by Erin Osborne
“I’ll call Butcher,” Slim says, knowing that I don’t want to talk to the man right now. As far as I’m concerned, Riley and Shelby were in his care and he dropped the fucking ball. It’s because of him that they aren’t here with me.
The rest of us talk about how we’re going to go in since we know nothing about how many people Nicolette has working with her. I want to go in heavy, only leaving a select group of men here to watch the old ladies and kids while we’re getting my girls back. Grim agrees that it might be the best way to handle the situation since we’re pretty much walking in blind. It would help to know what was going on and how many people were going to be there guarding, but Tyler wouldn’t have known that information. He didn’t know much to begin with. I think he was blinded by the skank and would do anything she asked him to.
“Butcher and his crew are down to help us when we figure things out. I know you don’t want to be around him right now, but if it’s anywhere they travel or have ties to, they’re goin’ to know that area better than we will. Gage, you need to know that he is sorry as fuck for what happened and owes you both big time when we bring them home. You have my word, Butcher really didn’t think this bitch would be stupid enough to pull somethin’ that close to the clubhouse,” Slim tells me, sitting down across from me and setting his phone on the table in front of him.
“Regardless of what he thought, my girls are the ones payin’ for it now. Aren’t they?” I ask, knowing that Slim feels just as guilty because he’s the one that vouched for Butcher and his club to begin with.
We spend the rest of the day talking over plans and checking our weapons and ammo so that we can get more if we need to. Slim and Grim both brought their stock with them, which means that we don’t have to send anyone out for either. Skylar and Bailey came out a while ago and told us they were going to make dinner. I’m not sure what all we have here, but they can usually whip something up from nothing and make it taste amazing. I know that there’s not much else I can do until Tech, Fox, and Tank work their magic and find a farmhouse that my girls could be at, so I leave everyone and sit at a table alone. If I thought I could get away with hiding out in my room, I would. Bailey won’t let me though, I know that for a fact. Maybe I should go see Ryan and be alone there for a while.
Standing up, I nod my head toward the back to let Crash know that I’m heading outside for a bit. None of them want me to be alone right now, but they know if I’m outside at Ryan’s memorial, I don’t want to be bothered. I don’t talk to anyone on my way out and I only stop to grab a beer from behind the bar. Yeah, I want a clear head in case the guys find something, but I need this right now too. Otherwise I’m going to lose my cool more than I have already, and I can’t afford to do that either. Riley and Shelby don’t need to see me like that and they don’t need to deal with the backlash from anything that I might say or do until they’re found.
Ryan’s memorial isn’t all that far from the backdoor of the clubhouse, but it’s far enough away that I can feel alone. I sit down on the bench and open my beer. For a few minutes I don’t do much except for look at the headstone that was placed here and look at words that face me. Even though he didn’t have a chance to live his life, I think that my son had a reason for being conceived, that was bigger than Bailey and I ever thought possible. Now, I wish he were here so I could watch him grow and learn the way that Shelby does on a daily basis.
“Ryan, I don’t know what to do. I miss you every day, more than you’ll ever know. Now, I finally found the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with and she’s gone. Someone has taken her from me and I don’t know if I’m going to get them back in time. Hell, I don’t even know if she wants to be with me. Her little girl is so precious. No one will ever take your place, but I want both of them in my life for the long haul. What am I supposed to do?” I say, talking to my son’s stone when I don’t think I have anyone else that will understand what I’m going through.
“You know he’d want you to be happy, right?” Bailey asks, coming up behind me. “Riley and Shelby will be home soon. You guys are going to find them, and she’ll come back to you. If I know her at all, I think that she’s wishing that she didn’t push you away before this all happened. I get why she did it, I’d probably do the same thing in her shoes, but it’s because she’s scared you’re going to leave when things get tough. Everyone seems to do that to her, including Keegan. No disrespect, but that’s how Riley sees it. Do you know where her parents are?”
“No. We’ve never talked about her family. I mean, I’m sure they’re out there somewhere, but I don’t know where. Maybe I could have Tech or Fox look them up,” I say, thinking out loud.
“Keep your head up Gage. Your girls are coming home, and I think it’s going to be sooner than you think. Something just tells me that they’ll be with you before you know it. Then, I know you’re going to do some big gesture to ensure that she doesn’t want to leave. Just promise me that you’ll give her some time if she needs it,” she says, sitting down next to me and looking at the memorial that’s the same as it is in Clifton Falls.
We sit in silence for what seems like hours until Tech and Crash come running out to get me. They’re pretty sure that they found the farmhouse that’s about a day’s ride from here. I quickly stand up and start to jog back into the clubhouse so that I can find out what’s all been discovered since I left the room. For the first time in weeks, my heart feels like it’s beating normal again and I feel like the weight I’ve been carrying around is starting to lift. It won’t be completely gone until I lay eyes on my girls, but it’s a start.
Chapter Twelve
Gage
THE LAST FEW DAYS HAS BEEN HELL. When we found out where the farmhouse was, in Keegan’s dads name, we loaded up and rode out early the next morning to Butcher’s clubhouse. Shadow, Butcher, and myself all had a sit down and I think that we’ve come to an understanding now. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not forgiven by a long shot, but with time, I’ll be okay. Shadow is also spending an extra few months at least as a prospect. He needs to prove to us that he can be trusted to follow my directions again. Yes, he was at another club’s house, but I am still his President.
