by Jade Kuzma
“Where is she?” I shouted again. My voice echoed in the sky without a response. I stared down at my phone. Every second I didn’t get a message was an eternity.
Come on…
My heart beat harder and harder in my chest. I was breathing so deep I thought I was going to pass out.
Come on…
I grew more desperate with every passing second. Suddenly, the phone vibrated in my hand with another message.
“If you send the cops after me, I’ll make sure she doesn’t make it back to you.”
“What…”
As soon as I started to panic, I heard a rumble coming from inside of the barn. I peeked inside and saw the bright headlights shining in my direction. I put my hands up to block the blinding light then listened to the screech of a car as it raced out of the barn. It moved so fast that I only heard it for a second before it disappeared down the street.
“Hey! Wait!” There was no way I could catch the car but I still ran as hard as I could. The sound of another engine filled my ears as two cars raced up next to me. Detective Bradford jumped out of the backseat. I immediately rushed up and grabbed his suit jacket. “You have to go after him! He has her—”
“We can’t go after him.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Why can’t you—”
“He still has Sage. Getting into a chase only puts her in danger.”
“You’re just gonna let him take my daughter? You can’t be serious!”
“Summer… He’s not gonna take your daughter. He’s only holding her to make sure he can get away. Now that he has his money, he’ll let her go. She’ll be all right. You just have to trust me.”
“No! You let him take my daughter and you expect me to be okay with it. How can I—”
I was interrupted by the thundering sound of more engines. I turned toward the lone headlights and watched as they rolled up right next to me. I didn’t have to get a good look to know who it was.
“Late,” Theo muttered to himself. He eyeballed Bradford. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Moore!” I said. “He took the money and he still has Sage!”
“I’m on it.” He and the other Cobras revved their engines.
“Hold on a minute.” Bradford moved in front of the bikes and put his hands up. “You can’t go after him. You get into a high-speed chase, all you’re doing is putting the girl in danger. You can’t risk it.”
“You think I’m just gonna sit back and let him take that girl?”
“Sage is Moore’s only way of getting out of this alive. Once he’s free, he’ll let her go.”
Theo shook his head and looked at me. “It’s your call, Summer. There’s no telling if you can trust Moore to send her back. Just gimme the word and I’ll get her back.”
“Summer, you don’t know what Moore is capable of. He finds his back against the wall, he’s liable to do anything—”
“Do it.” I didn’t bother waiting for Bradford to finish. I had to risk everything. Nothing else mattered.
Theo revved his engine and sped off as soon as I said it. The Cobras followed in tow as they got onto the road.
“Shit…” Bradford muttered. “Let’s go! Move it!”
He got into his police cruiser along with the cops he was with. I got into the backseat and we hit the road in the direction Theo was headed.
The cops moved fast but nothing could keep up with a biker. If there was one thing I knew about Theo, it was that he took care of his ride. He was ready to race at a moment’s notice.
My heart was racing just as fast. I clenched my jaw and breathed hard through my nose. It was the worst feeling in the world.
“Don’t lose him!” Bradford shouted. “Only thing in that direction is Holt County! If they make it to the next town, they’ll be able to get lost. Faster!”
I could barely make out Theo and the other bikes in the distance. I wasn’t blinking. My fists were balled. My whole body was tense. A tinge of sweat covered me. My heart beat so hard I thought it would leap out of my chest.
Come on…
“Faster! Go! Go!” Bradford yelled.
The empty road was a straight shot to the next town. Theo was growing smaller and smaller. Suddenly, the biggest explosion I’d ever seen filled the night sky. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t hear it, too.
No…
My heart froze inside of my chest. I stopped breathing.
No…
“Go!” Bradford shouted until the car pulled up closer to the explosion. If the wreck in front of me wasn’t enough, gunfire filled the air, forcing me to fall back in my seat. Bradford and his men exited the car, their weapons raised as more gunshots went off.
I kept my hands over my ears, my eyes shut tight as the worst thoughts kept running through my mind.
It was only a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime by the time it all stopped. As soon as it was over, I got out of the car and ran forward.
All of the bikes were parked in the middle of the road. The Cobras were all presented and accounted for with Bradford and his men standing next to them.
“Summer!” Doc rushed up to me but I wasn’t paying any attention to him. All I could see was the little girl in his arms.
“Sage!” I’d never moved so fast in my life. I ran up to my daughter and wrapped my arms around her. I squeezed her tight. She squirmed softly, her warmth making my heart beat again inside of my chest. I pulled away and looked into her eyes. She was as distraught as I expected her to look but she was alive. “Are you okay?”
“Mommy…” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck. I closed my eyes and my emotions got the best of me. But I didn’t care about the tears streaking down the sides of my cheeks. Another deep sigh of relief made the weight of the world lift from my shoulders.
I looked up toward Doc and smiled at him. “How did you…”
“I need a medic! Now!” Bradford’s sudden shouting interrupted me. I looked up and saw the commotion. I thought everybody was safe. I was wrong.
