Chapter Ten
A few days later
Proposing to Lori had always been part of Dawg’s plan. He’d loved her for a long time, and preparing for a wedding didn’t make him freeze up. No, he wanted this more than anything.
“I still can’t believe you’re getting married,” Paul said.
His brother had been shocked, but he was getting used to the random comments of how shocked he actually was. Everything had gone back to normal, and in the past few days he’d kept an eye on Ortiz’s gym for any signs that Louis Saint was planning to take over.
“You keep saying that. You’re going to get tired of saying it one day.”
“No, seriously. You’re in love. I mean, wow, you’re in love.”
Yeah, he was. Seriously in love, and there was no way it was ever going to stop. Lori was his life, and she’d been part of it for three years. He’d watched her, waited, and now he finally had her.
When his cell phone began to ring, he got Paul to put it on speaker as he was driving. He’d seen that the caller was Rafe, one of the men he paid to guard Lori at all times.
Before anyone could speak, Rafe started talking.
“He has her, sir. Louis Saint and his cronies snuck up on us as we were getting lunch. Right here, in the fucking street. There’s cops everywhere.”
Paul was playing with his cell phone, and, glancing over toward the device without trying to kill both of them in the car, Dawg finally pulled over.
“He’s got her at the gym,” Paul said.
When he’d pulled over, he grabbed his brother’s phone and saw Lori. They were tying her to a chair. The camera didn’t allow for sound, and that pissed him off. Handing the device to Paul, he pulled away.
He no longer cared about the speed of the road, for his main concern was Lori.
“Get everyone,” Dawg said. “Get them all at Ortiz’s gym in five minutes.”
He swung the car around and headed in that direction himself.
He was pissed off. No, that wasn’t even close to how he felt in that moment. He wasn’t pissed off. He was fucking angry. That man thought he could take his woman and use her as a bargaining chip. That wasn’t going to happen.
“Call Ben,” Dawg said.
Ben was the man on Louis Saint’s team he had placed there to keep him updated.
“Man, I’m so sorry. I had no idea what they were doing, and I was just about to call you, I promise.”
“Anything happens to her, Ben, I will hold you responsible, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Take care of her.”
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. It was the only thing that he could do. Shit!
He was going to kill Louis Saint. That bastard had it coming, and he was going to make sure everyone knew that you didn’t take anything that belonged to Dawg Hampshire.
“Are you okay?” Paul asked.
“Talk to me when I’ve got Lori safe in my arms.”
He knew the risk right now. She could get killed, or she may decide to call everything off, and he didn’t even want to think of that right now. There’s no way he could think of losing Lori.
It wasn’t going to happen.
By the time he got to the gym, several of his men were already there.
“You go in there, you’re going to get killed,” Ryan said.
“There’s access through a tunnel,” Ortiz said.
“Where?” Dawg asked.
On his cell phone, Ortiz brought up the layout of the gym and directed it. “Several of your men are waiting. They can get to Lori. They’ve placed her in the basement fighting grounds. She’s tied to a chair. They can get to her first while we all deal with this.”
Dawg nodded at Paul. “I want you there.”
“I need to stay with you.”
He gripped his brother’s shoulder. “No, you need to make sure she’s taken care of. Please, brother, I’m asking you for no other reason than I trust you. Bring my woman home.”
He saw Paul wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
With a simple nod of the head, Paul headed off in that direction, and Dawg, with his men at his back, began to walk into the gym. He had his gun in his hand, and he held it at his back. To anyone looking at him from the front, he looked calm, collected, and ready for business.
“It’s about time you showed up,” Louis said the moment he walked in. “I was beginning to wonder if I should even do business with you.”
“You took the wrong woman.”
“Yeah, well, when I saw the two of you together, I just knew that she’d be the easy target, and can you believe it, she actually was.” Louis said, clapping his hands together.
While he kept giving the talk, he looked past the man, and saw only a couple of men. This was what made Louis a small fish in a pond full of sharks.
“What do you want?”
“Well, you see, to get her back, I want part of your business, or I want to be partners. How about that? I’m sure we can make a good team.”
When Dawg looked at him, he saw that the man thought this could happen.
Shaking his head, he drew his gun, and before anyone had the time to react, he had it pressed to Louis’s head.
“Or how about I end this shit right here, right now.”
Louis’s men had their guns drawn, but so did his. Dawg stared at the bastard’s men and shook his head. “Kill them all.” With those words, he did no more than pull the trigger, ending Louis’s life.
No one would ever put his woman’s life at risk and live to tell the tale.
Now he needed to get to Lori.
