Chapter Thirteen
Three weeks later
Holly helped to carry the cakes toward the diner with Mary. There was a competition going on in the diner that Mac had organized. They had two entries, one of them Mary’s, the other Holly’s. The winner got to have their cake added to the menu.
She’d settled on a traditional carrot cake while Mary baked a double chocolate, fudgy cake. There was going to be no doubt of the winner, but it was offering to be a little fun. The Trojans were going to be present for the tasting within the diner, which was proving to be a big hit. They entered the diner to see something in the range of fifty cakes.
“Here, Holly,” Mary said, pointing at two clear places for them to put their cakes.
“This is an amazing turnout.” Holly wore one of Duke’s leather jackets, showing her claim as his old lady. No one messed with her. When she saw Julie, the other woman stayed away from her. Holly wasn’t stupid. Julie was planning something.
“Yeah, it’s going to be fun.” Mary stepped back, tucking some hair that had fallen out of her ponytail.
They were making progress on Holly’s wedding. The appointment for the dress had been booked in the city. Holly already knew what dress she wanted. She had a good image inside her head. She only hoped the design was already available. There was no way she was waiting for a dress to be made to become Duke’s woman in every sense of the word.
“I’ve got no chance of winning. There’s no way vegetables win out over chocolate,” Holly said, chuckling.
They both headed out of the diner to soak up the last of the sun. After today, Holly had seen the forecast wasn’t good. Cold weather was making its way toward them with no sign of it disappearing.
“Did you hear what happened to Phil?” Mary asked.
“No, what?” She’d been busy dealing with the wedding and hadn’t the time to listen to gossip.
“He’s been fired. Trisha, the woman who works on the main desks, said David called Phil into his office. There was a lot of shouting and the last thing David told Phil was to get the hell out of his office.” Mary kept talking as they stood, basking in the sun. In the last couple of weeks, her friend looked healthier, better than she’d ever seen her.
“Do you believe that?”
“Yeah, I do. I always told you that I didn’t like him. He was weird,” Mary said.
As if talking about him had made him appear in the flesh, Phil walked up to her.
“Hey, Holly, can I talk to you a second?”
Holly frowned. It was strange seeing Phil without his uniform. “Erm, sure.” She looked toward Mary who was shaking her head. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
She followed Phil away from Mary. “I’ve just heard that you were fired. Is that true?” she asked, stuffing her hands back into her pockets.
“Yeah, not exactly my finest moment.” He stared at her jacket. “I see you’ve moved up in the world.”
“If you’re just here to insult me,” Holly said, turning back to head back to her friend.
“Fuck,” Phil said, yelling the word. “Don’t take this personally.”
The sound of screeching wheels filled her senses. Before she had a chance to react, Phil slammed his fist into her face.
Everything went dark.
****
Duke pulled up at the diner, anticipation filling him. Holly had left his bed that morning, making her way into town toward Mary before he got a chance to fuck her. He wondered how she’d feel about fucking outdoors, up against a wall. His cock was rock hard, begging for her. It had been hard to get through club shit thinking about his woman.
“Why did we agree to this?” Pike asked, coming to stand beside him.
“What’s wrong with trying some cake?”
“Knowing my luck, Mary’s laced hers with rat poison.” Pike had told him the truth about what went down with Mary. He’d told Holly the truth. They’d gotten together, had sex, and Pike had warned Mary about what he liked in the bedroom. Mary hadn’t liked it, and so there wasn’t going to be anything between them. Duke knew there was more to the story, but he’d left it alone. There was no use in causing any kind of argument.
Holly had also backed down seeing as Mary was happier for being apart from Pike. They rounded the diner and all came to a stop. There was an ambulance and a group of men surrounded a woman on the ground. Mac was in the center, looking completely freaked out.
Walking close, Duke was shocked to see Mary on a stretcher.
“I’m sorry, only family allowed,” the paramedic said, pushing Mac aside.
“What the fuck happened?” Duke asked.
“Don’t you answer your fucking phone?” Mac advanced toward them. Duke glanced back to see Pike had gone pale.
“What the fuck happened?” Duke stepped forward, gripping Mac’s shirt. They’d clearly missed something.
“We saw the whole fucking thing. Phil, he took Holly. Wanted to talk to her or something. Mary wasn’t making any sense.” The blood in Duke’s veins ran cold. Phil, Holly? What the fuck had happened?
“Tell me from the fucking start.”
“Phil hit Holly. He knocked her out, grabbed her at the same time a black fucking truck pulled up in front of them. Mary screamed her name, but no one stopped. They ran her over. Mary charged for the van but didn’t move out of the way. They clipped her, knocking her down.” Mac ran a hand over his face.
“They?”
“Phil and whoever was in the van. I don’t know, Duke. Fuck, I’ve got to get to the hospital.” Mac left them alone, going to his car.
Turning back to his boys, Duke saw the anger on all of their faces. Russ was holding on by a thread.
“Some fucking bastard has taken my daughter.” Russ gritted his teeth.
“We’ll get her back.” He looked at Pike. His gaze was on Mac’s disappearing car. “Pike, are you with me or with Mary?”
Pike turned tortured eyes to Duke. “I’m with you. She’ll never forgive me if I don’t get Holly back.”
Nodding, Duke headed back to his bike just as his cell phone rang. Glancing down at the screen he saw it was Matthew. Cursing, he answered the call. “Son, I’ve not got time.”
“Dad, Mom’s fucked up. I mean really fucked up.” It sounded like Matthew was holding back sobs. Duke tensed.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Some guys came to the house. They were talking about you, Holly. Mom kept calling a guy dog. I don’t know what it all means. They, Dad, they knocked me out. I think I’m in Mom’s basement.”
He was going to kill Dawg, and he was going to make sure Julie couldn’t come near his boy again.
“Listen to me, Matthew, I’m sending one of the boys over to you. You hold on tight.” After he reassured his son, he turned to Russ, letting the whole club know what was going on. “Will you get my boy?”
“Only if you get my girl.”
He nodded, holding his hand out.
“Do you know where they are?” Pike asked, straddling his bike.
“No, but Diaz will know. Dawg’s Crew has my girl.” And his ex-wife had given her up. The bitch was going to go.