Max (Ride Series Second Generation Book 6)

by Megan O'Brien

  “Just a little place I’ve been fixing up for us,” he answered. “We’re nearly there.”

  He pulled off the freeway and onto a tree-lined street I’d driven through many times in my years in Hawthorne.

  “Here we are,” he announced proudly as he pulled into the driveway of a single-story home with a white picket fence.

  I prayed someone, anyone, would see us as he held the gun trained on me, forcing me to walk ahead of him into the house.

  The house was remarkable in how unremarkable it was. I’d expected something dark and dreary, for the walls to be covered in photos of me, something to indicate his obvious obsession. Instead, this looked like a perfectly ordinary home; it was charming even.

  “I’ll give you a tour later,” he said as he pushed me gently toward a set of stairs off the kitchen. “I’ve got the master bedroom all decorated with your favorite colors, but for now, you’ll need to stay down here until I can trust you not to run away again.”

  As we descended down the stairwell, dread swirled in my belly as we left the quaint kitchen and arrived in a basement outfitted with a floor-to-ceiling-sized cage.

  “No!” I protested. “Don’t make me go in there. I won’t run away, I promise,” I pleaded, eyeing the cell outfitted with a bed and toilet, feeling a fear I’d never known until that moment.

  “It’s just for a little while, sweetie,” he crooned, opening the door and giving me a little shove inside.

  The door shut with a resounding metal clang I felt all the way to my bones.

  He sat on a nearby chair outside of the cell, and for the first time, I noticed how pale he was. “I just need to clean myself up.” He sighed tiredly. “There are some fresh towels and a bucket of water for you to freshen up,” he added, as though I was preparing for a night out rather than cleaning a bullet wound.

  I didn’t take the time to protest as I sat on the small bed and immediately dipped a towel into the nearby bucket. I needed to clean away some of the blood to get an idea of what I was dealing with. Not that that would tell me much. I wasn’t a nurse.

  The bucket quickly turned red with my blood as I dipped the towel repeatedly, finally able to see the quarter-sized wound. I could feel the bullet still lodged there. Was that good or bad? Should I try to pull it out? With what?

  While I deliberated, I pulled a pillowcase off the nearby pillow, tying it just above my kneecap in hopes of staunching the blood flow.

  When I looked at Jared again, his posture was slumped and his pallor had grown gray. “You’re going to bleed to death,” I informed him quietly. “You should call an ambulance.”

  He offered a shallow laugh in return. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You were always looking for an excuse to get away from me. Even when I paid that idiot to rob you in that parking lot, you wouldn’t even let me drive you home!” His gaze flared with anger before growing dull once more from blood loss. “Always too good for me. Well, not anymore. We’re going to stay here together until you accept me. Until you love me the way that I love you.”

  Holy shit, he was so twisted.

  “Rest up, sweetie.” He sighed, shutting his eyes and leaning back in his seat. “I’m just going to take a little nap, and I’ll be good as new.”

  Realization hit me with horrifying force. He was going to die and leave me trapped in this cage.

  I stood up, grasping the bars with both hands. “Jared!” I cried, trying to rouse him. “You’re dying. Let me out so I can help,” I insisted.

  He smiled serenely but didn’t open his eyes. “I knew you’d want to take care of me the way that I want to take care of you, Wren.”

  “Jared!” I cried desperately, terror sweeping through me as the reality of my situation loomed.

  He didn’t respond, and after a moment, he started to slide toward the right, careening off the chair and collapsing on the ground in a heap.

  He was dead. I knew it without doubt and yet, couldn’t seem to believe it. For a few moments, I just stood there looking at his waxen form and tried to think clearly.

  Desperation took over as I tried frantically to pull the iron bars apart. When that didn’t work, I dumped the water out of the bucket and hurled it repeatedly at the bars, hoping for a weak spot, hoping to make a crack, a dent, anything.

  Nothing worked.

  I clung to the bars, my head drooped, chest heaving as the enormity of my situation loomed.

