One More Ride (Night Riders Motorcycle Club Book 3) (9 page)

“Your daughter was taken, Mrs. Nichols. But not by me. And you have my word that I’ve never hurt her.”

Lauren started to nod when Blake folded her close, and she couldn’t resist the lure of his chest. Resting in his arms, she glanced at her mother and watched her blank face as she reached into her purse.

“Then I guess I should be giving this to you, Mr. Bell.”

She pressed a thick wad of bills into Blake’s hand, and he studied the stack in shock as Quinn took her daughter’s face in her hands.

“Your man, your choice. When are you coming home?”

Blake still seemed stunned by the sight of the bills. Lauren pulled on his arm, and he shot back to attention as Quinn repeated her question.

“Whenever she wants,” Blake said. “I go with her.”

Quinn started making plans, saying that they’d have to rent a car since there was no chance that Carter would drive her back.

“And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”

Laying out a life of home-cooked meals and warm beds, Lauren thought of wanting to share that and more with Blake. But even as her mother had trusted her, a part of her still worried when she failed to make contact. The Night Riders were Blake’s family. She couldn’t just let him…

“Mom, there’s something that we have to do first.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“And she’s back.”

Lauren let Blake lift her from the back of his bike as the Night Riders seemed ready to lay fresh tracks. Trent shot her a sharp sneer as he turned his back, but Callie moved forward in friendship.

“So what’s the deal?” she asked Blake. “Thought you said that you would run the other way as long as you could follow her.”

Blake blushed, and Lauren held his hand, feeling stronger in the space of his touch as she peered into Callie’s eyes.

“I followed him,” Lauren said. “You really think I would let him go without saying goodbye?”

Callie tilted her head and her lips slowly curled into a smile as she pinched Blake’s cheek. “Glad for that, boy. Come with me.”

Walking past the others, Callie led them to Paul and Grace crouching behind a slab of stone. The girl started as soon as she saw them, and Lauren left Blake’s hold to approach her.

“I’m sorry, Grace,” she said. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I—”

“It didn’t really hurt,” Grace said. “Nothing compared to having to keep running.”

Paul groaned as Lauren snapped her fingers quickly in Blake’s face. He pulled Quinn’s wad of bills from his pocket.

“Jesus fuck!” Callie cried. “What the hell have you two been up to?”

Lauren took the money and assured Grace that this was the reward. “And it’s ours now,” she promised. “So no more cops. Your father won’t have a way to track you.”

As Grace fingered the money, she seemed to search Lauren’s face in the hope that her words were true. When Blake nodded and split the stack in two, Grace fell into her arms. Lauren held her close as Blake conferred.

“Take half,” Blake said. “Use it to make a fresh start.”

When Paul hesitated, Blake shook his head and clasped his shoulders.

“I’m going with Lauren, and you need to keep everything else up and running. Think of it as a parting gift.”

Paul started to protest when Callie nudged his ribs. “Don’t you know what to do with a gift horse?” she asked. “Come on now.”

Silently agreeing to Blake’s terms, Paul pocketed the bills and slapped Blake’s back. “And you’re really going to be okay?”

Smiling down at Lauren, Blake winked as he spoke.“Don’t see how I—”

“What the fuck?”

Trent’s voice pierced the air as the group shot up straighter and regarded one another with wary stares. Leading the charge, Paul drew his gun as Blake had his back.

“What’s happening?” Lauren asked.

“Damned if I know,” Callie answered.

Stepping slowly, Grace still under her arm, Lauren’s eyes went wide at the sight of the Demon Dogs back in full force. But for the first time, they didn’t scare her. All they wanted was the reward, and now it was off the table.

“You’re too late!” Lauren said. “We’re going. We—”

Lauren’s speech stopped short at the sight of a familiar frame poking into view.

“Abbott?”

What was he here? He was on her side. Maybe the man just needed more proof to be sure of her side of the story. But then why had Wayne and—

“There she is.”

Abbot pointed past Lauren and fixed his stared on Grace.

“Heard that you were up for sale,” Abbott said. “Can’t say I liked the thought of it, little girl.”

Grace started to scream as she cowered into his shoulder. Why was the cop saying…?

Have a daughter myself. I know what it is to worry.

“Oh no…”

Abbott stepped closer, and Paul moved to stop him when Wayne cocked his trigger and aimed at Grace in Lauren’s arms.

“No!” Grace screamed. “No! I won’t go back! Not with you!”

Folding Grace into her arms, Lauren fell to the sand and covered Grace with her body. Trying to calm Grace with her whisper, she looked up the see Abbott staring Blake down as he smirked.

“Thanks so much,” he said. “Been looking for my little girl. Who would’ve thought that you’d be my ticket to the truth?”

Blake moved to strike him when Wayne fired a shot into the air. The Night Riders fell silent as Wayne turned his gun back on Grace, and no one made a move as Abbott stepped closer.

“So this is where you end up,” he started. “Some biker’s whore. Sweetheart…”

Grace cringed as Abbott leaned closer and tried to touch her. Knowing enough, knowing too much, Lauren pushed Grace behind her back and glared at Abbott.

“I thought I could trust you,” she hissed.

“You can,” he said. “You and this…”

Abbott smirked at Blake before turning his eyes back to Lauren.

“You can play the old lady for as long as you want,” he continued. “Shit. Even your mom seems down with that. Guess it’s just her parenting style.”

