Black Dogs Motorcycle Club: Full Series Box Set (23 page)

Ghost seemed a little disappointed, but he
only gave the man a kick as he passed and followed the group out. Halfway
through the factory floor, they heard the rumble of bikes and trucks pulling up
outside. The group stopped on instinct and listened.

“
That
’
s
a lot of vehicles,
”
said
Will.
“
Not
just the van from the drop.
”

“
Could be the backup from
the Crosses,
”
said Ghost.
“
Let
me scope it out.
”
He
pushed ahead of the group on the narrow walkway and lifted his weapon as he
swiftly approached the factory door. After a few tense moments, he yelled back,
“
All
clear!
”
His voice carried across the room.

Henry, Beck, and the sheriff waited for
them, along with the secondary riders from the MC outsourced to the police.
Everyone was putting away their guns when Jase emerged with Maggie clinging to
his side.  Henry called out her name and she unlatched from Jase to run to his
arms for an embrace. Henry held her tight and spoke to her too quietly for Jase
to hear. He waited at a distance, watching, while the cops and Black Dogs
swarmed around him and into the building to begin clean-up.

EMS arrived a few minutes after. Henry
insisted Maggie get checked out, and Jase followed them to the bus. He stood
next to Henry at a distance as they both watched the paramedic assess her
condition.

“
Are you alright?
”
said Henry, putting a hand on Jase
’
s
shoulder.

Jase nodded. He crossed his arms and kept
his eyes on Maggie as she sat on the edge of the bus.
“I
am now.”

“I’ll
never be able to repay
you for this, Jase. Thank you for saving her.
”

“Don’t
thank me,
”
said Jase.
“
Even
if you hadn’t already saved my life
…
she
has. I owed her this.
”

Henry said,
“
I
guess there was never any stopping this thing between the two of you.
”

Jase felt surprise, but his fear of this
confrontation was gone. He gathered his words carefully before he spoke.
“I
’
m
not sure any of us knew that until today. And it certainly wasn’t for lack of
trying.
”

“Son…”

“
You can kick me out of
the club,
”
said Jase, even though he
couldn’t look at Henry when he said it.
“I’ve
had it both ways, Henry. I know what life is like without her now, and it
’
s
not the same. Even at its best with the MC, even the days I was happy, it
wasn’t like this.
”
He
shook his head.
“I
’
m
not losing her again.
”

Jase turned. For the first time he could
remember, he saw pain on Henry
’
s
face, and deep in his eyes.

“
Jase, that hadn’t even
crossed my mind. Why would it? You saved my daughter. Without question you have
done everything you can, every hour, to help me keep her safe since she
arrived.
”

Jase flushed and looked at his feet.

“
Maybe you two weren’t
certain until today, but I saw this coming years ago,
”
said Henry. He swiped self-consciously at a tear and
let out a chuckle.
“
I saw this coming
from the first time you two traded comic books with each other at the
clubhouse. I had never seen a boy make Maggie laugh so much. And it was the
first time I saw you acting normal since your dad died.
”

Jase felt a deep, almost painful gratitude
for Henry
’s
words, even as he laughed lightly at the memory.

“
I should never have stood
in the way,
”
said Henry.
“
It
was a fool
’
s errand. I won’t
keep it up now. Even if I wanted to, I owe you that much for saving her life.
”

He turned and looked Henry in the eyes.
“
I
love her, Henry; more than anything,
” Jase
answered
.

Henry nodded and gave Jase an emotional
smile.
“
Good.
Keep it that way.
”

The paramedic wanted Maggie to head to the
hospital, worried she might have suffered some head trauma from the abuse or
the rough van ride, but she refused to leave without Jase. Jase didn’t
hesitate to climb in
to the bus with her and sit next to
her stretcher, his hand curled into hers.

“Love you,”
said Maggie to
Henry as he stood at the edge of the open doors.
“
Thank
you for saving me.
”

“
This is your home,
sweetheart. We will always protect you here,
”
said
Henry.
“I’ll
be right behind you once I get things sorted here.
”

Jase nodded to Henry again before the
paramedic closed the doors and signaled the driver to make his way down to the
interstate.

