He nodded, without delay pulling a bottle of water out of the back and handing it to me. He watched intently as I guzzled the entire bottle in one fell swoop. “Better?” he asked, concern evident in his tone.
“Better.” I sighed in relief, searching for Laurie amidst the various trucks and SUVs the guys had pulled up in. I was surprised that there wasn’t a single bike among them.
“Bikes would’ve made too much noise.” Cal answered my unspoken question.
I nodded. “How did you find us?” I asked, locating Laurie seated in Tag’s truck as he wiped her face gently with a towel.
Cal leaned against the doorframe of his SUV, the muscles in his biceps flexing as he bowed his head into my body, taking a shuddering breath. I put my hand on his back, leaning into his strength, relishing his smell. “I’m okay,” I whispered again.
He took a deep breath in, pulling back so he could look me in the eye. “You were taken forcefully and held against your will. You’re covered in fucking blood.” His eyes blazed with barely contained fury. “There is no fucking way you’re okay. Hell, I’mnotfucking okay.”
“I’ll be okay,” I amended. “You saved us. I knew you would.”
His callused hand cupped the side of my face. “I will always save you. Always.” His lips took mine in a kiss that was both all-consuming and too short. He pulled away and something about his expression had me bracing for impact. “We’ve got him.”
My eyes shot wide. “Tim?”
He nodded. “Fucker tried to take Mason from our house. Scaled our fence. I got him before he got the chance to touch a hair on our boy’s head.”
My stomach churned at the thought of how close he’d been to Mason. “Where is he?” I managed through barely moving lips.
“At the club. The only reason he’s still conscious is I needed to be able to find you.”
I’d bet it wasn’t hard to make Tim sing like a canary.
“I want to see him,” I said, surprising myself with my conviction. But once I said the words I knew they were true. I needed to face him—one last time.
“Baby,” Cal replied, the protest clear in his tone. “You don’t need to be anywhere near him. I don’t want him breathing the same air as you.”
“I can’t explain it, not really,” I murmured, clutching the empty water bottle between both hands. “It might sound strange, but I need to look him in the face and know that he lost. I need to look him in the eye and know that he’ll never touch me again. That he’ll never be able to hurt Mason. If I don’t see him, then I feel like it won’t be over… that—”
“It’s not strange,” Cal interrupted, cupping my neck in his hand. “If you need it, then I’ll make sure you get it. But I’m not leaving you alone with him,” he added firmly.
I shook my head, forcing back a shudder. “I wouldn’t want you to.”
He nodded, backing up a step and drawing a phone from his pocket. He fired off a text to someone before his questioning gaze met mine. “Do you want to shower first?”
I shook my head. “When I wash all this off, I want to wash him off too.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “You wash this off, then it’s over, baby,” he breathed. “Really fucking over.”
There was nothing I wanted more.
****
I walked into the club not twenty minutes later. My scrubs stuck to me, the blood crusted in some places while in others I could still feel the warmth of the body it had sprayed from so recently. The sickeningly sweet smell of iron permeated the air around me.
I looked around the main room, surprised to find so many of the members and their women there. Sal and Kat, Scarlet and Cole, Mack and Ettie, Connie and Wes all stood awaiting our arrival. Some of the guys must have driven like hell to get here, since they’d been at the warehouse with us.
“Wh-what?” I asked in confusion as Cal’s hand gripped my shoulder reassuringly from behind.
“They wanted to be here for you,” he explained.
“And for you,” Cole put in, his gaze on his father.
My throat tightened, and I was overcome with emotion. This club—the place and people I’d avoided for so long—had become the family I’d never had. I loved them for being here for me, but even more so for knowing Cal needed them too. He’d never ask—but they answered regardless.
Since I’d been with him I’d learned that not only did they respect him, and sometimes fear him, but they loved him too.