  It was several moments before I could collect myself enough to take stock of my situation. The toilet had water, so at least I wouldn’t die of thirst. I didn’t have any food, and my leg was still oozing blood. How long could I survive down here? A few days? A week? How would anyone ever find me?

  I sat on the edge of the bed and allowed myself to break down. The thought of dying down here, of never seeing Max again, of not having the life with him I’d wanted more than anything, was more than I could bare.

  Chapter 31

  MAX

  The ride back to Hawthorne was excruciating. Knowing Wren had been shot and was now dealing with a bullet wound and a psychopath had me on the brink of sanity myself. When we crested the road up to Axel’s, the sun was dipping in the sky. His driveway was lined with bikes and familiar SUV’s, the majority of the club having gathered no doubt to help how they could.

  As I stalked into the house, my gaze immediately locked on Caleb and nothing else. Before I was even aware I’d moved, I had him by the throat and pressed to the nearest wall. “I trusted you to protect her!” I roared, my face inches from his. I wanted to tear him limb from limb for failing Wren, for failing me.

  I distantly noticed through my rage-filled haze that he didn’t fight me, but simply stood, seeming ready to accept whatever punishment I doled out.

  A hand appeared on my shoulder, pressing firmly. “We don’t have time for this,” Sal’s voice sounded in my ear. “Leave him be and get your head on straight. Wren’s waiting for you.”

  After a moment, I nodded, shoving Caleb away from me in disgust.

  I turned to face the room full of my family and brothers. “What do we know?”

  “Already went by the house he grew up in. It was sold a few years back, so that’s a dead end,” Gunner shared in frustration. It was in that moment, I realized that Wren wasn’t just mine. No, my girl had worked her way into the hearts of the entire club throughout her life and more recently, when we’d gotten together. “Now that we know who we’re dealing with, we’ve been learning what we can. X and Wes are out talkin' to some guys Caleb said he seemed tight with in school.”

  I shot another glare at Caleb before turning my attention back to Gun. “That’s it?”

  He shook his head, as though reluctant to share more. “I did some digging. He was locked up for a few years. I haven’t had much time to get into the details, but it looks like he was stalking a woman at Penn State. He got locked up for failing to comply with a restraining order and a few other misdemeanors.”

  “That’s why he didn’t show up in Oregon until recently,” I surmised. “Is that it?”

  “For now.” Gunner nodded reluctantly. “We’re doing everything we can, man.”

  “Fuck.” If there hadn’t have been a couch behind me, I would have collapsed onto the ground as the sheer severity of the situation gripped me.

  My mom sank to my side, wrapping an arm around me. “We’re gonna find her, honey,” she murmured. “And Wren’s a fighter. She’s not gonna give up, not when she knows you’ll never give up on her.”

  “She’s been shot,” I rasped in torment. “We don’t know how bad it is or where he took her. The thought of what she must be going through right now is making it hard to think past anything else.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to,” she replied steadily. “She needs you. And if anyone can figure this out, it’s you.” Her confidence in me was the motivation I needed.

  I clenched my jaw, nodding once. My girl was out there somewhere waiting on me to find her, and I’d be dam
ned if I let her down.

  ****

  At dawn, I stood out on my back patio, staring blankly out at the tree line. It had been a sleepless night that had brought no new information. There was no way I could sleep, not while Wren was out there somewhere.

  When the slider opened behind me, I didn’t turn, but instead watched in my periphery as Sal leaned against the railing alongside me.

  “Figured you’d be up. Your mom let me in,” he explained, his tone as gruff as always but with a raw edge that was new.

  I nodded. My mom and Emmie had spent the night. I couldn’t get rid of them if I’d tried, and I hadn’t.

  For a while, we just stood side by side, watching the sun rise further in the sky, lighting the tree line with a rose-colored hue. “She was determined from the moment she was born. Our stubborn little raven-haired girl with eyes as big as saucers. Shit, she was gorgeous,” he murmured, his tone taking on a reverence that painted a picture I could almost see. “Wanted to do everything herself.” He chuckled. “Kat and I tried for years to have another one, but we couldn’t make it happen, and after a while, we realized that Wren was more than enough. She was always enough,” he said, and I wondered if he was speaking to himself or to me.

