by KJ Dahlen
Amy looked up and tears rolled down her face. “Daddy,” she barely whispered.
Breaker heard her cry and knelt at her feet. “Baby, are you okay?” he asked as his eyes scoured her body. He saw the bruises and dried blood as well as the marks on her wrists and ankles from the handcuffs.
She nodded. “I am now daddy.” She lunged for him.
Breaker gathered her small body in his arms. Tears ran down his face and he hugged her to him. “Oh baby girl, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.”
Amy hugged him tight and couldn’t speak. Her nightmare might be over but she knew this situation wasn’t finished. It wouldn’t be until Oscar Buckley was dead.
Breaker lifted his daughter and carried her into the clubhouse where Raine was waiting to look her over for injures. He took her to a bedroom down the hall from the main room. Amy looked embarrassed when Raine began removing her dirty ragged clothing. Breaker turned his back but wouldn’t leave the room.
Cricket joined him and together, they assessed Amy’s injures. When Raine was finished, he went to stand by Breaker while Cricket helped Amy to the bathroom.
Breaker turned his head and asked, “How bad was it?”
Raine shook his head. “They weren’t gentle with her but for the most part she’s intact. They didn’t molest her fully but they cuffed her. She must have fought them at some point but they were bigger and stronger than she is.”
“Is she gonna be ok?” Breaker dared to ask.
“She will be unless you turn your back on her,” Raine told him squarely.
Breaker snarled, “That ain’t gonna happen brother. She’s my whole world. I’ll never turn away from my baby girl.”
Raine smiled. “That’s good to hear.” Slapping him on the back he suggested, “Why doesn’t we go find out what happened tonight? Cricket will help your daughter and bring her out when she’s ready.”
Breaker ran his fingers over the top of his head and nodded. “Yeah, I want to hear what happened.”
When they left, they walked down the hall to the main room.
One of the men on the mission was making his report, “When we got there we did recon and found Buckley’s group. The fire was mostly out and everyone was sound asleep. He had no guards posted and the men were sleeping off whatever they had drank hours before. We saw about a half a dozen liquor bottles all over the camp.” He looked over at Pappy. “They were all empty. There were also drag marks leading off into the woods. I followed the tracks and found one of his men with a hole in his head.” Shaking his head he also said, “We don’t know what happened or why but it looks like Oscar Buckley shot his own man.”
“He didn’t,” Amy told them from behind.
Everyone turned and watched silently as she walked over to her father. She had showered and was wearing fresh clothes. Her long hair hung to her shoulders in wet rings. She limped as she crossed the floor to her father.
When his arm came around her shoulders, Amy looked over at Deke and Pappy. “It wasn’t Oscar who shot that man, it was Matty. Creeper was drunk and looking for a paycheck from Oscar and Oscar told him he had to wait until they got the money that was hidden here. Creeper didn’t like that idea and Oscar told he hoped he enjoyed the walk home because if he left, he’d be on foot. Oscar told him he paid for the bike, food and gas. Then Creeper stood up like he was going to pull his gun out and Matty shot him in the back.” Shaking her head, she moved closer to her dad and sobbed. “He didn’t even give the man a chance. He just shot him.”
No one said a word as they thought about what she said. Then Deke looked over at her and asked, “Did they talk about he plans to get inside the compound or anything else while you were with them?”
Amy turned haunted eyes to Deke and the others. “They said that if my dad didn’t follow through and do what he was supposed to does he’d kill me right in front of him. Then he’d firebomb the entire compound. Oscar said he’d get in one way or the other.” She shook her head. “Then he said he’d keep you alive long enough to hang you upside down and skin you while you were still breathing. He wanted to show everyone who came to avenge your demise what he does with traitors to his family. He bragged that he and Matty would be kings with direct access to the cartels and the drug lords, they were gonna rule the whole east coast.”
