Phoenix
The day of the wedding was a whirlwind of activity. Ember wanted to have the wedding ceremony outside by the small lake on the clubhouse property. For the reception, she arranged to have a massive tent set up by the lake. Needless to say, the gates were opening and closing from the crack of dawn with delivery after delivery of wedding shit. The girls were at Ember’s house helping her get ready and the brothers were helping out around the clubhouse to get things set up.
Pop and Gram arrived mid-morning. I was surprised that Gram didn’t go over to the farm to help the girls, but she informed me that a woman needed to oversee the setup and decorations and she was that woman. Pop, of course, hung back with me. “What are you not telling me?” he asked. The man had an uncanny way of reading people.
I sighed. “I don’t want to make a big deal of it, okay?” At his nod, I told him about the bachelorette party and Annabelle’s tires being slashed. “On top of that, Luke’s been helping me search for her parents. He mentioned an unidentified body found years ago as a possibility and Annabelle agreed to give a DNA sample for comparison. He called yesterday to tell me it was a match, but I haven’t shared the news with Annabelle yet.”
“Anything on her father?”
I shook my head. “Nothing yet. All of it’s got me on edge. I’ve been keyed up since I found her, waiting for someone or something to take her away from me again, and I think that’s clouding my judgment.”
“It doesn’t sound like it’s clouding your judgment. You’ve not jumped to any conclusions or made any outrageous accusations. You’re being cautious and waiting for more information. Sounds exactly like what you would be doing any other time,” he said, patting me on the shoulder.
“Thanks, Pop. I needed to hear that.”
Blessedly, the day progressed without incident. When it was time for the ceremony to begin, I waited outside the tent for Ember to exit with her bridesmaids. She was the last to step out and my breath caught in my throat when I saw her. Her hair was curled and piled on top of her head in some fancy updo, but that was where the fancy ended. She had on very little makeup and was wearing a simple white dress. She looked like she should be running through a field of wild flowers.
“Dad?” she asked when I continued to stand there speechless.
I cleared my throat. “You’re beautiful, baby girl,” I whispered.
She shook her finger at me. “Not another word. If you make me cry, my eyes will be all red and puffy when I walk down the aisle and that is not happening.”
I laughed. “All right, let’s get this show on the road.”
We were poised at the end of the aisle, waiting for our cue to go, when she whispered, “Thanks, Dad, for finding Mom.”
I walked Ember down the aisle and struggled to keep my emotions in check. My baby girl was a beautiful woman and an amazing person.
When we reached the altar, I turned to face her. Speaking quietly so only she could hear, I told her, “The day you showed up at the clubhouse was one of the best days of my life. Without your strength and determination, I wouldn’t have you, your mother, and your brother in my life. There are no words to express how proud I am of you. I love you, baby girl.”
I kissed her cheek and turned my eyes to Dash. Loud enough for everyone to hear, I made my obligatory fatherly threat. “Hurt my baby and I’ll cut your balls off before I kill you.” Laughter erupted from the guests while I turned and took my seat.
Once again, I struggled to control my emotions when I caught sight of Annabelle. She had spent most of the day helping Ember and the bridesmaids get ready, so I hadn’t seen her in several hours. She looked stunning in her champagne colored dress with black lace detail. And her shoes. She was killing me with the shoes. Shiny nude colored pumps with at least a five-inch heel. I sat down beside her and kissed her cheek as well as discretely nipping her ear before pulling back.
Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, she leaned into me as we watched our daughter marry the man she loved in front of her family and friends.
Once the ceremony was over and the guests were starting to head to the reception, Gram rushed to Annabelle and swept her into a huge hug. “Oh, Annabelle, my sweet girl! I was afraid I’d never see you again!”
“Mrs. Black!” Annabelle squealed and returned Gram’s fierce embrace.
“Oh, none of that. You call me Gram, just like you did years ago.” Gram let go of Annabelle and took a step back to study her. “Still as beautiful as you ever were.” She grabbed Annabelle’s wrist and started to pull her away. “Come with me, you and Phoenix are at our table. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“Hang on a second there, Dolores,” Pop chimed in and pulled Annabelle into a hug. “I sure am glad you’re back in these parts, sweetheart. Is this your youngest son?” he asked, nodding toward Nathan.
“Yes, sir. This is my son, Nathan Davis. Nathan, these are Phoenix’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Black.”
