Savage Kings MC Box Set 1

by Lane Hart

  “There are probably several kids in the van with a woman driving,” War adds. “Have them call or text me if they see it, and get Jade to put out an APB. I’m looking for my son. Okay. Thanks, man.”

  “An APB? Do you really think that will work?” I ask after War ends the call. “There are probably thousands of vehicles on the highway, if everyone is leaving the coast.”

  “Yeah, and there are at least four dozen Savage Kings from the coastal charters on those highways too. With an APB coming from the sheriff, someone will find them.”

  “And what are you going to do if they find them?” I ask.

  “See where they’re staying. If it doesn’t look safe enough, I’ll get Ren and take him someplace else.”

  “Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little bit? I get that, as his father, it’s your job to worry about him. But I’m sure he’s in good hands with Barbara.”

  “I’ll feel better once I see that for myself,” War huffs.

  Then he’s backing his truck out of the driveaway and heading toward the highway.

  Just as we expected, traffic is bumper to bumper headed west, sitting at a standstill.

  “Do you think this is because of the weather?” I ask.

  “The weather doesn’t help, but no, this is the evacuation. People are actually taking it seriously and trying to get the hell out of here before this monster hurricane hits. The forecasters say it’s a Category four, but they don’t even know yet where it will make landfall. It’s so big that we’re already getting a taste of the outer edges.”

  Once we manage to carefully merge off the exit ramp and onto the highway, traffic creeps along at about five miles an hour. We’ve only made it maybe two miles when War’s phone rings. He answers it right away with one crisp word. “Yeah?”

  I can vaguely hear the person on the phone’s frantic masculine voice coming through before War shouts, “Fuck! Where?” The next thing I know, he’s tossing his phone over into my lap and swerving onto the right shoulder. “Buckle up and hold on tight!” he warns me.

  “Why? What are you doing? Where are we going?” I ask, while I grip the armrests and we bump along through the grass and gravel on the shoulder, flying past all the packed cars on the paved road. War is driving like a freaking maniac through the rain and it’s scaring the shit out of me.

  “Onslow County Sheriff just got a call in about a white van on an exit off Fifty-eight.”

  “It may not be them…” I start to say.

  “The New River has already flooded,” he explains. “Dispatch has called in the swift water rescue team for three vehicles on the bridge, but all the responders have been dispatched elsewhere!”

  “War, it may not—” I start to say again when he interrupts me.

  “Even if it’s not them, someone is in serious trouble!”

  “So that’s where we’re going?” I ask, gripping the armrests tightly because the roads are a mess.

  “Yeah, all the Kings in the area are on their way too,” he says.

  Sure enough, another vehicle about half a mile up the road pulls over onto the shoulder as we blow past traffic sitting at a standstill. “Is that them?”

  “Yes,” War answers. “That’s Miles and Reece up there in the green Jeep.”

  I don’t say anything else as we go off-roading for miles, and I don’t try to talk War out of this insanity. He’s dead set on it, so I keep quiet, preferring he focus on driving instead of arguing and distracting him.

  “This is it, Exit Fifty-one,” War comments when he swerves the truck around a big green exit sign. There are orange cones stretched across the road, attempting to prevent anyone from passing.

  Not that they’ll stop the Army green Jeep in front us, or War, who plows right through the grass past them.

  The reason the road is closed becomes clear a moment later when I see the brown, muddy river water running through what used to be a bridge over a road.

  “Oh god,” War mutters. “The force of that current…they could be miles away…”

  Before I can respond, he and the two guys in the Jeep are out of the vehicles and racing toward the bridge. I follow him just as soon as my shaking fingers can push the button to release my seat belt.

  “War, wait!” I shout as I slam the truck door and race over to where the men have gathered at the edge of the rising flood waters. “It’s too dangerous!”

  “There they are!” War yells, pointing his finger over to the right side of the river bank. “The van’s wedged between two trees!”

  It would be hard to see my hand in front of my face in this downpour, but I can just make out the white van turned sideways as the roaring brown water slams against it, so deep that it nearly covers the tires.

  “There’s a red car and a small black one down that way, with the water up to the windows,” one of the guys says, pointing over to the left.

  “You and Miles check on them. I can handle the van,” War says before the men separate, wading into the river that’s up to their knees.

  “I’m coming with you!” I shout to him.

  “Just wait in the truck!” he yells back, but I’m already up to my ankles in the muddy river. If he’s going in, then so am I. While I’m not entirely convinced it’s Barbara’s van, there may be people in it that need help.

  War of course reaches the van first. Even though I’m several steps behind him, I can still hear his relieved cry of, “Oh thank God!”

  I’m not sure if he’s relieved because it’s not Ren and the other kids, or if it is them until I make my way through the rough current that tries to take my legs out from under me with each step.

  Then I look up and see the small, terrified faces crowded against the back window.

  A sob is wrenched from my throat as tears start to mix into the rain pouring down my cheeks.

  War was right.

  He was stubborn and determined, and because of that, he may have just saved his son’s life, along with four others. Not to mention the people in the other cars…

  “It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay!” War promises them with his palm flattened on the window. “Can you roll this window down for me to pull you out?” he asks, and it starts to lower.

