I spun the dial, entering the combination and opened the door. The bricks of neatly stacked cash made me smile. I had been saving this money for years, and in a million years I had never expected I would use it for this. To save Rebel.
When Harley told me he only had a few hours to come up with the money, and he wasn’t sure if he could get his hands on that much cash in such a short time, I stopped him and told him I had it covered.
I was quiet about my money, but I had been steadfastly saving as much as I could over the years. I had received a small inheritance when my mom passed away, and I had very few expenses. I didn’t trust banks, so I kept it in my closet.
If anyone tried to steal it, they would have had to go through me, and if they made it through me, then I figured they deserved it — if they weren’t dead.
As soon as Harley told me Sergio’s demands, I was happy to be able to help. Harley kept talking about paying it back, but that was the last thing I was concerned with.
I just wanted Rebel back.
I wanted Rebel, back in one piece, safe and sound in my arms. Right where she belonged.
And if it was the last thing I did, I was going to have just that.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Harley
When Mason walked into my house with a black duffel bag full of cash, I gave him the biggest hug I had ever given him.
No matter what Rebel had done to get into this situation, and I still wasn’t clear why she was at the warehouse in the first place, it was up to me and the club to get her out of it.
When Sergio demanded a much larger amount than I would be able to gather in two hours in the middle of the night, I knew I was fucked.
I’d never have imagined that Mason would be able to help out, and yet here he was twenty minutes later walking through my front door, with a big gun on his hip and a huge amount of money hanging from his hand.
“Dude, I can’t thank you enough,” I said.
“Harley, don’t sweat it. It’s just some bills. It’s nothing compared to getting Rebel back. I wanna fucking kill Sergio! That motherfucking prick!” Anger filled Mason eyes, and I knew mine were the same.
I had never been more grateful to Mason, and yet I had never been more pissed in my life. It was an odd mixture — add in the worry I felt for Rebel, and I was a churning mess of emotion.
There was no fucking way Sergio was going to get out of this alive. My plan was to trade Rebel for the cash, and get the hell out of there. And then, when Sergio least expected it, he would be paid back with the full force of the MC.
“So, Sergio said only you and I should come to the warehouse. I have the other guys on alert, they know where we will be, and they will be two blocks away, ready and waiting for a signal for us should we need them.”
“Excellent. Is he bringing Rebel to the warehouse?” Mason asked. “Yeah, fucking Rebel. Jesus Christ, I can’t believe she escaped and then got caught again.”
“I just can’t believe she was at the fucking warehouse to begin with. I don’t know what she was thinking. I never told her any of the details on the meeting,” Mason said.
“Neither did I. The only thing I can think of is that she overheard one of us. Maybe she heard me talking to Johnny at the graveyard, I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was stupid,” Harley said, “and as soon as I get her alone, she’s going to hear exactly how stupid I think it was.”
Mason smirked, shaking his head.
“Well, she’s going to have to listen to both of us. This whole thing is so fucked up, I just can’t even believe it,” Mason said.
“Yeah, I know, dude, I know. C’mon, let’s head over there and get our girl back.”
Mason and I left our cuts in my living room, put on identical black hoodies and loaded our guns. We placed them in our holsters, grabbed the duffel bag of cash, and walked out to my van outside.
No bikes, no loud noises, and it would be easier to get Rebel in the van and out of there as fast as possible.
I was hoping like hell this went smoothly, because I was beyond exhausted and my nerves were raw. If Sergio pushed me too far with his sarcastic bullshit, I wasn’t sure what I would do.
I needed to concentrate on saving Rebel, but damned if I wasn’t seeing red every time I thought about that asshole.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Rebel
If Mason and Harley weren’t mad at me before, they sure as hell were now. A hundred thousand dollars? What the fuck did Sergio think we were? Rockefellers?
I was pretty certain there was no way the boys would be able to come up with that much money, and now I had no idea how everything was going to go down.
I was sick to my stomach with worry. Worry for Mason and Harley and everyone else involved. Those two weren’t the type to give up without a fight, and however this all happened, it wasn’t going to be pretty.
Shortly after Sergio and I returned to the penthouse, it filled up with his men. There was no way I was going to be able to escape again, not with ten large men within ten feet of me at all times. Make that ten very pissed off, giant men.
Sergio kept yelling at them, making fun of them for thinking I was gone when I wasn’t, for not searching the apartment properly, for being complete fuck-ups, basically. All at the hands of a “niña”, he kept calling me.
I wanted to yell right back at him, tell him it was all his fault for leaving me with such incompetent idiots, but if he got any angrier, I was certain that the throbbing vein on his temple would burst.
Not too long after that, they loaded me back up in the SUV with Sergio and one of his men, and we made our way back to the warehouse in Deep Ellum.
Part of me was dreading seeing Harley and Mason, knowing their eyes would be full of disappointment directed pointed at me, and the other part was so grateful to be in the same room with them again. I had no idea how I was going to explain everything to them, but I was hoping like hell they had figured something out to get us all safely out of this horrible situation I had created.
