Though I could feel the cheer we all wanted to holler, none of us said shit. We kept things quiet and waited until we were all released from our cuffs.
When Flame and I were free, we headed over to where Wolfe was, and I overheard, “This sounds like entrapment to me, sir,” Wolfe snarled, his eyes shifting first to Lucie and Ama who were both safe and were still waiting on an ambulance—if they could even get out here with all the goddamn cars taking up the road—and then over to us, his council, as we circled him.
John Wayne spat on the ground and said softly, too softly for the colleagues still freeing my brothers to hear, “This can become a regular thing or it can be wiped away… your choice. You got my number. I’ll be waiting on your call.”
When the douche stepped away, I saw the card Wolfe was flipping between his fingers. Flame, spying it, grabbed it, and then began flickering with the lighter that was pretty much glued to him.
“Don’t set it alight,” Wolfe growled.
“Not gonna,” Flame denied. “What’s he want?”
“Guess,” Wolfe rumbled, his eyes on the officers who were heading into their cars.
Over thirty vehicles, sixty cops, all with doors wide open, and lights flashing like this was something from a goddamn movie.
I shook my head at the sight. “Ain’t they got other clubs to go irritate? Not like we’re heavy into the drugs anymore.”
Wolfe shrugged. “If that cunt gave them an in, they’re going to go where the shit stinks. Like true pigs,” he hollered as the cars took off in a wave of dust that had us all choking on it.
When they were finally cleared, Dagger muttered, “Gonna go and check for bugs.”
Wolfe nodded. “Sweep in church first, then the surrounding areas. Let everyone know we got a proposition to deal with.”
“Sure.”
As he strode off, nodding at a few of the guys to help him work, I grabbed my cell and shot out a text to the church-going brothers.
“Done,” I told Wolfe, who was staring after the cop cars in the distance. The lay of our land was such that we were on high ground, so we could see all the way down to the turn off for the highway.
“Glad to know the hidden partition is still good enough,” the Prez muttered.
I grimaced. “Yeah. Last thing we need to explain is The Pit.”
A grunt escaped him. “It’s clean, but yeah, explaining that shit would require an Oscar-worthy performance too. Ain’t none of us that good at lying.” He paused, then gritted out, “Speaking of which.” When he strode over to Jinx who’d run over to Bubbles the second he’d been freed, I wasn’t surprised when he picked him up by his cut and demanded, “Is that baby yours? Or is she fobbing it off on you too?”
Ama, still on her knees next to Bubbles, cried, “Daddy! Not now. There’s a time and a place!”
Lucie grunted. “Sadly, darlin’, she’s right.” But she didn’t look happy about it, and considering I’d seen her fucking cry in church? Hell, no, I could understand why she wasn’t.
Wolfe didn’t stand down, though, just glowered at Jinx who shrugged. “Says it’s mine.”
“She’s said it’s mine and Saint’s too,” he growled.
“Mine as well,” Dax hollered.
“Me, too,” Hound muttered.
“Fuck me, that’s five daddies. Jesus, kid’s gonna have more than you, Ama, if this shit carries on,” Lucie grumbled, and I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped me at that.
Jinx turned bright red. “It’s mine.”
“How the fuck you know that?”
He wriggled his shoulders. “Did it on purpose.”
Wolfe’s eyes bugged out for a second. “You trapped her?”
Another shrug. “Mebbe.”
“Fuck me,” Wolfe ground out. “Okay, I’ll deal with your ass later. But you can’t leave until after church. We got shit to discuss.”
“But—”
“But nothing,” Wolfe snarled. “Jesus, what now?” he snapped, when more sirens appeared. As he twisted around, he grunted at the sight of an ambulance speeding up this way.
“I’ll go with her, sweetheart,” Lucie said softly, tugging on his hand.
“No. Need you here for church.”
Lucie tipped her head to the side. “Something important?”
He cupped her chin and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Very important.”
Curiosity sparkled in her eyes, but she shrugged and to Ama, asked, “You want to go with her, baby girl?”
Ama shrugged. “Can do.”
Now that she was on her feet, I curved my arm around her shoulders and hauled her into me. “You did good today, babe.”
She snorted. “I didn’t do anything.”
“No? You didn’t get panicked or anything?”
That had her pulling back to look up at me. “Why would it? I wasn’t scared.”
I shook my head. “You astound me, babe.” And she did. Now I looked at her and cast a glance around the other women, I saw that she and Lucie were pretty much the only ones who weren’t red-eyed and sniffling as they cuddled up to the men. Such bravery deserved a reward so I dropped a kiss to her lips—that was all for her benefit. Not mine. No sirree. “Love you.”
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, I was grateful that we didn’t have time for this conversation to carry on. I didn’t want her to know I was concerned for her, not outside of the normal amount anyway. It might undermine her and that would suck monkey balls.
“Love you, too,” she replied earnestly, then her nose crinkled. “Will one of you pick me up from the Urgent Care clinic?”
I looked around for Keys, surprised that he and Saint weren’t over here like bees around honey now we were free. “Keys can go with you. We have church, but you know prospects ain’t allowed to attend.”
“Yeah, I know. Thought you might need him out here on the gates, though.”
“It’s all in hand.” Or it would be. No way was she leaving the compound on her own.
I hugged her tightly, feeling something inside me settle when she hugged me back. Flame’s words hit me then, hit me square in the fucking heart, and I was helpless to those feelings she inspired in me. I’d spent a long ass time hiding from any softer feelings, mostly because this girl, this crazy ass little girl, had broken me.
Yeah, I knew that sounded messed up, but it was the truth.
I’d seen shit overseas I could reason away. It was another world, another time, another place. But Ama? She’d been at home. In her bed. And she’d been taken. Denigrated. Tormented.
In a way, I’d feared for the world I lived in that could do that to someone so innocent. So vulnerable. Bringing a woman into this life wasn’t something I could handle, not when my mind was fucked over what I’d seen.
Then, by the time I’d gotten over it, she was sixteen and sneaking into my room to use me as an overgrown teddy bear.
No wonder I was messed up where she was concerned. She’d had me in knots for far too long for me to even think about being able to unravel them.
In her ear, I whispered, “Need you, baby.”
“I need you, too. But I’m okay, Ink. I promise.” She pulled back so she could look in my eyes, and I saw that she was. That any insecurities and vulnerabilities were on me.