  “Dad! How did you find us?” Ren asks.

  “I’m your father. It’s what I do,” War tells his son as he lifts him from the vehicle and wraps him in a tight hug. “Are you okay, buddy? Are you hurt?”

  “Just scared,” Ren says, wincing as the heavy rainfall beats down on him.

  “Nothing to be scared of now,” War assures him. “Can you climb on my back and hold on tight to my neck?”

  “Y-yeah,” Ren agrees before War hoists him up and over his shoulder to free up his hands. He helps Barbara out of the window next. Then, the two of them work to pull free the other three boys. One clings to Barbara’s neck while War holds the other two in each of his muscular arms.

  “I can take one!” I tell War, but he’s already trudging past me, heading back to the river bank.

  “I’ve got them. Just help her,” he says, nodding to Barbara.

  “The boys were hungry!” she tells me over the angry rushing sounds of nature surrounding us. “I thought we could just go through a drive-thru on the exit. And…and traffic was so backed up! Then the water just started gushing over the bridge!”

  “It’s okay. I’m sure it all happened so fast that you did the best you could,” I reassure her, wrapping my arm around her back, with my other hand on the boy hanging onto the front of her. Together, we slowly make our way behind War.

  War makes it to dry land with his body covered in kids.

  Barbara and the boy and I are only about four feet behind him when a strong rush of current hit us.

  “Go!” I shout, shoving them toward bystanders approaching the bank as I lose my footing.

  I’ve always been a fan of the Roarin’ Rapids ride at theme parks, but I have to say that being dragged through the rapids without a raft isn’t
nearly as fun.

  The muddy brown water may not be very deep, just a little above my knees, but it’s incredibly powerful. And between the wind, the rain, and the current, I can’t get my feet back underneath me.

  I close my mouth and hold my breath when my head is pulled under. My arms flail around, trying to find something to hold onto and pull myself up, but it’s useless.

  I’m being swept away by an angry, raging river.

  The last thing I remember thinking to myself is, I’m so glad the boys are safe, quickly followed by, Wow, I really do have the worst luck in the world.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  War

  As soon as I kneel down so that the boys can all get to their feet, I’m reaching around to wrap Ren in a hug. Then I hold him out in front of me to feel every inch of him, from his head to his soggy toes.

  “Does anything hurt?” I ask him.

  “No, but Miss Nova disappeared.”

  Out of all the things he could have said, that response, worrying about Nova, was the last thing I expected. Sure, he’s gotten to see her a lot during our visitations over the last few weeks, but I didn’t know he was that attached to her.

  “Nova’s okay. She’s right behind us,” I assure him. “Let’s get you in the truck so you can start drying off,” I say when I’m able to get to my feet. My legs feel like jelly now that the adrenaline is starting to wear off. Never in my life have I been so scared. If we hadn’t gotten here when we did…fuck. I can’t even think about that.

  “Nova’s gone,” Ren says when I take his hand. Instead of heading toward dry land, he tugs me back to the river. I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to drive over a bridge again after today.

  “Nova’s fine,” I say.

  But when I turn around to face my new living nightmare, I see Barbara and one of the boys, but not Nova.

  “Where’s Nova?” I call out to her.

  “The current took her!” Barbara exclaims in a frantic sob. “I had Joey in my arms and I couldn’t grab her too! I’m so sorry!”

  “Shit!” I shout as I look down the river, unable to see even a hint of her. “Stay with Ren!” I tell her before I run back into the brown abyss.

  “Nova!” I yell as I trudge through the rapids. “NOVA!”

  Please god, let her be okay!

  It’s my fault we’re out here, and I said some horrible shit to her. Just, please let me find her and I’ll take it all back, I swear. I can’t lose her.

  She’s the best thing that’s happened to me. Yeah, I didn’t realize it over the last few weeks because my world felt like it was falling apart. I was angry and sad, but still, Nova stayed by my side through it all. But now, now I know it, and if something happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself for letting her down.

  Then, maybe I’m delusional and seeing shit, but just like the day Nova and I met, when a black cloud was over top of us while the sun shined everywhere else, a streak of sunlight breaks through the heavy storm clouds and shines a little further down the river bank…right onto Nova’s back that’s slumped face down.

  “Thank fuck,” I mutter on an exhale as I run as fast I can through knee-high water to her. “Nova! Damn, woman. You had me worried sick!” I call out to her as I get closer.

  She doesn’t move. Not even a muscle twitches.

  “Nova!” I scream as I reach her. Grabbing her shoulders, I roll her to her back. Her body is limp, her face is pale, and her lips are blue.

  “No. No, no, no,” I chant over and over as I brush her wet hair from her face. Placing my cheek close to her face, I silently beg to feel her warm breath against my skin, and watch for any rise in her chest. “Come on, Nova! Don’t you do this to me!” I say after it’s clear she’s not breathing. That’s when my CPR training takes over. I tilt her chin back and open her mouth. Interlocking my fingers, I place the heel of my hands on the center of her chest to start compressions.