~ NINETEEN ~

The
doctors made Maggie spend a full overnight in the hospital for observation.
Since the Taser knocked her unconscious, they didn’t want to take any chances.
Despite the death or capture of nearly all the men involved, the sheriff put a
deputy outside her door, to go along with the three Black Dogs already posted
up there as her guards.

Well, four, counting the one in her
hospital room. Jase refused to leave her side, and had no trouble barking
commands to the others to make sure she still wanted for nothing. The pain meds
kept her floating in and out of sleep, but every time she woke up, he was still
there on the side of her bed, holding her hand. Sometimes, he was watching her
sleep. Once, she couldn’t open her eyes, but could hear his soft breathing on
the edge of her consciousness. And twice she woke only to find him sleeping
with his head perched on her leg gently.

Maggie smiled and found the energy to lift
her hand and stroke his raven-colored hair while he slept. He made a soft
little groaning noise in his sleep, and moved a little under her touch. She
didn’t want to wake him, but she played softly with his hair until she fell
back asleep herself.

By afternoon the following day, she was
feeling better, and the docs didn’t see any signs of worry. Like a patient
guardian, Jase listened to a doctor describe her recovery treatment. Henry
stood in the back of the room, waiting to help transport her home. Jase was
careful as he scooped her up from the bed and into a wheelchair. Henry walked
alongside her as Jase pushed. The doctor had offered, but Jase refused to let
him.

Henry stood by as Jase helped her
carefully into the passenger seat of his truck. Once she was belted in, he came
up and took her hand. He planted a gentle kiss on top of it.
“
Tell
me this is the end of the family curse.
”

Maggie smirked at him, still not quite
herself under the painkillers.
“
I
hope so, dad.
”

Henry had a confused smile on his face.
“
You
haven’t called me dad in a long time.
”

“I
’
m
on a lot of drugs. I probably won’t remember it tomorrow, so don’t get used to
it,
”
she said. For once, Henry just laughed at her
backtalk. Jase climbed into the driver
’
s
seat and double-checked her seatbelt before he started the ignition.

“
Sheriff
’
s
digging out the last of the Rebel Cross boys from their chapter in Howlett.
Most of them had nothing to do with it, but he
’
s
not taking any chances,
”
said
Henry.
“
Things
should be safe now with Evan eliminated, but keep your eyes out just in case
for the next few days.
”

“
I dare them to try again,
”
said Jase with a grin as he started the truck.
“
The
higher my body count, the sexier she thinks I am.
”

“It
’
s
true,”
said Maggie. She laughed much harder at
the joke than it deserved, which only made Jase and Henry laugh at her.

“
Take care of my little
girl, Jase,
”
said Henry before he
closed the door.

Jase saluted him with serious eyes.
“
Always,
boss.
”

Maggie smiled at her father through the
truck window and waved as they backed out of the hospital parking lot. For
sure, she knew now, it was the painkillers giving her such ease of emotion. But
as silly as she felt, it was a welcome relief from the horror of the past week.
She let it envelop her as she turned to look at Jase in the driver
’
s
seat, watching the road. His hand had already wandered over to find one of hers
in her lap. Every now and again, he would sneak a look over at her, and she
would already be watching him and grinning. Jase would laugh and turn red a bit
before he went back to watching the road.

“I
’
m
glad to see you sitting there,
”
he
said at one stoplight. He squeezed her hand when she told him she was thinking
the same thing.

Jase took them back to his house. He set
her up in bed and demanded her orders.
“
Anything
you want, I’ll get it for you. Just say the word.
”

“
Anything?
”

“Yep.”

“A puppy?”

“
Done. What else?
”

“
A glass of whiskey.
”

“
As long as you don’t tell
the doc. Next?
”

“Some crack cocaine?”

“
Sure. Wait, what?
”
said Jase with a laugh.

Maggie said,
“
For
real on the whiskey.  And why don’t you tell me what the hell happened, while
you
’
re at it.
”
She patted the bedspread for him to sit down.

Jase made her wait until he got them both
two fingers of a very smooth whiskey he
’
d
been keeping stashed away in his kitchen. They clinked a small
‘
cheers
’
.
The whiskey burned down her throat, and toasted up her insides nicely.

“
What do you remember?
”
said Jase.