Deke stared at the little girl and shook his head. Moving closer he squatted down to her level. Taking her hand, he kissed her fingers. “Little girl, I’m sorry you had to go through that but I promise you Oscar Buckley and Matty will not survive the war they’re bringing to us. We won’t give up or give in to their demands, nor will I willing lose a man, woman or child to him. Oscar only thinks he’s tough but us?” He looked around the clubhouse. “We’re tougher than he will ever be. We will survive and show Oscar Buckley to the gates of hell.”
“Do you promise?” Amy whispered the words.
Deke leaned forward and brushed his lips on her forehead. “That’s more than a promise, that’s a vow and I don’t give them lightly.”
Chapter Ten
Theo stood by the window overlooking the backyard. He seemed calm and collected but inside, he was writhing and the rage he hadn’t felt in so long was winning the battle to break loose.
Sarah came up behind him wrapping her arms around his waist. Laying her face on his back, she breathed in his scent. It wasn’t the same today as it had been yesterday or even last night. Today there was a tang to it. A sharp, tang that if she could taste it she knew it would burn her tongue. Sarah began to tremble. Her arms withdrew slowly and she stepped away.
But before she could take more than one small step away Theo began speaking in a low voice, “Please don’t...don’t leave me. Can I tell you a secret?”
Sarah stopped and looked at his back. She swallowed hard and whispered, “Of course. You can tell me anything.”
Theo kept his gaze on the backyard as he spoke, “I’ve lived my entire life watching people. I never understood the compassion people had for one another. I never felt the need to. I suppose that link was missing from my soul and before a year ago, I never missed it. Then I did the only decent thing in my miserable life. I tried to stop a man hell bent on destroying this place. I destroyed the man and his army. At the last minute, he got off a shot that would have ended my life but instead, I got a second chance. I put the past behind me and tried to let it go, then this came up. My past just won’t leave me alone and I’m not sure that I want it to. I thought I could start over but even when I try, the past just sucks me back in.” He turned and looked at her. His eyes glistened in the shadows. “But one thing I do control is who I’m with. I want you woman, I want you more than life itself, but I can’t force you to stay with me. I did that once and I will not do it again.”
Sarah stared at him and listened as she trembled a little.
“I took a woman once and I thought I loved her, but she didn’t love me. Yet, I couldn’t no... I wouldn’t let her go. I forced her to stay with me and back then, I wasn’t a nice man. You could almost say I was brutal to her. Oh, I never hurt her, but I wouldn’t let her tell me no either. I hurt that woman so much, yet she found her small piece of heaven with another man, my brother.”
Sarah gasped but kept her thoughts to herself.
Theo continued with his story, “I couldn’t let that go so I searched for them for a number of years. I was ready to crush them both and grind their bones under my heel, instead I found Cricket. My Grace and my brother Orrin were gone, as was the daughter I never knew I had. Cricket reminded me so much of her mother I couldn’t stand it. I decided to test her just to see what she was made of. It didn’t really surprise me to find that she had enough spunk inside her to handle just about anything I asked of her. She told me one time that she didn’t had a choice before, that someone else dictated what kind of life she led but that wasn’t the way she wanted it. No she was as straight as an arrow and she showed me real honor, she held her ground even when the ground beneath her was crumbling.” He
shook his head as if he still felt baffled by this.
Sarah stood quietly almost afraid to speak in case he stopped talking, as he’d never shared so much with her before.
“That’s what made me take Priest’s offer for a do over that night. I should have died but I didn’t. It was almost as if the do over gave me a new chance to change my ways. I wanted a new start so bad. I found my peace when I asked Grace and Orrin for their forgiveness that night. I also vowed to change and I think I could still do that.” He paused and looked around at the little room. “Then this came up and I find myself falling back into the same kind of life I so wanted to forget. But this is what I’m good at, these are the skills I have that no one else has to equal me. Somewhere along the line, I forgot that part of the equation. Now I have to take a stand and I’m afraid if I do I may not come back to the man I was becoming. I’ll be stuck with the man I was.”
