Beautiful Outlaw(72)

“I’m flying out in about an hour. It’s the earliest flight I could get.” He replies.

“No, man. This shit isn’t going to be legal, so you need to keep your ass where it is.”

His voice is hard when he says, “I guarantee that when I get my hands on that bastard, nothing I do to him is going to be legal,” Before I can respond, he ends the call.

I pull in a deep breath, trying to control my anger, then look to Shay. “Get your ass dressed. We gotta go.”

“I need to go away. I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me. Just let me go, please,” She pleads with me.

I ignore her words and pull away from her. I grab my jeans from the floor and start to pull them up my legs. By the time I have them on, Shay’s grabbing her own clothes. Tears are streaming down her face and her words come out on a choked sob. “I can’t let Rachel or Nina get hurt because of me. Please, just let me go. Marcus won’t bother them if I’m gone.”

“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” I shake my head, denying her wish. “I’m about to make you a widow.”





My Fault


Shay

I climb from the back of Bowie’s bike and look around. The entire parking lot is filled with cars and trucks, some are even parked on the grass at the side of the clubhouse. When I was here before, there was never more than a car or two. The lot was always filled with bikes. The bikes are still here, but the vehicles outnumber them two to one.

Turning my attention back to Bowie, I say, “There are a lot of people here.”

He simply nods and motions for me to follow him. We head to the side of the clubhouse where Tag is now parking Bowie’s old truck. Once he and Rachel climb out Bowie nods towards the door. I walk closely beside him, holding Rachel’s hand in mine as she carries the kitten in her other hand. Looking over my shoulder, I see Tag is only a few feet behind us carrying Butter’s food and litter box. His eyes are clouded with anger, but the slight tremble of his body proves fear is lurking somewhere below the surface. I try to smile at him, but it comes out more of a grimace.

Bowie’s hand lands on my shoulder, drawing my attention away from Tag. “Come on, baby.”

As we step inside the clubhouse, I notice a drastic change from my last visit. It’s eerily quiet, no music or laughter filling the room. We barely make it to through the door, before Nina rushes over to us. She comes straight to me and wraps her arms tightly around my waist. “My boys will protect you, cariño.”

She lets go so quickly I nearly fall on my butt. Turning to Bowie she starts to speak in Spanish. Her words are coming out so fast that I can’t make out a one of them. Her voice rises with each word she says, letting me know that she is furious at the situation. Bowie tries to respond, but she cuts him off each time.

In the middle of her tirade, Tin-Man man walks up and slings an arm over her shoulder. “I already told you, Mama. We’ll keep Shay safe.”

Bowie looks to him. “Did you call everyone in? I want a complete lock down.”

His words surprise me. I didn’t realize the entire club would be part of this. I look around and notice, for the first time, that even though the club is quiet, it is packed. Women and children fill every seat in the place. I never realized I was putting so many lives in danger. I have to bite my lip to keep from begging him to let me go again. If he would just let me leave, all these people would be safe.

“I did,” Tin-Man says with a nod. “The boys that rode up north got in about an hour ago, so everyone, all the brothers, are home.”

“Does everyone know that Cash is behind this shit?” Bowie asks, his voice sounding cold.

“I spread the word. Most of the brothers are out for blood. They’re thinking that if he’ll go after your woman, theirs could be next.”

“Are all the families here?” Bowie asks.

Tin-Man nods again. “Yeah. Everyone but Red is back. He called in and said that Lila was at a doctor’s appointment, so he was gonna have to ride to Owensboro to get her.”

“What about the girls?” I ask, finally feeling brave enough to join the conversation.

Bowie’s eyes cut to me. “What girls?”

“Lila’s daughters, where are they?” She has only brought the kids to my house once, but I fell in love with them the minute I laid eyes on their two little faces. The twins, Hanna and Olivia are not quite two years old. They both have their mom’s big green eyes and love to laugh.

He looks to Tin-Man. “Did Red drop his girls off?”

He shakes his head. “Shit, man. I didn’t even think to ask. They’re probably with Lila’s mom, so they’ll be fine.”