As soon as I cut the engine on my bike and climb off, I hear someone say, “There he is.”
Great, Isaac came all the way out here to kill me?
Remy and Colt come up to me, but instead of looking angry under the glow of the streetlamp, their faces both seem concerned.
“What’s up?” I ask as I hurry to take off my helmet. “Did they come here to start shit?” I ask, nodding my chin over to the group standing by the door.
“Nice of you to return our calls and texts,” Remy grumbles sarcastically. “We were about to come looking for you.”
“I was busy. What’s going on?”
I’m not surprised he’s pissed. They’ve been outnumbered for no telling how long. “Where’s RJ?”
“He’s not answering his phone. Jordan either,” Colt mutters. “If those sons of bitches touched either of them…”
“Calm down,” Remy tells him. “If they had the kid or RJ, they would’ve bragged about it by now. No, they’re acting desperate.”
“Desperate? What are you talking about? Someone tell me what’s going on!” I demand. “Why are the Devil Hounds here if they’re not trying to start more shit?” I ask, but my brothers don’t respond. Oh no. “Did something happen to Lyla?”
“We don’t know the specifics,” Remy says. “But they showed up half an hour ago demanding to talk to you. There was a shooting at the Village Shopping Center today in broad daylight.”
“Okay. That sucks, but there are shootings all over the place every day.”
“One of the Devil Hounds was shot. He’s in critical condition.”
I glance over at the waiting group, relieved when I see Isaac looking impatient and annoyed. If it wasn’t him, then… I search for the fucker that kept showing up at the worst times, but I don’t see him. Shit.
“Thane was shot?”
“Yeah, how did you know?” Colt asks.
I thought having her father hurt was the worst that could happen until I remembered that Thane has been ordered to go wherever she goes.
It can’t be a coincidence that Thane was at the same shopping center where I ran into Lyla without him the other day.
Pushing past my brothers, I march right up to the group of men and head straight for their president. “What happened?” I ask Isaac. “Is Lyla…was she…is she okay?”
“Lyla’s okay. She was taken to the hospital with minor injuries,” her father tells me.
Without waiting to hear more, I rip my phone from my pocket and try calling her number.
It doesn’t even ring, just goes straight to voicemail.
“She’s fine,” Isaac grits out between his teeth. “Thane’s not. He’s in surgery. Took a bullet to his side.”
“He got shot protecting her?”
“Yes.”
“Who shot him and why?”
“That’s what I came here to talk to you about.”
“Me?” I say in surprise. Wait, are they here because they think it was me or the Savage Kings behind it? “We had nothing to do with this, Isaac. I swear!”
“No shit,” he grumbles, which is a relief.
“So you know who it was?”
“That’s what I need to talk to you about. The rest of you, give us a minute,” Isaac says to the six or seven men around us. “Beers are on me. For the Savage Kings too.”
His men look to Colt and Remy as if they don’t trust them.
“Go!” Isaac orders, so they relent.
When Remy and Colt walk over, Isaac says, “This is between me and Barrett. It won’t take but a few minutes.”
They don’t seem convinced.
“Go on inside,” I urge them. “I’ll be fine.”
“You got a gun on you?”
“Yes,” I lie since I left my 9 mm at home. It’s not like I carry it around all the time. But hopefully, the bluff will keep Isaac from trying to do something crazy.
“If you need us, yell for us,” Remy says before he grabs Colt’s arm and starts leading him to the door.
“If you hurt Jordan or RJ, I’ll kill you!” Colt shouts at Isaac.
“Swear on my patch that I haven’t seen them, kid,” the man responds before they head inside.
“So, what do you want to talk about? Make it quick because I’m going to the hospital,” I tell him. “Why aren’t you at the hospital with Lyla?”
“Because this is more important at the moment.”
“This, standing here giving me the runaround, is more important than being with your daughter who witnessed your guy get shot today?”
“She was lucky. Her injuries were minor considering…”
“Considering that she could’ve been shot too!”
“Considering that she was nearly kidnapped!”
“Kidnapped?” I repeat quietly. My throat goes raw, and my aching chest refuses to expand. “Who…why? An enemy of yours?” I ask. When he doesn’t respond, I tell him, “Lyla thought someone was following her at the wedding reception. Now this shooting and someone trying to kidnap her. That shit isn’t a coincidence, is it?”
“No,” he answers before he paces away from me.
“What the fuck is going on, Isaac?” I ask when I grab his shoulder to spin him around to face me. “Who is coming after Lyla? A rival MC?”
He shakes his head. “I wished that was all it was. I don’t think the son of a bitch has a gang. He works alone.”
My heart gallops faster in my tight chest. “Why is he targeting you or Lyla? Who is he, and how do we kill him?”
“If I knew where he was, he would already be dead, wouldn’t he?” Isaac yells.
“Why is the fucker coming after Lyla instead of you?”
Isaac’s shoulders slump like they’re too heavy to hold up any longer. He turns away from me again, so I barely hear him when he says, “Because she’s his daughter.”
“What?” I’m certain I must have misheard him.
Turning to face me again, he says, “You want to be with Lyla? You want to keep the peace between your club and mine?”
“I… Yes,” I answer with the truth instead of a lie. The last few days, I missed her with my entire body, so much it aches. Even if she hasn’t forgiven me for shooting out Thane’s tires, being reckless and putting them both in danger, I still want to see her, to try and convince her to give me another chance.
And of course, I would do anything to prevent bloodshed between our clubs. I don’t want my brothers, Hugo, Jordan, or Greer to get hurt for some territorial bullshit. And I know Remy would never close the chapter, no matter what the Devil Hounds threaten to do to us. His pride wouldn’t let him.
“Okay,” Isaac says as he trudges over to the row of bikes. Reaching into his saddlebag, he pulls out a mangled folder, several edges bent, and offers it to me. “We’ll back off the Savage Kings, and I’ll give you my blessing to be with Lyla. All you have to do is help me keep her safe and kill this man if you see him.”
I open the folder and try to hold the pages toward the light from the bar to read them.