When we pulled up, I saw Harley’s empty van already parked outside the door. Sergio’s giant pulled me out of the car so roughly I stumbled, and Sergio yelled at him again. They pulled me along into the warehouse, each of them holding my arms so tightly, I was sure I would be bruised tomorrow.
As soon as we turned the corner, my eyes locked on Mason’s. It was all there. Everything I knew I would see. Everything I hoped I would see, as much as I hated it.
He was a wreck. Quickly, I looked at Harley as he called my name.
“Rebel! Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m —,” I replied.
“She’s fine!” Sergio interrupted. “And she’s lucky about that. Holding on to this girl is like trying to hold a tiger by her tail! I’m surprised you want her back at all, to be honest.”
“Fuck you, Sergio. You’ve got some serious balls pulling this shit, you fucking prick.”
“Business is business, mi amigo. Where’s the money?” Sergio obviously didn’t appreciate being talked to like that, but I was glad he was being all business. None of them wanted to get out of there faster than I did.
I looked at Mason, his eyes glued to me, his hand glued to the gun on his side. He was standing ten feet away and it took all my willpower not to run into his arms. I had thought of nothing but that for days, and I was yearning to kiss him and be alone with him.
Harley handed the duffel bag to Sergio and we all waited, holding our breath, as he opened it and inspected the contents. I gasped when I saw inside — the bag was full of more money than I had ever seen.
“Excellent,” Sergio said, and he suddenly pushed me right into Harley’s arms.
He hugged me quickly, and then pushed me over to Mason. I wanted to embrace him, pour kisses all over his face and melt the hardness that was covering it, but I couldn’t.
The tension in the room was so thick you could have touched it. The look in Harley’s eyes scared me. I had never seen a man so angry and as he stared
menacingly at Sergio, I knew this wasn’t over.
I looked back and forth between Mason, Harley and Sergio and Sergio’s man, each of them having pulled out their guns and holding them at their sides.
“Harley, mi amigo, I can see you’re angry,” Sergio said, watching Harley carefully, knowing he was on the verge of exploding. “I’d like to advise you not to do anything stupid, not now, or later. It would not end well. I’m sure you know this.”
“Fuck you, Sergio,” Harley was seething as he fixed his intense gaze on his now enemy.
“Harley, I know this was not an ideal situation. But, it is what it is. And it’s over now. I didn’t hurt your sister, you got her back, I got what I wanted, it’s all water under the bridge. I trust you can respect me as much as I’m respecting you right now. Now, I’m going to walk out and we’ll be in touch another day. Let’s not do anything stupid, shall we?”
Harley smirked, his voice laced with sarcasm.
“Goodbye, Sergio,” he said quietly.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Mason
My heart soared when I saw Rebel. It took all my strength not to rush over and pull her into my arms, ensuring she would be safe for the rest of her life. There was no way in hell I was going to let anyone ever touch her again, and I was filled with gratitude just to be in the same room with her again.
But I couldn’t. Not yet. First, we had to deal with Sergio.
When I saw the twitch in Harley’s jaw out of the corner of my eye, I knew this wasn’t over. And I knew it wasn’t going to end without blood on the floor.
The only question was whose blood it was going to be.
I had known Harley since we were kids, and there was one thing that never changed about him. He never let someone get away with betraying him. He was never one to start a fight, but he would never walk away from one that someone else started with him.
And he never lost.
Not once.
Sergio didn't know that, and I’m sure he wasn’t a fearful man, either. But he was definitely underestimating Harley if he thought he was going to walk away from this unscathed.
When I heard the disdain and seething anger in Harley’s voice, I knew it was going to go down now and that he had no intention of watching Sergio walk out of this warehouse.
And I was right.
I shoved Rebel behind me as soon as Sergio turned to walk away. Harley took two steps after him, and pointed his gun directly to the back of Sergio’s head. The click of Harley’s gun echoed loudly, the only sound in the warehouse.
Sergio froze and then everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that.
Instead of slowly turning around as Harley instructed, Sergio jerked around quickly, using his elbow to hit Harley in the face. Harley’s gun went off as he fell to the ground, at the same time that Sergio’s man shot in Harley’s direction, missing him.
I only had one thing in mind, and that was to keep Rebel and Harley safe. She had moved away from me, instead of standing behind me, and I dove in front of her, my gun exploding loudly as I shot Sergio’s man before he could take another shot in Harley’s direction. He turned towards me, his gun exploding at the same time that I hit him. He crumpled beside Sergio just as Sergio fired his gun in my direction.
I didn’t feel it at first.
Rebel was screaming behind me, and a loud thump echoed in my head as my body fell hard to the ground at her feet.
That’s when the burning started. A wet, hot heat radiated through my body and I began coughing and choking as blood began pouring out of my mouth.
The sound of footsteps running away, and the tears falling down Rebel’s beautiful face as she held me in her lap, were the last things I was aware of before I drifted away into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Harley
I fucked up.
