“I’m so sorry.”
“Look, I’m going to stay at Mack’s tonight.”
My new work cell phone goes off and I check it to find an urgent text, letting me know they found Debra. I’ve got to leave. Looking at my heart and soul, I give her what she wants.
“Okay.” I can see her heart cracking, but I’m not letting this end. I’ll be staying at Mack’s too then.
“Okay,” she repeats, stepping around me.
Without letting her get away, I pull her into my arms. “This isn’t over between us, my little hellcat.” My mouth lands on hers and she doesn’t stop me as I kiss her deeply. “I have to go, but I will be back.”
I rush out of the party saying goodbye, but not before warning Wrench to keep Taylor away from Vanessa or he’s a dead man. I give him a deadly glare at the gate. “Taylor, she’s mine and always will be mine. No one will ever take her from me. So get it through your thick skull before a bullet does. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
Chapter Nine
Vanessa
I hide away in the clubhouse for a few minutes when I hear Boomer talking to Doc. “Tell me what the fuck happened. Now, Doc.”
“Apparently, Jeff Motts wanted to get at Law after their confrontation at the station yesterday. He opened fire at the station this morning after calling in a fake bomb threat. He’d been about to call Vanessa when that fucker let the bullets spray. The damn phone was the only thing that saved his life. It would have hit him dead in the heart.”
I back up and press my back against the wall, hand on my chest as I grasp what they’ve just said. I thought he’d just been injured in a fight not been almost murdered by one of the creeps that had accosted me. Did this have to do with me? Was this all my fault?
My body collapses slowly down the column to the floor below as I think about how I reacted. Tears fall down my face as I try to breathe. There is just so much to consider. Even after being attacked by Motts because of my fight with his brother, Jacob had no intention of ending our relationship. In fact, he told me he loved me and I told him it was over. Dropping my head into my hands, I breakdown.
“Shit, Vanessa, are you okay?” Boomer asks, looking down at me like the giant man he is. For the President of the Steele Riders, he still comes off as a gentle giant to me.
I swipe my hands across my eyes, wiping away the tears. “Oh, yes. Sorry, don’t worry about me. I’m just thinking about how I behaved like a fool.”
“You didn’t. We weren’t pleased by Law by the guys keeping that shit from us either. He’s going to be fine. Come on. Let’s get you up and get you some food and drink. I’m going to have Doc look at you.”
“I’m fine,” I choke out with a sob.
“No, you’re not, and that’s not a suggestion. As the President of the Steele Riders, I’m pulling my weight and giving a damn command. I refuse to allow my family to be upset by miscommunication. You’re part of the Steele Rider family now. Come on.” He easily lifts me onto my feet and gives me a quick hug. “Things will be okay. Trust me. Now I’m sure my wife is panicking since you disappeared.”
Crystal is pretty amazing and like the mother of the women in the Rider family from what I hear. We walk out of the clubhouse, and she’s right there with a can of Coke for me. “Here you go. Doc said you’d need some sugar right now.”
I take the drink and pop the tab before taking a large swig. “Thank you.”
She hugs me tightly and then whispers in my ear, “It’s going to be okay. Make-up sex is a lot of fun.”
“I’ll remember that,” I say with a laugh, tears still in my eyes. No one makes a fuss over my messy face and continues on, so I don’t get embarrassed. They do mention the time that Mick had gotten shot and why Law probably didn’t say a word to anyone about it. It was like reliving a bad memory after all these years. A shootout on a special occasion wasn’t something they needed again. He might have been doing it for all of us. Fucking loving idiot.
We stay for a few more hours before Mack and baby Simon get tired, so we head back to their home, where they’ve prepared the guest bedroom for me. Wrench takes them to bed and then returns to the living room where I’m sitting down and he’s carrying a blanket and a pillow.
“Watch some television until you get sleepy, and then you can go to bed. If you fall asleep here, I’ve brought you a blanket and pillow just in case.”