Page 60 of Jacked and Jaded

“Ryker?” Trick asked.

“I dropped him off at his mom’s on my way to church. He’s safe.” Jackson’s heart pounded at the thought of his three-year-old son being here. If anything would’ve happened to him? He couldn’t continue that line of thought or he’d turn around and shoot the piece of shit in the head right now.

“Where’s that noise coming from?” Dagger asked, looking around the kitchen.

“It’s coming from down the hall.” Race took off in that direction while Jackson’s sole focus was on Calliope. He picked her up so that he held her in his arms as he knelt in the floor. With his free hand he gently cupped her face and shook it gently, trying to get her to wake up. “Calliope! Baby, wake up! Open those pretty turquoise eyes.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead, willing her to open her eyes.

Dagger came back to the kitchen, a shaken up Bellamy with him. He’d wrapped a blanket around her to keep her warm. She looked like she was going into shock. “How’s Calliope?” his VP asked.

“I don’t know. She won’t wake up. He hit her again.” Jackson turned to look at him. “Chris?”

“Not good. He was hit in the back of the head with something hard. He’s been bleeding a lot and Race can’t get him to wake up. I gotta call an ambulance.” He reached in his pocket and pulled it out to make the call.

“It was a baseball bat.” Silent tears streamed down Bellamy’s face, her eyes unfocused. Yep. Shock.

“What’s that, darlin’?” Dagger asked with the phone to his ear.

“He hit Chris with a baseball bat. God, the sound of it when he hit his head.” Her face instantly went pale and she gagged.

“Trick!” Dagger yelled. He walked to the living room and spoke quietly into this phone.

“On it!” Trick picked her up and rushed her to the back door so she could throw up outside and not all over the kitchen.

Dagger came back, shoving his phone back into his pocket and began issuing orders. “Ambulance is on the way. Tuck, Jed, throw that son of a bitch in the back of Jackson’s truck. Take him to the clubhouse, put him in the van, then head to the safe house. Take Lance with you. Stay there until we can get there.”

His brothers immediately jumped to it. Tuck grabbed him under the arms and Jed grabbed his feet. “What the fuck does this guy eat? He weights a ton.” The sound of a gun hitting the floor stopped them in their tracks. “Clint’s?”

“Yes. He was waving it around, threatening to shoot us with it,” Bellamy volunteered.

Jed dropped Clint’s feet and picked up the gun, shoving it into the front of the unconscious man’s pants.

“They’re going to want to talk to Calliope’s friend for sure. Will she be okay to talk to them? Can we trust her?” Dagger leaned down to ask Jackson.

“Yes. You can trust me. I won’t say a word about you guys taking Clint. I hate that son of a bitch. I hope you guys take him out slow and painfully.” She walked to the sink and leaned down to get a drink to rinse her mouth. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Promise me, Jackson, you’ll make him pay for what he’s done to Calliope.”

“Oh, I can promise you that easily.” The sound of Calliope trying to wake up in his arms brought his attention back to her. “Calliope? You okay?”

“My head hurts.” She reached behind her head and touched it. She flinched and gasped. Jackson saw blood on her fingers when she pulled them away.

“Hold on, baby. There’s an ambulance on the way.”

It took ten minutes for the ambulance and police to show up at Jackson’s house. One of the EMTs started to kneel down and assess Calliope, but she wouldn’t have it. “No. Go check on Chris.”

The paramedic looked to Jackson. “He’s down the hall. The bastard that hurt him, threw him in a closet.” They quickly gathered their things and disappeared down the hall.

Two police officers entered the kitchen, took one look at what was going on and tensed at seeing more than a few Sons of Redemption. One of them was a little pale. He looked to be no more than twenty years old and fresh out of the academy. His hand hovered nervously at his side above his gun. The older, more seasoned officer looked from his partner to the bikers and back. “Are we going to have a problem?”

The rookie was watching the bikers closely. Any sudden move and he’d pull his gun and start shooting. “Riggs? Are we going to have a problem?”

The rookie turned a confused look his way. “Are you asking me?”

“Yes.” The older officer sighed heavily. When the kid still didn’t respond, he said, “Riggs, get your hand away from your weapon. If these people were the bad guys, do you honestly think they’d be sticking around?”

“Well, no, sir.”

He shook his head and extended his hand to the Sons VP. “Dagger. Good to see you.”

The two men shook hands, comfortable in each other’s company. “Ben.”

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