My exhaustion, my anger, my pride, my frustration — all of it got in the way of any clear, logical thinking I might normally possess — and I fucked up. Bigger than I had ever fucked up before.
As Rebel and I sat outside of the clubhouse, I was chain-smoking and pacing, shaking with fear and worry and the sick feeling of doom settling deeply in the pit of my stomach.
“Rebel, this is all my fault. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I’ve been such an awful brother, and I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all this. I should have taken you away, I should’ve done so many fucking things differently, and this is all my fault.”
I walked over to her, pulling her shaking body into my arms. She was covered in Mason’s blood, and the look on her face was pure shock.
“We’re going to get through this. We’re going to get through it together. You just stay strong, Sis. I promise you, everything is going to be okay.”
I felt like the worst person in the world. What the fuck was I thinking putting the two people I loved most in the world at risk like that? Mason and Rebel were the only real family I had left, outside of the brothers of the club, and it was my job to protect them.
Not open gunfire within ten feet of them because I couldn’t control my fucking anger!
I should have waited. I should have let Sergio walk out of the warehouse and dealt with him later, with the force of the entire MC behind me. Or, I should have just shot the weasly prick in the back of the head without saying a word as soon as he turned around.
But I hadn’t.
And instead, everything had gone so horribly wrong so quickly. And it was all my stupid fucking fault. After Mason went down, I chased Sergio, gunning him down as he ran away, his body falling in a bloody heap outside.
“Shhh, Harley, stop it. Stop blaming yourself,” Rebel said, her arms wrapped around me as we waited.
“I love you,” she whispered, melting in my arms. “He’s going to be okay, right?”
“Yes, honey. Dr. Bob’s going to take care of him. He’s going to be good as new. Mason’s the toughest guy I know, Rebel. I promise you, he’s going to be just fine.”
I had called Bob, our doctor, as soon as I could. Sometimes we needed to call him in emergency situations when we couldn’t go to the hospital. If I took Mason to the hospital, the cops would have been on us in five minutes. We rushed Mason back to the clubhouse and he met us there, bringing an assistant and closing everyone out of the back bedroom as soon as he got there. They hooked Mason up to an IV, and set to work.
We kept Bob on a hefty retainer for his discretion at times like this, and tonight, I knew he was worth every penny. If he could save Mason, I would have given him everything I owned.
When he saved Mason, not if. If wasn’t an option. He had to save him.
I had to keep faith. For Rebel’s sake. For Mason’s sake. Fuck, for my sake.
I couldn’t live without Mason. He was my best friend and as far as I was concerned, he was going to be my brother-in-law, too.
He had taken a bullet for my sister. A bullet! There was nobody in the world that would have done that. No, Mason was a better man than anyone else I knew, and living without him was just not an option.
The fact that he had lost what seemed like galloons of blood in that warehouse was not lost on me, and I was tortured by visions of his blood pouring out of the gaping wound in his chest. Dark red, seeping wounds flashed in the back of my mind as I kept trying to reassure Rebel and convince myself that he was going to be okay, all at the same time.
He just had to. I wouldn’t accept anything else.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Rebel
The shaking was what I remembered most from that night.
A deep, uncontrollable shaking that began at the deepest corners of my body, and radiated outward, until it wasn’t just my hands that were shaking, it wasn’t just my thighs, or my feet, it was every inch of my flesh that was quivering in fear.
The other thing I remember is the blood. So much blood, more than I had ever seen in my life. Mason’s blood. And I was covered in it. It was thick and sticky and dried quickly, congealing
in streaks and splotches on my clothes, hands and face.
Hours later, when I had finally taken a shower, it took long moments of scrubbing under the scalding hot water before I could get it all off of me. By that time, the shaking had subsided, and I stood under the pelting hot water, watching the blood mix with the clean water and swirl down the drain at my feet.
I never expected things to turn out so badly. When I made the decision to go to the warehouse that day, just to harmlessly watch Mason and Harley, I never imagined in a million years that Mason would be the one to pay for my childish mistake.
I felt like the worst person in the whole world, filled with the deepest regret and shame I had ever felt.
All I could think about was how I was ever going to make it all up to him. How I could ever convince him to forgive me. Not just Mason, but Harley too.
I knew Harley blamed himself, and I felt awful about that, too. I had barreled into their lives and turned everything upside down with my immature bullshit, and I deserved to be banished from their lives, no matter how much I loved them.
Harley and I had waited up until dawn, our hearts wracked with worry as Dr. Bob worked on Mason for hours. When he finally came out to talk us, the sun was rising in the distance.
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” he said solemnly. “I removed the bullet from his chest. It missed his heart, thankfully, but it nicked an artery on the way in, and we won’t know if he’s out of the woods for a while.”
“Can we see him?” Harley asked beside me.
“You can go in and see him for a second, but he’s still sleeping and I don’t expect he’s going to wake up for a while. He’s going to need a lot of rest while he’s recovering.”
“Dr. Bob, thank you so much,” Harley said, shaking Dr. Bob’s hand vigorously.
RAW: THE ULTIMATE MC COLLECTION Page 92