“I know all about hiding and changing my life,” Sarah told him. “I wish someone had offered me a do over twelve years ago. Although, I doubt I would take it. Jack Connors deserved what happened to him. If I hadn’t stepped up both my mom and I would be dead and no one would know the truth about what kind of man he really was. He hid behind his family’s name and everything it stood for all his life. His brothers and father are just as bad. They are all two faced and I have no doubt that when and if they find me, they will kill me.”
“The hell they will.” Theo growled as he turned to face her. “I’m sure between your brother and I, the Connors don’t stand a chance. If they want a war, they’ve come to the right place. I’ll give them a war they never thought of. Your brother may have to follow the law but I don’t. They won’t see the kill shot I deliver but they’ll feel it. I’ll make them bleed.”
Sarah shuddered but she believed him. She saw him pause then he leaned toward her and pressed his lips on hers. The kiss deepened and before she knew it, he had picked her up and pressed her against the wall. He opened her up with kiss and pressed his hard cock into her wet core. “I want you so bad right now.”
“I know,” she whispered as his lips trailed down her neck to her collarbone. When his lips stopped over her artery and he could feel her heart racing she groaned. “I want you too.”
Theo slipped his hand down her pants and into her underwear. Her bare skin was warm and when he touched her nether lips, he found them wet and slick. Pressing deeper, he slid his way home and deepened his touch.
Sarah groaned and opened her legs. Theo nipped her neck and slid his fingers deeper inside her. His thumb found her clit and thumbed it. He could feel her body begin to shimmer and shake, as she got closer to exploding. Theo felt his own body harden. He wanted to find his own release but she deserved this moment. This time was for her and he wouldn’t deny her.
Instead, he worked all the harder to get her where she wanted to be. His strokes were harder and faster as his fingers worked her better than he had ever before done with a woman and soon she was there. She threw her head back and he quickly covered her mouth with his hand. He couldn’t allow her to scream her release here in the clubhouse. Anyone could barge in on them and this wasn’t for everyone to see. The only one he wanted to witness her release was him.
Theo let her go but pressed his lips on hers and drank her sweetness. “I could do this every single day for the rest of my life,” he whispered.
“Me too.” She hesitated then whispered, “I know you may to want to hear this and you may not believe it but I think I love you.”
Theo smiled and looked down at her, “You only think you love me? Does that mean you don’t know for sure? Because I know for sure. I do love you. I thought I knew what love was but I didn’t really. I never had feelings like everyone else, but this between us? I think that’s love.”
Sarah looked him in the eyes. “I do love you. I just wasn’t sure you would want my love.”
“But I do want it. I will keep it safe right there in my heart. I can’t take away your past pain but I will protect you until the day I die from ever having any more. But first we have to make it through the war Oscar Buckley is waging on not only us but everyone here.”
He rested his forehead against her and agreed with her. “Maybe we can use what Amy learned to stop him cold. We demolished his numbers enough he can’t come straight on, but knowing that man, he’s got plan B up his sleeve. We just have to think of what that is and stop it.”
Sarah pressed her mouth on his and before the kiss got out of hand she slipped from his grasp. “Come on, let’s go find the others and see what they’ve got planned.” She smiled gently at him. “I want the rest of my life with you and that isn’t going to happen until this is over, one way or the other.”
Theo nodded. “Come on let’s win this war.”
~*~
As night grew closer, the men were talking over the situation and not coming up with any kind of solution. Tempers were growing to the peak and they needed something to break the tension.
“Come on guys, we need to come up with a plan of action. Hopefully, before Buckley gets to our front door.” Deke growled.
“What was it Amy said, if Breaker didn’t open the tunnel he’d firebomb the clubhouse and burn it to the ground?” Pappy repeated. “Since he’s down on man power he might do that just to be safe. He can’t count on Breaker anymore, so he might not have a choice.”
“So, all we have to do is get our best men in the woods to watch for him and take him out before he gets close,” Mountain suggested.
