Claimed : Red Horsemen Mc #2, page 15
“I’m glad your back, girl, and not just for Ice… If you ever need anything.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
Cas walks towards us, scratching his stomach and winking as I pass him a coffee. Cage is on his heels and smiles at me. I grab the griddle and pancake mix, determined to make breakfast for them all.
“Where’s the VP?” Storm inquires as I pass over another cup.
“Still in bed.” All their brows rise as I pour the mix on the griddle.
“Sleeping? You drug him?”
I frown, refilling the coffee maker again and filling more cups.
“No.”
“He hasn’t slept more than a few hours in years,” Cage says, and his words surprise me. Logan has always slept when we’ve been together.
Rev walks in from the garden, playing with his knife, stopping mid-step when he sees my smile before nodding and coming over. I pass him a coffee, which he drinks boiling hot.
I’ve finally served everyone coffee, and most are digging into the pancakes.
A thick pair of arms wrap around my waist. “Missed you. I wanted to wake up with my girl in my bed.” His sleepy voice makes me shiver in his arms and causes his hold to tighten until he spots the coffee in my hands and grabs it. Smirking at my glare.
“There’s also pancakes.” I nod to the plate I kept aside.
“Best Ol’ Lady ever.” He smirks at the guys before pressing a kiss to my lips. I don’t miss the way Sketch walks off.
It’s finally time to leave, and as Luther walks through the door with Rags and Bolt, they all do that one arm hug with the brothers before they all start walking out, and most give me a tight smile or a chin lift as they go.
“We got his back.” Cage squeezes my shoulders, and the rest of the guys nod.
“Be careful, all of you. I promise cake when you get back.” I try to smile, making Cas grin.
“I want cooked meals for a week.”
I can’t help laughing and nodding. Red catches my attention as Luther talks to her, and she holds firm but walks into his arms when he nudges her. I also don’t miss the way Cas shoots a look towards Sienna. No words are spoken between them, but they hold each other’s eye a little longer before Cas walks out the door.
“Pretty Girl.” I turn to Bolt, and he brings me into a tight hug.
“Be careful. If any—”
He cuts me off. “We got this. Nothing is stopping us. This is personal for a lot of us. Storm went over the plan, and we got boys from the Ohio chapter already doing recon.”
I nod, staying strong because now is not the time to break. I need to be a good Ol’ Lady and stand firm in front of the men.
He looks over his shoulder. “Talk to him. He fucked up, but we all have.” I turn to see my father standing there. Bolt gives me another squeeze before he walks off.
“I’m sorry, girl, never meant to hurt you…but fucked it up.”
I walk into his arms, wrapping my arms around his waist. “I’m sorry too. I love you, and I’m not going anywhere, no matter how much you all piss me off.” I hear a gruff snort before he places a kiss on my hair.
“Finding you made me so fucking happy. I am —”
I pull back, shaking my head as I cut him off. “Don’t! You make sure you come back because I’m not done being pissed with you.”
His lips quirk as he holds my face, putting a kiss on my forehead. “You got it.”
I watch as he walks out of the room, and Luther nods towards me.
“We ain’t got off on the best foot, girl, but when this is all over, we sort that shit out.” I gasp, nodding, and surprising him as I wrap my arms around his middle.
“He loves you.” He sucks in a deep breath before nodding, following Rags out.
Red is at the window, Sienna next to her, watching it all playing out. It as if she wants to see but is holding back. When I realize the room is empty, my stomach drops.
Logan.
Just as the thought appears, I’m spun in a pair of thick arms, and lips descend on mine, making me dizzy. He nips and pulls at my lips, licking the inside of my mouth as our tongues stroke each other, and we kiss until our lungs burn.
We both break apart, breathing heavily. “I’m going to walk out that door. No goodbyes.”
I bite my lip, nodding before giving him a big smile. He looks at me as if he’s trying to remember every feature.
Come back to me...please.
He nods as if hearing my inner thoughts before walking out the door. Then the sound of twenty pipes fills the air on a roar. I can’t help it and race towards the door to see Logan look up at me.
