HOLY HELL, my head hurt. An intense shooting pain forced my eyes open. I gasped, swallowing some dust, and coughed. Rolling over onto my stomach, I realized I was still by the cliff but by that time I was alone.
That woman. Her eyes. Bright blue, but they showcased an unexplainable amount of evil I had never seen before. The satisfaction that adorned her face when someone hit me made me sick to my stomach. Why knock me out and leave? Were they making a point? Was it the same bastards who had been taking the girls?
I needed to get home. Pushing to my feet, I slowly made my way around the cliff to find my bike—missing. My stomach sunk. It had been a gift from my grandfather. Oh, that meant fucking war.
Pulling out my phone, I sent up a silent thank you that I remembered to put it in my pocket. I called Max. No answer. I frowned, knowing she had her phone attached to her hip. I called Brogan and then Meeka. Again, no answer. What the hell?
My head spun, the bright sun making me squint. Fuck. Me. Sitting on the ground, I placed my head in my hands, breathing through the sudden pain. My sisters were supposed to answer their phone. It was a rule, in case of an emergency. We had made sure to set up a special ring tone, and it usually worked. Not that we had to use it often, but right then, I could have used them.
Bracing myself against the rocky cliff, I dialed Angel’s number.
“Hey, princess,” he answered a moment later.
“Angel,” I groaned, rubbing my temple. When I pulled my hand away, blood appeared on my fingertips. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” he barked, his voice hardening.
“I need you.” I told him where I was and that my bike was stolen.
“I’m on my way.”
I sighed when he hung up the phone, knowing I would be safe in a matter of minutes. I tried wrapping my mind around what had happened. It was a set-up. The woman’s eyes stuck in my mind. Wild. Raging. Dark with an evil so powerful it took my breath away.
“Jay.”
My eyes snapped open at the abrupt use of my name, landing on Angel standing over me.
“What the hell happened to you?” he asked, helping me to my feet.
“I got hit in the head,” I said, wavering on my feet.
“You’re bleeding.” Angel picked me up, cradling me to his chest.
At that moment, I felt safe. Truly safe. “I hurt too.”
“I want every detail. From the beginning,” he demanded. “Tell me.” He placed me in his SUV, buckling the seatbelt around my waist. He kissed my forehead, letting his lips linger before he shut the door.
I let out a heavy sigh, wishing I had just called him first. I didn’t want to call my sisters out. I didn’t want to make them feel guilty or be mad at them. I didn’t want any of it. But when I couldn’t rely on the three women who I had spent every day with for the past several years, especially when I was lying on the side of the road, what good were they?
“Now, tell me what happened.” Angel grabbed my hand, holding it tight in his.
“I needed to clear my head so I went for a ride.” I curled on my side, leaning my head against his shoulder to stop the painful pressure behind my eyes. “I started thinking of my sister and pulled over. A woman called out for help.” My stomach twisted, remembering the evil smirk on her face. “She was on the ground behind the cliff. She said that she knew I would go to her. And then everything went dark.”
“Fuck. You didn’t see anything else?”
“No.” I shook my head. “She was in on it. Whatever it was, she set me up. Someone hit me, Angel. Someone is trying to make a point.”
“They’re trying to scare you.” He brought our joined hands up to his mouth, kissing the back of my knuckles. “It sounds to me like they want you to stop doing what the police should be doing.”
“I think so too,” I grumbled. “Please, take me back to the clubhouse. I have some shit to deal with, and then I am going to bed.”
“You need to go to the hospital.” He held my hand tight in his. “I’m taking you there.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted.
“No, you are not.” His gaze darkened. “You’re fucking bleeding, and it will be over my dead body before I let you fall asleep without knowing if you have a concussion or not.”
“Angel.”
“Woman, I am taking you to the hospital, and then after, I will take you home,” he said, his voice final.
“Fine.”
***
When we arrived at the clubhouse, the anger in my belly simmered. I shouldn’t be mad at my sisters. They probably had a good reason for not answering the emergency line. I bit back a scoff. Yeah-fucking-right.
Angel had taken me to the hospital much to my dismay. Thankfully, I didn’t have a concussion, just a huge-ass headache.
“How are you doing?” he asked, squeezing my hand.
“My head hurts. I’m so fucking confused. And my sisters weren’t there when I needed them most.” There. I said it. But the truth leaving my mouth didn’t sit well with me.
“I’m sure they had good excuses.” Angel shrugged, shutting off his SUV.
“Tell me something, Angel.” I turned to him. “What would you have done if something happened to you and your brothers weren’t there for you?”
“We’re trained to be a unit. A team. We fight together. We die together,” he said without hesitation. “But…” he thought a moment, cupping my cheek. “I will be honest with you. If one of us got hurt and we couldn’t be there for each other, if we had some excuse, what would be the point? They would need to have a good reason as to why they weren’t there.”
“I know Vice-One is different than King’s Harlots. I get that,” I told him. “But Vice-One is a brotherhood just like King’s Harlots is a sisterhood. If I can’t have the people I trust the most at my back, then how can I count on them being at my front?”
