JD's Redemption

by Lauren Firminger

  “What’s happening about Freddie?”

  “I checked in with Raven this morning. He has gone away to get some help in a secure facility. He won’t be let out until they are satisfied that he is okay. He blames himself for not seeing the signs sooner especially seeing as he is on the outside looking in while he has been off from the club.” I looked up at JD.

  “It’s not his fault! Not in the slightest. The only person here at fault is Freddie!” JD’s hand moved over my back and squeezed my neck.

  “I’ve told him that.”

  “Good.” I sat back in my chair. The truth was, we all should have seen the warning signs. I guess deep down, he had been good at hiding them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  JD

  After we got to my parent’s place, I left Ma and Ellie to talk for a little while and went to see Pops. I needed to talk to him which involved pulling him away from what he was working on. Walking in, I saw what he’d sent me photos of and damn did she look even better in person. The photos doing her no justice at all.

  “Damn, Pops. That is looking sweet. How long you been working on her?”

  “Couple of weeks now. She just got back from Vegas after being sprayed. Just have to put the engine that I rebuilt into her and she will be ready for a test drive.”

  “Bring her by the club? Raven wants to see this baby. He has been looking for one like this for the longest time.”

  “I’ll let you know when it’s done. You can bring him out and he can give it a run. If he likes it, it’s his. If not, I will sell it. Got my dream car lined up for the next one so looking for a quick sale on it.”

  “I can’t believe you finally found one.” He gave me a nod and I couldn’t help but grin. For the longest time, my Pops had been looking for a 67 mustang that was in good enough working order for him not to have to spend a month of Sunday’s looking for parts just to be able to make it go. His persistence had clearly paid off though because he’d found one.

  “Want to help me with it?”

  “Hell yeah! Try and stop me!” My dad just chuckled and moved to the back of the shed. I looked inside the car and fuck. It looked as good as the inside. I moved to help Pop with the engine he was putting in. He had already done the hard yards on it, so it was just a matter of putting it in the car and connecting it all up.

  “Pops, can you come back to the house with me first though. Ellie and I need to talk to you about some stuff.” He threw a towel at me and I wiped off my hands as he did. When he was ready, we both left the shed and found Ma and Ellie talking on the back deck. I really didn’t want to ruin the mood but we came here for a reason and I wanted to get it over with, so we could relax and enjoy the rest of the afternoon with them. Telling them was the hardest thing I had ever done but we ripped off the Band-Aid. They sat in silence and let us get everything out. From Mischa to Jai then Freddie and what happened to Ellie. After we were done, we let them ask questions and I did my best to answer them.

  “What’s happening with Jai?”

  “We have the nomads on the hunt for him, Duke is also watching everything trying to trace his movements but so far, he has gone Ghost. All we can do is be prepared and wait for him to make a mistake or pop back up.” Pop stood there and cracked his knuckles, the anger clearly written on his face. Ma moved to hug Ellie and I stepped back to let her. I knew it would be a long time before I let her out of my sight again but out here, we were safe. While they lived on acres of land, Pop had every inch of this place locked down.

  “If you need anything, you let us know.”

  “I will, I promise.” Being the man of few words that my dad was, he gave me a nod and excused himself. I knew he needed time to wrap his head around all of this. I soon went to join him, and we went back to working on the car before Ma and Ellie brought lunch out. After we ate, Ellie came and joined us out the in the shed. She knew a little about cars and was asking my Pop questions as we worked.

  “Ellie, why don’t you just ask him.” She made a face at me and I laughed.

  “Ask me what?” He looked between us for a minute before she finally spoke.

  “Ever since I was little, I have always wanted a 1970 Chevelle.”

  “In other words, if you ever come across one, can you please let me know so we can do it up for her.”

  “Actually, the buddy of mine that got me my Mustang would be able to get his hands on one. He has just done one up so getting another would be no trouble.”