****
Lori was pissed off that someone like Louis had been able to get the jump on her. It had been so unexpected. Eating lunch with Rafe was something she had to do, as otherwise Dawg got pissed.
Rafe was a good guy, and he didn’t make her think of a bodyguard, or anything that made her life uncomfortable.
When Louis had placed the gun against her temple, the only person she could think about was Dawg. She could have already belonged to him for three years, and yet she’d wasted so much time, and it tore her apart, thinking about it.
She loved Dawg.
There was no way she was ever going to waste another moment, if by some miracle he saved her.
Louis’s men were standing with their guns pointed at her, not doing anything. She couldn’t look at him for fear that one of them may pull the trigger.
“You know, she’s fat for being Dawg’s bitch. Seems like he could do so much better,” one of the men said.
She rolled her eyes. Of course they’d go for her weight, but she didn’t care.
If I make it out of this alive, I’m marrying Dawg, and we’re going to have lots of sex, and soon, lots of babies, and I’m not going to waste another moment of it.
Lori wriggled her hands in the chair, vowing that if he didn’t save her, she was going to beat every single man here and watch them die.
“What was that?” the other man asked.
She heard it, too, but wasn’t able to look behind her.
The sound of a gunshot had her gasping. Then a second gunshot. She tried to duck her head, and both men who had guns trained at her fell down, a single bullet in each of their foreheads.
“Don’t look at them,” Paul said, moving in front of her.
“Paul.”
He had a knife and cut the rope from around her wrists. She hugged him close.
“Where’s Dawg?”
“He’ll meet us outside. Come on.”
“No, I’m not going anywhere without him.”
Paul gritted his teeth, and she cried out as he bent forward and lifted her up. She began to hit him.
“Let me down. Stop it. Dawg needs us.”
“No, Dawg needs to know that you’re safe, and we all need to live. I’m not having you put your life in danger while he deals with business.”
More gunshots could be heard, and as they cleared their way into the street, Lori panicked.
Paul’s hold was steady on her though. He wouldn’t let her go. Even when he placed her on the ground, and she was watching the door, he wouldn’t let her pass, and she was growing even more pissed off by the second.
Suddenly, the doors opened, and the men drew their weapons, waiting.
She watched as a couple of men came through the door, and then she saw him, Dawg. She kicked Paul between the thighs, and he went down with a thud and groan.
“Sorry.”
Lori didn’t linger. Running across the parking lot, she saw Dawg moving toward her as well. He had some blood coming from his shoulder, but she flung herself into his arms, and he lifted her up with a grunt.
Cupping his face, she rained kisses all over his face and lips, not caring that they were watched. All she cared about was showing her love for Dawg.
He let her down, and held her cheek. “You’re okay.” His thumb ran across her split lip.
“Louis didn’t like being called a limp-dicked prick.”
“You cursed?”
“It wasn’t as bad as some of the things I could have called him.”
“He’s gone. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”
“Good, I’m pleased he’s gone.” She hugged Dawg close.
“Are we … good?”
She pulled back to look at him, and she saw the fear in his eyes. “We’re more than good. I love you, Dawg. I love you so much, and I’m not going to waste another moment.”
“I won’t let anything like this happen again.”
“Don’t hurt Rafe,” she said. “He did everything he could to save me. I promise. Louis shot him, and…”
Dawg silenced her with a kiss. “I won’t do anything. I promise.”
“Take me to Vegas,” she said. “I don’t want to wait. I want to be your wife, and for us to have a future together.” She took his hand, and even though her own shook, she knew her own mind, and the only person she wanted was Dawg.
“You want Vegas?”
“Yes, as soon as it can be arranged,” Lori said.
“Paul,” he called to his brother.
“What’s up?” Paul asked.
“Get us three plane tickets to Vegas. We’re heading there right now.”
She held onto Dawg as he began to make the arrangements to clean up the place. She didn’t listen to anything else. Instead, she held onto her man and promised herself she was never going to let him go.
Once they were in the car, Paul began driving them to the airport.
“I thought you were going to say no to everything. With everything that happened,” he said.
She smiled. “I’m not that weak. I’m not going to leave you, Dawg. There’s not going to be any more pushing you away either. I’ve wasted three years. I’m not going to waste another moment.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. “I’m free for the next fifty-plus years. What about you?”
The smile on his face would stay with her forever. It was so charming.
Yes, Dawg Hampshire wasn’t a very good man, but he was her man, and she was going to love him for the rest of her life.
“I’ve got no plans. Can I share mine with yours?”
“Yes.”