HARDCORE: Storm MC(220)
“He’s out. He won’t know. Come on. Hand her to me. You’ll still get your money.”
“Fuck you.” He sneered again. His eyes moved back and forth, looking at the rest of Fury’s Storm. We circled around the open door.
“There’s nowhere to go.”
“Sure there is. You’re all gonna back off and let me through with her. I’m gonna drive away.” He sounded panicky. I couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t shoot her out of panic and run. He was that desperate.
“Last chance, man. You can get away with this if you let her go.”
“No way.”
“Fine.” I held up my right hand, two fingers pointed to the sky. A gunshot. A scream of pain. The Scarecrow dropped the gun after Slate shot him in the hand.
I rushed him, pushing him off Jamie. I caught her in my arms as she collapsed.
“Oh, baby,” I whispered. She was still bleeding from the back of her head. Off to my left, inside the motel room, Scarecrow was getting worked over by a couple of my guys. A couple more took care of the dealer, then carried him into the room. They laid him on the bed and tied him up. Scarecrow was tied up, too. Both of them were unconscious.
Jamie moved in my arms. She opened her eyes, looked up at me. Then she jumped, fighting me, trying to get up.
“Gigi! Gigi!” She screamed in a hoarse voice.
“Shh. She’s fine, she’s fine! We have her.” It took me saying it over and over for her to understand. She relaxed, then closed her eyes. I brushed the hair from her forehead and looked around. Flash came over to me.
“How is she?”
“I don’t know. In shock, maybe. What’s that look like?”
He shrugged. “No idea. If he hurt her, she might be. Do you think she should go to the hospital?”
I looked at her. She was muttering something. “Yeah. I think so. Shit.” I looked up at him. “First, we’ve gotta get outta here before the cops show up.”
“I don’t think this is the kind of place where people call the cops when there’s trouble,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, well, I don’t wanna take any chances.”
Jamie came to, sitting up. She shook her head, looking around. “What happened?”
“You’re fine. Everything’s okay now. You were sorta unconscious.”
“Gigi?” She looked around. I heard a cry, and Gigi came running from the middle of the group of guys. She threw herself into Jamie’s arms.
“You were so brave! You were so, so brave, sweetheart.” Jamie cried, tears running down her face.
As much as I loved seeing them together, safe, we couldn’t hang out forever. “Come on. Let’s do this back at the clubhouse.”
“My car…” She pointed. I didn’t know if I should let her drive with the hit she took. I didn’t wanna leave evidence there, though.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She stood up, shaking her hands out, her legs. “I’m fine. Really. I want to get out of here.” She stared at me. Her eyes were focused, she sounded clear. “Come on. You’re right. We have to leave. The cops can’t know this happened to Gigi. They’ll try to take her away.”
She was right. I let her get her back from the room to get her bag, while I held Gigi’s hand.
“You’ll have to take her,” I said.
Jamie nodded. “I’m fine. It’s not even a long drive. Come on.” She held out a hand for Gigi, and they walked to the car together. The rest of us went for our bikes.
Before I pulled away, I placed a call to the cops about two known criminals in room two thirteen.
***
Riding back to the clubhouse was much better than riding to the motel. I kept a close eye on Jamie’s car, staying close behind. She waved once or twice to let me know she was okay. I saw Gigi turn around and wave.
They were my life. End of story. I would never let either of them go again.
Flash opened up a few bottles of whiskey when we got back, but I wasn’t interested in drinking. I watched Jamie and Gigi from the other side of the room—I wanted to give them space, since I didn’t know how they felt, but I couldn’t let them out of my sight either. Once or twice, guys walked by with a shot for me. I waved them off with a smile. I didn’t need to drink. And I didn’t wanna dull my reactions by drinking either. Even though they were safe, we were all safe, I didn’t feel that way. I still worried. I almost felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It couldn’t be this good. I couldn’t have a happy ending. Could I?