“Be careful, yeah.” I smirk, repeating the words I said to him the day I realized I was in love with him.
He grins just as I feel Red and Sienna come up beside me. Just as they pull off, I hold my two middle fingers in the air, and I swear I can hear Logan laugh, just like the day he walked in and kissed me in Sketch’s shop.
We all stand there watching until they are out of sight.
“It never gets easier,” Red whispers, walking back inside.
Sienna grabs my hand. “They are going to come home...all of them.” Her voice is full of conviction, but she looks once more before following Red inside.
As I continue to watch the empty road, I whisper, “Please come home.” Hoping it will be carried on the wind and that they all hear me.
Storm walks into our room. We’ve been shacked up in this rundown, flea bitten room for the last couple of days while we do recon.
“Man, I want to show you something.” My brows come down as I stand.
“What is it?”
“Leave your cut and follow me.”
He nods his head to follow him, walking out into the fresh air. The noise of New York is like a constant buzz. You can hear it, feel it, see it, everywhere.
I raise my brow when he takes me into a park to see the guys all standing by the fountain. Which instantly makes my body tense.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“If we show you, you can’t fucking lose it.” I watch them all looking at me, and nod.
Storm takes me through some trees, moving his hand to tell me to squat. I do, trusting him.
We’re camouflaged, so you wouldn’t notice us amongst the growth unless you were looking. Storm looks at me once more before he points. I search the area seeing nothing but families having picnics, kids on bikes, playing ball. When my eyes catch something, homing in on a dark-haired woman who’s holding a little boy in her arms as a little girl sits next to her.
All the air leaves me. “It’s them.” I move closer, taking in their features. Blaze sits there watching his sister, eyes never leaving her. Maia’s eyes scan the area, a little determined look in her eyes before she starts crawling off their picnic blanket.
“Come on, we’ve got to go.” Storm grabs my arm. I swallow once more before following him. When we emerge, all the guys are there.
“You okay?”
I nod. “Yeah.” I shake my head when a grin curves at my lips. “I’ve just seen my kids.”
They all slap my back. I swear I’m grinning as it finally sets in.
“Tomorrow, we go get them.”
My body is primed, and anger pumps through my veins. Yesterday I saw the twins, heard their fucking laugh, but the thing that twists my gut is that their mother is waiting at home, living in fucking torture.
We’ve cased the house, and it’s heavily armed with only one window of opportunity. At eight each night, there are fifteen minutes where they change over the guards. It’s a fancy house and miles from anyone, which gives us an advantage.
We all line the walls, ready to follow Storm’s plan to attack from every entry. Team one will go first. They are the distraction and in the most danger. Team two, precisely seven minutes after, same as team three.
Lastly is our team: Storm, Rev, Cas, and Sketch. Cage and Bolt stay in the van and will tear the gates off ten minutes after entering.
“We are all ready.”
When I don’t answer Sketch, he squeezes my shoulder. I feel itchy tension creeping across my shoulders. This plan is dangerous, but we’ll do everything we can to protect the babies from harm.
Bolt’s voice comes through the headpieces we’re all using, sounding loud in my ear. “Now.”
We all press our watches, and my eyes watch the countdown.
“Son,” my father’s voice comes through the earpiece.
“Don’t you fucking dare.” We’ve never said goodbye or good luck. This might be one of the most dangerous situations we have ever been in, but it changes nothing.
Then we hear it, the yells of a war cry as the first team enters. It’s followed by gunshots piercing the air, making the birds fly into the sky. Everything in me itches to join my brothers as the sounds of grunts and groans fill the air. Not knowing who they belong to.
Then another war cry pierces the air as the second team, my father’s, moves in, and the gunfire comes quicker, sounding like fireworks. It splits the air, and I glance at my brothers, seeing fury and coldness covering each of their faces. The same loyalty branded into us, to jump into the action, runs through us all.
Then it’s the third team, and a grunt comes through the static of our earpieces.
