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Monroe grasped my hand, clinging to it as she huddled away from him as much as she could in the cramped space of the back seat. The driver got in and tore out of the parking lot. But as he got on the road, he settled into a natural speed, not drawing anyone’s attention.
As he drove out of town, heading north once he got on the interstate, I felt like every mile he put between us and Creswell Springs only decreased our chances of ever seeing those we loved ever again.
“I’m cramping,” Monroe whispered an hour into the drive north.
“What?” I whispered back.
“Cramping,” she repeated, her chin trembling. “I think…I think it’s the baby.”
“Mon,” I gasped, clutching at her hand. “How bad is it?”
“It’s getting worse. And I think…” She glanced down at her lap as tears spilled over her lashes. “I think I’m bleeding.”
“Bleeding?” the guy beside her repeated in his heavily accented English, his brow furrowed as if he didn’t know the meaning of the word. “You are hurt?”
“She’s having a miscarriage,” I raged at him, even as I mentally prayed I was wrong. “Stop the car. Find her a hospital.”
“No,” he said calmly. “No stopping.”
“She’s losing her baby!” I screamed at him and threw myself across my sister to get to him. I was tired of this shit. Tired of being scared and sitting there like a weak little victim.
My nails scored down his face, causing him to shout in pain. He was so surprised, his hold on his gun slackened as he tried to push me off him, and I grabbed it. Sitting back, I turned it on him, just as the driver slammed on the brakes.
I jerked forward, my shoulder connecting hard and painfully with the front passenger seat. The next thing I felt was a sharp pain in the side of my jaw.
Monroe screamed my name, but it sounded far away as the world went black…
Chapter 21
Lyric
Spending my life around hard-core rockers made me think I’d grown up with badass men. But my dad and uncles had nothing on the Angels.
Bash, Hawk, and Masterson showed up first, then Mila’s brother, Maverick, and a few of his cousins. Soon, an entire army of MC broth
ers was filling up the parking lot, quickly followed by the sheriff’s cruiser pulling in with his mother-in-law in the front seat. There was something about Raven Hannigan Reid that, from the first moment I met her, told me I needed to respect her.
She reminded me so much of Aunt Emmie despite the two women being polar opposites in looks. They both had this aura around them, demanding everyone bow down because they were the fucking queens of their world.
She was out of the cruiser and headed for the group surrounding me before the sheriff had even opened his own door. “What do you know?” she asked the group at large, but there were no new details to share. I had zero information to offer, and I felt useless just standing there watching them.
“Raven,” Ben called as he moved toward the front door of the café. “You with me?”
“Be right there,” she called back, her eyes searching and finding me. “Lyric, let’s go.”
Glad to have something to do besides standing around losing my mind worrying about Mila, I went with her as she followed her son-in-law inside.
Ben was already speaking to Tiff, who seemed to be realizing the importance of giving me what I wanted now. After a few more words were exchanged between the two, she led the way to the back office, where she pulled up the security footage on a dated computer. She messed with a few keys, but Ben moved her out of his way and sat in the rolling chair behind the desk. Muttering under her breath, Tiff left us, returning to the front of the café and leaving us alone in the office.
Moments later, the screen filled with the images of the parking lot. The camera didn’t reach all the way back to where Mila and Monroe were parked, but it showed a black sedan brake sharply near them not long after they had left the cafe. Several minutes later, Mila and Monroe appeared just long enough to be forced into the back of the car, and several seconds later, the sedan sped away.
“I saw the gun on Monroe,” Raven said. “If those two idiots put a gun on them, Mila wouldn’t have put up much of a fight.”
“Meaning she would have if they hadn’t?” I demanded. The thought of Mila being in the kind of situation where she would have to fight was making me sick to my stomach. It brought home just how much danger she and the babies were in, and I wasn’t fucking there to protect them.
“She and Monroe have both been taught how to defend themselves should something like this happen. The only reason they wouldn’t, especially Mila, is if there was a gun involved.” Raven bent to look at the screen better. “Can you enhance this and try to focus on the guy behind Monroe?”
“This piece of shit is ancient,” Ben told her. “We’re lucky to get what we did.” Grabbing the radio attached to his belt, he issued a BOLO for the sedan. “Alert the California and Oregon State Police to let them know to be on the lookout as well,” he told his dispatcher. “Tell them to use extreme caution if they engage the driver. Both women are pregnant.”
