Page 42 of Shared By Her Brother's Best Friends

At least Max will be safe. But for how long?

Time is running out and we’re no closer to a solution.

Chapter 22

Mason

It’s been three days since Max was taken from Emma’s custody. Poor Emma has been walking around the house like a ghost, lost and confused without her son. It kills me to see her feeling so helpless. It’s like the fight has gone out of her.

On the first day, I attempted to go and watch over Jessica’s house since I’m the only one she’s not met. But someone called the cops about a strange man loitering and they took no time at all in moving me on, making it very clear that if me or anyone else like me was seen hanging around again there’d be trouble. It seems I’m far too conspicuous and threatening of a presence for Jessica’s nice neighborhood. Bess has asked her friend, an ex-cop, to drive by occasionally to ensure that nothing seems suspicious, which is something, but I wish we could have eyes on Max at all times. All it will take is for Jessica to take her eyes off Max for a moment to give Kane’s men the opportunity to swoop in and steal him. Fortunately, she seems to be taking her role as guardian seriously and so far, from what we can tell, she hasn’t let him out of her sight other than to go to school.

We’ve tried to cheer Emma up, but if I’m being honest, we haven’t been there for her as much as any of us would like to. We’ve been busy and distracted helping Jacob with the escalating war against the Hell Riders. We agreed that there was no way we were going to leave Emma alone. So, every day werotate, one of us stays at home with her while the other two go to help the club.

The war with the Hell Riders is escalating. The meeting with Breaker didn’t go well. Unsurprisingly, he was a total asshole. His demands were simple enough, but we were never going to comply. First, he wanted to fight me, I’d have gladly taken him up on that, and second, he wanted Emma. I believe his words were that he wanted to, “Teach that bitch whore a lesson.” There was no way any of us would concede to that.

Of course, he didn’t realize who Emma was at that point. J-Bird educated him by breaking his nose. The guys were lucky that the meeting was held in a busy public place, else there’s no way they’d have managed to escape scathe-free. Thankfully, they also had Venom trying to avoid a public execution which worked in their favor, too. Since then, the violence between the clubs has been escalating. Yesterday one of our guys was run off the road, he’ll be lucky if he doesn’t lose a leg.

As you can guess, J-Bird wants revenge. So, when my phone rings in the middle of the night and it’s J-Bird, I know something big is about to go down.

“Hello,” I answer, immediately awake, turning on the light on my bedside table as I sit upright and check the time, it’s just after two a.m.

“Mace, the guys have gotten wind of something big going down with the Hell Riders tonight. Supposedly some big exchange that’s worth a fuck ton of money. We’re going to go fuck shit up and hit them where it hurts. Grab the guys and come now,” he says sounding both commanding and slightly excited at the prospect of taking our enemy down.

“What about Emma? We shouldn’t leave her alone,” I reply, still worried about the ever-looming presence of Kane.

J-Bird hesitates for a moment, contemplating his options before he lets out a sigh and responds. “You’re right. Though I could use my best guys on this. I could send someone else, but they’d take too long to get to you, and I need you guys on the road now…” he says, thinking out loud. “You make the call of who should stay behind and for god’s sake don’t tell Emma, she’d only worry or try to talk me out of it. I’m going to send you the location now,” he says.

“Okay, sure.”

“Oh, and Mace, make sure you come strapped,” he adds ominously.

It appears he’s preparing for a shootout.

“Understood,” I reply as he hangs up.

I head to Jax’s bedroom, already deciding that he should be the one to come with me. Ty is an incredible fighter and less hot-headed than Jax, but he has reservations about the use of firearms, to put it mildly, so I’d rather avoid dragging him into this if I can. I wake Jax, quickly and quietly explaining the situation.

“Did J-Bird say what the plan was exactly? Or who the Hell Riders are making the deal with?” Jax asks as he pulls on his leathers.

“Nope,” I reply with a shake of my head, my mouth a thin line.

“Great, so we could end up making an even bigger enemy in the process. What the fuck is the Prez thinking?” Jax mutters as he grabs his guns.

I’m inclined to agree with Jax. Our normally level-headed president is becoming increasingly reckless with this war. I don’t know if the worry and pressure of running the club while trying to protect his sister and nephew is getting to him or if it’s something else entirely, but it’s not good.

I shake my head and shrug, but I don’t answer him. As soon as he’s ready I head downstairs. While Jax writes a note for Emma and Ty, I hurriedly send a text to Bess, hoping she might have some answers about what we’re getting ourselves into.

Me: Hey, B, been summoned by the Prez to intercept a deal of some kind between the Hell Riders and another party. You have any intel from V on what we’re walking into? J-Bird wants to fuck up the deal in the hopes of cutting off their finances/hitting them where it hurts. Thanks, M.

I slip my phone back into my pocket, not expecting an immediate reply and we both head out, grim-faced and determined.

Part of me wishes I could wake Emma to say goodbye, but I’d only worry her. There’s a chance that either one of us might not make it back to her after tonight. If I could hold Emma, kiss her, and leave with her face ingrained in my memory I’d be happy. But that would be selfish and cause her even more worry than she’s already experiencing. I just need to make sure that everything goes smoothly tonight and that Jax and I make it home in one piece.

“Emma’s gonna be pissed when she wakes up. You know she won’t want us or J-Bird doing something this dangerous,” Jax says as we walk to our bikes, voicing my thoughts.

“I know. But what choice do we have? We can’t ignore a direct order from the Prez, or tell him what to do. Plus, the sooner we end this war with the Hell Riders the sooner we can get back to focusing on Max. Sometimes it pays to be proactive,” I reply more confidently than I feel as we climb onto our bikes and start them up.

As we ride off, I have a strange sense of foreboding. Like a death row prisoner walking the green mile or a man with a gun pointed at his head, I can’t help feeling like we’re being sent to the frontlines from which we won’t return.

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