“Fucker.” We hear my father snap. “I owe you one, Rags.”
Then Rags’ voice, “Yeah, a bottle of whiskey is sitting ready for us. Fuck! Let’s show these kids how it’s done.”
We all smirk.
When our alarms go off, we all take one last look at each other. This is it.
I open my mouth when Cas growls, “Don’t say shit. I’ve been waiting for this day.”
Storm grins. “Let’s join the fucking party.”
We go up and over the wall. The sight in front of me is bloody, and I can’t see the faces of those that have fallen. The air rains bullets.
“This way.” Storm catches our attention, taking it away from the bloody scene.
We race across the garden, falling flat against the walls leading up to the house.
“If they’re not stupid, they’ll be watching us and have guards on the inside,” Storm says, eyes narrowing towards the fighting as we hear blood-curdling screams. “Stay here. I’m going see if we got another way in,” he growls, eyes flicking to mine, and I give him a nod as Rev holds my shoulder.
The gunfire doesn’t slow, and more shouts and grunts fill the air as metallic tones tickle the back of my throat.
“Fuck! Rags is down,” someone says through the earpiece, and my stomach contracts. Rae will never survive something happening to her father.
“You old bastard, you’re bleeding all over me,” Prez says, but we all hear the worry in his voice.
“Dad,” Bolt’s voice comes through our earpiece.
“You stay there until you’re ready, boy,” Rags growls. There’s more cursing when the underground garage door flies open, and a black car comes speeding out.
“It’s them,” Storm shouts as he races back around to us, and I watch as the gates open.
“Cover the gates,” I roar as I race towards the black car, but it doesn’t slow down.
“How are we meant to do that without causing a crash?” Cage growls, through the earpiece.
I curse just as Storm’s calm voice comes through the speaker.
“Get Doc to park sideways to slow them down. Cage, fucking block them.” I watch as the black car goes through the open gates, and then the sound of metal hitting metal as smoke fills the air.
“Fuck, no,” I pant, my legs feeling like jelly as I race through the gates, seeing the black car smashed into the wall. Bolt and Cage are out already, trying to pull the door open as black smoke fills the air, billowing from the engine as it hisses.
“We need to get them out now,” I roar.
A small cry from inside the car hits me like bullets. The door opens, sending Bolt to his ass. I reach in to see Isabelle sitting in the back, a cut to her head.
“They are innocent,” she sneers. I don’t feel any sympathy for this bitch, not a single ounce of it. Their selfishness has destroyed Rae.
I curl my lip into a snarl and growl, “They’re my babies. Carlo kidnapped Arya Mendez, my girl, and he sold them.”
She hisses between her teeth, face paling. “Arya? I didn’t know. He said they came from a whore. I guess he was right,” she sneers. “That girl doesn’t deserve them. Carlo would have given her everything. Selfish bitch”
I growl, ready to strangle her when I see the two kids looking at me. My world tilts on its axis as I stare at my twins, my kids.
“Ice, come on, brother,” Bolt says behind me, breaking me out of my spell. I turn to see him holding a gun pointed at Isabelle.
I lean in, unplugging the first car seat with shaky hands, and I pull my daughter into my arms. She feels so small, so delicate, so fucking perfect. I kiss her head before passing her onto Cage behind me, watching as he races towards the van. Then I move to my son, who’s kicking his chubby legs in his seat. I unlatch my son, kissing his head before holding him out towards Bolt, who quickly puts his piece away and takes him. I watch until he’s safely in the van.
“Give them back.” I hear the safety of a gun being released and look up to see the barrel pointed at me as Isabelle holds steady, eyes full of revenge. We both know this is where it ends. A shot rings out. Blood splatters up the side of the window as the glass shatters into a thousand pieces.
I turn to see Rev standing there with his gun raised in her direction. He meets my gaze as he lowers his arm.
“You’ve done enough for this club. Let me take the weight of this one.” He squeezes my shoulder, and my throat works.
“Thanks, brother.”
