Page 26 of Love is Blind

“Abby. Please. I need you to run and hide. The guys will come, and they need to know what happened and who took me. If he finds you, he will hurt you, and I can’t lose you. Please run.” Tears have started to fall. This will probably be the last time I will see my friend. They fall faster now, knowing I never got to tell the guys one of them was going to be a father. “Please Abby. If anything happens, I need you to tell them about the baby. That I was excited. Please run. Run now!”

“We will see each other again. I know it. I’m an auntie now.” I hear her shuffle. “I’ll keep Ares safe until you return, okay?” Her emotion matches mine as I hear a whine come from Ares.

“Keep her safe, Ares.” I tell him, and in return, I get a low bark of what I’m hoping is agreement. “Go!” I scream. I hear them exit the SUV, but have no idea where they go after leaving. I’m just hoping they get to safety before…my thought is interrupted by a voice just outside my door.

“Let that one run. We came for the blonde bitch. Let’s grab her and get the fuck out of here before the cops show up.” The man speaking has a deep foreign accent that I can’t place, but I don’t have time to process anymore as the door is ripped open and hands grip my legs and yank. I’m tossed onto the ground and quickly try to rush away, but I’m kicked in the back.

My entire body hurts as I lay on the ground, knowing what’s about to happen next. “That’s her. Knock her out and let’s go.” The same voice speaks.

“Please. Please don’t do this.” I beg not that I think it will help any.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch. You’re a payday, that’s all.” A second later, something hard slams across my head and I crumpled to the ground again. I can feel warm liquid rush down my face.

My mind goes fuzzy as I feel someone lift me and toss me over their shoulder. Abby and Ares had to be safe now.

My last thought before it goes dark is that my guys will come, and I need to fight for our child until then.

Chapter twenty

MAVERICK

Theexplosionofthewarehouse going up in flames rattled my entire body when the blast reached us from our position in the tree line. It threw us all unbalanced, with Jax recovering first. I followed suit, my head still pounding, when I notice Xander still struggling. Calling his name a few times gets me nowhere, which means his ears are probably ringing as much as mine right now. I notice blood leaking from a wound in Xander’s shoulder, but push that worry to the back of my head. I feel only slightly bad when I slap him across the face to get his attention, but it was the only thing I could think of.

“Get it together, Xander. We have to move. Now.” I give Jax a nod before tugging on Xander as we move along the tree line to get a better tactical position, shooting as we go. Xander stops first and takes his spot behind a tree, giving me cover fire as I continue to move further down. Once I’m in position, I wait for the signal and hope I can hear it.

Moments later, a loud but uniquely Jax’s whistle sounds among the fire fight. As one, we round our trees and focus on whoever is the closest to us. I take down two men before I’m hit in the leg. My right leg gives out, saving my life as another bullet goes flying past my head. Ducking, I roll until I can take cover by a large piece of debris, maybe a piece of the metal wall. Taking a second to catch my breath, I quickly reload before peeking out again.

Xander is taking cover behind a car that must have been flipped during the blast, while Jax continues to shoot away. Dodging bullets left and right. I’ll be surprised if he makes it out with only one new hole. From the corner of my eye, I see movement coming up behind Xander. A man dressed in all back, slowly creeping up. I move then, rounding the edge, gun raised, I take aim. I send three bullets soaring his way, and they all hit their mark center mass. Xander snaps his body around, gun raised, but lowers it once we make eye contact. Glancing down at the man now bleeding out on the floor, he gives me a nod of thanks.

We don’t waste anymore, time jumping back into the fight. Send out bullets and dodging them in return. We underestimate the number of men who were originally here, and soon I’m dropping my weapons and picking some up from whichever dead man is the closest. It feels like hours before the sound of the firefight dies down, but I know it takes half that time. This was a planned ambush, and I’ll have to thank Xander later for making the call for us to stay together. If it was only one of us, that one would have been dead. Adrian didn’t come to play today, but he got too cocky, thinking we wouldn’t be able to handle twenty plus men in a fight.

Jax and Xander check for IDs and phones, secretly hoping Adrian might be among one of the dead, but of course, he’s not. He sent hired guns to fight his battles. That pussy. While they go off to do that, I look for a reliable set of wheels. Our vehicle was parked decently close when the bomb in the warehouse went off, leaving our SUV a little more than scrap metal at this point. The other vehicles I’ve spotted have been pretty shot up as well, but I’m hoping I can get at least one running enough to get our asses back to the city.

It takes me about thirty minutes of Frankensteining the last car that pulled up to run. It’s not a high-speed chase type vehicle, but I think it will get us far enough to get to one. “Ready when you are.” I call out as Jax and Xander toss the last dead body into the still burning building. We don’t need any more bodies tied to us at the moment. Both men climb into the car, and we head back to the city.

“Jax, get a hold of our men with Wren. I want her home and the house on lockdown. Adrian wasn’t at any of the warehouses, which means this was some type of diversion.” Xander calls out, rotating his shoulder to get a feel for the damage in the backseat while Jax pulls out his phone and makes the call.

“Edward didn’t answer.” He hangs up before dialing a new number. That sinking feeling that something is wrong hits my gut and I slam my foot down on the gas. The car shoots us forward, and I pray it makes it back to the city before blowing up or something. “Still no answer.” From the corner of my eye, I see him frown before dialing another number. “Wren’s not answering either.”

“Try Abby. She always has her phone in her hand.” I say as I swerve around another car. We hit the city limits a lot faster than expected, and I head straight for our closest safe house. Pulling up, I barely have time to park before the doors get thrown open, and we are heading for the garage. None of us even bother to grab a first aid kit as Xander grabs the keys off the wall and opens the garage sliding door. Minutes later, we are back on the road.

“No answer on Abby’s phone, either. I’m calling Doc.” Jax says before calling the Doc. His phone automatically connects to the new car, and Doc’s low voice fills the car stereo.

“Gentlemen, are you needing a house call?” he asks.

“Where’s Wren?” Xander demands.

“Excuse me, Wren?” he asks.

“Where is she, Doc?” There’s a rustling over the phone before the old man answers.

“She said she was heading home about an hour ago. Is everything okay?” he asks, sounding concerned.

“I don’t know yet, but get to the house. We need some patch work done.” Jax responds before hanging up and trying Wren again.

“I thought she was going to the shop after Docs. Why would she have been going home instead?” I ask, but don’t expect an answer as Xander changes course to home.

We’re about ten minutes from the house, worry causing all of us to be on edge since we haven’t heard back from a single person. Wren’s phone is off, Abby’s and our men just keep ringing until it goes to voicemail. Not a single phone being answered. I keep my eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary when I spot something off the side of the road. I squint as we get closer, a black blob down an incline off the side of the road. When we are close enough, I see two blobs. Fuck. No, no, no, no, please don’t be what I think it is.

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