I didn’t have time to worry about the idiot committing arson. Another scream bounced off the walls and my gaze was pulled to the two blondes fighting just twenty feet from me. Raven was on the floor with a girl I vaguely remembered on top of her punching her in the face with what looked like brass knuckles on her hands. Even through the growing smoke I could tell that Raven was bleeding and although she was trying to fight back she seemed more concerned with keeping the girl on top of her from hitting her in the stomach.
Oh hell no! This girl was not only hurting my friend but she was trying to hurt Raven’s unborn child.
I moved without thinking. I’ve never been in a fight in my life and by the looks of the fight currently going on I knew that I didn’t stand a chance against this bitch beating on my pregnant friend. I grabbed the first thing I came to, a chair that was sitting scooted back from one of the tables. It was heavy, made from a good-quality wood.
No one noticed me as I ran across toward the girls. Lifting the chair, I crashed it down onto the other blonde’s head. With a shout of pain, the other girl fell forward onto Raven—who stopped moving. Oh crap! Did I hurt her too?
Oh god. Oh fudge. Please, please, please. I moved quickly. Pushing the bitch off my friend I crouched down to examine Raven. Her face was bloody, her breathing shallow. The smoke was growing heavier in the air and the flames were making sweat roll down my face soaking my clothes. It wasn’t safe for Raven to be breathing this poison.
“Raven?” I carefully shook her shoulders. “Raven,” I shouted her name. “Please wake up. Open your damn eyes!”
She moaned but didn’t open her eyes. Behind me I could hear Samson cursing, probably realizing that he’d trapped himself in his own inferno. I didn’t care enough about him to want to help him. All I wanted was to get Raven out of there as quickly as possible.
I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to carry her, but maybe I could drag her without hurting her any more than she already was. I lifted her upper body and slid my arms under her armpits. Damn, dead weight made even a girl as fit as Raven more heavy than I figured she really was. It took all of my strength to drag her a few steps.
From outside, I thought I heard the sound of sirens. Thank God, help was on the way. Knowing that gave me a little added strength, and I dragged Raven as far as the door. I had to reposition my hold on her thin shoulders to open it. As fresh air blew against my back, the tortured sound of agonizing pain filled the air as strongly as the smoke that was starting to make my chest burn.
As if I were watching a terrifying scene in a bad movie, I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off the man who was now on fire. Vomit lifted into my throat as the scent of burning flesh overpowered the other putrid smells in the air. Samson was trapped; there was no way for him to get out. Even if he jumped he would have to go throw a good ten feet of flames as high as my chest. But there was no way he could jump to safety even if he wanted to now. His clothes were engulfed, and as I watched, his hair caught fire.
Raven shifted in my arms, moaned as if she was in bad pain and I had to tear my eyes off the nightmare across the room. Tightening my hold under her arms I dragged her outside just as three fire trucks skidded to a halt in the parking lot along with two ambulances.
From there, everything moved so fast and I was still so shocked from what I’d seen happening to Samson. It only took a matter of minutes but it felt like it took hours. While firemen in their gear rushed into the bar I watched as if having an out-of-body experience. Like I was watching it from above. Paramedics rushed to take Raven from me and I barely had time to register what they were doing before they were loading her into the back of an ambulance and rushing off with their lights and sirens blaring.
I noticed cops arriving just as a fireman was carrying the other blonde from the bar. Two other paramedics moved to take her, and I just stood there watching the front door of the bar. When they started breaking the windows I didn’t hear it. When three firemen carried out a foul-smelling, charred Samson, I couldn’t hold on any longer.
My knees went weak and I fell forward as vomit forced its way from my body. I caught the words “He’s just barely holding on” and then there was nothing but blissful oblivion as the world went black.
Chapter 16
Hawk
We were only two miles from the bar when I started to smell the smoke. The speeding ambulance with its lights flashing and its sirens raging passed us another mile down the road and my stomach began to twist into the kind of knots that told me I wasn’t going to like what I was going to find when we got to the bar.
