“Are you insane?!” She shrieks and grabs my arm as I try to pass by her. My eyes lock with hers and she shakes her head. Her pretty blues swim with concern and I try my best to calm her.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll stay low and move fast. The back door isn’t far.” I tell her with a smile, and head to the end of the bar. Peeking around the corner, everyone's attention is in the center of the room, and I see a small enough opening to get out. Staying as low as possible, I duck and hurry toward the back exit. Entering the hallway, I’m shoved as someone comes barreling out of the bathroom, and knocked back into the wall. The air is knocked out of my lungs from the force, and I double over to catch my breath.
“PARKER!” Ashylnn shouts and I wave her off.
“I’m okay.” I mouth to her, and give her my back to keep going. Making it to the door, I shove through it and out into the cold evening air. It slaps me in the face, and I can see my breath as I try to suck in as much fresh air as possible. Noticing it’s darker out here than usual at this time of night, I turn and look up to see that the security light for the back door is busted.
“Fucking perfect.” I mumble as I pull my phone out again, and dial Maverick once more. The line rings once before going to voicemail and I curse under my breath.
The sounds of the brawl have gotten louder, and I’m worried about Ashlynn and Cole.
Why isn’t he answering?
My phone rings in my hand, and I let out a sigh of relief seeing his name come up on the screen. But before I can answer the call, pain explodes at the back of my head and my phone falls from my hands. Groaning, I try to raise my hands to my head, but I’m hit again from behind. My vision turns completely black and I crumple to the ground, my face bouncing off the gravel parking lot. My ears start to ring and instinctively, I curl into myself.Another crushing blow slams into the side of my face, and a gurgled moan rumbles in my chest.
What’s happening?
One more devastating hit lands on the top of my head, feeling as if it’s been split in two, and I feel my body being lifted off the ground. I’m dropped onto something hard and I groan. I can’t see or hear anything. One more hit, and the world around me fades to complete darkness.
Chapter thirty-four
The contract signing withMichael took longer than I had thought it was going to, but we are finally on the road back to Doc’s. Karson rides his GSX-R alongside me, and Slater follows at a safe distance in his Audi RS3, keeping anyone else from getting too close to us. I prefer night riding. The highway is mostly clear of any other traffic, and we like to go as fast as possible.
Karson and I communicate through the bluetooth headset inside of our helmets, allowing both of us to speak. Our bluetooth also allows us to connect to Slater behind us, which is ideal for times like this.
“Fuck yeah, Mav! You did it brother” Karson says over the line.
“I wasn’t sure Michael was going to bite, but he did. This is going to be great for us.” Slater adds.
“Slater, did you manage to find enough people through your contacts to bring in?” I ask, still in business mode. My brain hasn’t stopped trying to work out the details and specifics ofhowwe’ll work out the daily ins and outs. All I know is, we’ll get it done.
“I was able to pull in another hundred and fifty guys. If not through my VA contacts, through people, who know people. They’re on their way to Oregon now, and I just sent contracts over for another eighty. We’recovered, boss. Now relax. Enjoy this win, man.” Slater tells me and a weight lifts off of my shoulders. I smirk, and twist the throttle, speeding ahead of them. Karson’s maniacal laughter reaches my ears and I smirk.
“Hell yea, let’s go!” He shouts and he quickly catches up to me.
My phone rings, and I look down at it on the handlebar mount to see that it’s Parker. She never calls me during her shifts, and I immediately worry something’s gone wrong. Cutting the guys off on the bluetooth, I answer.
“Hey, Sweetheart. Is everything okay?” All I can hear in the background is screaming, and glass breaking. “Parker, what’s wrong?” I ask, my heart rate picking up and the line goes dead.
“Fuck!” I shout and speed up again, leaving Karson and Slater behind me.
“Mav, what the fuck? What’s going on?” Karson shouts.
“I don’t know. Parker just called, but the line went dead. It sounds like there’s a fight at Doc’s.” I grit out, weaving in and out of the few cars left on the highway.
“God damnit!” Karson seethes, I don’t have to look behind me to know he’s catching up.
“Boss, vehicle coming up at a high rate of speed in the left hand lane. I got eyes on ‘em.” Slater says.
My phone rings again and I quickly reach out to answer the call, but my gloved hand accidentally hits decline in my haste.
“Son of a bitch!” I shout. My heart pounds in my ears, and I quickly hit redial. The other end rings, then goes to voicemail.
“Hey, you’ve reached Parker. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Guys, look out!” Slater shouts and I turn my head to the side just in time to watch the front fender of a Challenger Hellcat aim at the back tireof my bike. Just in time, I swerve to the far right and pin the throttle, flying down the breakdown lane.
“Jesus that was close. He’s keeping up with you. I’ve got a plate; asking PD to run it now.” Slater says calmly, and I glance over my shoulder to see the vehicle getting closer to me again–Slater’s Audi close behind. Just as he’s about to swerve into me, I let off the throttle and the vehicle rockets past me.
