Chapter Twenty Two
MATT
“BOOMER WAS SPOTTED IN PORTLAND, Oregon,” Hawk told me as soon as we were outside and alone. “Dutch caught his ass, has him at one of the cabins up that way. He’s waiting on us before he does anything to him.”
“I’m going,” I said without hesitation. “Boomer’s mine.”
“I told you he was. Jet and I will go with you first thing in the morning.” Bash laid out the game plan for the next day. I was ready to go tonight, right fucking now, but this night was still about Tanner and Warden.
Plus, I needed to tell Rory I was going to be gone for a few days. The thought of being away from her for more than a few hours set my teeth on edge, but there was no damn way I could take her with me. My gaze went to Hawk and Spider. “You two will be here?” They both nodded. “Take care of Rory for me.”
“You don’t even have to ask that, brother,” Spider assured me.
“We got your back, man,” Hawk seconded.
Relieved that two of the men I trusted the most were going to be watching out for my girl, I took the beer Spider had snagged on the way out and swallowed half of it. “Fuck, man, I’m starving.”
“When aren’t you hungry?” Bash complained. “Go find your woman and eat, cousin. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”
“I’m gonna find Willa and take her home. She needs to rest,” Spider grumbled as he started to follow me back inside the bar. I hadn’t even reached the door when there was the sound of screeching tires behind us, followed by doors opening and slamming shut.
I glanced over my shoulder, my brows already raised, when I saw the four black sedans and the fuckers getting out. The streetlights in the parking lot were bright enough to show us who it was—and the fact that they had semiautomatic guns in their hands.
“Fuck!” Hawk yelled as he dropped down behind a trash can.
I didn’t have time to do more than drop behind the two motorcycles I was close to as bullets flew over my head and into the concrete wall of the bar. “Rory!” I whispered her name, wanting to get inside and make sure she was safe. But she and everyone else weren’t going to be safe at all if we didn’t take out these motherfuckers.
I opened the satchel on the side of the bike I was ducked behind, realized it was Uncle Jack’s, and wasn’t surprised when I found two guns inside. I tossed one to Spider and then checked the mag in my own before shooting back at the fuckers who wanted us all dead.
It was a blur of bullets and shouting for the next ten minutes, but when it was over and the cops were making their presence known, all I could think about was getting to Rory. I rushed into the bar and found her on the floor beside Raven. Seeing the blood on Rory’s shirt, I went a little crazy.
“Baby!” I was across the room and pulling her up into my arms in the next second, my trembling hands skimming over every inch of her. “Where are you hit? Does it hurt bad?”
She caught my hands and gave them a weak squeeze. “It’s not my blood, Matt. Lexa got shot in the arm.”
“But your face…” I stroked my thumb over one of the cuts on her cheek. “You’re bleeding here. You have cuts all over your face.”
“The glass cut me,” she explained in a voice that was even weaker than her touch had been. “I…” She swayed, and I caught her. Blinking her eyes a few times, she sighed. “It’s just a delayed reaction. I’m okay.”
I lifted her into my arms and carried her over to the first chair I could find. Sitting her in it, I barked at the sheep who was still cowering on the floor at her feet. “Get her some wet paper towels.”
“Yes, Matt!”
A glass of water was shoved into my hand, and I gave Aggie a thankful nod as I lifted it to Rory’s lips. She swallowed a few sips then pushed the glass away, gagging. “I’m okay.”
The wet paper towels appeared, and I unfolded one to place on the back of Rory’s neck, using the other to wipe some of the blood from her face. She was right; they were just little cuts from the glass that was still clinging to her hair. I cleaned them out, noting how white her normally honey-kissed complexion was now.
“Hey, man, I’m taking Gracie and Willa back to the clubhouse. You want me to take Rory too?”
I lifted my head to find Spider standing behind me with Willa tucked into his side. I didn’t want to let Rory out of my sight, but she needed to be away from all of this shit. Wordlessly, I stood and lifted Rory into my arms again. I carried her out of the bar, ignoring Bates as he told me no one could leave yet, and put her in the back seat of Willa’s SUV beside Gracie.
“But I want to stay with you!” Gracie was crying. “Trigger had blood on his shirt, and Jack wasn’t running his mouth. Something’s wrong with them both.”
Hawk leaned in closer to her and lowered his voice. “Trigger has Uncle Chaz’s blood on him. He got shot in the gut. Uncle Jack isn’t running his mouth because there are about fifteen cops milling around here. Please, baby. Go back with Spider so I can concentrate on this shit right now and not have to worry about you.”
“Then I need to be here. Bates is trying to question everyone, and I need to make sure that you’re not arrested!”
“Jenkins will be here soon.”
“I want to stay with you,” she sobbed. “What if they come back? What if—?”
He shut her up with a quick, hard kiss. “Go, Gracie. Don’t do this to me now.”
Rory was oddly subdued as I fastened her seat belt and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I vowed. “Flick can clean up your face. Listen to Spider and Jet, and don’t leave the clubhouse unless they say otherwise.”
She nodded as she finally turned her eyes on me. There was fear in those green depths, but I saw the flash of fire. “Kill them all, Matt,” she whispered.
