, always have. He’s been a role model to many. He’s a fearless leader.
“You know that what you think means a lot to me, Prez. Not just for obvious reasons. You’re a good fuckin’ man, Bomber. You take a lot of shit and I’ve handed you extra.” He shakes his head before smiling.
“You know when I was younger, I never saw myself as the Prez type. I was a bastard, yeah, but not Prez material. You guys really pull it out of me. It means a lot to me.” Why do I get the feeling that something is off with all this? This whole conversation just seems odd to me.
“Rangers are out of commission but not all of them. How long you think till they regroup?” I ask bringing the cigarette back to my lips.
“We took out a good bit. I’ll give them about a month or two to regroup and come back at us. Won’t have the force behind them, though. Now, we focus on findin’ out who the fuck messed with our girl.” I grunt my agreeance on that one.
If it’s the last thing I fucking do in my life, I will kill every one of them.
I snuff out my cigarette with the toe of my boot before I help load up the money we found.
Once we have that handled I call and leave Link a message letting him know that we’re heading back.
“Does it fuckin’ bother you that Link didn’t answer?” I ask the guys. They all turn to look at me.
“Fuck, yeah. Since last time he didn’t answer he was gettin’ his ass handed to him for my girl,” Dax says. Fuck. He’s right.
I dial Shannon and don’t get an answer either.
“Well fuck! Shan isn’t answerin’ either,” I mumble.
“Maybe she switched brothers. She took Link instead,” Dax laughs before I slam my fist into his mouth.
Kane jerks me back, limping on his bad leg while he laughs.
“That shit ain’t funny,” I point at Dax. He knows how bad my nerves have been lately and he’s just pushing my buttons
.
I head to my bike and grab my helmet. Sliding it on, my mind races to a million different scenarios that could be playing out back at the clubhouse. Her with Link isn’t one of them.
I rev my bike up and wait on the others. Dax has my nerves worked up so high that I can barely handle it.
Bomber slaps a hand on my shoulder before chuckling. “Calm that down, brother,” he says as he walks toward his own bike.
Calm it down. Yeah, that will fucking happen right when I see my girl is safe.
Chapter 55
Shannon
The hits can barely be felt. My body is on a high that I’ve never known before. The way they kick and hit me, they will regret that soon.
Link has managed to get the one off him and knocked him the fuck out. He’s taking on the other two right now.
Danna was pushed into the corner, her hands and legs are tied.
Me? I’m getting my ass beat like a man. I’m taking it, though. When I get up, I will kill him.
“Had enough?” Tyler asks when the beating stops. I laugh before shoving myself off the floor. Blood drips from my mouth. I reach up and wipe it away.
“I’ve waited for this day. I’ve waited to see the look in the motherfucker’s eyes that took my daughter from me.” Tyler doesn’t look so happy that I’m mouthing him.
“Is that so? Well, take a long look. It will be your last,” he laughs. He doesn’t get it. When I laugh, he doesn’t understand. It will be my last look at him because I’m going to end his miserable life.
Before I can do anything, a bang rings through the room. Jeremy drops like a fucking rock next to Tyler. His eyes widen slightly.
“He’s mine Link!” I roar with everything I have in me. Everyone else is down. Everyone—but Tyler.
“I know. I’m just helpin’ out.” Link walks around to stand next to Tyler.
“What the hell is this? You’re going to kill me? Yeah right.” Tyler laughs while he looks at me.
“I am going to kill you. I’m going to watch you get dragged straight to hell by every fucking demon there is,” I tell him, pulling the knife that I took from Bash from the back of my jeans, thanking God, that it’s still there.
“You won’t do it,” he says. Link shoots him in both his legs. Tyler howls in pain as he falls to the floor in front of me.
I look up at Link but he just shrugs with a smile on his face.
“You son of a bitch. I’ll kill you!” Tyler roars as he looks up at Link. I laugh because to me, he looks to be on the losing end.
“No. I will kill you, Tyler. I will enjoy every fucking second of it. I will make you feel the pain that I felt.”
I walk closer to him and lean down, grabbing his hair in my hand.
Jerking his head back, I force him to look up at me.
“You stole a life from me!” I scream as tears fall down my cheeks. This is it. I have to do this. I can’t let him walk.
The door opens behind Tyler and I see all the guys walk in. Their mouths quickly drop open when they take in the scene in front of them.
“What the hell?” Bash yells before shoving his way through the crowd.
His eyes land on mine. The knife in my hand, poised at Tyler’s throat.
He walks over slowly as tears stream down my face.
“This is what you’ve been waitin’ for. This moment. This day. This motherfucker,” he says as softly as I’ve ever heard him talk. He doesn’t need to ask why I have him here. It’s like he already knows this is the bastard that took her.
He stands behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He presses a kiss to the back of my head before I sniffle.
“My offer still stands, baby. I’ll do it,” he says softly. I shake my head, knowing that I need to handle this on my own.
“I have to do it, Bash. For her.” His hand comes out to mine. He wraps his fingers around mine and holds the knife with me.
“We do it for her,” he says in my ear.
“You don’t have to do this!” Tyler begs for his miserable life.