  “She was defiant, but not in the way most kids are. She just wanted to do things her own way, and if that meant doing things that boys typically did, then so be it. I’ll never forget her marching out to our garage, she must have been six or seven, wearing her little pink dress she loved so much with a tool box in her hand.” He chuckled at the memory. “She demanded I show her how to fix up a car. So, I did.” He shrugged. “And shit if she wasn’t better than me before she was a teenager.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me.” I shook my head, thinking of all the times Wren had proven how goddamn special she was. I swallowed hard against the emotion clawing at my insides. “Should have put a ring on her finger,” I lamented, dropping my head and leaning back on my arms. “I was waiting. Why did I wait?”

  “You’ll have plenty of time for that,” he assured me. “We have years ahead of us to fight over who gets the first dance at your wedding, and you’ll get pissed when Kat and I steal your babies once you have them. I’ve already planned on years of you being a pain in my ass, can’t have that preparation goin’ to waste.”

  I looked up at him in surprise as he offered a pained smile.

  “I definitely get the first dance,” I shot back, a ghost of a smile tugging at my lips.

  He eyed me intently for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah, Max, you do.”

  “I’ll take care of her.” It was important to me that he knew that—that he believed it.

  “I know you will.” He nodded, clapping me on the back. “She chose well.” The note of pride in his tone had me swallowing hard against emotion.

  I simply nodded, unable to reply as he lifted his chin toward the house. “I think your mom put some coffee on.”

  It was a good thing too, because I’d need a pot or two of it. Today, I was bringing my girl home.

  My living room was full of Knights members by the time I was on my second cup. Most of them had been up all night as well, trying to do anything they could to figure out where Wren had been taken or might be headed.

  Gunner, Cash, and I were trying to find more links to Jared when Maddox strode in, an unfamiliar brunette in tow.

  I looked at him in confusion since this wasn’t the time to be bringing strangers around, and I expected him to know it.

  The girl looked nervous, hanging close to Maddox as he kept a protective hand on her lower back.

  “What’s goin’ on?” I asked.

  “This is Francesca,” he introduced. “She might know where Jared would take Wren.”

  My gaze sharpened on her as hope and distrust waged a war inside me. “You’re the source.”

  She bit her lip, looking up at Maddox for guidance. At his nod, she spoke, her voice soft. “I am.”

  “And how would you know where Jared would take Wren?” I demanded. She’d mislead us before; I wasn’t about to let that happen again.

  She took a deep breath. “Jared uses his mother’s maiden name. His father is Angelo Rossi.”

  I took a step back, floored by what she’d just shared. “And you know this because…?”

  “Because Rossi is my last name too,” she murmured.

  The room erupted with questions and tension after she’d dropped her little bomb. Maddox pulled her protectively into his body, his expression deadly. “Everyone chill the fuck out,” he barked. “Frannie’s on our side. She’s risking her life being here, going against her family so she can help Wren. Shut the fuck up and listen.”

  He was right. All I cared about was finding Wren.

  Francesca licked her lips nervously, and it was clear she wanted to be anywhere but here. Whatever her motives were, whether they were pure or not, I’d take any information she had.

  “Jared and I aren’t close. I had no idea he was stalking your girlfriend until Maddox came to me on the off chance I might know something. When he showed me a picture of Jared, I couldn’t believe it,” she admitted shakily. “I don’t know where he took her or what he has planned, but I overheard him bragging a few months back about a house he bought in Hawthorne that he was fixing up for his girl.”

  I glowered at her words but forced myself to remain silent.

  “I don’t have the address, but he said it was in the Windsor Park neighborhood.”

  “Could be something,” Gunner spoke up, already in investigative mode. Out of all of us, he was always best with that shit. “I can look up the real estate records and narrow down which places were sold in that time frame.”

  I nodded, urgently hoping like hell this was the lead we needed.