“
Just what I told the
sheriff. I couldn’t see anything on the van ride, didn’t know where we were. I
didn’t recognize any of the Rebel Cross men
…
only
Evan,
”
she said.
“
They
left me in there for a while until suddenly I could hear gunfire from somewhere
close. Gunfire came and went, and then Evan came in and started untying me. He
kept saying we had to go, he had to get me out of there.
”

“
That was Will and Ghost,
”
said Jase.
“
If
Will hadn’t
called me about Drake, I probably never
would have found you.
”

“I can’t
believe that
motherfucker had something to do with all of this,
”
said Maggie. Even as she said it, some part of her
actually did believe it. He had never sat right with her.

“It
’
s
always about the deals for him. That
’
s
what made him so good for the club; he had connections to everyone. It was stupid
of us to think he would keep us sacred,
”
said
Jase.
“
But
that opportunistic little fuck has cut his last deal around these parts.
”

“
Is that secret club
business you
’
re sharing with
me?
”
said
Maggie.

Jase smiled and moved a bit of hair out of
her face.
“
From now on, my love, I
will be sharing all secret club business with you.
”

Maggie raised an eyebrow.
“
Really?
”

Jase nodded, serious.
“
You
might not wear a cut, but your blood is in the MC as much as any of us that do.
Henry was wrong to try and keep you out of it. And if we
’
re
going to be together, it makes no sense for me to try to keep you out of it,
either. We have to trust each other.
”
He
bent and pressed his forehead against hers.
“
We
share it all.
”

Maggie smiled to herself.
“
I
like that.
”

Jase pulled back and kissed her. Then he
cleared his throat and looked away.
“
So
I suppose you’ll just be staying here then, hmm?
”

Maggie grinned widely, watching his face
tint red.
“
You mean while I recover?
”
She teased.

“
Well of course, yes--
plus the days after that.
”

“
Oh? How many days?
”

“
I
don’t
know, like
…
.three or four? Or all of
them?
”
said Jase with a grin he could no longer fight.

“
I told you, Campbell, you
gotta put a ring on it,
”
said
Maggie, tapping her left hand sarcastically.

“
Oh, right,
”
he said. He suddenly stood and started digging through
his pockets, and Maggie felt her heart stop. She stared at him with wide eyes
as he sat back down with something in his hand.

Jase turned and saw the look on her face
and froze. Then he said,
“
Oh, this isn’t
…
.
this isn’t that.
”

Maggie slumped and started laughing at
herself.

“
When would I have had
time to get a ring?
”
said
Jase with a shake of his head and a laugh.

“
I
don’t
know, I’ve been on a painkiller high for twenty-four hours!
”
she said.

“Don’t
worry, beautiful, you
won’t be waiting long for that,
”
he
said. He opened her hand and dropped into it her mother
’
s
rosewood-beaded rosary.
“
They found this in
the van that snatched you. Henry said it was yours.
”

Maggie gasped and closed her hand tightly.
In the chaos of the kidnapping, she hadn’t even noticed the rosary fall out of
her pocket. She looked at Jase with a teary smile. She felt too overwhelmed to
speak.

Jase returned the smile and put a gentle
hand on her head, smoothing her hair.
“
I
never did get you that coffee.
”

She cleared her throat.
“
That
sounds nice,
”
said Maggie.
“
I
think I’ll stay right here this time.
”

Jase laughed. He bent and gave her a kiss.
“
I
wouldn’t mind if you were in that bed every time I came looking.
”

He headed down the hall towards the
kitchen and Maggie called after him,
“
Like
you
’
re that lucky!
”
She heard him chuckle to himself.

Maggie sunk into the warm softness of Jase
’
s
bed and clenched her mother
’
s
rosary tightly in her palm. It was probably all in her fuzzy mind, but she
thought the beads felt hot under her touch. She listened to the sounds of Jase
in the kitchen, the soft chirping of the summer birds outside the window, the
faraway hum of tractors on the farmland.

Safe, loved, and warm, Maggie realized, in
that moment, that her life had become better than any daydream she could
conjure. Henry had said she only need find hands that can handle her. There was
no question
—
if there ever had been
—
whose
hands she needed.