  Marcie refused to go to CPR training with me when she was pregnant with Ren, but I went anyway. Today’s the first time I’ve ever needed to know how to do this, but I’m thankful I still remember the technique.

  After I’ve done thirty quick compressions, I pinch Nova’s nose and blow a breath into her mouth. Her chest rises, and I’m about to do another when she begins to violently cough up the water in her lungs.

  I’m still holding my breath when her eyes blink open.

  “Oh, thank god,” I mutter as I wrap my arms around her back to hold her to me. “I thought I had lost you!”

  She grabs at my arm and says, “The…boys? Barbara?”

  “They’re fine, darlin’. All of them are fine. You’re the one who’s trying to scare me to death,” I tell her. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve been paying more attention. Hell, even Ren noticed you were gone before I did.”

  “It’s…okay. Boys…more important,” Nova says.

  Pulling back to see her face, I tell her the truth. “You’re important to me too.”

  “I am?” she asks, her hazel eyes wide in surprise.

  “Whatever we started out as, just fooling around or…or a distraction I needed, over the last few weeks, you’ve become more to me. And I hope I’m more to you…”

  “You are,” Nova says, reaching up to cup my face as the rain beats down on us. Neither of us seem to mind, or even notice.

  We hold each other as the storm rages on around us until I feel Nova shiver.

  “Come on. Let’s get you someplace dry,” I tell her.

  I get to my feet and then scoop her up in my arms. There’s no way I’m going to let her walk, as weak as she must be after nearly drowning.

  Instead of trying to walk against the flow of the river, I hike through the forest that runs next to it where it eventually comes out at the road.

  The passenger door of my truck opens and then Ren is running toward us.

  “You found her!”

  “I found her. Now, go get back in the truck before you get pneumonia,” I tell him. “We’re gonna get inland where we can hunker down and stay dry until this storm passes.”

  “Can I stay with you?” Ren asks as we walk back to the truck.

  “Absolutely,” I tell him.

  I would love to see someone try to stop me from leaving with my son.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Nova

  After War made me get checked out by the paramedics when they arrived, along with Ren, the boys, Barbara, and the two other passengers his MC friends saved, the three of us got back on the highway and road all the way inland to Greensboro, which is about four hours away from the coast.

  “You sure you don’t want to drive to Tennessee, just to be safe?” I tease War when we stop at a hotel that night.

  “I would, but we need to get everyone dry, so I’ll settle with staying here,” he replies. “This place okay with you, buddy?” he asks Ren.

  “Do they have a pool?” he asks, and War and I exchange a quick, frightened look over his head at the mention of any large bodies of water so soon.

  “Let’s hope not,” War grumbles before he climbs out.

  Half an hour later, we’ve all showered, dried off, and are changed into the clean clothes we brought with us.

  Ren is even asleep on one of the queen beds where he drifted off while watching a show on Cartoon Network.

  War’s stretched out on the bed next to him in a pair of pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. His hand reaches over to sweep Ren’s hair off his forehead. Then he places his palm on his arm, as if checking to make sure he’s breathing.

  “You’re a hero,” I whisper to him.

  “Me?” He looks over to where I’m sitting on the other bed and shakes his head. “No. If Ren hadn’t been in that van, none of this would’ve ever happened,” he grumbles softly. I know he means if his ex-wife wouldn’t have messed up, Ren would have been safe and sound with him instead.

  “If he hadn’t been in that van, those other three boys and Barbara may not have been saved. Or th
e man and woman your friends helped. Maybe Ren was there for a reason, War—so that you could be there to help them.”

  “That was luck. We were almost too late, and then you nearly drowned…” Shaking his head again, he says, “No matter how hard I try, it seems like all I do is keep messing everything up.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes,” I tell him, myself included. I’m not sure why I had any doubt that War was not only a good man but an amazing father to his son. The state shouldn’t have ever taken him away. Now I know, and I plan to do everything I can to sway the judge in my report, and next week at the hearing.

  Instead of responding right away, War kisses his son’s forehead and then gets up from the bed to come around and kneel in front of me with his hands on each of my knees. “A mistake would be ending this, not seeing you again,” he says, watching my face with his serious, golden eyes.

  “What about Ren?” I whisper.

  “We could try dating for a while,” War replies, lifting my knuckles to his lips and placing a kiss on it.

  “But no more sleepovers?”

  “No more sleepovers,” he agrees as I expected. “For now.” Reaching for the sides of my face, he brings my lips down to his for several soft kisses. “Maybe in a few weeks or months?” he asks. “I know it’s not fair to you, but it’s going to take some time before I’ll be able to trust another woman not to hurt me and my son again.”

  Talking about trust and the future reminds me that War’s could possibly involve being in handcuffs, behind bars. While it’s not entirely my fault, I haven’t been able to bring myself to warn him about the U.S. Attorney’s investigation.

  “Just think about it, okay?” War says, when I don’t respond to his offer. After another quick kiss, he tells me, “Let’s get some sleep for now, and we’ll talk more about all of this when we get home.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good,” I agree, promising myself I’ll tell him about everything as soon as we get back and get through the custody hearing.