Page 56 of Hell & Back

“Let’s go, Joe. Stay glued to my ass and we’ll get you out of here.” Jackson waved for the kid to follow him.

“Are you taking me home?” Joe’s question was filled with so much hope Darren felt it in his own chest.

“Yeah. We’re taking you home.”

Darren waited until everyone was filing up the stairs before he stopped Sadie with a hand on her arm. “I probably should have done this before, but I’m clean and I’ve been with the same woman for a while now.” He swallowed hard, then asked, “You on the pill?”

“No.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “I haven’t been with anyone in almost two years so I didn’t see the need. I’ve been too busy with Oliver. I’m sorry.”

“Hey.” He raised her chin when she dropped her head. “It’s not either of our faults, but you’ll let me know?”

“Of course.”

He started up the stairs, pulling Sadie behind him. He felt responsible for both her and Joe and wouldn’t rest until Sadie was back with her nephew and Joe back with his family. As soon as they cleared the door at the top of the stairs, he looked around the huge open area. There was nothing up here. No windows. No doors except for the one leading outside. Chris and Maverick stood on either side of the entrance and smiled as he approached.

What the fuck kind of idiots didn’t have a secondary exit? Slipping through the door into the cool sunny day, he had to blink several times, unused to so much light. Race, Trick and Jackson were already hauling it through the woods, Joe hot on their heels. He motioned for Sadie to take off running behind them. He stayed steady at her side, Maverick and Chris bringing up the rear. Race said Tulsa and Lance had set a fire at Crockett’s house. He wondered where Jed was. Tuck was probably still back in Redemption because of his leg. That was probably a good thing. He was afraid his friend would take one look at him and know he’d been unfaithful to Kylie. It wouldn’t surprise him if Tuck ever found out that he’d tell Darren he no longer wanted him around her or their baby again.

Speeding through the woods, various sticks and stickers poked through his socks, jabbing into his feet and snagged at his sweats. That was nothing to the way the material kept rubbing his dick. Even with the cooler temperature, he was breaking out in a sweat and it wasn’t from overexertion. Checking on Joe and Sadie, he was impressed with the way they were keeping up despite tripping on pants too long and having to hold them up at the too large waist.

They came upon what looked like an old off road trail where two SUVs with blacked out windows sat waiting. Jed stood outside one of them, a gun drawn and aimed their direction. Seeing who it was, he lowered his weapon and put it away. “Fucking finally have you back.” Jed smiled and hopped behind the wheel of the lead vehicle.

Dagger, Jackson, Trick and Joe climbed in with him. They were going to take the kid home, explain to the parents what happened and give them a story to feed to the police that didn’t involve the Sons’ intervention. Before they took off, it didn’t slip his notice the way Jed was looking at Sadie. It was a crossbetween regret and being pissed off. Darren had enough issues of his own right now and filed it away for later to sort out.

Maverick got in behind the wheel of the second SUV, leaving Race, Chris, Darren and Sadie to pile in with him. Race took the front passenger seat. Chris took the last row in the back, and Darren and Sadie took up the middle seat.

“Wait!” Sadie shouted as Maverick took off after Jed.

“What’s up?” Race turned in his seat.

“Where are we going? I can’t go home. They’ll come after me. And I have to get Oliver. I can’t leave him with the club and Crockett.” She turned her pleading eyes to Darren.

Race’s brows dipped as he asked, “Who’s Oliver?”

“He’s her five-year-old nephew. Her brother was in the club. He died and left his kid to Sadie. Crockett’s been using him to make Sadie do whatever he wants,” Darren explained.

Being a father himself, there was no way Race would leave a child of any age with the Phantoms. Darren knew before Race said the words that they weren’t leaving Taos without Oliver. “Where’s he at?”

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Three thirty,” Maverick replied.

“He should be home from school by now. He’d be at Nickle’s house with his old lady.”

“Gimme the address and I’ll send Tulsa and Lance to pick him up.” Race pulled out his phone, waiting on the number.

“He won’t go to anyone he doesn’t know.” Sadie chewed her bottom lip.

“When they get there, I’ll have them call. We’ll Facetime and you can tell Oliver it’s okay to go with them. Will that work?”

Sadie sighed in relief. “Yes. Thank you. That’ll work.” She leaned back in her seat and smiled at Darren. She reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze. “You don’t know how long I’ve been trying to get me and Oliver away from those assholes.”

“It’ll be okay, Sadie. The brothers will get him safely to you,” he tried to reassure her. Dealing with the PFMC for so long had to have been extremely difficult. She was taking a big leap of faith that the Sons of Redemption were a better club than what she’d been dealing with. “The both of you will be safe in Redemption.”

Maverick watched him in the rearview mirror, no doubt wondering why he was being so nice to her. The club didn’t know her whole story and the first chance he got he was going to make sure they were aware that she was as much a victim as he’d been.

Race called Tulsa, gave him the address and told them to Facetime when they got the boy. He also told them not to go back to the motel. They needed to head to Redemption. If the boy looked good, take him to the clubhouse. They’d all meet up there.

Twenty minutes later, Tulsa connected with Race, who passed his phone back to Sadie. “Oliver! How’re you doing, buddy?” Her face lit up with a blinding smile and her eyes filled with tears. There was no denying she loved her nephew and was happy to see him.

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