Pop shook Nathan’s hand while keeping one arm around Annabelle. “Pleased to meet you. Phoenix tells me you just signed a contract with an MMA league on the west coast. Your mom must be mighty proud of you.”
“I hope so, sir,” Nathan replied.
“Same goes for me, none of that formal crap. I’m Pop and she’s Gram. We are family after all,” he declared, eliciting a shy smile from Nathan.
We made our way over to the tent housing the reception. I didn’t participate in the wedding planning—other than handing over my credit card—so I wasn’t expecting to see something that rivaled a damn hotel ballroom on the inside of a canvas tent in the middle of a field beside a motorcycle club’s clubhouse.
The girls had gone all out. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but the smiles on Annabelle’s and Ember’s faces made it worth it.
By the time the reception was over, everyone was either exhausted or drunk. Even Gram was on the far side of tipsy. Luckily, no one had to drive to get anywhere. My house was on the property. Gram, Pop, and Nathan were staying with me and Annabelle. Ember and Dash were going back to their house, but they had a limo taking them. Everyone else was staying at the clubhouse.
Nathan had to leave for the airport at 6am the following morning. He insisted upon driving himself so his mother didn’t have to get up and do it. Since we had to take Ember and Dash later that afternoon to catch their flight for their honeymoon, we could pick up the car Nathan drove then. With that settled, we all went to bed.
***
My phone woke me at 8am the next morning. I had a bad feeling. No one would be calling me at this hour the day after my daughter’s wedding unless something was wrong. Not even bothering to look at the phone, I answered, “Phoenix.”
“Prez! Get to the clubhouse right now! He’s gone!” Duke yelled down the line.
I shot up straight in bed. “Who?”
“Octavius!”
“Fuck! I’ll be right there!” I disconnected and turned to wake Annabelle. Unfortunately, she was already awake and had obviously heard everything Duke said. She was on her feet and shaking, white as a ghost.
“I thought he was dead!” she shrieked.
“He is on paper. I can’t explain right now. I’ve got to find him. I need you to get Gram and Pop over to the clubhouse. Can you do that for me?” I asked, taking a step toward her.
She took a step back from me. Fuck, I didn’t have time to reassure her, even though I wanted to. “Please, Annabelle,” I pleaded, begging her with my eyes to understand the urgency of the situation.
“Fine,” she huffed and stomped out of the room. Good, anger was better than sadness or fear.
I dressed quickly and ran the entire way to the clubhouse. Pushing through the front doors, I bellowed, “Somebody tell me what in the fuck is going on!”
Badger stepped forward. “Duke went down to take him his breakfast. He noticed the basement door wasn’t locked, but went on down anyway. When he got down there, Octavius’s cell was wide open and he’s nowhere to be found.”
“Byte, does he still have that tracker?” I asked.
“As far as I know, Prez. Already on it,” he said, typing away on his laptop. “Got him! Looks like he’s at a warehouse up near the Disciples of Death’s territory.”
Before I could comment, Pop, Gram, and Annabelle came through the front doors. “What’s going on, Phoenix?” Pop asked.
“I can’t explain right now, Pop. I need you to stay here and look after Gram and Annabelle for me.”
“Whatever you need, my boy,” Pop answered.
“Move this into Church, now!” I ordered.
Once we were behind closed doors, I shared my thoughts. “I don’t think this requires much planning, brothers. I say we just drive out there and get him.”
The boys started discussing whether or not we should do just that when my phone beeped in my pocket. I pulled it out to see I had a video message from an unknown number. I was pretty sure I could guess who the message was from.
I flipped my phone open and gaped at the image on the screen. Hesitantly pressing play, I watched in horror as Nathan, tied to a chair, was hit in the face repeatedly by someone’s fist. A voice I didn’t recognize began speaking, “If you want him back, you’ll have to pay. I want $250,000 in cash. No cops, no brothers, no bullshit. You have four hours to gather the money and be ready. I’ll text the instructions for drop off then.”
I tossed my phone on the table and dropped my head into my hands. Who the fuck was talking in the video? How did they get Nathan? Where was Octavius? Was he a part of this or was it something separate? I couldn’t think. I was losing it when I needed to keep it together the most.
Badger stood and clapped his hands together once. “Okay, brothers, this changes the game. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Nathan, who is Octavius’s biological son, was kidnapped the same day Octavius escaped. Looked to me like the background in the video was that of a warehouse. I’m guessing that’s where Nathan is. What I don’t know is who the other person in that video is…”
Badger trailed off when we heard a commotion on the other side of the door. Duke yanked the door open to see what was going on. Annabelle had Crystal on the ground and was laying into her with a ferocity I didn’t know she was capable of. “I’ve already told you, you filthy cum dumpster, he is my man. MINE!” she screamed while landing punch after punch to Crystal’s face.