All of the men were standing in a circle. I could just barely make someone out on the ground. A few steps closer and I saw what I didn’t want to see.
“Theo…” I blinked my eyes in disbelief.
He didn’t respond. He just laid there, blood leaking from the side of his chest as he struggled to breathe.
“Theo!” I tried to move forward but felt a hand on my arm.
“It’s all right,” Doc said. “Just be with your daughter. We’ll take care of him. I promise.”
I looked at Sage and picked her up into my arms. But with Theo slowly losing consciousness, the relief I felt was fleeting.
The night couldn’t end soon enough.
Chapter 13
THEO
“Just relax, tough guy.”
I sighed a deep breath and looked up at Audrey. Micah’s old lady took every opportunity to rub it in when one of us got into it. She understood that nicks and scrapes were standard territory when dealing with club members. Even a gunshot wasn’t a big enough of a deal for her to be worried.
I looked down at the bandage on my chest and shook my head. “How am I looking, nurse?”
“Nothing too serious,” Audrey said. “The bullet hit mostly skin. In and out. Lots of blood but not much else. You’ll be just fine.”
“That’s good.” I sank my head deeper into the pillow. Now that I knew I was all right, my thoughts shifted to Summer and her daughter. “What about—”
“I just told you to relax. Everybody is fine. You’ll be out of commission for a few days. Now if you promise to stay in bed for a bit, I’ll let one of your club buddies come in and talk to you.”
“Yeah… Thanks, Audrey.”
She gave me a wink before stepping out of the room. I shifted my eyes around, a bit of frustration coming over me because I knew I’d be stuck in bed for the time being. The door opened to stop me from being completely bored. I rolled my head in the oth
er direction and saw Doc.
“How you feeling, brother?” he asked.
“This ain’t the first time I been shot.”
“That’s not some shit you need to be bragging about.”
“Who’s bragging? Shit hurts.” We shared a laugh. He pulled up a chair next to me.
“What do you remember?”
“I remember everything. We chased that son of a bitch down and popped his tires.”
“Big risk with Sage still in the car.”
“Sage was already at risk just being around that motherfucker. I trust my aim.”
“Apparently, you trust more than your aim. You raced up to that car like you were bulletproof.”
“I knew whoever was in that car was dazed. I had to get her before they could do anything.”
“And you got her all right. Not fast enough to avoid the bullets though.”
“I got her. That’s all that matters.” I ran my fingers over the bandage and sighed. A little blood and a small scar was a small price to pay to make sure the girl was all right.
“Bradford and his boys took down the rest of them. But Moore got away. There was another ride waiting for him.”
“Shit…”
“No need to be mad over that. The priority was the girl. Moore is gone for good. He won’t bother showing his face around here. As long as he knows what’s best for him. Nobody fucks with the Cobras and gets away with it.”
“How is everybody else?”
“Present and accounted for. Hired goons like the ones Moore got aren’t anything we haven’t dealt with before. Can’t aim for shit.”
“What about Summer? Sage?”
“Summer’s fine. She was a little frantic. That’s expected. The doctors are looking over the girl right now. Doesn’t look like Moore did anything with her.”
“He knew better than to put a finger on her. She got hurt and his payday would go up in smoke.”
“Moore got away but his day is coming. It looks like things worked out for the best.”
“Yeah…” I sighed another deep breath and stared up at the ceiling. The weight of trying to find the girl lifted from my shoulders. But my thoughts were still wandering in every direction.
Doc stayed sitting right next to me. I could feel his eyes on me. The bastard always had a way of overanalyzing everything. Couldn’t blame the man though. I wasn’t exactly trying to hide all of the shit running through my mind.
“What’s up?”
“Did you see the girl?” I said.
“I saw her.”
“Summer told me her three-year-old daughter was kidnapped.”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t know much about kids but when they’re that young, it’s easy to tell the difference.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Unless that girl had some kinda growth spurt, she ain’t three.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah, I’m sure—”
A knock at the door interrupted me. The door opened up and Summer stood there. Her hair was messy. There was some dirt on her face. Her eyes were red like she’d been crying. But she still had a soft smile on her lips. It didn’t matter what she looked like. You couldn’t find a more gorgeous brunette in Ivory.
“Sorry,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure—”
“Don’t mind me.” Doc got up from his seat. “Checking on the bastard. Let him know about all the fun he’s gonna miss out on back at the clubhouse while he’s stuck in here.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered.
“We’ll be waiting for you. I’ll tell Rex to have another beer in your honor.” Doc sarcastically patted my shoulder and left. Summer took his place on the chair next to me.
We stared at one another. We didn’t say anything. Not that we needed to. I could read all of the emotions on her face without a single word.