He nodded. “Do you trust them?”
My jaw clenched. “I trust Max. I trust Brogan, but I know she would do anything to save her own ass first. Meeka? Something is going on. She won’t tell me what. No one will tell me. But I know I can count on her. All of them. Or I thought I did.”
“Would you like me to tell you what I would do?”
“Yes.”
Angel gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. “My brothers mean everything to me. Vice-One is my life. I will be a part of it until the day I die and they lower my cold body into the ground. But if one of them stepped out, after all of the shit we have to deal with on a daily basis, I would call them on it.”
“In the motorcycle club life, we would be killed first and asked questions later. I don’t want my club to be like that. I don’t want to be a part of the life my father’s club is and the others. I’ve seen what it does to them.” I was rambling. God, this is odd for me. To find that person I could talk to. Besides Violet, I had never been able to talk to anyone. “I’m sorry. I’m chatting your ear off.”
He smiled and placed a soft kiss on my mouth. “I enjoy when you talk to me but you need rest. Talk to your girls, and then you’re going to get your beautiful ass to bed.”
“Yes, Sir,” I saluted him.
Something flashed in his gaze. His mouth pressed firm against mine.
I sighed, leaning into him. “Thank you.”
“No thanks needed, princess.” He kissed me again before leaving the vehicle.
Taking a couple of deep, cleansing breaths, I waited. For what, I wasn’t sure. My head hurt. My body ached. I knew I needed to go to bed, but the urge to find out what the hell happened took over.
“Jay, what’s going on?” Max called out, rushing to my side when I slowly slid from the vehicle.
Angel kept a firm hold on my arm, stopping me from stumbling.
“If you would have answered your phone, you would already know,” I bit out through clenched teeth.
“What are you talking about?” Max asked, frowning.
“I was in trouble. I called you,” I cried.
“No.” She shook her head. “You didn’t.”
“Yes, I did. I called all of you,” I said, my voice raising.
“Let’s get you inside, beautiful,” Angel whispered in my ear.
“Jay, I’m sorry.” Max’s voice was small. She quickly headed back inside the clubhouse.
“I called them,” I insisted, holding onto Angel’s arm for support.
“I believe you.” He whistled, rounding up the rest of Vice-One and we made our way into the meeting room. Why the guys were there was beyond me. “We’ll be here until you no longer need us,” Angel told me, pulling the thought from my mind.
“We like having you around,” I said, answering for my sisters. “It’s nice to have some testosterone up in this place.”
“We like being here.” Angel nodded. “And I know someone else feels the same way.”
I followed his gaze. Dale was quietly speaking to Max. His hand reached out to cup her face. She leaned in, her lips parting. When her gaze moved back to his, I could see the love in her eyes. Had I been so oblivious the past couple of weeks to not even notice my best friend had fallen in love? Was I so selfish that I didn’t even know my sisters anymore?
Dale kissed her softly on the mouth and held her hand, leading her into the meeting room. The rest of Vice-One joined us, followed by a man I hadn’t seen before. He was large. Built like a tank. Hollywood movie star good looks but a dark shadow hid behind his eyes. His gaze met mine, no emotion showed on his face. He nodded once and walked away.
“Who is that?” I asked Angel softly.
“Vincent Stone. He’s our newest squad member,” he kissed my head. “I’ll introduce you properly at a more appropriate time.”
I nodded, taking a deep breath. Knowing I had to get the meeting done and over with, I squeezed the bridge of my nose and took my spot at the head of the table. Angel stood behind me, leaning against the window ledge, and crossed his arms under his chest.
“Tell us what happened,” Max pleaded. “Please.”
“I was stranded at the side of the road,” I explained. “I called you. Each of you.”
“My phone never rang,” Brogan placed her phone on the table in front of her. “Please believe me.”
“I don’t understand.” I pulled out my phone, checked the activity and saw the attempts of calling out.
“None of us got your calls,” Meeka placed her phone on the table as well. “What happened?”
“There has to be an explanation,” Dale said, squeezing Max’s shoulder.
“It doesn’t make sense. I know I called you, each of you, but your phones are saying I didn’t?” I looked at Angel. “Is that possible?”
He rubbed his chin. “Yes. I’ll have a guy I know find out how.”
“Tell us what happened, at least.” Max grabbed my hand. “You have a bandage on your head.”
I touched the spot and brought my hand down, expecting to see blood on my fingertips like before. But when I didn’t, a part of me thought I was hallucinating. That I imagined the whole thing.
“Tell them,” Angel said, his voice firm.
“I went for a ride to clear my head,” I explained. I told them about the woman, the evil in her eyes and the blow to the back of my head.
“Someone is trying to leave a message,” Stone said, his deep voice booming around the small room. “They’re warning you to stay away or they’re trying to make a point.”
“How do you know that?” I asked him, invested in every word he had to say.
“These girls that are going missing, whoever is running it clearly doesn’t want their organization to stop. Whatever this shit is, whether it be just girls, sex slavery, weapons, drugs… Either way, they’re making it known that they mean business. They’re trying to scare you.” He took a step toward me. “I also know about your sister.”