“Okay,” King interrupted, and everyone turned their focus to him. “You take the truck out via the access road behind the Shed,” he went to Hudson and grabbed the back of his neck. “This isyourplan. Don’t fuck it up.”
Hudson nodded and followed Ballistic out of the garage without looking at me.
“Don’t read into that,” Warren told me. “He’s just tense. We all are. Everything will be okay. Hud’s right, we’ll bring him back, Wave.”
“Bring all of you back,” I said on a breath that cracked near the end.
“You know it,” he pressed our foreheads together, then kissed the top of my head. He tapped his fist to our fathers as he walked out of the garage.
“Everyone back to whatever you were doing. If they’re watching, they need to know things are normal here. Go about your business but make sure there are extra guards watching out at all the check points.” King then waited until everyone except his Sargent at Arms had left. “Dirt, you stay connected with them. You know what to do.”
Dirt followed the rest of the men out of the garage. I didn’t know what he meant by those parting words, but something told me Hudson, Warren and Ballistic were not walking into this alone. Dirt and my father had known each other for a long time. I was sure they could read each other as easily as Warren and Hudson could.
“You good, girl?”
“I’m not a girl,” I said, unable to stop myself arguing back.
“No. You’re not,” my dad sighed stepping closer. “Your brother is right, this isn’t your fault.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because it’s true,” King said. “And you know I’m right. As hard as it is to believe, even though the Kingsmen are doing this to get to you, it isn’t on you.Theydid this. Not you.”
I could appreciate what he was trying to say to me, but it wasn’t helping. Declan wouldn’t be there, being hurt if he had never met me. I let more tears leak out. I missed my brothers arms around me. But Icouldn’t fall apart. Not in front of my father. I didn’t want him to think I was the weak kid he’d let walk off his compound five years ago.
“You don’t have to try so hard, sweetheart.” My father’s gentle tone had me looking up at him. I wiped my tears away as he came nearer. “You think I don’t know how strong you are? How fucking brave you are? Waverley, you walked out of here at eighteen years old and you did it despite the heartache and pain. Things that none of us knew you’d even been through. You pulled yourself through it and you went after what you wanted. What you needed. I might not have shown it, because I’m a fucking asshole, let’s face it. But I am proud of you. And I will never, ever let you blame yourself for something that is not your fault.
“You couldn’t help being born into an MC any more than that guy could help meeting and falling for you. But that all said, I saw what went down just then. I don’t know what this guy Declan did to make you turn to Hudson and I’m not gonna say I’m all that bothered about it because Hudson is a good man, a better man than even he knows. He is out there going to get back the man he thinks you still care for.
“It doesn’t matter to him how it will make him feel doing this, all he cares about is doing this for you. Despite what you think about this club, we are all here for you. And I am telling you right now, I am going to fix this once we get him back. No more sitting around waiting to see what they’re going to do.
“You’re my daughter.Iwill do whatever it takes to protect you and your brother. The Kingsmen won’t get another chance to hurt you or anyone else in this club.”
My mouth had gone dry while I listened to him, my heart pounding as heavily as my head, not just from the wound but all the crying too. “Do you promise?” I whispered, taking a slight hesitant step towards my dad.
“Yes,” he took my hand. It was too much to hope he would hug me, but in all fairness, it would have been a little weird to me too, King Curtis did not do hugs. But I was happy to have any kind of contact with him. He gave me strength wrapping my small hand inside of his large one as he led me out of the garage towards the old ladies house.
In a low, menacing voice that would make other men tremble, he ground out.
“This ends now.”
Chapter 25
We left our cuts behind, and although it felt weird, sometimes it was necessary. This was all about stealth, and our cuts would glow like a beacon. Ballistic was driving, and I sat beside him looking out of the side window as we drove. War was in the back on his phone talking to Dirt. I should have known King wouldn’t send us off without back-up, but the guys Dirt had following us were hanging back and had left a half hour after us, also in one of the club trucks.
I was hoping when we got there I was going to beat the shit out of some Kingsmen scum. Not just because of what they were doing. I was fucking raging inside. My whole body was vibrating and Ballistic had been eyeing me now and then. He always told me you couldn’t let things get personal. Especially over women. He loved his wife and daughter. Ballistic would do anything for them. But he would always do it with a level head. And it wasn’t as if I was rushing away to rescue Waverley. I was heading off to save her boyfriend.
My knuckles cracked from the force of my grip and again I noticed Ballistic glance at me. But I ignored him. I put my feelings out of my mind. I shouldn’t even be experiencing any feelings. That wasn’t who I was. I shut myself off to that a long time ago. Two weeks around Waverley, and I’d lost part of myself. The violent, angry, stoic part thatcould switch off to what needed to be done. That was who I had to be right now.
War had been watching me too. I wasn’t about to reassure anyone by telling them I was okay. All I cared about was getting there, grabbing this asshole, and getting back out with no one getting killed. On our side, at least. The reassuring feel of my gun in the holster beneath my arm soothed me a little. This was all I needed. Violence to re-set my brain back to who I was supposed to be.
I would not think about how Waverley almost collapsed. I would not let my brain wonder if this was the end of us before we even started. Of course, she felt guilty for what was happening to this guy. I knew her. It didn’t matter how many times she was told this wasn’t her fault, she would never believe it.
I angrily flicked off the radio, sick of the sound of the two guys arguing about last night’s football game. No one complained.
The address we were heading to was three counties away, and we estimated it would take us around three hours to get there. It didn’t take an idiot to know why they’d lured us so far out. I’d barely left the compound the last time, and they’d bombed the gate. I wondered what they would be thinking, where they would watch from, waiting for us to pile out. They would have been better off going after us during Itchy’s funeral. They were fucking idiots.
“Con said Wave is doing okay,” War hung up his phone. “He’s sticking with her.”