Bash was the only one in front of me and we saw the fire trucks at the same time. I saw the change in him immediately. His head turned and he glanced back the way we’d come, as if he were looking for the ambulance, but it was already long gone.
The smoke in the air was thick. There were men with big water hoses spraying down the bar while others were rushing around. It appeared to be total chaos but I was still able to keep hold of my emotions. It looked like someone had burned down the bar, or had at least tried to. Other than what looked like broken windows I didn’t seen any outer damage, at least not from this side of the bar.
No, it wasn’t until I saw the two cars in the parking lot surrounded by all the emergency vehicles that my body turned ice cold and sweat broke out on my upper lip. Raven’s Challenger—and the Chevelle that I’d pretty much given to Gracie.
They had been here, but were they safe?
Who the fuck had been in that ambulance?
Bash didn’t even bother to put down his kickstand before he was off his bike, letting it fall behind him as he grabbed hold of the first person he could. “Where the fuck is Raven?”
The man, dressed in a paramedic’s uniform, blanched when his eyes met the flashing lightning coming from my prez’s eyes. He swallowed hard, but didn’t hesitate to speak. “Blonde girl?”
“Yes,” he snarled. “Where is she?”
“W-we’ve had two unconscious blondes. One was rushed to the hospital with multiple injuries as well as possible internal bleeding. The other is starting to come around and is being treated at that truck over there.” He lifted a shaking finger and pointed to the fire truck at the back of the parking lot.
Every club brothers’ eyes went straight there, but even from here I could see that the blonde wasn’t Raven. Narrowing my eyes, I saw Bubbles, who was sitting up while a paramedic examined her. She was bleeding and looked dazed as fuck, but she was alive. Oh fuck! Where the hell was my sister?
And where was Gracie?
“Raven.”
Bash dropped his hold on the man and raked his hands through his hair. When he turned to face me his eyes were wilder than I’d ever seen them. My own fear for my sister escalated. Internal bleeding? Did that mean she was going to lose the baby?
“What the fuck is going on?” Jet roared as he came up behind me. I glanced at my older brother and had to repress the sudden urge to take a step back. “Where is my sister? Where is Raven?”
“Hospital,” I rasped out through a tight throat. “Go,” I told him. “Find her.”
Bash was shaking as he ran back to his bike. He lifted his overturned bike like it were a little toy instead of a heavy steel machine. I had a sudden fear of him wrecking as he and Jet burned rubber getting out of the parking lot. I wanted to go with them, and was glad when I saw Colt and Raider following quickly behind them, but I had other things to deal with.
Like finding my female and making sure she was safe.
“We have another one down!” someone called out. My eyes zeroed in on the man that had spoken. I doubted that I’d ever ran so fast in my life as I dodged one person after another to reach the paramedic that was crouched over a still figure lying on the ground.
As I reached them my heart stopped. It was Gracie, and she was lying motionless on the ground. The medic waved something under her nose and she moaned before crying out. “Raven!”
I dropped to my knee
s beside of her, pushing the paramedic out of my way so that I could get to her. “Gracie,” I whispered, burying my face in her smoke scented hair. “Fuck, baby. Oh God. Oh fuck.” For the first time since I was a little boy I felt tears stinging my eyes. She was safe. Oh God, thank you, she was safe.
Hands tangled in the shirt under my cut and held on tight as she lifted her tear-filled eyes to mine. “Raven. She was hurt. I don’t know where they took her but she was bleeding.”
“Bash and my brothers are on their way to the hospital now.” I kissed her lips, quick and hard, needing to taste her.
She jerked back. “I got sick. I threw up.”
“Don’t give a fuck.” I kissed her again then pulled back. “What happened, baby?”