He smirked at Grace and touched his fingers to her trembling chin. “But I keep my little girl close,” he said. “You’re going to come back and be a good. And this time, I’m never letting you out of my sight.”

Grace flinched, and Lauren longed to tear his heart out as Paul tried to charge forward.

“I wouldn’t,” Wayne cautioned. “I really wouldn’t.”

His gun was still poised to take Grace down where she lay, and Lauren turned her eyes to Blake. She saw him seething through his skin, but he held back as Abbott stretched to his feet and suddenly held court.

“This is how it’s going to go down, boys,” he started. “I take my girl and go. You tools can skulk off and no one will ever hear from you again.”

He smirked at Wayne, wrinkles expanding across his face as he tweaked the Demon Dog’s nose. “And I give you boys all the protection you need.”

Abbott was playing all sides against the middle, and Lauren had given him the opening that he needed to make this vile play. She had trusted him and spoke out of turn when she thought that he was one of the good guys.

Like his own squad was going to take my word over his.

How could she be so blind as to trust any cop when this was how they were? Abbott reached for Grace when Lauren smacked his hand back with a cold glare.

“Don’t you fucking touch her!”

“What are you gonna do about it, princess?” Abbott asked. “You’re just a freak in need of a fix. Maybe you’re sweet mom buys that line and thinks it’s a kind of normal. But I take care of my daughter.”

Even as Lauren kicked and screamed, Abbott pried Grace from her arms.

“Leave her alone!” Paul screamed. “Don’t you fucking touch—”

In the same instant that he fell silent under the weight of Wayne’s gun, Lauren’s hand wrapped around a stray stone. Wielding it like the most lethal weapon, Lauren lowered the rock to the back of Abbott’s head.

“Wrong move,” Wayne said. He fired at Lauren’s feet.

“Don’t you fucking dare!”

Blake wrestled Wayne to the ground as another set of arms pushed Lauren away from path of the oncoming bullet. As she fell into the sand, Lauren looked up and saw Trent starting down at her. Her breath was hard as he helped her to her feet and smoothed his hands down the side of her skirt.

“So now I’m forgiven?” Lauren asked.

“Guess we’re on the same side,” Trent said.

They shared a smile, and as Abbott struggled to his knees, Blake charged forward and stared the cop down.

“You are not getting her back,” Blake spat.

“That a fact? Maybe I’ll take the rich girl as reparation. Sort of like the ideas of both of being inside both of them.”

His laughter caused Lauren to cringe, and Paul rolled away from another bullet and took Grace into his arms.

“It’s not happening,” Blake promised.

“Let’s just put a fucking point on this.” Abbot was on his feet with a fresh smirk. “I’m getting my daughter out of this hellhole and taking her home.”

“She is home!” Paul challenged. “Here, away from you!”

Abbot waved his fingers in the air, and Wayne was ready to fire again when the cop spoke slowly.

“She comes back,” Abbott said as he turned his smirk to Wayne. “I can count on you boys to make that happen, right?”

Wayne nodded, and Lauren’s eyes darted in every direction. Callie was without her shotgun, and Blake’s charging fists were stopped short by another Demon Dog’s sharp blow. Spying Paul’s gun laying in the sand, Lauren considered making a play for the weapon and hoping that she could hit him right between his eyes. But she hadn’t had a moment’s worth of practice, and the rock was far from her grasp.

But there was something else…

“Here!” she cried. “Take this.”

Collecting the bills from the sand, Lauren pressed the bills to Wayne’s feet and snapped her fingers to Blake’s face.

“Lauren? What the hell do you think you’re—?”

“Give him the rest of it!” she cried. “Give him all of it.”

Blake stayed still when Lauren shot him a quick stare, her eyes pleading and knowing as she begged him to just make the move.
Trust me. Like I trusted you.

Pushing his hand into his jeans, Blake flung the rest of the reward to the sand and stood back as Lauren gathered the bills into her hands and pushed them toward Wayne’s eyes.

“This is yours,” she whispered. “All this money.”

Wayne appeared intrigued by the green poking through her fingers. Money talked, and Wayne would listen. His hands were nearly on the bills when Lauren brought the money back to her chest and curled her lips into a smirk.

“But you have to take out the trash first,” Lauren said.

Wayne cocked his head as he returned the point of his gun to the space between her eyes.

“Now why would I want to that?” Wayne asked. “Cop here says that he’ll look out for us. So there’s a lot more where—”

“And when the word on the street is that Demon Dogs are in bed with the law,” Lauren said. “Think about it, Wayne. When he’s tired of you, he’ll sell you out and do you dirty, too.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Abbott said. “This one just needs a lesson.”

Blake charged forward, and Lauren reached up for his arm as she kept her gaze of Wayne. “But we’ll all go,” she continued. “And you can consider this payment for the men that you’ve lost. And I have it on good authority that there’s another cop called Kyle that wants a mole.”

Abbott started to his feet and clenched his fists. “Don’t you even try to turn this to your—”

“And you won’t be in his pocket,” Lauren said. “You can play him like a fiddle, take the cash, and—”

Abbott started to reach for his daughter again when Wayne made his decision. Firing a single bullet into the back of his head, Abbott’s face registered total shock before he fell into a pool of blood.

“Deal,” Wayne said. “You fucks have thirty minutes.”

Grace’s fingers touched the edge of the bleeding as Trent and Hugo dragged the body away for a swift burial.