I’m not going to give Shadow his beatdown now, he knows it’s coming. The only thing I’m focused on is getting to this farmhouse. Everything else can be sorted out later on. As it is I’m pacing back and forth across the common room of Butcher’s clubhouse while I wait for everyone to get ready to leave. Grim and Crash are trying to calm me down, but nothing is working. I’m ready to leave alone if I have to in order to find the girls. It’s still going to be a few hours ride to get to them, hoping it’s the right place.
Finally, everyone starts heading toward me and I know that it’s time to roll out. I don’t wait for anyone to come to me or anything else, I immediately head out to my bike and climb on. The rest of the guys follow suit and we head out for the next step to bringing my world back into focus. Slim and Butcher lead us all, followed immediately by Grim and myself. Everyone else follows behind us as we begin the five-and-a-half-hour ride.
After stopping one time for gas, we made good time to our final destination. We decided at Butcher’s clubhouse to stop a mile away from the house. There’s no way Nicolette is going to hear us coming. The element of surprise will be our saving grace, we hope. There’s still the matter of not knowing whether or not there are any guards outside the house, or randomly placed inside. It’s a chance that we’re taking by storming the house and not knowing all the details. This is a hazard that I’m not exactly comfortable taking, but we have no choice in the matter. My only hope is that nothing happens to anyone with us or Riley and Shelby.
“Gage, you’re with the group stormin’ the front door. None of the documents show any other entrances or exits, but if there’s been any additions or anythin’ we don’t know,” Grim tells the group of us as we gather for last minute instructions before we split up and head out.
I’m going with Cage,
Crash, Steel, and Shadow. The rest of the guys are going to split up to make sure that we’re not going to be ambushed or snuck up behind. There’s a lot of places out here that someone can hide in. the house is surrounded by trees and whatever other information Tech and Fox could find on the house and for a ten-mile radius around the house. Behind the house is a pond or a small body of water, and there’s train tracks that cut through the very edge of the search they made.
“Gage you ready to go to the house?” Grim asks, knowing that I’m trying so hard to pay attention when I’m really ready to just say ‘fuck everyone’ and go get my girl.
“Been ready. Waitin’ on you to get done doin’ your thing so I don’t completely disrespect you and walk away,” I tell everyone around me honestly.
“Let’s go get your girls,” Slim finally says, knowing that I’m at my limit and I can’t take anymore waiting.
I immediately take off and head in the direction of the house. The guys that are going with me stay right on my heals because they know that I’m not going to wait for anyone when the girls could be so close to where I am. Getting in and finding them is the only thing on my mind and everything else is blanked. As soon as we get up on the porch, I hear a commotion and a loud thud. This has to be where Nicolette has Riley and Shelby. Especially once I hear a little child’s screams and cries coming through one of the windows.
We hesitate for a minute to ensure that everyone else has had a chance to get into position before I blast through the deteriorating door. What I see has my heart racing and relief flooding my body. Well, that is until I see Riley looking back and forth between the bitch that took her and me. I can’t read the emotions flitting across her face before it goes blank and she starts falling to the floor. There’s barely enough time for me to get to her before she slams onto the hardwood floor beneath her.
“Someone run up and find my daughter!” I yell out, hearing Shelby screaming at the top of her lungs and needing to know that she’s okay and no one is up there hurting her. I’ll kill any motherfucker that has touched one hair on her head.
Looking closer at Riley laying in my arms, I notice the bruises and cuts along her face, neck, arms, and going into her hair. I can’t see any more of her body with the clothes and I don’t want to let her go long enough to take a look. The only time my eyes leave her are when I hear footsteps coming back downstairs and Shelby’s screams turning to whimpering. I know that will change once she sees her mother and me, but I can’t let Riley go. Not when I just got her back in my arms. There’s a slight bruise on her face and my vision hazes over with red knowing that the skank laying on the floor hurt my baby girl. Now I know why she’s dead and Riley was standing by her body.
“She dead?” Butcher asks, walking through the demolished door.
“I haven’t had a chance to look,” I reply, not bothering to look in his direction.
Shadow brushes past him and heads right over to Nicolette. He checks for a pulse and lets us know that she doesn’t have one. Riley must have shoved her over the edge of the railing if the splintered wood surrounding us is anything to go by. I have no clue why Riley passed out and it’s concerning me that she’s not waking up yet. Even with her daughter now down with us, she’s not moving a muscle.
“Someone call an ambulance!” I scream out, my panic overtaking me and I don’t know what to do.
“Gage, it’s gonna be faster if we take them to the hospital ourselves,” Butcher tells me. “With how far out we are, it’s goin’ to take forever for anyone to get here to help.”