“We’ve got them,” Cage’s voice comes through the earpiece as the bullets stop, and everything falls quiet.
“Come on, brother, let’s get those babies and you home to your girl.” Rev’s lips twist into a curve.
I stop, letting him go ahead, feeling my own lips curve. “Fuck, yeah. Let’s go home.” Damn if that doesn’t sound good—home.
Rev lets out a bark that sounds like laughter as he turns. His face drops as pain rips through my shoulder, and then my side, making my body jerk.
I swing around to see Marcus, the husband, standing there, the driver’s door open and blood covering his face. Just as he’s about to shoot again, my brothers all fire at him. He goes down in a hail of bullets.
“Ice.”
“Get him.”
“Fuck.”
Voices shout at me, but they drown out when I see her, my girl, Kitten. I fall to my knees, my body no longer able to stand, and I sag to the side. I feel hands pulling at me as a metallic taste fills my mouth, slipping over my lips.
“Fight, Logan.” Her face wavers in my vision as my brothers crowd around me, hands going to my wounds. I try to tell her everything I feel and tell her I got our babies back, but my tongue feels too thick for my mouth, and my words won’t come out.
I feel the life trickle out of me, and for the first time in my life, I don’t want to die. I like the future I saw promised in Kitten’s eyes. I want to see my kids grow up. I can’t finally have found my family, to bring it all together, only to lose them and bleed out in the dirt like this.
“What do you think?” I place the teddy bear on the drawers. Logan had enough room to put the twins in separate rooms, but it didn’t feel right. We have spent the last three days painting the room, and now, the back wall is black with white cribs coming off the wall, along with their names below crowns I had painted in white.
White sheets cover the bottom of the cribs, and the top sheets are covered in small motorcycles for Blaze and little black crowns for Maia.
The rest of the room and floor are all white except for a black rug. A rocking chair sits by the window with black blankets, and a bookcase full of books takes up one wall. Two toy boxes, overfilled with toys, are pushed into the corner.
“It looks great.” Red smiles too big as Sienna nods. She has been restless since they left.
We’ve had a few messages over the last few days since the men rode out to bring the twins home, but today it has been quiet, and we all know what that means. Today is the day they will recover them, and I’m terrified something will happen.
Red’s phone rings, and you can see her body shudder. “Dad.” We all freeze when her eyes flick to mine. “Yeah, she’s right here.” She puts her phone on speaker. “It’s on a loudspeaker.”
“Arya,” my father’s voice comes through the line. I can hear the chaos happening around him coming down the line.
“Dad,” I press when he doesn’t say anything else. There’s static and loud voices before Rags let out a deep sigh.
“I love you, girl. You make me so fucking proud to be your old man. The day I found you…” The words are stolen from me as I clench the phone tighter.
“Dad...” I bite back the tears. “Why does this feel like goodbye?” There’s more noise, followed by a strained breath.
“You and Bolt, you look after each other, okay. Best damn kids in the world.”
I shake my head as tears start to fall down my cheeks. “No, please, no.” I shake my head. “You’ve got to come back… we’ve only just found each other.” I suck in a shuddering breath. “…. Please, Dad, don’t leave me.”
There’s a grunt through the phone, and I look up to Red and Sienna, knowing I’ve got to be strong.
“You’re gonna be a granddaddy, and they’re going to call you pops.”
There’s another grunt. “I like that. You hear that Luther, I’m pops. Tell me more, girl.”
I wipe my tears. “You’re going to take them on your bike, just like you took me, remember?”
When there’s no reply, ice fills my belly. “Dad?”
“Rae, I’m sorry,” Luther’s voice comes down the line. “Girl, he’s gone.”
I fall to my knees, my heart breaking. “No, please. I didn’t tell him, I love him. I need to tell him.”
Red and Sienna fall beside me, tears streaming down Red’s face.
“I’m sorry, girl. I’ll call later…” Luther’s words are cut off as two shots are fired in the background. I hear the guy’s roar and feet race. Fear claws up my spine as the phone disconnects.
