“That wasn’t the deal,” Valentino argued, showing a crack in his laidback façade.
“It wasn’t the deal to have three. It was five. You reneged.” Cruz fired back.
“I told you they are coming.”
The men around Valentino started to get twitchy. It was then I saw the little red dot appear between the eyes of Valentino.
Then all hell broke loose.
Shots rang out through the room, with my hand up firing. There was no cover, so we moved in a way that would increase our chances of not getting shot. A moving object was less likely to get hit.
“Fucking hell!” Rhys roared out, jumping over the table and making it to one of the men. He beat the living hell out of him while I covered him. Rhys then put a bullet between his eyes.
It was so loud in this confined space one minute; the next it was dead silent.
“Anybody hit?”
“Fucker got me in the shoulder/,” Rhys said digging into his arm with his fingers. Blood oozed as he pulled out the bullet and put it in his pocket. Souvenir? Who the hell knew with that man.
“Thigh,” Cooper was next to reply. “Flesh, I’m good.”
Cruz was scanning all of us, looking for injuries.
“Leg,” Raid said as he tore off the bottom of his shirt and tied it around the wound. “It’ll need stitched up.”
“Fuck. Anyone else?” Cruz demanded.
“Doesn’t look like it,” GT answered him.
“Get these two in the back of the SUV. Call Doc and have him meet you at the clubhouse.” Those were my orders, and I nodded. “Wait.” I stopped. “Money and guns.” He tossed them to me.
I caught them with ease and started getting Raid moved to the SUV.
“I’m fuckin’ ridin’ my bike,” Rhys said so he was out.
“Let’s go, buddy.” Raid hopped on one foot out to the SUV where Micah was putting away his gun. He was the red dot.
“What the fuck happened in there?” Micah asked, seeing us and coming to help Raid. We got him in the vehicle.
“I’ll tell ya on the road. Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
“That bad?” Micah closed Raid’s door and I held up the bags.
“Product.”
Micah waved me to the back of his SUV where he pushed a button and a trap door opened. I tossed the two bags inside and Micah closed it up. “You’re like Batman. I’m thinkin’ that should be your road name.”
“Shut the fuck up.” He closed the door, and we took off toward home.
23
KATIE
“This is where you live?” my sister Margaret asked, admiring Ensley’s home. This place was a far cry from where they had lived. That was for sure.
“Yeah. Me, my man Micah, and our daughter Remy,” Ensley answered, going into the kitchen. Both Margaret and Daphne were in awe as they looked around and I followed up behind them.
“Do you want something to drink? We have Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, tea, water….” Ensley paused. “Sorry. You haven’t had soda. Water or tea?”
“I’m okay,” Daphne replied, entering the kitchen with Margaret right on her heels.
“I’d like some water please,” Margaret asked politely.
Daphne started fidgeting with her fingers. They no doubt felt out of their element. “It’s okay. When we left, it was a huge adjustment. It takes time.” I tried to comfort her.
Daphne nodded while Margaret asked, “Are you married?”
She directed the question at Ensley. “Not yet.”
“But you have to be married to live with a man. He has to be your husband.”
Ensley smiled. “That’s the thing. Out here you can do whatever the fuck you want.”
Both girls gasped. “Better get used to it. Cursing isn’t a sin out in the real world,” Ensley told them on a smile.
“Let’s go sit in the living room,” I suggested. “I want to know what happened.”
We all made our way to the couches. Both Ensley and I were sprawled out, while Daphne and Margaret sat there with their feet on the floor and hands in their laps.
I remembered those days all too well.
It took them a while and asking a lot of questions only to get single word responses, but eventually they started to tell the tale in detail. Ensley and I listened and nodded our heads at times.
Because once they started, the words came out in a rush.
Life at home wasn’t good. Not like when Ensley and I were there, it was worse. I really didn’t think there could be a worse, but I was wrong.
“Well, I’m happy you called me,” I directed that at Margaret.
“I’m scared,” Daphne said, her foot bouncing.
“It’s okay to be scared. This is a whole new world that you know nothing about. Breanna and Ashley will help you. Along with us, of course. You’re not alone.”
Their adjustment would be a difficult one, but in the end they would be grateful they got away from that place. At least I hoped.
The front door flew open and crashed into the wall. Both Ensley and I got up, grabbed our sisters, and put them behind us. Not that we had any weapons on us. We'd left those at the clubhouse before coming here.
Filling up the door frame was one pissed off man with shaggy blonde hair. His eyes came directly to me as he stalked my way.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him, hoping my sisters behind us wouldn’t pass out. They'd seen aggression, but not like what Dryerson was putting out.
“What’s wrong?” He made it to me. “You went fuckin’ back to that place? Have you lost your damn mind!” His voice kept getting louder and louder.
“Mommy!” I heard Remy but kept my focus on Dryerson. He was livid.
“My sister called, and I only had ten minutes to get them,” I explained.
“So you drove your ass back to the place that almost destroyed you! And you got in a gunfight!”
He had obviously been talking to someone. Great.
“We’re all good now, Dry.” I took a step to him, his body ridged. “I had to get them. I left them three years ago. I wasn’t going to leave them again.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know if I should spank your ass or kiss you.” His eyes worked rapidly. “Fuck it.”
Dryerson pulled me into his arms and kissed me dizzy.
“Eww… Boys are dross,” Remy said, trying to get in the middle of Dryerson and me. “Who’d behinded you?” she asked as Dryerson pulled back.
Turning, my sisters looked horrified. Like we were all mental. “These are mommy and my sisters. This is Margaret.” I pointed to her, and she smiled. “And this is Daphne.”
“Hey there, little one.” Daphne cooed. She knew children; mother wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Hi’s. Whys you dessed liked tat?” Remy asked.
Ensley and I didn’t talk much about growing up to Remy. Those were just some really bad memories, and we didn’t want Remy to have those too. There were times when we thought about telling her little pieces of our past, but never did. Remy had no idea the situation there and she was three… How much would she really get? Heck, for anyone it was difficult to understand. Remy had no idea how we grew up.