Love Ties (35 page)

Shots resonated inside the metal walls. Ever’s blood cut an icy path through her body, leaving her shaking. Breathing hard, she forced herself to grip the door handle and get out of the car.

Picking the keys from O’Dovey’s cut had been easier than expected when he was so occupied with Sarah. She didn’t bother to remove those keys from the ignition. If she needed a quick getaway, she’d be ready.

Gravel crunched under her feet as she approached the side door. Shouts sounded, and another shot fired.

God, Jamison was in there. He’d thought sending her away for a day with Sarah wouldn’t tip her off, but she saw through him. Love opened her eyes, and she saw every cavern of his soul, even those he tried to hide.

More shouts, and she used the cover to open the door. It was noiseless but the sunlight washing over the interior wall alerted the closest guy.

He whirled, automatic weapon aimed at her chest.

She threw her hands up, locking gazes with Galitzen, one of the younger Dark Raiders. He narrowed his eyes, an evil smile transforming his face.

Without a word, he gripped her elbow. She squawked at his iron fingers and let him drag her around the perimeter of the room. She kept her attention on the main floor. Boxes lined the walls, where men took cover. And two guys were pinned down behind a fork lift.

The Hell’s Sons patches stood out to her like a lighthouse on a foggy sea of violence. She trembled and tried to break free of Galitzen’s hold. He wrenched her arm high on her back, and she bit back a cry.

Frantically, she searched the warehouse for Jamison. If he’d seen her, he’d come out with guns blazing to get her away from the Raider scum.

That must mean he wasn’t here.

Or he was dead.

Terror seized her, sending her heart into a wild staccato. Panting, she stumbled when Galitzen shoved her. She slammed into a wall of flesh, and familiar arms wrapped around her.

“Ever, what the fuck?” Stone’s voice was hard.

She looked into his eyes and knew her time with him had ended forever. He hadn’t touched her while she was at the MC because he knew too. Hatred welled in her chest.

“Let me go!”

Another volley of shouts.

“Raider pigs!” someone yelled.

“We’ll send you to Hell where you belong, Hell’s Son!”

Someone popped up from behind a crate.

A Hell’s Son squeezed off a shot and missed Blacky. As if oblivious to the person trying to take his life, he stormed across the space and ripped Ever from Stone’s hold. She screamed.

No Jamison in sight.

Blacky ripped her off her feet with an arm around her neck. Stone pulled his weapon, and Blacky used her as a shield.

Just as planned.

“Get these fuckers out of my warehouse before I blow her brains out.” Cold steel dug into her temple, and the breath whooshed from her.

Stone’s eyes darkened. She knew that look. Her knees threatened collapse, but Blacky tightened his hold on her throat, choking off her air supply.

“Let her go, goddammit,” Stone ordered.

“You want to save the puta traitor? She’s working with the Hell’s Sons. Whoring with their VP,” Blacky spat.

Stone’s expression didn’t change. He knew, yet he hadn’t hurt her during her stay in the club. He could have killed her.

He kicked out at Blacky, catching the man’s leg. He was forced to shift his stance, giving Ever precious air. She gasped, fingertips tingling.

“Release the woman,” someone yelled. She looked up to see Strother standing in the open, his weapon trained on Blacky—and her.

Small squeaks escaped her, and she fought for control of her reaction. He wouldn’t kill her, would he? Where was Jamison?

She swept the warehouse again. Blacky ripped her off her feet. They dangled. No air. She kicked.

Panic and stars formed in her mind even as she drifted.

A female shriek sounded, and as if in a dream, Ever’s gaze fell across the woman. If she’d had any air to gasp, she would have.

It was like looking into a mirror. The woman had the same build, was the same height. Her features were Ever’s, but she had long, dark hair.

Blacky crumpled, and her feet hit the concrete floor. Air rushed back into her lungs. She bent over and gagged. Drool and bile filled her mouth just as an arm locked like a vise around her middle.

She cried out when Blacky jerked her back against him, the gun digging into her ribs.

The woman who could only be Ever’s sister issued a curdling scream.

“Shut that bitch up!” Blacky barked.

Ever’s eyes followed the flash of light. The door closed. A dog that could only be Copilot snarled. Another series of shots, and a body hit the floor, sprawled from behind a crate, blood pooling under his head.

