“Because I need to use my fucking leg, Cole,” I snapped at him.
I managed to make it to the waiting room where Holly and Lilly were waiting on us. She had spent the time I was getting the bullet out and getting stitched up to go check on her mom. She eyed Cole and I warily. “Is everything okay between you two?” she asked a bit timidly.
“Just fucking dandy,” I ground out.
When we got to the clubhouse, Cole immediately called church. “What’s church for?” Holly asked me.
“It’s club business,” I told her. Hell, we hardly told prospects anything. Besides, one of our members had almost raped her; I didn’t need to make a mistake by letting her know something, and she end up using it against us.
She gaped at me as if I had slapped her across the face. “I can be trusted, Amelia.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Holly, I know what it’s like to be a rape victim. You will get tired of being a victim and feeling weak. When you do, you will do whatever it takes to take that person down,” I told her in a low voice so Lilly wouldn’t hear. Holly physically winced at my words. “So, no, right now, I don’t think that you can be trusted.”
“Amelia, get your ass in here!” Cole roared.
I swung around to face him, fury flaring up in my eyes. “Fucking holler at me like a fucking dog one more time, and I’ll knock all of your fucking teeth down your throat,” I snarled.
“Someone needs to be fucked,” Katie said, walking towards the chapel.
“Shut up!” Cole and I shouted at her at the same time.
Gunshots started to fill the air around us, silencing all of our words. I knocked Holly and Lilly to the ground, covering their bodies with mine as much as I could. The clubhouse doors were kicked open, and London’s Tears stormed in, guns pointed at all of us. I cursed. I didn’t know what the fuck had happened to put us on their radar, especially considering my dad had turned to them for help while I was in jail.
Cole yanked me off of the ground and shoved me behind him, pressing me against his back. “What the fuck are you bastards doing in town?” Cole asked them, his voice deadly quiet.
“You’ve got some precious cargo of ours. Recently obtained, I heard,” one of the men spoke up.
“Listen, we don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I told him, coming around to stand by Cole’s side.
He smirked when he saw me, and I recognized him when I got a good look at him. “Drake?” I asked incredulously. “Why the fuck would you accuse us of having something? You know I would never let anyone here take anything away from you.”
“You know him?” Cole asked me, his muscles tense.
“Yes, I know him!” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air in exasperation. “My dad made an alliance with him while I was in jail to try to get me help.”
“About jail,” Drake spoke up. “I assume you got out early as planned?”
“Yes,” I told him. “Drake, what do you think we have?” I asked him. Fuck, the last person I needed this club crossing was Drake. He was a really good friend to my dad; we didn’t need him as an enemy.
“There’s a woman that owes me something. She’s blonde and has blue eyes. You might have seen her at a strip club or around town with a little girl.”
My heart thudded hard in my chest. “Holly?” I asked him.
He nodded. “I don’t need the little girl. I just need her. She needs to pay me back and the fucking bitch hasn’t done it yet,” he snapped harshly. Man, he really fucking hated Holly. Drake wasn’t the kind of man to run you down all over the country if you took something petty from him; Holly had taken something valuable to Drake, that much was for sure.
I walked up to Drake despite Cole’s glare on my back. I knew he felt having Drake there was a threat, but I trusted Drake with my life. I knew he would never hurt me.
“This little girl can’t see her mother leave her. We have her here, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
“Tell the little girl she needs to go play or something. I need the mother,” Drake snapped down at me, the muscle in his jaw ticking furiously.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him outside. Sighing, I turned to face him. “Drake, you know this is against everything that I believe in. How the fuck are you even thinking about separating a mother and her child?” I demanded.
“Amelia, that woman is not as sweet and innocent as she looks,” he retorted. “Lilly is not just her daughter. Lilly is my kid, too.” Bells went off in my head. I knew Holly had taken something valuable from him. His daughter couldn’t be more valuable.
“I’ve been tracking Holly down since the day she took off with my six-month-old daughter, and I’ll bedamnedif I allow her to slip through my fingers now. I need you to look out for Lilly while I’m dealing with this problem, but I will be back to get her. But her mother will permanently be in Lilly’s past. I won’t allow her to take Lilly from me again,” he sneered.
“Drake, I can’t just allow you to do this!” I exclaimed, glaring up at him. It was so fucking wrong on so many fucking levels. I understood that better than anyone else. I couldn’t imagine my child being ripped away from me or put into any immediate danger. Somehow, I knew how Holly felt; I knew why she left and took Lilly with her.