“Find. Him.”
His face is as deadly serious as mine when he nods, not needing to say anything, his promise is written in the way he stares at me. Then he steps back. “Get the fuck out of here, now,” he pushes me toward the open door.
Another beat and I get in as the sound of sirens draw nearer. I’m not getting away from this, it’s my house, there is clear evidence it’s been broken into and my brothers won’t have had time to clean up the mess. Even if there will be no bodies left behind.
None of that matters, we have cops who can help cover up the worst of it.
“Clubhouse?”
I look at Stryker as he pulls away from the curb. Nothing ever phases him and he’s driving like he’s heading out grocery shopping. At least someone has kept a calm head.
“No,” I shake my head and give him a different address.
He doesn’t ask me why, or anything about Oscar, just turns the way he needs to go. I can trust him. It has never been up to debate that Stryker isn’t fully in with the Disciples. After what he did to Chains, I’ll never doubt him.
As he focuses on the road, I turn and look back. Taylor is holding Oscar’s hand. He has Oscar Two shoved up against his face which is turned toward Taylor, his eyes are closed. How he is asleep is beyond me.
Taylor looks at me when my gaze goes her way. I’m at a loss for words. I won’t force her to stay, or tell her I claimed her so she can’t leave.
Her hand lifts, and she reaches out. I turn further and take hold of it. Everything I need to hear, that she won’t speak aloud in front of Stryker is said in the way she grips my hand, and my son’s.
She isn’t going to walk away.
Stryker says no one followed us as we pull up to the address and doesn’t show that he knows where we are when we enter the building and take the stairs to the first floor. He’s been here before, not too long ago.
We pass the apartment where Ghost’s woman used to live. We keep going to the apartment where Caleb Dexter lived. The man who started all of this all those months ago when I realized someone was trying to undercut us.
Those days are long gone. This is no longer about undercutting us. Storm has been threatening for a while but with this, he declared war.
When we forced Caleb to move, I took over the lease on this apartment. It’s the last place anyone would ever expect to find me.
Stryker comes in and checks everywhere then waits for me to give him his orders. I nod for him to wait and he goes to stand by the door. Taylor is carrying Oscar and I show her to a bedroom at the back of the apartment. She sets him down and we both look at him after she has pulled the covers over him.
If he was ever going to have bad dreams, this is going to cause it. Taylor touches my hand and I drag my eyes away from my sleeping son.We slip out but leave the door ajar, going into the other bedroom. She sits down and her head hangs for a moment. I walk closer and stroke her hair so she looks up at me.
“Are you okay?”
“Ask me tomorrow,” she quips.
Taking a seat beside her I lift her hand and kiss the backs of her fingers. “If you weren’t there…”
“Don’t think like that,” she whispers.
“But how can you want to be-”
“You warned me, Noah.”
“I told you that the club comes first, not that something like this would happen.”
“And I told you that I don’t care about any of that.”
“Jesus, Cherry, you could have died. Because of me.”
“But I didn’t, because of you. That safe room did exactly what you wanted it to do.”
“You shouldn’t have to-”
“Can you please not argue with me when I’m trying to tell you that none of it changes how I feel. Yes, I was scared out of my mind. I never doubted you, Noah. You say the club comes first but you’re here, with us. You could be out there with them, trying to find this guy Storm.”
