AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He knew he couldn’t handle the situation alone. Cross then shared the details of Dana’s circumstances. Priest’s expression grew serious as he considered Cross’s request.
“You don’t have to come if you think it’s too risky,” Cross said.
This was a personal problem, after all, not an MC problem. Another MC brother might’ve left Dana to the wolves but Cross was crazy about this woman. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Fate placed her in his path for a reason. Cross genuinely believed that.
“And leave you to the Crows to feed on?” Priest scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “I won’t let you ride to your death for some woman you hardly know.”
Cross met Priest’s challenging gaze head-on, unwavering.
“She’s important to me, Priest,” Cross said. “I know it in my heart.”
“We’ll need a third,” Priest finally said. “I’ll see if I can get hold of Spike.”
Cross nodded. Spike was a good choice. He was always looking for some action and didn’t care about the cause all that much. “Thanks, brother,” he told Priest, meaning it.
“We’ll meet up at the front in half an hour,” Priest said.
“Tell Spike to come armed,” Cross reminded him.
Cross hurried to his private room within the MC’s headquarters, where he kept his favorite firearms and his trusty knife. He needed some serious firepower.
On his way out of the room, Cross accidentally bumped into Breaker, the MC president. Breaker took one look at Cross, and his expression was hard to read.
The MC was like a family, and Breaker always seemed to have an uncanny knowledge of everything that happened within the club. Still, Cross knew he owed Breaker an explanation. It was time to fess up.
“Going on a trip?” Breaker asked.
Ten years ago, Breaker had found Cross in the dirty parking lot of a run-down roadhouse, half dead and drunk. If Breaker hadn’t offered him a hand back then, Cross wouldn’t be alive today. Cross owed Breaker his life. Cross didn’t hesitate. He owed Breaker the truth.
“All this for one woman?” Breaker asked him afterward.
“What would you have done if Riley was in trouble?” he asked.
He had taken a gamble, bringing up Breaker’s old lady, but he knew it was the right card to play.
Breaker scowled but finally said, “Fine, just don’t get Priest and Spike killed.”
“I won’t,” Cross promised.
****
“Your friend said he’d be here before nightfall. Where is he?” Jeremy asked impatiently.
The broken engine sat in front of Dana and she thought of it as a puzzle she needed to solve. Her father’s anxiety didn’t help.
“Dad, stop pacing and calm down,” Dana almost snapped.
Work kept her mind occupied and her worries at bay. Cross had given his word, and Dana trusted him. He didn’t strike her as the kind of man who’d go back on his promises. Perhaps he encountered a delay somewhere.
Or he could’ve changed his mind about helping you, whispered a nasty voice in her head. Dana ignored that voice. If that was true, then she and her dad were doomed.
Fifteen minutes later, the roar of motorcycle engines thundered in the distance, sending a shiver down Dana’s spine. Her work on the engine came to an abrupt halt as she glanced toward her father. Jeremy’s face had drained of color, his eyes wide with fear, mirroring her own growing apprehension.
“Stay where you are,” she told him. “I’ll check who it is.”
Jeremy nodded. She moved cautiously toward the closest window, where they had hastily taped over the glass earlier. The sight outside was obscured, but she could still make out the figures standing in the dimly lit street. Three bikers on their Harleys had arrived. One of them dismounted and carried a shotgun, a terrifying sight that sent a chill down Dana’s spine.
Fear gripped her for a few moments, and she struggled to contain it. Should she and her father make a break for it? The shop had another exit in the back, offering a potential escape route.
