Chapter 9
The next morning Ice left for the safe house. Some of the boys helped me clean up after the party and now we are just sitting around watching TV.
It's a lazy day and we all just lie around doing nothing as the morning turns into the afternoon—until Ice comes back. Taking us all by surprise, he storms into the clubhouse barking orders. He's frantic and pissed, and I have no idea what's happened. The boys jump and start doing his bidding. He's ranting and yelling and pacing and…fuck. Just fuck. What the hell has happened?
When Spike comes out of Ice's office, I can't keep my mouth shut. I ask, "What happened?"
"They took Emma," he says sadly.
"Oh no!" I exclaim. "But how? I thought she was tucked away and the party last night…I mean, I thought it was all good?"
"Apparently not. I don't know anything else, but it's bad, Honey. Real bad."
An hour or so goes by and everything happens so fast. Ice comes running out of his office yelling, "Get everyone out! Now! It's a bomb!" He begins checking all the rooms and calls over to me, "Anyone upstairs?"
"No," I yell back. "Ice, everyone is out. Let's go!"
He follows me out the door and within seconds of us reaching the parking lot, the building blows. Ice grabs me and holds me down while debris from the clubhouse drop around us. When everything goes quiet, he gets up, brushes the debris off himself, and pulls out his phone. He stops for a minute, looks around at what used to be our clubhouse, and then dials. I have no idea who he is calling or what is happening. I hear him say, "Message received. You got me."
He disconnects the line and turns to me. "Call Hawk. Tell him what has happened here and that I've found Emma. He'll know what to do." I'm so confused by everything that just happened and I want him to tell me what's going on. But he doesn't. He just says, "I have to go," and then turns to leave.
Oh no, totally unacceptable. He can't just leave me hanging here. Not after all this.I call after him, "Ice, wait!" The tears begin to well in my eyes because I have this sinking feeling that this is gonna be the last time I see him. I hesitantly ask, "Where are you going?"
He walks over to me and kisses me on the forehead. “Now don't you go worrying your pretty little head, darl'n. I'll be back."
I stand there amidst all the rubble and for the first time since I found the MC, I have no idea what to do. I feel lost and alone and can't move. My heart is shattered into a thousand pieces and I am worried about Ice.Where is he going? Is he putting himself in danger to rescue her?Any other time I would be cheering him on to make the rescue, but if it means losing him in the mix, I’d rather keep him. He can leave Emma with that psycho asshole. We can’t lose him.
I suddenly realize that Ice is counting on me. I pull out my phone from my pocket and dial Hawk. He answers on the first ring. I say, "Hey, big shit just went down. Nobody's hurt. The clubhouse, however, didn't survive the bomb."
"Bomb?! What the fuck, Honey!" he yells. "Are you sure you’re alright?" he asks.
"Yes, we are fine."
"What the hell happened?"
"I don't know. One minute we were all in the clubhouse hanging out, and the next minute Ice came running out of his office telling us to get out and that there was a bomb."
"How bad is the clubhouse?" he asks.
I look around. "It's bad, Hawk. Real bad. Part of the building is still standing, but the other half of the building is completely demolished. There is nothing but stone, broken-up wood, and glass shards everywhere."
"Fuck. Where's Ice?"
"He left.”
“He left? Why the fuck did he leave?”
“I don’t know, but he asked me to give you a message."
"Ok, what's the message?"
"He said that he found Emma and he's going to get her. He said that you would know what to do," I tell him.
"Aww, fuck!" he says into the phone. "You stay put. I'll be right there," he adds and then disconnects the line.
It’s two days later and we're still going through the rubble grabbing anything that we can salvage. There hasn't been any word from Ice. I've asked Hawk if he's heard from him several times and he just sadly shakes his head. We have no idea at this point if he is dead or alive.Please let him be alive. It’s bad enough seeing him with another woman—who, I might add, is the cause of all this mess—but if he’s dead I know for a fact that I will not survive it.
Briggs came by and filed a report about the explosion. I conveniently make myself scarce when he's around. He is the last person I want to see. I'm still a coward. One of these days, I will face him and do what needs to be done. I will tell him everything and apologize. But right now, I just can't. I’m not ready to face all that now. I just can’t.
