“We?”
As one, over a dozen men stepped out of the trees lining the property. The bright moonlight glinted off the weapons in their hands, including bats, knives, and even a couple of guns. I scanned the faces for Kat’s brother but didn’t see him. That made sense, he was just a prospect after all. But I was willing to bet that her dad was among the vicious-looking men.
“Shit,” Swole muttered. We were outnumbered and taken by surprise.
“We’ll be taking that box,” Mad Dog said.
“Like hell, you will,” Ryder growled.
Without warning, Mad Dog whipped out a revolver and fired off one shot.
The crate fell to the ground with a crash as the four of us let it go and rushed forward. Ryder crumpled to the ground before any of us reached him. My heart felt like it stopped in my chest, then fired back up at break-neck speed.
Everything happened so fast after that, with the Las Balas men coming at us. Mad Dog stepped back and laughed like a maniac. I didn’t usually carry a gun, and I’d never regretted it more. Trainer pulled a gun from under his jacket, while Pin and Yoda hurried to Ryder’s side. They grabbed him under the arms, pulling him back behind his truck and as far out of the way as possible with no time to spare. As he went past, I saw that there was blood spreading across his shirt over his lower abdomen.
Fuck.I scanned my surroundings, trying to find something I could use as a weapon.
“Blade,” I turned to Kim, who was carrying our shovels, and she threw one to me. I caught it with one hand and used it to block the blow of a man swinging a tire iron at my head.
Swole reappeared with Ryder’s crowbar and hit the man on the back of the head hard enough to drop him. I heard two gunshots nearby and felt my heart plummet. This situation had escalated way too quickly, and we weren’t prepared. Not only that, but our president was bleeding out somewhere.
Yoda’s voice rang out over the struggle going on all around us, “Retreat. I have Ryder.”
I looked over to see Yoda was getting into the driver’s seat of Ryder’s truck. I didn’t need to be told twice. Punching the Las Balas man closest to me in the face, I sent him reeling backward and took off toward where we’d parked our bikes. Pin and Kim were at my side, and I could hear others behind us. I just hoped that they were my fellow Outlaw Souls. We needed to get the hell out of here.
I vaguely noticed that the crate was being whisked away by six Las Balas members, but there was nothing we could do about that now.
Ryder’s truck fired up and went rocketing forward. Yoda clearly didn’t care if he hit any of the fuckers that attacked us. I reached my bike and mounted it, looking up just in time to see that Swole was running toward us, being chased by a big bastard with a baseball bat. I didn’t even think as I put my bike into gear and headed straight for them. Passing Swole, I leaned to the right just enough to intercept the man behind her. I wasn’t going that fast, so I was able to kick my leg out at the man, catching him in the chest and knocking him flat on his ass. He’d feel that tomorrow.
But the action threw me off-balance, and my bike went in the other direction, too much to keep it upright. It landed on its side, and I felt my ribs—which were already sore from the fight club a couple of days ago—crack. I had no choice but to push through the pain that exploded in my body. I wasn’t safe here, not by a long shot.
Picking my bike back up, I saw that the side mirror had broken off, but I didn’t need it right now, anyway. I got back on and took off toward the road, joining my brother and sisters as we trailed behind Ryder’s truck. We all knew that his injury was serious, and I was sure that they were just as worried as I was. Ryder was a good man and a hell of a leader. I couldn’t imagine Outlaw Souls without him.
We all went to the hospital, parking our bikes in the lot as Yoda drove the truck right up to the Emergency Room entrance, running inside for help. I watched as a team of medical staff came hurtling out to the truck, where Ryder was sprawled out in the bed. Every face around me was grim, their anger and fear as potent as my own.
What just happened was a nightmare.
Las Balas had always been our enemy, but this took things to a whole new level. They’d stolen from us and tried to kill our leader. They would pay.
* * *
Two days later,I was back at Luca’s fighting ring. This time Trainer was with me, and we had an agenda.
It had been a shitty couple of days, with Ryder teetering on the brink of death after major abdominal surgery and the club in disarray over our attack. We had all spent hours in the hospital waiting room that night, ignoring the stares from the staff and family members. I was sure that we looked out of place, and none of us were talking, so that probably didn’t help the impression we were giving people.
I felt like I was in shock all night, not sure how to wrap my head around what had happened. It was too surreal. Even the pain of my broken ribs didn’t make it feel real.
There was a moment when Swole, Pin, and Trainer all called their wives to tell them what was going on, and I wished I had someone to check in with. I didn’t even consider Kat. I knew that she cared about me, no matter how much she tried not to, but she didn’t need to know about this. It would just put her in a tough situation.
Maybe she was right about not being together. This was exactly the kind of thing that could come between us, and I didn’t think it was ever going to go away. What if I ended up in a physical fight with her brother next time? What if the man I kicked in the chest was her father? She’d never forgive me in either situation.
So, I stayed in my seat in the waiting room, staring at the floor until the doctor came out and told Ryder’s wife that he was stable.
Now, we had a plan in place to seek retribution and get the weapons back. We just needed some extra manpower.
“Well, well, well,” Luca’s voice came from behind me. I turned to see that he had that damn snake draped over his shoulders again. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Hey, Luca. This is Trainer. Can we talk to you?”