I sighed softly through my nose and sat up on the bed. Her eyes shifted toward the bandage on my shoulder.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
“It only hurts for a split-second. After that, you get kinda numb to the pain. It’s not as bad as it looks. Most thugs don’t know how to aim a piece.”
“That’s still not something you should take chances with.”
“I don’t take chances. I only put my life on the line when there’s a life on the line. Even you can understand that.”
“I guess you have a point…”
“How is she?”
Summer’s face lit up with a smile as soon as I mentioned her daughter. “She’s resting. After everything she’s been through, she’s exhausted. I stuffed her with some food because she hasn’t eaten right in a few days. But the doctors say she’ll be just fine. Nothing to worry about.”
“I’m glad.”
Summer shifted her eyes away from me, looking toward the ground like something was wrong. I could feel the tension coming from her as the silence filled the room.
“Thank you,” she said suddenly. “Thank you for doing that.”
“You don’t have to thank me for something anybody would’ve done.”
“That’s not true, actually. Moore was planning on taking off with the ransom and with Sage. I told Bradford to go after him but he refused. Said I was putting Sage in danger.”
“He had the right idea. Going after Moore when he still had Sage like that was a big risk.”
“It was the right risk to take. Thank you, Theo. Really.”
“Yeah… You know, Bradford said something interesting to me earlier.”
“What’s that?”
“He said he was trying to save a four-year-old.” She turned her eyes back toward me. She didn’t have any expression on her face. Just a blank look with no emotion. “You told me your daughter was three. You’d have to be the worst mother in the world to forget how old your own daughter is.”
She still didn’t say anything. She just kept staring at me, her throat shifting up and down as she swallowed.
“How old is Sage?”
Summer clenched her jaw, her eyes locked on mine. I bit my tongue and waited for an answer she didn’t wanna seem to give me. Her mouth opened and a sigh came out. She didn’t need to say anything for me to know what was coming.
“Sage is four… I guess I… I guess I misspoke.”
“When’s her birthday, Summer?”
“She’ll be turning five in a few months.” She looked away from me as soon as she said it.
All of the emotions swirling around in my stomach, I didn’t know how to respond to it all. I gathered myself and sank deeper into my bed. My head down, I bit my tongue. There was no point in letting my emotions get the best of me. Not when I was stuck in my hospital room.
I still had more questions but Summer suddenly got up from her seat.
“I have to check on Sage,” she said. “Just to make sure she’s all right. She’s probably still hungry.”
“That’s a good idea. Maybe when I get out of here and you’re still in town, you can stop by the Bone Pit. We can have a drink. Chill out. Catch up. I figure it’d be a good way to unwind after all the shit we just went through.”
“Are we celebrating over a drink or are you just inviting me over for no reason at all?”
“Does it matter, Summer?”
She smiled softly and nodded. “I guess it doesn’t. I’ll… I’ll stick around. I don’t know for how long but I’ll have that drink with you. I owe you my thanks, Theo.”
“I told you you don’t have to thank me. I’d do anything for that girl.”
“…I’m sure you would.” Summer turned around and left the room before I could say anything else.
I sank down on the bed and stared back up at the ceiling. So much shit was running through my mind but the exhaustion of the night was too much. I sighed softly as I felt my eyes getting heavy. The next time I saw her, I’d get all my answers.
“Sage…”
Chapter 14
SUMMER
Five years earlier…
I sat on the examination table, my thumbs twiddling back and forth with a growing anxiety. Hospital rooms were always so cold and sterile and silent. Everything about them was so uncomfortable even though they needed to be the most comfortable. Funny how that always worked out.
I stared at the floor as all of the thoughts raced around in my head. My future was right ahead of me. But all I could see was a fork and I didn’t know which direction I was headed.
The door opened and broke my solitude.
Dr. Brand stepped inside, a clipboard in her hand and a kind smile on her face. She was a middle-aged woman, friendly and unassuming. But that wasn’t enough to calm the nerves twisting my stomach into knots.
“I’m sorry, Summer. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”
“That’s all right. I’m… I’m not in a hurry.”
“You have anything planned today?”
“Not in particular, no.” I managed to work a smile onto my face. “No classes today.”
“I remember grad school when I was younger. College was fun but when I got into grad school, it got a little more serious. Then I went into med school and that’s when I realized it was the right choice. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than where I am now.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get a doctorate. I don’t think I need it to become a professor.”
“Is that right? That’s what you want to do, Summer?”
“I think I’d be good at it. Young people need guidance.”
“And what are you studying?”
“Economics.”
“Economics. That’s always useful. You should keep that up. You never know, if you keep going you just might want to keep your education going.” That friendly smile on her face still wasn’t enough to distract me from the obvious.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Brand. I don’t mean to change the subject but—”
“Oh, look at me. I’m sorry. I have a tendency to ramble when people tell me they don’t have any other obligations in the day. Let’s see here…” She looked down at her clipboard and started scribbling her pen on it. “…You say you’re late… Two weeks, was it?”