Christian woke up with a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not that he was surprised at all.
They had spent the rest of the previous day making calls and figuring out exactly how it was going to go down. It was all perfect. Well, nearly. Except for the part where Melody had insisted on going with them.
He’d spent hours trying to talk her out of it, but he might as well have saved his breath. She was going with them, come hell or high water, even if she had to drive herself or take a cab all the way there.
He let his head fall into his hands. This had to work. She had to be okay. He wouldn’t accept anything else.
“Hey, we still have another hour before we have to leave,” Melody’s sleep-softened voice reached him, soothing that wild place inside him. “Come back to bed. Come back to me.”
He turned, sliding his already hard body in between her silk soft thighs. She was already wet and ready for him. His miracle.
Despair like he’d never known, laced with a hope so sharp it could cut, filled him as their bodies moved together in perfect harmony.
Her hips rose to meet his, drawing him deep inside her to where he never wanted to leave.
Christian lost himself in Melody for as long as he could, trying to burn every sweet memory of her into his mind, but all too soon they were forced to leave the bed and face the reality that the day would bring.
They dressed in silence, but it was comfortable, peaceful almost. As if they were talking to each other but didn’t need words. They just communicated, spirit to spirit. So connected that it made his chest tighten painfully. He didn’t have the words as he pulled her into his arms one last time.
“Are you ready, Mel?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She looked up at him, and he saw the whole world in her dark eyes. “I love you, Christian. It will be alright. I swear.”
“It would be even more alright if I knew you were here, safe. Not riding out to meet a lunatic who’s obsessed with you,” Christian said and then shrugged. “I had to at least try one more time.” He kissed her softly, with all the love in his heart. “I love you too.”
Christian rode on his motorcycle with Hub on the back, despite his old man’s protests. With his leg still injured he couldn’t ride a bike on his own, and it chafed. Melody rode with Craig, and Christian had to bite down a flash of jealousy at the easy banter between the two. When Craig made Melody laugh he nearly scrapped the plan altogether, but his father stopped him before he could make a move.
“She’ll be okay, Christian. We’ll take care of her,” Hub said as Christian started the engine.
He just prayed his father was right.
They left the farmhouse, each one of them armed to the teeth except for Melody. She didn’t know how to shoot a gun, and Christian didn’t want to take the risk of her accidentally shooting one of them or herself by mistake.
Bones was organizing the crew. Hopefully they were already at the designated meeting place, set up in hiding, and waiting for the ambush.
Anticipation shook through him like electricity. He just wanted this whole thing to be over. He wanted to take Melody and their baby far, far away, to build the life they dreamed of together.
No more gangs. And sure as hell no more psychopaths.
They would have a long day of riding ahead of them, and as the hours dragged on Christian noticed the pained sounds coming from behind him.
“Hub, you okay?”
“It’s my damned leg! Think I broke open some stitches. It’s bleeding all over the place and burns like a fucking fire.”
Worried, Christian gestured to Craig to pull over, already moving off the side of the highway. Christian stopped, parking in front of a run-down looking motel. There was a diner adjacent to it and gas station on the other side of the building.
“What’s up, Christian?” Craig asked, pulling up beside him.
“It’s Hub. His leg. We need to stop for a break, so we can patch him up,” Christian said.
Hub tried to wave it off, but Christian was worried by how pale he was. He looked around. There wasn’t much there but the motel.
“I’m going to get a room. We can get your leg washed up in there.”
Christian grew even more worried when his dad didn’t argue. Hub always argued.
He had to support his father’s frame inside, quickly rented a room, and then maneuvered him up the small flight of stairs, grateful when they all finally got inside. He glanced at his watch.
“All right, folks. We’ve got an hour max before we need to get on the road again. Still four more hours to get to the meeting place if we want to get there on time.
Everyone nodded, Craig and Melody both somber as they took in the bloodstain that was spreading across the fabric of Hub’s jeans.
“Come on, old man. Let’s get you fixed up, so we can go get Bianca back,” Christian said, leading him towards the bathroom and already looking for a first aid kit. “She’ll kill me if I let anything happen to you.”