More tears began to spill over. “I got here and smelled smoke so I called 911. They told me to stay outside, but I heard Raven screaming. I had to go in and make sure she was okay.” She swallowed hard, her wet eyes closing, but that didn’t stop the tears from falling. “That other girl was on top of her, beating her with brass knuckles—is that what they’re called? Whatever, I don’t care. She was beating her badly and Raven was trying to fight back but she was mostly trying to protect her stomach.”
Rage began to take the place of the fear I’d been feeling until I’d found Gracie. Bubbles had been hurting my pregnant sister? For fucking real? I would deal with that later, but first I needed to know the rest. “Bubbles set the fire?”
Gracie shook her tangled hair. “No, it was Samson. He was behind the bar breaking bottle after bottle and stoking the fire. But he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing and he got trapped.” She swallowed hard, her face turning green like she might be sick again. “I knocked the blonde off of Raven with a chair and pushed her off Raven, but she wouldn’t wake up so I started dragging her out of there. But Samson…” She swallowed again and pulled back a little as if preparing to vomit again. “Samson caught himself on fire and started screaming. The smell…” Again she swallowed. “They brought him out a little while ago and said he was still alive, but I don’t know how. His skin was all black and looked like it was just hanging from his bones.”
Fuck, Gracie had seen something like that? I didn’t know how I would have handled seeing a man burning alive, but I knew that it wasn’t going to be good for Gracie. She was a strong female, but I didn’t know many men or women who could have dealt with something like that.
“I think they have him in the other ambulance, but it’s still here.” Her wet, aged-bourbon eyes went to the ambulance still sitting in the parking lot. “Is he still alive?”
“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. I didn’t care if he was alive or dead right then anyway. If he were dead, then good riddance; and if he was alive, he wouldn’t be for long. I would personally make sure that if his burns didn’t end him, my bullet between his eyes would.
“Willa and Lexa are still at home,” Spider muttered from behind me. “I just called her and let her know what was going on. I’m going to head over there and make sure they are okay before I head to the hospital and check on Raven.”
I carefully climbed to my feet and helped Gracie stand. She leaned weakly against me. “Okay, man. Be safe.”
Spider’s black eyes went to my female. “Are you okay, Gracie?”
She gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay.”
“Okay, good. I’m glad.” He gave her a forced smile and started to turn away.
I reached out and caught his elbow. Spider’s eyes widened as I took a step closer and lowered my voice. “It was Bubbles that was beating Raven. Get someone to watch her. If they take her to the hospital, they follow. I don’t want her out of our sights. When this is over, we can deal with her, but I don’t want her trying to make a run for it.”
“Fucking hell, man. Are you sure? Bubbles?” His eyes went to the fire truck where I’d seen the sheep sitting just a little while ago. “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry about it. Just deal with your female and then get over to the hospital.”
I waited until Spider had walked away before turning back to Gracie. Pulling her tight against my chest, I buried my face in her hair again. “Baby, I’m so glad you’re okay… You are okay, aren’t you?” I pulled back enough to examine her eyes. “Do you need to go to the hospital? Do you need a doctor?” Oh fuck. I hadn’t even thought that she might have something wrong with her.
Her smile trembled. “I’m fine. I just kind of fainted when I saw them bring Samson out.”
“God damn, baby. I love you so fucking much.”
Her entire body stiffened and I realized what I’d just said. Fucking hell. I should have waited. She didn’t need to remember the first time I told her I loved her with this shit. It would taint it, make what I felt for her seem less important. I was such an idiot…
“I love you too,” she whispered and another tear spilled down her cheek. “I’ve loved you for a long time, Hawk.”
Some of my tension eased as I saw the love shining back at me in her eyes. It didn’t make any of what was going on around us okay, but it made it a little more bearable to hear her say the words. It calmed me enough to be able to deal with what might be happening right then and there with my sister.