  “I would love that! Thank you!” He placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. Unless it was my Ma, he wasn’t big on affection, but this small gesture was him saying a lot. Once we got the engine in and it started to get dark, we got cleaned up and with a promise to come back soon, Ellie and I headed home. She hadn’t wanted to go into work tonight so she had called Mel on her way out here and asked her to go in and get the girls sorted. She would be in early tomorrow to do the bar ordering but if they ran into any issues, to call her. Thankfully though, it must have been a quiet night because we spent the rest of ours in peace. I knew we couldn’t put off going in to the club forever, so I would just enjoy this while it lasted.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  One Month Later

  JD

  Not wanting a long engagement, the wedding date had been set for three months’ time. We would be getting married on Ma and Pops property at sunset with just close friends and family with us. Mia was of course chosen as flower girl, Chaos would be beside me and Katy would be beside Ellie. That would be the only thing we kept traditional. Tonight, we were headed to the bar for our engagement party. We told them all we didn’t want the fuss, but Hailee and Katy over ruled us. We could either go with it, show up and pretend to be happy about it or have it a surprise. Ellie vetoed that option because she hated surprises with a passion. Well except for one. Corey had managed to pull a few strings and had gotten Morgan Young to come and sing a few of Ellie’s favorite songs at the engagement party. Didn’t hurt that his band manager and head of security, Lucas, was Corey’s cousin.

  “Do I need to worry about you with Morgan?” My tone teasing as I pulled into the parking lot of the bar.

  “No, he’s married. You’re safe.” Fuck. That backfired on my ass. Parking the car and getting out, I moved around to open up her door and she slid down from the truck. She was looking absolutely stunning tonight in her red dress and hair in curls around her face. Ellie put her hands against my chest and looked up at me. Resting my hands against the small of her back, I pulled her closer.

  “No one even comes close to my Reaper. You have me hook, line and sinker and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She pressed her lips against mine.

  “I hope that never changes, Goddess.” I grinned against her lips before kissing her again. As she kissed me back harder, I let out a groan. Pulling back. “Come on, before I decide to do something un-gentlemanly right now.” Ellie laughed softly and wrapped her arm around my waist.

  “Wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation, now would we?” I narrowed my eyes which just caused her to laugh harder. I pulled the door open and let her walk in first, slapping her ass as she passed me.

  “Keep teasing, see what happens when we get home.” She wiggled her brows at me.

  “Promises, promises.” My girl was gonna to be the death of me. I could just feel it. Following after her, I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. I looked around the bar and let out a whistle.

  “Damn those girls are good.” The place was completely unrecognizable. Everything was red and black with photos of Ellie and I blown up and placed around the room. Some taken back when we were younger, that I didn’t even know she had, then shots of us separately as kids. When everyone turned to see us standing there, Katy and Hailee ran over to hug Ellie while Raven, Chaos and Corey moved to me, bumping my fist against theirs and taking the beer they held out to me.

  “Great job girls! It looks like a different place in here.”

  “Thanks! So M
organ will be here in an hour so let’s get some food and drinks!” Katy headed over to the bar and spoke to Jorge, the bartender on duty. He disappeared to the back but him and some others came out with trays of food as the others slowly started to arrive.

  A couple of hours later, the guys and I were putting the gifts in the car. We insisted that if they were throwing us the engagement party, we didn’t want presents but again we were overruled. I was starting to think that we wouldn’t actually get a say in our wedding day but Ellie and I both said under no circumstance were we budging on that. The guys were in doing another trip while I packed the gifts into the truck. Truth was, I was soaking up the silence and fresh air. I wasn’t a big people person so being in a room all night as the center of attention was a bit overwhelming.

  “Oh how the mighty have fallen.” I spun to look for the owner of that voice.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “You’ve been looking for me, haven’t you. Well, here I am.” Standing before me was Jai. I looked around to make sure that Ellie wasn’t anywhere around. I took a step toward him but stopped when he raised a gun to my head.

  “Don’t do it, Jason. I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your skull.”

