Chapter 24

Chase

It took us less than thirty minutes to come up with a reasonable plan to extract Lily from David tonight. The women and a few of the brothers are staying behind to protect the clubhouse incase this ordeal with the Devils goes south.

We had to call in a few favors from our boys in blue, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle, like getting an SUV that didn’t look like any of the ones the club or its ol’ ladies have. Then we managed to get Goober to agree to a traffic stop. He was more than willing. He grew up with Wiz to and even his kids used to play with Lily when they were young.

The only issue we had was trusting the Devils to get her out of the house and into the SUV with David and not conjure up any suspicion.

Before we left for our post throughout Cumming and highway 9, Brute made the call to David. For the first few minutes of the conversation, I figured the plan was a bust, but somehow Brute convinced David to ride in a Devil’s SUV to the border and one of his men would follow shortly in his car.

The Devils left twenty minutes ago and I’m getting ready to leave to hang close to where Goober will be pulling the SUV over, but first I need to talk to my boy.

Finding him isn’t an issue; he’s been on the couch staring at the same damn wall for hours. “Jake.” I call. He doesn’t turn or even move to acknowledge me. “Jake, we found Toots.” He slowly turns his head like he’s the poltergeist and a small smile graces his lips. “I’m going to get your Toots and bring her home, okay.” He nods. I bend down and hug him. He stiffens and my heart drops to my stomach. “It’s going to be okay, bud.” He nods and I feel his tears run down the neck of my shirt. I pull back and look him in his eyes. “I need you to help Dani and Sadie get my room here cleaned so when Lily gets here she will have a place to lay down.” He nods and I squeeze his shoulder as I stand.

Fuck, Babe, we need you.

***

I’ve been waiting in my spot for ten minutes. It’s been radio silence for most of it other than Brute texting Rudy to say they’re in motion heading down highway 9.

Goober’s set up a speed trap at the bottom of a hill.

I’m about to text Rudy when I see the flashing blue and red lights trailing behind the SUV. I would’ve never thought those colors were beautiful before, but knowing I’m that much closer to getting my Babe back and Jake’s Toots makes them magnificent.

I watch as the SUV pulls to the side of the road and stops. Goober does the same and then exits the patrol car. He slowly walks to the driver’s side with his hand on the butt of his gun.

The SUV window slowly comes down. Goober speaks a few words and then Goober pulls his nine millimeter Beretta. He points it at the driver who gradually opens the car door.

I can hear yelling coming from the car and Goober looks around frantically. Something’s not right.

I get off of my bike and creep down the side of the road staying camouflaged by the tall grass. When I get closer to the SUV, I can see a man in the backseat waving his gun around while he holds Lily in a choke hold. With every movement he makes, her head his whipped about.

Brute’s in the passenger seat. He looks calm but the wild glint in his eyes says otherwise. Brute turns to face David and pulls his arms back hitting David in the nose. With David’s attention turned to Brute, I move hastily to the side Lily’s seated on. Thankfully, David released her when he was hit.

Coming up from the back of the SUV, I peek around to see Goober and Crush, Brute’s Sergent of Arms trying to get the backdoor open but the safety lock must be on.

I check the hatch to see if its lock and it clicks. I open it unhurriedly and when I’ve got enough space to crawl through, I do. I lightly close the door.

Brute and David are still arguing back and forth, but this time Brute has his gun aimed at David’s head. I take a chance and look over the seat and get a nod from Brute.

As quietly and quickly as I can, I wrap my arm around David’s neck and squeeze. He struggles, but while he’s occupied with trying to get free, Crush has unlocked Lily’s door and Ryker’s there to carry her out.

After a few more minutes, David passes out. Brute grabs David’s gun off the floor board where he dropped it. Crush crawls in and zip ties David’s hands and feet together, while Goober duck-tapes the dickhead’s mouth shut.

