“What did you just call me?”
“Sir,” he stutters. “Sorry, Sir.” I bite back the laugh that’s rumbling in my chest. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m treating him like a prospect. Nic would flip her shit if she knew, but when I sent word via a hang-around to Butch about making Nic my Old Lady, I also made mention of having Jeremy prospect for us. I should hear back about that any day. Being around the club could be good for the kid, and from what she’s told me about his grades and all, it’s not like he’s got an Ivy League future.
“You making her week worse?” I ask him.
“No Sir,” he says. “I’ve been to class every day on time and I haven’t given her attitude even though she’s given it to me.”
“Good. If I hear otherwise, it won’t be pretty,” I say.
“I understand, Sir,” he says. I hang up and continue to keep an eye on everything. The sun started setting a while ago, and now it’s moving into total darkness. We’re keeping the flood lights off so they aren’t triggered by movement. Minutes pass and my cell rings. Pulling it out of my pocket, I let a smile cover my entire face at the name on the screen: NIC.
A loud bang sounds from the back of the property. Instinctively, I shove the ringing phone back in my pocket, right my semi-automatic rifle, and follow the sound. There’s at least five wild shots fired from the back tree line. I pick up the pace, scanning the neighboring property and the tree line to my left, but there’s nothing out there that I can see. My heart jumps in my chest. After all this waiting, shit’s finally going down.
Someone flips the flood lights on, and the entire field is illuminated. I blink at the sudden intrusion on my corneas then resume my position and pick up the pace now that I can see everything clearly. My brothers are already at the tree line checking it out. Grady, Bear, and Diesel come out with their hands in the air, shaking their heads. To my left, I spot Trigger, who freezes in place, curses, and then runs back to the house at full speed. I follow behind him, darting around trees and hopping over fallen branches and logs that are strewn about the field. PJ appears behind Trigger and runs beside him. I trail behind the two, not even trying to get in either of their way. They’re both so attached to Princess, I’d probably be missing an arm if I tried it. I force myself not to even think about anything else that could be going on. My heart sounds like it’s running a marathon in my chest, and my eyes are wide and alert. I have my rifle at the ready.
Running into the house behind Ryan and PJ, everything turns into fucking chaos. Princess is gone. My temper flares, and my muscles tense at the sight before me. Princess’s room is a goddamn disaster. She barely got it decorated, and now it’s all fucked up. From outside, men are screaming and shouting at one another. I can hear Trigger from the front yard, through the open sliding glass door. He’s barking orders at anyone who will listen. Ruby stumbles into the room with a bloody hand on her head and a clean one over her mouth. She shakes her head as tears pool in her eyes.
“They took her,” she wails loudly. My heart breaks for her. She barely got Princess a few months ago and now this shit happens. I usher her over and check out her wounds. She’s got a bump on her head and a cut at her hairline, but that’s it. Collapsing against my chest, Ruby screams so loud I worry my eardrums might not recover. A painful sob and then a violent scream. She pulls at my leather cut and sinks to the floor. I crouch down beside her, not letting go as she loses her shit.
PJ whimpers from the other side of the bed and then barks loudly. Her butt’s up in the air, and she continues to whimper. Ruby wipes her nose and crawls the three feet to the corner of the bed and peers around and screams. She scampers around the corner while she wails. Jumping up on the bed and out of the way, PJ lies down and whimpers with all of her attention focused on Ruby. I stand up and look over the side. Ruby’s scooped up a bloody Tegan in her arms and has her once clean hand, which is now covered in dripping blood, over Tegan’s neck. “No!” Ruby cries and screams the word again and again until all that’s left are tiny little whispers of disbelief and pain. I grab one of Princess’s throw blankets and hand it to Ruby. We create a makeshift bandage to try to stop the bleeding.
“Stay here and keep pressure on that. I’ll get the vet over here ASAP,” I say and walk to the sliding glass door. “And we’re going to find Princess, I promise.” I rush out of the sliding glass door and down the deck to where Grady’s bent over in the grass. He shakes his head back and forth.