  Cash cocked his head to the side, visibly sizing up Francesca. “You told Mad the Rossis were planning a drop, when really Jared had an attempted kidnapping planned. How do you explain that?”

  Maddox growled, clearly ready to take on anyone who questioned her. “It’s okay, Maddox,” she assured him softly before turning her eyes to Cash. “I think my family suspects something and purposefully fed me that information. It’s why I’m here. I think my cover is blown regardless.”

  If that was true, then she was in a hell of a lot of danger. Maddox’s posture and expression proved he already knew this.

  “Why risk it?” Cole asked, speaking for the first time. His tone wasn’t skeptical but curious, as I was sure we all were.

  “I have my reasons.” She shrugged, her gaze sliding to the side.

  Gunner set his laptop aside, his gaze locking with mine. “I think I might have something.”

  I was grabbing my keys before he’d even finished the sentence. I looked to Sal; if he wanted to ride out with us, I’d never deny him that.

  He wrapped an arm around Kat, his eyes on me. “Go get our girl.”

  Chapter 32

  WREN

  It had been a hellish night. When night fell, the small amount of light that had been coming in through the small basement window disappeared, leaving me to suffer the night in pitch black. Sleeping in a cell with a dead body slumped next to it, my stomach growling and calf burning, was a waking nightmare. My mind had gone to some outlandish places as the night stretched.

  At one point, I’d sworn I heard music, and in another, Jared breathing—that had been the scariest of all. But as day break allowed a small sliver of sun to light my surroundings, Jared was still slumped in the same position, his face a ghoulish gray.

  I shivered at the very sight of him.

  Lying back down on my small bed and curling into the fetal position, I conjured an image of Max in my mind as I had tried to do throughout the night. I pictured that slow smile of his that I loved so much, those warm brown eyes. I imagined his arms around me now, pulling me close, kissing my temple as he liked to do.

  A noise overhead woke me from a light sleep. At first, I dismissed it as my mind playing tricks on me.
Then I heard it again, louder this time.

  I sprang out of bed, wincing at the pain in my leg. “Hello?” I shouted, my voice hoarse from lack of sleep and thirst. I hadn’t gotten desperate enough to drink out of the toilet yet. “I’m down here!” I hollered as loud as I could.

  I tried yelling throughout the night, hoping a neighbor would hear me, to no avail. I was scared to hope this would be different.

  The heavy tread of feet on the stairs sounded a moment before Max came into view. I’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

  Relieved tears filled my eyes as I clung to the bars, trying to hold myself up.

  His gaze swung from me to Jared’s corpse before returning to me. “Baby.” His tone was guttural. “Gonna get you out of there,” he swore as Gunner and Cash appeared in the room.

  “Do you know where the key is?” he asked me, and despite the urgency in his gaze, his tone was calm. I knew the effort it must have taken him.

  “He has them.” I pointed to Jared with a grimace.

  Cash didn’t hesitate, and as Max stood in front of me, holding my hands through the bars, he dug through a dead man’s jeans. “Found ’em,” he replied a moment later, dangling them from his fingers.

  “Damn, remind me not to kidnap you, Wren. Everyone who tries ends up dead.” Gunner shot me a wry grin. He was trying to put me at ease, and to the degree that it was possible, it worked.

  Max’s growl of discontent proved he didn’t appreciate the gesture.

  After they tried a few keys, finally the sound of the lock snicking open sounded, and a heartbeat later, Max had me in his arms.

  He lifted me bridal style. “Close your eyes. I don’t want you looking at this fuckin’ place a second longer,” he grunted as he headed for the stairs.

  I didn’t argue, eager to erase the dungeon from my mind—though I didn’t think that would actually ever be possible.

  I only opened them when we were outside, the fresh air of the morning calming my frazzled nerves. Max placed me in the passenger seat of his truck, leaning toward me, his forehead pressed to mine. “Jesus fuck, fuck,” he chanted. When I pressed my hands to his shoulders, they were coiled tight. He took a few deep breaths before he stepped back a pace to peer down at me. “Do you have any other injuries?”