  One Month Later

  Ellie

  Despite not wanting the engagement party initially, it was a good night to spend with those we cared about the most. Oh and Morgan Young. I was still fan girling over him a little. Okay well a lot but I was reining it in so that I didn’t set JD off. As tempting as that would be for him to spend the next twenty-four hours imprinting himself firmly in my mind as he fucked me senseless so that I couldn’t walk. If I was able to walk, I would be feeling where he had been and not be able to concentrate on anything but getting him back into bed or the shower. Even the kitchen again. I was completely okay with this though.

  I watched as the guys started taking out all the gifts, thankful that JD had brought his truck tonight. I had to hand it to Katy and Hailee though, they had done a great job with the party and I would have to thank them. I was really grateful for them doing this for us. Had it been up to us, we wouldn’t have done anything and just waited for the wedding. Looking to the door as Corey came back in from one of his trips, I watched him move to Cameron and Thomas. He whispered something to them and being across the room from them, I had no chance of hearing what was going on but from the looks on their faces, it was nothing good. Corey gave Cameron a nod at something he’d said and took his keys from him.

  “What do you think that’s about?” I turned to look at where Hailee was looking and saw her eyes were fixed on the same scene as mine. Corey moved over to us.

  “Girls, I need you to not argue with me right now and not ask questions. I will tell you everything but for now, I need the four of you to come with me.” My brows creased in a frown.

  “What about the guys?”

  “They will join us soon, we just need to go. Now.” He put his hand lightly on Abby’s shoulder and pushed her toward the door. She grabbed Katy’s hand who grabbed Hailee’s who then grabbed onto mine, pulling us along in a line. I was so confused and every single part of me was screaming for me to run out those front doors, as we were led out the back, and find out where JD was. I didn’t like that he hadn’t come back inside. Was it Freddie? He wasn’t due out for another month or so yet. Had he come out early and tried something? No, that wouldn’t warrant this kind of reaction from them. Corey would have just taken him away and dealt with it. I took one last look over my shoulder.

  “Ellie, I am serious right now. If you don’t get in this car willingly, you won’t like where you end up. For JD, can you please just not fight me on this.”

  “Where is he?” Corey sighed. As if it was going to be that easy.

  “He has to handle some club business.” I really didn’t like that answer but before I could do what my head was screaming to do, which was to run, Corey put his hand on my head and made sure I didn’t smack it on the car as he forced me in the back seat next to Hailee and Katy. The asshole proceeded to put the child lock on the door before shutting me in and moving to get in behind the wheel. He started up the engine and pulled out of the back entrance to the pub and headed for Cameron and Hailee’s place.

  “Bro, what fucking gives?” He just looked at Abby with a glare before he turned his attention back to the road. Pulling out my phone, I tried to call JD. There was no answer, so I tried again. Maybe he didn’t feel it vibrating or he’d just missed it. I tried and got nothing a few times. I looked over to Hailee and Katy. I really didn’t like where this was going.

  “Please, Corey, you are freaking Ellie the fuck out right now! What is going on?!” Corey looked in his rear-view mirror at us. Katy had now wrapped her arm around me and hugged me to her. He let out a sigh.

  “Jai made an appearance tonight so before anything happened to you lot, they made me get you out of there, so they could focus on him and you not get caught in the crossfire.”

  “Where is Jason?!”

  “In the front parking lot. I walked out and saw Jai with a gun pointed at his head and ran back in for backup. Ironic that the one person amongst us that could have ended that in seconds is the one person missing from tonight because he is in the psych ward.” I just blinked. What in the actual hell. How was he being so calm about this right now and why the fuck was I being driven away from him.

  “You need to go back!”

  “Yeah, not happening El. Sorry.”

  “Corey! You need to go back! What if something happens to him! There is a fucking doctor with us that could just save his damn life!”

  “Tucker is there.”

  “Tucker is not the fucking Chief of Medicine at the hospital!” I felt Katy squeeze my hand.