“And what if he’s out there watching us? Waiting for us to lower our guard already?” Theo suggested.
“What do you think we should do?” Deke argued snidely. “Since you seem to shoot down every idea we’ve had so far. What do you think we should do?”
“I’ve been looking around, studying the area and I think I found a way around this. Now Pappy’s men are good but less people out there is better.”
Deke sat up and leaned forward. “What did you have in mind old man?”
Theo gritted his teeth at the mention of his age. He didn’t want Pappy to think he was too old for his much younger sister but he could overlook the snide remark in this case. “I think James, myself and two of Pappy’s best should sneak out after dark and find a position we can watch from. You can get your men in position within your gates but I think the four of us have a better chance to get to him out there. He might think we’re ready inside the fence but he might not expect us to be out there too.”
Pappy stared at him for a moment while he thought about the suggestion. Turning to Dkee he asked, “Could that work? With only four men?”
One of Pappy’s men cleared his throat. “Pappy, remember we got most of his men last night. He’s only got three, maybe four men left and that includes Oscar himself. I don’t know if Matty made it or not. That knife cut him deep but whatever, he doesn’t have that many men left. He can’t come at us head on.” Pausing he added, “The old man’s plan might just work.”
Theo gritted his teeth. While he was considerably older than they were he didn’t like to be reminded about it.
Deke glanced over at the cot Gator was resting on. He still hadn’t come around from being shot yesterday and until they neutralized this threat, they couldn’t get him proper medical help. Reva was going nuts worrying about him and Deke was growing anxious as well. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his best friend.
He got up and walked slowly to the window overlooking the dooryard. He noticed Reva walking out to the gate to wait for the bus bringing her adopted kids home from school. Today would be their last day of public school until this threat was over. They all wanted to go today for some program for their class projects or some dumb shit like that. Deke thought they would be all right as Oscar Buckley had still been in Palmer this morning. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
His gut twisted as he saw the bus pull up to the gate. Ben, Jack and Alaina got off and as the bus pulled away a man stepped out of the woods and grabbed B
en.
Reva stopped in her tracks. She didn’t scream or run to the others but instead she waited just inside the gates. Jack and Alaina hurried to get to safety but turned and watched as their brother struggled against the man holding him.
Then the man called out to Reva. She pushed the two children behind her and slowly walked toward the man holding Ben.
Suddenly, there was a gun in his hand and he had it pointed at Ben’s head.
Reva shook as she continued to walk forward. When she got near enough the man pushed Ben down into the dirt and grabbed Reva.
Then he turned and raised his weapon. Firing a bullet into the air, they all heard Alaina scream.
Everyone rushed to the front door and out into the dooryard. Aliana, Ben and Jack rushed to stand behind the men. He man holding Reva called out to them. “Hold up. I won’t hesitate to kill this woman. I’m here to make a deal. I’m with Oscar Buckley and he only wants the man who murdered his son Bear to come forward. He wants Deke Tory. Are you there Deke? Are you man enough to face him?” The man smiled evilly. “Because he sure wants to meet you. He says he’s got a bullet with your fucking name on it.”
Deke stepped out of the protection of his men. “Let Reva go and I’ll meet him face to face.”
The man grinned. “Are you fucking nuts man? I let her go and your men will kill me. No this little lady is coming with me. Her and me are gonna have a little fun if you know what I mean. Oscar said he’ll be here tomorrow to deal with you and your MC.”
Reva struggled then screamed in pain when the man holding her wrenched her tighter to him. He grabbed her hair and pulled it to get her to behave. Reva looked over the yard at Deke with tears in her eyes. “Deke you take care of my Gator and tell him that I love him. If he ever wakes up, you tell him that okay?”
“Aww, ain’t that sweet?” The man gripped her tighter. “Yeah Deke, you tell her man she loves him and that she’ll die lovin’ him.” He laughed and began backing up into the woods again dragging Reva with him.