He sent a text back.
Be home in two hours. Keep my girl safe.
“Spike!”
He looked up and saw his brothers waiting on him. He slipped the phone into his pocket. He’d call home soon.
“Waiting for me?” he asked.
Razor grinned. “Figured we’d better make certain you were okay. Gotten used to seeing your ugly mug.”
Spike just shook his head as Duke came up and whacked his back. “All done?”
“Steele and Grady are tidying up.”
Reyes nodded. They all knew what that meant.
“Back to Reaper’s for a drink?” Razor asked.
“I best get home to Sunny,” Duke said.
“I better get home too,” Ink added. “The boys wanted to come. They’ll have driven Betsy nuts all night.”
“I have to go retrieve some puppies,” Spike told them.
“Puppies?” Razor asked.
“Yeah. But thanks guys, appreciate your help,” he said awkwardly.
Ink grinned. “What else is family for, man, but to come armed to a beat down with a gang? I’m shocked I don’t get asked to do that more often.”
* * *
Spike could barely hear himself think from all the barking.
While Mr. Fluffy might be narcoleptic, it seemed his brothers and sister were the opposite. They were boisterous. Energetic. And one of them was chewing on his damn seatbelt.
He needed to call home. He’d tried to check in on his way to the Devil’s Sinner headquarters, but Steele had called him. Then he’d decided that maybe it was best to wait until after he had safely rescued the puppies. No use worrying Millie more than necessary. But now he really needed to hear her voice. Using the truck’s Bluetooth, he was about to call home when his phone rang. “Yeah?”
“Ah, Spike, we got a situation here,” Razor told him.
“Got a bit of a situation here myself,” he yelled over the puppies barking.
“Well, think you best come deal with this one. Five, um, older folks just walked into the bar demanding to see you. One says he’s Russian mafia, he’s already threatened to skin several of the guys. Another is deaf as fuck and is yelling everything. And then there’s the one they’re calling Reverend Pat. Spike, they’ve cleared out half the fucking bar.”
“Fuck. They’re Millie’s family. Just get them out to Reyes’ office and I’ll be there soon.”
“Well, put your foot down, man. Before everyone clears out.”
42
Her head was pounding. Nausea bubbled in her stomach. Was she having a migraine? But why did her neck hurt so much? Why was she lying on something hard? And who was yelling?
Her shoulder was in agony. Where was Spike? What was going on? She took shallow breaths to try and manage the pain and nausea.
“It’s all this bitch’s fault!” someone roared.
Her heart raced. She knew that voice.