A Raider. Ever’s sister dug her fingers into her hair, her face a mask. Drake clamped a hand over her mouth and said something to her.

Blacky’s arm was steel digging into her middle, cutting off her air another way. Her vision swam.

A god appeared before her eyes, dressed in all black, his muscles taut and face fierce. He walked into the middle of the room, hands raised. “Let her go! Take me in her place.”

Ever’s eyes rolled back in her head. Her avenging angel was going to get himself killed.

“Jamison,” she mouthed.

He looked into her eyes and started walking forward.

•●•

A shot buzzed past his ear, but he kept coming. The floor erupted, bodies throwing themselves at each other in hand-to-hand combat. Gun blasts, and that woman kept screaming.

“Get her outta here,” he yelled, eyes fixed on Ever.

One twitch of that Raider’s finger, and she was nothing but a casualty. But Jamison would be broken forever.

He took another step.

“Keep coming, asshole. Every step you take means a second less of her life,” her captor said.

“Blacky, let her go,” Stone ground out.

Ever sagged in the man’s hold, and panic lanced through Jamison’s gut. He clenched his hands into fists.

“Kill me instead! I’m right the fuck here!” He struck his fists against his chest.

Blacky’s eyes glittered as he moved his gun to the back of Ever’s head. “When I pull this trigger, her brains will blow all over you.”

“No!” he and Stone bellowed at the same time.

More shots behind Jamison, and another thump of a body hitting the floor. Delta was crying now, a high, keening wail.

The muscle in Blacky’s forearm seemed to ripple. Was he squeezing the trigger? Christ—

Ever’s eyes opened wider.

Jamison dove for her, hoping to knock the weapon aside.

Stone was closer. He hit Blacky full-force. Ever spilled from his hold, and Jamison grabbed for her. He wrapped his fingers around her ankle and dragged her several feet away as Blacky and Stone grappled for control.

“Delta, no!” Drake yelled.

The woman appeared beside Ever, with Drake right behind. “Get them the fuck outta here!” Jamison commanded.

Drake threw Ever over his shoulder and ran, Delta towed behind him like a helpless doll.

A glimpse of her from behind, and Jamison’s addled mind fit the puzzle together.

Delta was Ever’s sister.

He threw one last look at them as they made it to the warehouse exit and then swung back to the battle for control in front of him.

Stone was on his back, Blacky pinned in a wrestling hold that kept the evil man from killing the Raiders VP.

“Take me instead. I’ll die in her place,” Stone growled.

“Jamison, get the fuck out of here,” Strother yelled.

He couldn’t. Not yet. The world was tilting out of balance. Blood a river on the concrete and crates on fire in the corner. The forklift had overturned, and both men inside were crushed.

“Jamison!”

The hair on his arms lifted in response to Ever’s voice.

He couldn’t take his gaze off the men before him, though. Stone jerked Blacky’s hand upward, pressing the gun to his own head. “Forget about her, brother. Take me in her place. I give my life for her.”

“Stone, no!” Light footsteps, and Jamison whirled in time to snatch Ever off her feet. He pressed her behind him, and several brothers crowded in, keeping her in a tight ring between them. Protected.

Ever tried to skirt around Jamison, but he wouldn’t let her. If her ex was going to die for her, she damn well was not watching.

Blacky’s hand shook. Stone’s lip twisted up. “You gonna kill someone? Kill me. I’ve protected that girl since she was a kid, and I’ll do it until the day she dies.”

Blacky hesitated.

“Go on! Do it!” Stone roared, spittle flying from his lips.

Ever slid to the floor, leaning against Jamison’s legs. He reached back and placed a hand on her head, in the thick strands of her hair. The rest of the warehouse fell still, but he didn’t dare look at the destruction around him.

“You can’t kill a brother,” someone called, stepping out from behind a stack of boxes. Blood ran down the man’s face, pouring from a gash in his forehead that looked to be a bullet graze. His president’s patch was turning red.

Stone tensed as the Raider’s prez approached. If he and Blacky turned on him, Ever, and the other Hell’s Sons protecting her, they were in trouble.

Stone and Blacky were locked in a battle of wills.

“Tell him, Seagraves. Give the order. If Blacky thinks someone must die here, let it be me. Ever is in the clear,” Stone said.