After he has been properly secured, I get out of the SUV and rush to where Ryker has Lily in the back of Dani’s Excursion. She’s pale, but she’s still breathing. Her lips are busted and cracked. She’s wearing an oversized t-shirt. Her arms and legs are covered in bruises. As Rudy goes to lift the shirt, I stop him.

“Let me do it. She wouldn’t want any of you seeing her like this. It’s bad enough the Devils saw her naked.” My brothers nod and step back. Trigger holds a flashlight over my shoulder with his head turned away.

Her stomach has bruises all over it. Some are the size of fingerprints and the others are big enough to be from fist. “Fuck.” I yell. “She’s covered in fucking bruises. She’s got a cut on her chest too. I think we need to take her to the hospital.” The flashlight clicks off.

I pile into the truck with Ryker and Trigger. I cradle Lily in my arms and pray that we’ll make it through this.

***

Sitting in a chair next to Lily’s hospital bed is ruthless. She hasn’t budged since we got her out of the SUV and away from David.

There were constant obstacles to pass before I could even get in the room with her. Thankfully, we had Goober with us who informed the hospital we were coming and that Lily was a kidnap victim and possibly a rape victim. He even threw in that I was her fiance. I guess ol’ Man doesn’t contend in this place.

The hospital staff moved her to a private room and the doctor checked her over. They wanted to check her lady bits, but I refused and told them to wait for her to wake. She’d been violated enough.

Since there was the possibility of rape, they did blood test. After the poking and prodding, they let me know that she was dehydrated and would be sore for a few days to a week with the amount of bruising on her body.

Everytime I thought about the marks on her beautiful skin, I was furious. Her creamy white skin blemished with black and blue made me want to leave and beat the shit out of David, but it only lasted a minute and then I remembered that I couldn’t leave her, not now, not ever.

I called Dani to let her know what was going on, but Ryker had beaten me to it. My brothers, Dani, Sadie, Queenie, Razz, Winter and the kids were in the waiting room. She put Jake on and all he wanted was to see his Toots and make sure she was here.

A tap on the door announces the arrival of Jake being escorted by Rudy. When he opens the door and peeks around it, I see a mix of relieve and sadness. Jake runs towards Lily in the bed and I stop him.

“Bud, Lily’s been hurt and you need to be easy with her.”

He nods as tears build in his eyes. “I need to be close to Toots, Dad. She needs to know I’m here for her.” He croaks.

“You can lay beside her as long as you are careful. Watch all the cords, okay?” He nods and gently climbs up the bed to lay beside Lily with his hand caressing her cheek.

He begins whispering to her and I lean closer. “Toots, I’m here now. You can wake up. Toots, I got in trouble while you were gone, but the boy deserved it. He said I didn’t have a mom, but I’ve got you, Toots. You love me and take care of me. I need you to wake up so you can tell that boy that my Toots is my mom.”

Rudy clears his throat. “Do we know if he…”

I know what he’s asking, but I don’t want to think about it, so I shake my head.

“How long do they think she’ll be out?”

“Not sure, they say our body’s sometimes shut down when their stressed. I hope soon.” Rudy nods.

“Me too, son. Just keep us posted. We’re all in the waiting room, even the damn Devils, if you can believe that.” He chuckles.

Before he turns towards the door, the sound of my woman halts him. “If you don’t watch your mouth old man, I’ll have Queenie put you in timeout like she does Trigger.”

Rudy spins around. If I’m not mistaken, there’s wetness at the corner of his eyes. He looks to Lily and then bends his head down and sucks in a breath before raising his eyes to hers. “Do whatcha gotta do, Lil. I’ve been cussing longer than you’ve been alive.”

Lily begins to giggle and then coughs continuously. I get up and hand her the cup of water from the table. “Here, Babe. Take it easy.”

Rudy helps Lily to sit up, while Jake holds the cup in front of Lily’s mouth. “Here, Toots. I got ya.”