I pulled Annabelle off Crystal. She fought like hell to get away from me and back to taking Crystal to task, but her struggles were useless. “Crystal,” I barked, “get the fuck out of here and don’t come back.” She quickly got to her feet, shot me a scathing look, and stomped out the front door. “Prospect Kellan, follow her and report back where she goes.”
I looked down at Annabelle. “You can explain that later. We’ve got to get back in Church.”
At some point during the episode with Annabelle and Crystal, my mind had cleared and I was back in full president mode. “Hold your thoughts for a moment. I’m going to call Copper and see if he can send a man or two out to scope out the warehouse and surrounding area. He’s closer and can get someone there a lot faster than we can.”
“You could give Boar a call. He’s closer than Copper,” Carbon, of all people, suggested.
“Good thinking, man. I’ll call both.”
Copper and Boar both readily agreed to help any way they could. Time was ticking by slowly as we waited to hear from anyone so we could decide our next move. I wanted to have a plan in place before Annabelle figured out that Nathan missed his plane.
“Phoenix,” I barked into my phone.
“Prez, it’s Kellan. I followed the girl like you said. She’s at the Disciples of Death’s clubhouse.”
“You’re fucking shitting me? All right, keep eyes on her, but don’t let anybody spot you. Follow her if she leaves and report back.”
“Will do, Prez.”
I faced the brothers in the room. “Crystal is at the Disciples of Death’s clubhouse.”
Shouts of anger and disbelief sounded. We spent the next 30 minutes discussing possible scenarios and plans of action.
My phone rang again, Kellan’s name appearing on the screen. “Prez, she left the clubhouse and now we’re at some warehouse out in the middle of nowhere.” He lowered his voice, “I’ve seen some other bikers around here. Not many, but they’re skulking around like I am.”
“Hang on a sec, Kellan,” I spoke into the phone. “Hey, Badger, who did Copper send out to the warehouse?”
Badger chuckled. “Who do you think? Judge and Batta.”
“Kellan, the bikers you saw, are they big bastards? One looks like Duke, the other one looks like a mean Mr. Clean?” I asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s exactly what they look like.”
“That’s Judge and Batta, the SAA and enforcer from our Devil Springs chapter. We’ll let them know you’re there, too. Hang back and follow their orders like you would mine, understand?”
“Yes, Prez.”
“All right, brothers, Crystal just showed up at the warehouse where Octavius is and likely Nathan, too. Not sure how the Disciples of Death play into this, but the other pieces are starting to fit together,” I said.
Someone knocked on the door to Church, then immediately started banging on it. Duke jerked the door open again. Annabelle came tearing into the room, crying and shoving her phone in my face.
“What’s wrong, doll face?” I asked, even though I already knew, or thought I did.
“Look at this! Look!” she yelled, shaking her phone at me.
I took it and pressed play on the video she had pulled up on her screen. It was the same one that was sent to me earlier. “I know, baby, it was sent to me, too. That’s what we’re working on in here. I was hoping we could get him back before you found out about it.”
She huffed and stomped her foot. “I know all that. You don’t recognize that voice?” I shook my head. “It’s my fucking father!”
Once she said it, I did recognize his voice. Fucking hell. “How in the fuck did he get involved in this?” I asked, more to myself than anyone else.
Annabelle latched onto my arm and started shaking me. “It doesn’t matter! Just go get my son back!”
“All right, baby,” I pulled her to me and held her for just a moment. I needed the comfort as much as she did at that point. I placed a kiss on top of her head. “Go wait out there with Gram and Pop while we get our plan together, okay?” Surprisingly, she didn’t argue and quickly left the room.
“I’m not sure how Annabelle’s father plays into this, but I’m willing to bet he’s in that warehouse with Octavius and Crystal, and Nathan. Anyone object to just riding in and taking them out?” I asked.
With no objections from the officers, we left Church and got ourselves ready to ride out. I touched base with Boar and Copper to let them know we were moving in to rescue Nathan. Copper said he would have Judge and Batta keep eyes on the place and he would call if there was any activity. Boar had two boys with eyes on the warehouse already, but said he and some of his boys would ride out for back up if needed. Within 15 minutes, we were on the road.