She sobbed. Jamison’s heart wrenched at the sound and also the knowledge that she would be hurt badly if Stone died. He slid a palm over his face, slicking the sweat there.

Seagraves latched onto Blacky’s shoulder. “Let him go. We don’t kill our brothers.”

“We do if they knew a traitor was in our midst and did nothing about it!”

Jamison had to get them all out of here. Whatever happened next between the Dark Raiders was their beef. With his hand on the weapon along his spine, he shot Ace a look. “Get her.”

His brother lifted Ever as if she weighed nothing. Copilot circled them, herding them to the door and out of danger.

She started to fight. “No! Stone! I can’t leave like this.”

Jamison pressed his lips into a hard line.

The Hell’s Sons broke for the exit, Ace at their center carrying a kicking, screaming Ever.

“Stone! Stone! Don’t kill him!”

It fucking hurt, hearing that, but Jamison knew childhood ties were strong. She’d loved the man enough to marry him. Bonds like that weren’t easily broken.

They burst out of the building. At the door, Jamison spun in time to see Blacky drop his weapon. Seagraves kicked it away.

And Stone scrambled to his feet. Across the expanse of the warehouse, filled with blood and drugs, Stone met Jamison’s gaze. He jerked two fingers in indication that he should get away with Ever.

A strange new brotherhood formed in that instant. Jamison stepped backward out the door, into the sunshine. He looked down into the faces of two dead brothers.

* * * *

Ever’s throat was raw from screaming. She dug her nose into Jamison’s cut and listened to the wind and the roar of bikes. Taking up the end of the procession was a van, in the back of which the bodies of Jimmy and Robbie lay.

It had taken Jamison ten tries to convince Ever that Stone was alive, that Seagraves had made Blacky drop his weapon. Only then could he get her on his bike and finally away from the warehouse.

The plan had been to kill the man responsible for the drug dealings in Heller’s Gap—Blacky. But he still lived. The warehouse still stood on the border, brimming with heroin and cocaine.

The Hell’s Sons wouldn’t be finished, and that meant more deaths.

Ever trembled, and Jamison placed a warm hand on her thigh, offering comfort. This was her fault, she’d gotten them in the middle of this mess. Without her intel, they’d still be trying to discover who had been responsible for the death of Strother’s son.

Now so many more lives were taken because of her—Blake’s and now Jimmy’s and Robbie’s.

Drake pulled up even with Jamison. Ever’s sister had her arms around his hard middle, her hair streaming out behind her in a thick mass. Her eyes were glassy with shock, probably a reflection of Ever’s.

They stared at each other for a whole city block before Jamison peeled off and took her down a side street, away from the other sons. Only Ace followed.

Delta lifted a hand in farewell. Ever would see her back at the club. Drake and the guys would keep her safe, and the ladies would make her welcome.

Familiar houses came into view, and Jamison parked in front of the house Ever was renting. In the past few weeks she’d been bounced between the rival gangs. She’d bought time and gotten people killed. She’d intended to give herself up to save the Hell’s Sons, and that had all backfired.

Stone had almost lost his life. While she didn’t want him, she didn’t want to know a world without him. She couldn’t face the idea of him giving his life for her.

Jamison got off his bike and pulled her into his arms. Neither of them had bothered with a helmet in the rush to flee the warehouse. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her up the sidewalk to the porch. The flowers she’d potted there were dead from neglect.

Tears flowed.

The inside of the house was quiet and stale, but she welcomed the calm. Jamison’s choice to bring her here instead of taking her to the chaos of the club was perfect.

He turned her into his arms and held her. Somehow she tapped that well of strength inside her, and her tears dried up.

He cupped her face and lifted her gaze to meet his. “Are you okay, baby?”

“I think so.”

“He isn’t dead.”

She’d have to be blind to see the toll it took on him to say this about Stone. Her heart swelled with love for Jamison. A ragged breath left her as she cradled his face. “I don’t want him, Jamie.”

His eyelid twitched. “I know.”

“I don’t want him dead, either.”

“I know that too.”

A tear slid down her cheek. “Thank you.”

He pulled her to the sofa and down onto his lap. She wound her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. The soft tickle of his hair, the way he smelled, fed her soul. Together they’d make it through the burials of their friends. And Ever could properly meet her sister.