--
The cops made leaving the bar anytime soon nearly impossible. They wanted a statement from Gracie right then and there and although I told them she needed time to deal with the shock that was still making her tremble, they asked her to retell the story all over again. I sat beside her, holding onto her hand tightly as she sobbed her way through the end and nearly threw up again at the memories of Samson’s charred body.
For me, the good news was that the motherfucker had died not long after they had put him in the ambulance and tried to stabilize him enough so they could get him to the hospital. The bad news was that Bubbles was trying to play it off as Gracie assaulting her and Raven, that my girl had been the one to beat my sister up. It took them thirty minutes to realize that Gracie didn’t have any injuries to suggest that she’d been beating anyone up and that Bubbles had defensive marks on her face and the rest of her body where Raven had fought back. But it wasn’t until the fire marshal had found the two sets of brass knuckles that corroborated Gracie’s story that they took her word for it and let us go.
The chief of the fire department told me that the fire was out but there was enough damage to the structure on the backside of the bar to make the building a total loss. We had insurance, so I wasn’t worried about being able to rebuild. It was the meaning behind this building that broke my heart a little. This had been my father’s bar. He’d put his sweat and tears and busted back into the place. It was my MC’s safe haven, a place that every one of us had called home in some shape or form since before we were actually legally allowed to drink.
I was told that I could go in and check the place out, but I wanted my brothers and Raven to see it with me first.
No one had tried to call or even text me with news about how Raven was. Slowly, my club brothers had left one by one to head over to be with Bash and my brothers. I’d ached to go with them, but there was no way in hell I was going to leave Gracie alone. When the cops cleared us to go, I put Gracie in the passenger side of the Chevelle and drove us to the hospital.
The parking lot was crowded with all the MC’s bikes. When we walked into the ER waiting room there wasn’t a place to sit. All the ol’ ladies were there with their men and even the sheep were in attendance. My sister might be a hardass, but that didn’t mean that these men and women didn’t love and respect her.
I spotted Jet, Colt, and Raider standing with Uncle Jack and Spider by the door first and rushed toward them. “How is she?” I demanded.
“No one is telling us shit. Bash is back there, but only because he threatened to beat the fuck out of anyone that got in his way.” Jet scrubbed his hands over his face. My brother had been so full of smiles when I’d first seen him again so many hours ago. Now he looked like what I
felt like. That we were walking through a fucking nightmare. “The nurses won’t tell us shit even though there has been one after another going in and out of her room. The only reason I’m out here is because that security fucker threatened to call the cops and I don’t want to upset Raven by ending up in a jail cell just a few hours after walking out of prison.”
I reached out and squeezed my brother’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay. We have to keep thinking that.”
Jet clenched his jaw and nodded, but didn’t say another word.
It felt like we stood in the waiting room for hours. The sheep produced coffee from somewhere and pushed cup after cup into our hands. Someone started handing out sandwiches, but I couldn’t eat and neither could my brothers. One person after another offered me a seat, but I was too restless to sit. I tried to get Gracie to sit, but she said she needed to be beside me so we stood there silently holding onto each other.
It was close to midnight before Bash came into the waiting room. His face was pale, his eyes shooting lightning in a way that freaked me the fuck out, but his lips were lifted in a grim smile as he grabbed hold of Jet and hugged him. “She’s going to be okay. She has a broken right cheekbone and her left wrist had to be set. There wasn’t any internal bleeding like they thought but they were worried that she was going to miscarry. After they did an ultrasound and made sure that the kid was okay, they decided she was going to be fine.”
My body suddenly felt weightless with relief. Raven was going to be okay. My little niece or nephew was going to be okay, too. I felt my eyes sting for the second time that day and buried my face in Gracie’s hair to hide my tears of relief.
Raven
My face felt swollen and achy, my wrist one big throb. The nurses had offered me pain meds, but I’d been so scared that they would hurt my baby despite the assurance that it wouldn’t. Pain I could deal with; hurting the little guy nestled so snuggly under my heart I couldn’t.