“We do it together, Shannon.” I nod my head slowly.
With his hand tightly wrapped around mine, we slice through Tyler’s throat, cutting off all screams.
Blood flows from his throat as I watch it. Bash holds my hand in his, pulling me back against him.
“You don’t have to watch,” he whispers in my ear as Tyler falls to the floor gasping.
“Yes, I do.”
Chapter 56
Sebastian
“What are we doin’ with the rest of them?” Bomber’s voice holds the hint of a smile. I can hear it.
“That’s up to her,” I say as Shannon steps out of my embrace and moves toward Danna. She cuts her free with the knife we just killed Tyler with.
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea it was them, Shannon. My God,” she cries. Shannon helps her off the floor and pulls her into a hug.
“I know you didn’t. It’s ok now,” Shannon reassures her. She should be the one that needs the reassurance. She just killed a man and watched him die.
Shannon takes a deep breath before she looks up at says, “Kill them all.” Dax chuckles when she says it. He steps up and grabs the first one off the floor by the hair before he says, “Gladly.”
“Take them out back. Link, pull the van around. Bury them over at Richland,” he says. I watch the guys spring into action pulling the bastards off the floor.
Micah kicks at Tyler before dragging his bloody body toward the side door.
“Wait!” Shannon yells. I watch her for a minute, wondering what’s going on in that pretty little head of hers.
She leans down closely to his body and whispers something. It must have been good because I can see the grin on Micah’s face.
When she stands back up she gives Micah a nod. She watches him drag Tyler’s body out of the room before she turns to face me.
A mixture of emotions are dancing across her face.
Fear.
Pride.
I start to move toward her. She comes to me instead. She runs, slamming into my chest like a Mack truck.
“He’s gone,” she breathes against my chest. I hold tightly to the back of her neck.
“Yeah, he’s gone,” I repeat her words.
“We got this handled. You good?” Bomber looks to me for an answer. I give him a quick nod before he leads Danna from the room.
“Are you ok? Want to talk about it?” Shannon shakes her head no. I know this has to be bothering her in some form or another.
I reach down and lift her in my arms, holding her against me. I don’t miss the sobs.
I carry her up to my room and kick the door closed behind me. Climbing on the bed, I keep her tucked in against me like I always do.
The overwhelming need to protect her, to keep her safe has kicked in.
I never wanted this for her. I never wanted her to have to deal with any of this.
“The more I think about it, the less I regret any of it,” I admit to her. This is something I haven’t even admitted to myself.
“What do you mean?” She looks up at me with those teary eyes and I want to take all the pain away from her.
“Everything we’ve been through. I wanted to hate, Shannon. I wanted to believe that this whole thing was one big fuck up but it wasn’t. If we didn’t go through any of this, we wouldn’t be here together. I don’t fuckin’ regret that. I don’t think I want anyone else but you at my side.” She watches me for a long minute before she smiles.
“She’s with us, isn’t she, Bash?” I nod my head before I press my lips to her forehead.
“She’s with us, darlin’. She’s always gonna be with us.”
“What if I want another baby? Does that make me a bad person?” The tears start to fall once again. I hate that she thinks this way.
“No. It makes you a good person. You have the best heart of anyone I know, Shan. You’d make a great mom,” I remind her of the things that she should already know.
>
“Do you want a baby?” she asks. I sigh. Do I? I came around to the idea the first time but that was already in motion. That baby was already growing inside of her. Now there is a choice to make. We can decide to take precautions and be careful. We don’t have to look at that right now.
“Honestly? Not right now. I want you to heal first. I want you to grow and be happy. I want us to grow. In the future? I want to fill you with as many babies as you want, but I want the time to be right. I want us to be ok.” She doesn’t move or say anything which unnerves me slightly. When she finally does speak, it’s not what I thought she’d say.
“I want another baby, Bash. But you’re right. I want you right now. I think I need you more than anything else right now.” Fuck! I love this woman!
“And I need you.” I kiss her lips softly before she sighs.
“I love you, Bash.”
“I love you too, baby.”
Chapter 57
Shannon
I lie back and watch the water as it rolls over the sand. Bash splashes in the water with Cory. The whole scene is beautiful.
Who would have thought a year had passed since I lost my little girl? A piece of my heart still hurts for her. I’ll miss her every single day of my life. With each breath I take, I know she isn’t going to be there. It’s sad to know that, too.
“Have you talked about having more kids?” Ivy asks me from her chair.
“Yeah. We decided to wait a while. We want to spend as much time together as we can first.” She smiles down at me and nods.
“He may be hard on the outside but I think he’d make a great dad. He’s always so good with kids,” she says as we watch him.
“He really is.”
I watch Bash and Cory a little more. There’s a part of me that wonders what our little girl would have been like if that was her out there in the water.
“Get up! We’re swimmin’,” Dax yells before grabbing me off my towel.
“What the hell!” I squeal as he jerks me upright.
“We’re swimmin’. We’re at the beach. Not here to lie around and get skin cancer.” Dax drags me by the wrist toward the water. Bash’s eyes find mine. It’s like an instant connection that both of us can feel.