I stand up with Riley still in my arms and Slim has Shelby in his arms. She’s trying to squirm out of his arms to get to me, but I have her mom in my arms. I’m talking to her and trying to get her to calm down as we make our way to the SUV Shadow ran ahead to get and meet us with. Butcher will take over driving once we load up and Shadow will ride his bike to the hospital with us. Butcher and Grim are selecting the guys that are going to follow us and the rest will go take care of all the weapons and other things we don’t need any more and meet us there later on. Butcher’s prospects will take care of Nicolette and the house so it’s no longer standing. Having no one around works out in our favor this time.
“Butcher, how long till we get to the hospital?” I ask, once we get to the SUV.
“About a half hour. I’ll get us there as soon as possible,” he tells me, letting me know he’s going to do whatever he can to right this wrong.
I’m constantly murmuring to Riley, telling her how scared I was and the different things I want to do when she wakes up. When I’m not talking to her, I spend my time talking to Shelby and trying to keep her calm. I constantly have one hand on her leg and my other hand on Riley’s cheek. There were a few times that it felt like she leaned into my touch, but I don’t know. Shelby keeps looking over at her mom like she knows she’s here but isn’t talking to us. I want to reassure her that Riley is going to be fine, but I can’t do that right now. So, she’s occupying herself by throwing her toy at Slim and laughing when he picks it up and tosses it back to her. Her laughter still makes me smile and love the sound more than almost anything else.
“You doin’ okay, Gage?” Slim asks, handing Shelby her toy again from the front seat.
“Not really. I won’t be okay until I know for sure that Riley’s okay and Shelby is doin’ good too,” I answer, glancing at the bruise that’s now dark purple on her little cheek. If Nicolette weren’t already dead, I’d be killing her for touching my girls.
Butcher is flying through the streets and I can’t thank him enough for making it to the hospital so quick. It seems to take all the time in the world to get there, but go by extremely fast at the same time. He pulls up right in front of the doors and I can see a security guard come out and go to say something until he sees us all start to pile out of the vehicle. As soon as he takes a look at the limp body of Riley in my arms, he runs in and grabs nurses and a gurney. There’s going to be questions, but I’m not going to lie about my girls being kidnapped.
I answer the questions that I can and realize that we need to have some serious conversations about personal things when she wakes up. When it gets to the questions about what happened, I don’t hold anything back. Especially when I let them know that my daughter needs to be looked at too.
“They were kidnapped, and this is how we found them. My daughter has a nasty bruise on her face that I don’t know what happened. When we found them, my wife collapsed as soon as we came through the door. There’s obviously bruises and cuts over the parts of her body that we can see. Whatever else is goin’ on, I have no clue,” I tell them, making sure that I get full access to my girls by saying they’re my wife and daughter.
The nurses wheel the girls away from me and to the back. One stays back long enough to tell us where the waiting room is before she disappears through the doors keeping me away from my girls. I could be throwing a fit and trashing another room here in the hospital, but that’s only going to accomplish getting the staff away from where their attention needs to be. So, I walk over to where the nurse directed us and take a seat. Slim and Butcher sit on either side of me in case they need to hold me back. Now, the only thing we can do is sit and wait.
Riley
I feel like I’m floating in thin air. There’s a beeping in the distance and I’m trying to figure out what it is and where the noise is coming from. It seems like I’m surrounded by a dark haze and I can’t see what’s right in front of my face. In the very distance, it sounds like Gage is talking to me. Although I can’t be sure what he’s saying, I know in my heart that it’s him and he’s with me.
I’m trying to get through the hazy fog so that I can get to him, but it’s not easy. The further away I get, the more pain I feel throughout my entire body. It honestly wants me to let the fog drag me back under so that I don’t have to deal with the pain and not knowing where my daughter is. Thinking of Shelby is what makes me fight the darkness and fog to find out where she is and what’s g
oing on with her.
Opening my eyes, I have to immediately close them again with the pain the lights are causing me. My head pounds and I squeeze the hand that’s holding mine to let them know that I’m awake.
“Riley, can you hear me?” Gage asks, his voice full of concern.
I nod my head slightly and instantly regret it. The pain that ricochets through my head brings tears to my eyes and I can’t stop the tears that slip through my closed eyelids. Gage gently wipes them away as they fall, and I murmur that I need the lights shut off. There’s movement and within a few seconds, he tells me that I can open my eyes. Slowly raising my eyelids, I see that the room is shrouded in darkness and I take a few minutes to let my eyes adjust to the room. Looking to my right, I see Gage standing there, looking like shit, holding a glass of what I’m hoping is some water.
As I take a few small sips, the water goes down and cools my throat that feels like I’ve swallowed glass shards and sand paper. Gage reminds me not to drink too much so that I don’t get sick, but I can’t seem to stop myself from drinking. Finally, he pulls the glass away from me and a whimper escapes my lips at the loss. He places a kiss against my temple and sits back down while the other person that was in the room heads out to let the doctor know I’m awake.
“Where’s Shelby?” I ask, needing to know where she is right now as a steady panic rises in me.
“She’s with Slim and Butcher in the waiting room. I’ll have them bring her in as soon as the doctor finishes up with you,” he replies, kissing the back of my hand. “You had me so scared, beautiful.”
“Is she gone?” I ask, knowing that he’ll know who I’m talking about without mentioning a name at all.