  “No, but he is Chief of Surgery and if anyone can think quickly on his feet, it’s him. He can do it with his eyes closed no matter where the bullet is lodged. Nothing is going to happen to him. He will be fine. They guys will get the situation under control. JD needs you far away though, so he can think about what he is doing and not worry where you are.”

  “How are you all so calm about this right now?!”

  “Freaking out isn’t going to help.” I glared in Corey’s direction.

  “You won’t be saying that if I have to fucking bury him.”

  “Do you not trust the guys?” I shrugged at Hailee’s question and turned to look out the window. Did I trust them? I should. JD did, with his life. Shouldn’t I have that same faith in them? They had weeded out the bad seeds so that only the ones that could be trusted remained. Was this the fear talking or was Corey right? The one person who could stop that situation was Freddy and he had gone away for a little while. I looked down at my phone when it started to ring. It was Cameron.

  Fuck.

  One Month Later

  Raven

  Of all people, I knew that all it takes is one split second for shit to change and your life can start flashing before your eyes. When Corey came in and told me about JD and Jai out in the carpark, the first thing on my mind was the girls, they had to go. I couldn’t let Ellie see anything like this. Once he got them out the back, Chaos and I moved to the entrance of the bar and looked out toward his car. Seeing Jai with a gun pointed to his head, my blood ran cold. How the fuck were we going to get him out of this one. Hearing someone coming up behind us, I looked over my shoulder and saw Morgan’s security team standing there.

  “Everything okay?” I shook my head.

  “No. We have a situation. Either of you boys got an accurate shot?” One of them stepped forward, I think I remember him saying his name was Daniel, and he snorted.

  “Oh please. A four-year-old could make that shot.” Daniel dropped to the ground in a crouch and start making his way quietly through the cars.

  “He does know which one he is aiming for right?”

  “Well, he has a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right.” Brice, the other security guy for Morgan, shrugged and I had t
o fight the urge to punch him right now. Dropping down, I followed after him just to make sure that the person I was trying to save didn’t end up with the bullet in his head or Ellie would kill me, Hailee would kill her than we would all be fucked. Daniel moved into position and just as he was about to take his shot the stupid idiot in front of us, clearly having a death wish, decided it would be a good idea to charge at Jai. I don’t know what the fuck he was thinking, or hoping, but if Ellie ever finds that shit out, she will have his balls. I got up as did Daniel and we rushed at them before Jai could get his bearings on what happened. I managed to get the gun and kick it away from him. JD got to his feet as Daniel pulled Jai to his. JD moved toward Jai with a clenched fist and hit him hard in the stomach so that he doubled over when Daniel let him go. Once he was on the ground, JD proceeded to kick the shit out of him. This was years of pent up frustration coming out of him. Daniel looked up at me. I just put my hands up and stepped back. I would step in if he needed it, but this was his fight. He could finally bury the ghosts of his past with this asshole.

  I leant back against the tailgate of JD’s truck and just watched. Chaos soon moved to my side now that we had JD out of danger and we just sat back and watched. After about ten minutes of kicking the shit out of him, JD moved to stand next to us to catch his breath.

  “Feel better?”

  “A little. Where’s Ellie?”

  “Probably at my house, pissed off by now. I don’t know that she voluntarily got into that car.” He let out a small sigh and patted his pockets for his phone. When he couldn’t find it, he held out his hand to me.

  “Can I borrow your phone? I think she has mine.” I unlocked my phone and passed it to him.

  “You done with him?” He looked down as he dialed her number and gave me a nod. I picked up his gun that had been knocked out of Jai’s hands and pointed it at his head. Firing off a bullet into his skull, I put the gun down the back of my pants for me to get rid of later. Once JD was done with my phone, I would call in my cleaner to come and get rid of the body. After his phone call, JD handed me back my phone. Dialing Nathaniel’s number, I waited for him to answer. While I waited, JD was trying to get me up off his tailgate.