Page 5 of Freeing Souls

“I didn’t say that’s for sure the answer here, Rage. But you know things like this go wrong all the time. He could’ve thought he had more time.”

Or maybe he did walk away? I mean, they haven’t found him yet. The second the thought crosses my mind, I shake my head. No, no. This is just fucking insane. We have had so many betrayals in the past, I’m just assuming the worst of everyone now. That has to be all this is. But my gut is screaming at me, so I know I am going to have to play devil’s advocate and make sure this wasn’t an inside job.

“Not a word to fucking anyone until we can have church and hopefully get more answers,” I snap and walk away. Passing Blade and the girls again, I head over to where Lincoln is pacing back and forth in a corner of the parking lot, on the phone with someone. He runs a hand repeatedly through his hair as I get close enough to hear him.

“No, no, it’ll be okay. Just get it sorted and then come. Don’t call her until we have more answers. She may need you, so maybe staying there would be better anyway.” He listens some more, and then after a quick bye, he hangs up and lets out a heavy breath.

“Everything good?”

Lincoln spins around at the sound of my voice. “Yeah. Yeah. Just filling in Ryan,” he grumbles. “Anything yet?” His eyes shoot over my shoulder to the garage.

“No. Nothing yet. I’m surprised you aren’t with Brielle,” I say with a tilt of my head. Stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I take the time to watch him carefully. I may not be as good at reading people as Stone, but I can still tell when something is off.

“She asked me to call Ryan, so I left her with Raven. Fuck, man,” he grunts and scrubs his hands down his face.

“Let’s head back over. Wait with Brielle. They’ve got to find him soon,” I say and lead us back over to everyone still watching.

I don’t want to believe this was intentional from someone on the inside, but with how things have gone, we have to assume anyone could be against us.

I won’t act without solid proof, but knowing my men are hurt and currently at the hospital, that my family is hurting…

The person who did this can beg for mercy from me.

They won’t fucking get any, and they better pray to whatever God they believe in that someone else gets to them before I do.

Cayden

“Here!” Someone calls from the garage. I jog back over from where I was checking in with Axe to see how he is feeling. I didn’t find out much, since Presley was too busy yelling at him to get his ass inside and rest, but he doesn’t want to.

Coming behind Brielle, Raven, Rage, Lincoln, and Noah, we all walk towards the entrance of the garage where the damage starts. Towards the middle, there are shelves knocked down and pieces of bikes scattered around. They have pushed most of it back, and more firefighters have come over, helping pull away the last shelf blocking our view.

The second the shelf is out of the way, Brielle lets out a bloodcurdling scream that sends shivers down my back as Ravenpulls her away. I can’t take my eyes off the sight of Atlas laying there unconscious, a rod of some kind sticking out of his chest.

“Fuck,” Noah mutters from next to me.

“Get the paramedics! I can’t find a pulse,” one of the firefighters says. I can’t look away as the paramedics rush over, getting to work on him while the firefighters clear a path.

When Harley and I first came outside and saw what the loud noise had been, I was shocked, but I knew they needed me to be their rock. So I put aside any feelings I might have felt and focused on everyone else. Then, once they found Ryker and Sugar and they all left for the hospital, I realized how close we came to losing someone.

Before, the thought of someone dying didn’t seem like a big deal. It would be fine because I never let myself be close to people. But now, things have changed so much. I have found new people and grown so much closer to others. The thought of losing any of them is… It's unimaginable.

It makes me want to wrap everyone up in bubble wrap and keep them all on tight leashes.

Fuck. Now I sound like fucking Ryker.

I don’t know Atlas well, but I know he means the world to my girl and he is becoming part of our family here. I hope he survives, because any death would hit our club hard. It’s the last thing we need.

Feeling my phone buzz in my back pocket, I finally pull my eyes away and walk a few feet away before answering it without checking who it is.

“Cade–” she gasps before I can even say anything.

“Baby girl?” I question.

“He–they–Cade, fuck.”

“Hey, baby girl, breathe for me.” When I hear her suck in a sharp breath, I ask, “What’s going on?”

“He stopped breathing,” she cries.

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