Page 1 of Freeing Souls

Chapter One

Grayson

“Holy–”Shit.I exhale roughly and lean back against the closed door. I let my eyes fall shut, my fingers ghosting over my lips still tingling from Ry’s kiss. When he offered to walk me back to the tech room after we finished lunch, I really just thought he was going to be overbearing about not working too hard.

I even mentally prepared a response as we walked, planning to explain to him that I need to stay this busy to keep my mind off everything else. The last thing I expected was for him to send my heart into overdrive.

Whatever is going on with Nerds, I worry for him, especially not knowing what’s happening. All the victims we saved and helped get away… It’s amazing, and I am so insanely thankful we could rescue them. But how many more are out there? Oakley, one of the girls we saved, is staying at the club right now, and shementioned having information about the Black Night Ball. That means there are probably countless other victims out there.

And then, there’s Tammy. She just freaking disappeared off the face of the Earth, and we have no idea where she is or what her plans are. I had planned to spew all this at Ryker and make it known that I won’t be stopping and relaxing until we get the answers we need, but then the man of my dreams blew my mind straight into the gutter when he murmured,“I’m going to kiss you now.”

When I kiss Harley, it feels like a homecoming. She brings me so much peace and comfort. She doesn’t just own my heart, sheismy heart. Without her, I wouldn’t survive. But then when Ryker kisses me, he throws me off balance in a good way. I’ve never felt so explosive while also feeling so calm. I wanted to grab his hand and yank him into the room with me, locking the door, and then—shaking my head, I scrub my hands down my face and sigh. “Slow down, Grayson,” I whisper to myself. We have other things we need to focus on right now.

Finally pulling myself away from the door, I head over to Nerds’ desk and take a seat. Turning on his multiple screens, I look over at what I had been working on. We have the web address for the Black Night, but I don’t have a way in. Nerds wasn’t sure either and was attempting to teach himself how to hack in without leaving a trail. I don’t know how far he got with that. I’m good, but I’m not that good yet.

Vance, leader of the Brooks Family and the Kings of Hearts, has a tech guy who was around when we were taking down the warehouse, and I kind of want to see if he can help. It’s something I’ll have to ask Rage about.

Moving away from the Black Night, I bring up Tammy’s car tracker just to make sure it still hasn’t moved. We also bugged her house, so I open the cams and audio to check them over as well. All the footage and audio is saved to a backup server, butNerds, being the smart guy he is, also has it so any movements or sounds get flagged instead of having to go through hours of tape to check ourselves.

Finding a few red dots on the cam footage, I begin to click through them. The first is a deer wandering across their driveway, the next the mailman. Per usual, there’s nothing here. No one has come or gone from their house since the day they left, at least that we know of.

Suddenly, lights flicker in the room at the same time that everything shakes, a loud boom coming from outside the door. It sounds a lot like a bomb going off. My heart races and my palms grow sweaty as a bad feeling settles in my stomach. Rising from the desk chair, I grab my phone and head over to the door. Slowly pulling it open, I don’t see anyone in the hallway, so I walk toward the main room. The windows in the living room facing the front of the club are wide open, and the stench of smoke hits me first before I see the almost black swirls rising outside.

Picking up my pace, I jog to the front door right as Rage and Brielle come running out from the kitchen. “Gray? What was that?” Rage asks.

“Something must have blown up in the garage!” I respond as I swing the front door open. Then, one thought hits me hard in the gut.“I think Axe is here and just went out to the garage. I’m going to go out there and talk to him about the bikes,”Ryker had said after lunch.

“Ryker!” My voice sounds hoarse and foreign as my heart leaps out of my chest with fear.No, he’s fine. He’s okay. Don’t be dramatic.

Rounding the corner to the garage, I stumble to a stop, almost slamming into part of a crumbled wall. Part of the club is above the garage, where our rooms are. Glancing back at Rage, I notice a few others have stumbled outside with me. “Someone tellanyone upstairs to get outside, now!” I yell as my eyes frantically scan everyone, searching for Ryker.

“Who was out here?” Rage almost growls, but fear coats his features as his eyes frantically roam the carnage.

Tears fill my eyes as I say, “Ry—Ryker.” Exhaling roughly, I tell myself he’s fine, to keep it together. “Um, uh, Axe too. Ry said he was out here.”

“And Sugar!” someone hollers. “He came out to talk with Axe.”

“Everyone split off. Some go search the rest of the property. The rest of you get your asses over here and help!” Rage demands, his normally bright blue eyes darken as he takes everything in.

A loud gasp sounds from behind me, and I spin to see Harley standing there, wide eyed. Her frantic eyes move to meet my own, and she sucks in a breath. “Ryker,” she murmurs. “Ryker. Ryker!” she screams and darts forward.

I follow her, and we begin to lift pieces of debris, everything from bike parts to pieces of the wall to concrete. The idea that Ryker or any of the others are under any of this is so debilitating, I have to force myself to move forward and search. This isn’t the time to freeze up and panic.Find answers first, Grayson.

“Move things carefully!” Rage yells.

I hear Brielle say, “I’m going to call Doc and get supplies ready. If anything, you all are going to have smoke inhalation.” Harley and I keep moving, pulling things away from the large pile as others work from other points.

My brain is fogged and confused, and I can’t comprehend the idea of Ryker potentially being under all the rumble. He’s not. He’s just not.

Neither are Sugar or Axe. Everyone is fine. “It looks like something exploded from the shop garage door and just blew everything farther in,” I mumble to myself as I look around. The garage doors are half intact but blown in. The shop is completelydestroyed, with a large pile in the center. It looks like the beams towards the back of the shop are still standing, which is good for our upstairs, but we need to get out of here sooner rather than later.

The denial sets in, and I’m able to continue looking without completely losing my shit. Harley is more frantic, moving quickly, sweat dripping down her face.

“Sugar! Axe! Ryker!” Rage hollers as he carefully works his way through the piles of broken pieces of wall and bike equipment.

Someone coughs, and we all freeze. I can hear it to my right, closer to the entrance of the room garage, so I work my way back that way. “Hello?”

“H–here,” someone tries to yell, but they just end up coughing.

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