I kissed her lips then stepped back, not promising her with words, but my eyes said everything she needed to know. With a firm nod, she turned her gaze to the back of the seat where Willa was already safely strapped in. Spider gunned the engine, and I watched as they left, before going back inside to see if I could help.
The paramedics arrived, and Uncle Chaz was loaded up immediately. Trigger rode with him, but we all had a sick feeling in our stomachs. Gut wounds were dangerous. We could end up losing him tonight.
Lexa was bundled up into the back of another ambulance, and while Raven watched them work on her, everyone moved to flank Bash. We all stood there, waiting, ready to jump into action the minute he gave the order.
“Hawk, have Dutch bring Boomer to us. I can’t leave my family right now, but that fucker is still going to get what’s coming to him,” Bash ordered. “When you’re done with that, tell Jet to contact Vitucci and let him know about this latest attempt to take us out. Warn them that Enzo is still focused on us, but that idiot can’t focus on shit for more than two seconds. He could be going to hit Dante or Ciro next.”
“On it.”
“Matt.” I stood up a little straighter, ready to fulfill any command my cousin gave me. “Colt isn’t answering his phone. Take two men and go bring his ass back here.”
“Are you sure?” I muttered low enough so that only those closest to us could hear. “What if…?” I didn’t finish, but he knew what I was asking.
What if he hadn’t gotten it out of Kelli yet?
What if he was still in the process of getting it out of her?
What if I had to bring that bitch back too?
“Do what you have to do,” he instructed. “Follow Colt’s lead on that for the most part, but do what your gut tells you to do where that bitch is concerned.”
“What about Enzo?” Uncle Jack asked in his emotionless voice that was low and controlled.
“Bates showing up gave him enough of a head start that he’s probably back at Santino’s by now. But as soon as we are all under the same roof again, we will make a plan to deal with them all, Uncle Jack. I’m not willing to make a mistake with this motherfucker, but we can’t wait any longer to take care of this.”
The old man nodded his head. “Good. Good.” He turned his eyes on Hawk. “You take care of my grandbaby, boy.”
The command caught us all off guard. He knew Hawk would take care of Gracie, so what the fuck was he talking about?
Then the old man dropped to his knees, holding his chest. “Promise me,” he choked out as I moved to grab him and turn him onto his back.
“We need a medic over here!” Bash bellowed, catching everyone’s attention.
The EMT who was about to close the doors on Lexa and Raven rushed over, but when he started to check Uncle Jack over, the old man pushed the guy away. “Get the fuck off. I don’t need you, dumbass.” His desperate eyes went back to Hawk. “Promise me!” he whispered fiercely with the last of his strength.
Hawk fell to his knees beside him, his eyes glazed with emotion that was choking us all up now. Uncle Jack, like all the uncles, was a father to all of us. He had taken over attempting to keep Tanner’s and my noses clean when our own father passed away. “I promise.”
“Tell ’er… I love…’er…” he muttered weakly as he sucked in one last gasping breath.
“Uncle Jack.” Hawk tapped the old man’s cheek. “Open your fucking eyes, old man. You can tell her yourself. Don’t you fucking die.”
But Uncle Jack’s skin was already bloodless, the life fading from his eyes right in front of us.
“No!” Hawk said with a growl. “No, you can’t fucking die. She loves you too. Don’t die. Don’t leave her.”
The EMT knelt on Uncle Jack’s other side and felt for a pulse. Sympathy flooding off him, he looked up at Bash. “He’s gone, sir.”
Hawk grabbed the EMT by the shirt and jerked the poor bastard forward. “Bring him back. Gracie needs him.”
“He refused my help, sir.”
“Hawk, brother, you know he wouldn’t have wanted to be attached to tubes and shit.” Bash pulled the other man’s fingers from the EMT’s shirt. “Let him go.”
“Bash…?” I turned to find Raven standing only a few feet away, her stricken gaze on her brother who was still kneeling beside Uncle Jack. “Is… Is he…?”
“Matt, go with her to the hospital,” Bash commanded, his focus on his brother-in-law, but I still saw the raw emotion in my cousin’s gaze. The same emotion that blasted out of every one of my MC brothers’ eyes. The same emotion that was churning in my gut and burning the backs of my eyes.
I gently took hold of Raven’s upper arm and turned her back toward the ambulance that the EMT was now standing beside. “Let’s go, Rave.”
She walked beside me, but her head was turned so that her gaze could stay on her husband and brother, on Uncle Jack’s lifeless body. “He’s gone?”
“Yeah, honey.”
“But he can’t be gone,” she whispered. “He’s Uncle Jack. He’s immortal.”
Over the years, it had felt like that at times. I swallowed around the lump in my throat that was trying to suffocate me. “I’m sorry.”
She dug in her heels outside the ambulance doors. “Give me a minute. I… I can’t let Lexa see me like this.”
She had silent tears running down her face. Needing to comfort her—fuck, needing to comfort myself—I pulled her head to my chest and held her there. The sound of her sobs was muffled against my chest, and I patted her gently on the back as I swallowed back my own tears. First Tanner, now Uncle Jack. Maybe even Uncle Chaz.
I was losing people I loved left and right in this fucking war.