“Thanks, hun.” She croaks. After a few sips, she gets resituated in the bed. “I missed you so much, bud. I couldn’t wait to see you. But I did here you telling me about getting in trouble and as much as I love you and I am your Toots, fighting’s not the way to solve your problems, especially ones like that. It doesn’t matter whether that boy believed you or not, because you and I know the truth, right?” Jake nods. “And that’s all we need.” She opens her arms and Jake lays his head on her chest. She flinches and I’m about to move him when she shakes her head no.

I move closer to her as Rudy sneaks out of the room. “Babe, I sure have missed you.” I lean down and place a soft kiss on her lips. “Fu...fudge, I didn’t think we’d ever find you.”’

“Well, you did and I’m fine. I missed you too, Bryce. You know what I realized while I was away?” She asks and I shake my no. “I realized that I love you to the Big Dipper and back too.”

I get a little choked up, but not from saying it back but from all the emotion that has flooded me with those three words. “I love you to the Big Dipper and back to, Babe.”

She hugs Jake tighter to her and in the few minutes that we’ve been talking, he’s fallen asleep. “How’s he been?”

I look down at Jake. “He’s been lost without you. No ones been able to get through to him except you. He was heartbroken when we couldn’t find his Toots.”

“I was scared.” She whispers. “I was scared I’d never find my way back to you two, but I was also relieved that Jake got away and was safe.” She thinks for a minute. “How’s Toby? He made it, right?”

“Toby’s fine. He’s in the waiting room with the rest of the family.”

“Great. Shit, I was worried he’d bleed out before anyone got there. What about David?”

“You don’t have to worry about him. We’ve got him locked up tight. After I’m done with him, Mace’s sister might be able to get a little retribution. She’s on her way here now with Rip.”

I’m getting ready to tell her about everything that went on with the Devils when the doctor comes in.

“Look who’s awake and I see your son finally got back here to see you. Poor little man.” The doctor coos. “So I have a few things to go over with you, but the first one is that we need to do an ultrasound.”

“Why would you need to do an ultrasound?” Lily asks confused.

“When we ran your blood test, your hCG levels are high and we want to make sure the little bambino is healthy.”

“Little bambino?” Now I’m dumfounded.

“Yes, the baby.” She looks from me to Lily. “Oh, you didn’t know. Okay. Lily, you’re pregnant and the ultrasound will help us to determine gestation date, viability and due date.”

Lily still hasn’t spoken, so I glance over my shoulder at her. She has her face buried in Jake’s hair shaking slightly from her sobs.

“Babe, what’s wrong?”

She lifts her head and wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “I thought I couldn’t have kids. I tried for years with my ex and nothing. The doctors wanted to put me on fertility drugs and shots, but I refused. I’m just a little shocked.”

“Yeah, shocked isn’t even a good enough word for what I am.”

“Are you mad?” She snivels.

I grab her hand closest to me. “No, Babe. I just never wanted kids after the way I grew up. Then, I found Jake and I thought he’d be it. I’m not mad. Making a life with you is an unbelievable blessing.”

The doctor claps her hands, which wakes Jake. “Let’s see this baby.” She goes to the door and around the corner coming back with a machine on wheels.

“What’s going on, Toots? What’s that for?” Jake asks as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

“Well, bud, it seems that you have a baby brother or sister growing in my tummy.” Lily replies.

He looks between me and Lily. “Seriously. I get to be a big brother like Rory and Tate.” He says excitedly.

“Yep and you’ll be the best da…doggone big brother there ever was.” I mutter after getting the stink eye and eyebrow raise from Lily. This not cussing thing sucks.

“Awesome.” He fist-bumps the air. “I can’t wait to tell Rory, Tate and Lyla.”

“You can even show them a picture if your mom and dad say its fine.” The doctor adds.

“This is the best day ever. I got my mom back and now I’m gonna get a baby.” He stops mid-thought. “Can I get a dog?”

“Bud, I think we need to wait on that a bit.” I tell him and he nods. Always so agreeable unless it involves his Toots.