Page 10 of Cooper

I smile at her, “Yes sweet pea, we will go there next. I promise.”

We finish eating and head to the baby store. They have so much cute stuff in here, but somethings are really expensive. Bethany pulls me straight to the toys. We look at several things, and she finally picks up a motorcycle pillow and a unicorn pillow for her siblings. Then she goes over to the knick knack section. “Auntie Bex!” she squeals. “I think this is what I wants for mommy.” I look at what she is pointing at. It’s beautiful water globe with a sentiment about moms being angels. It has a place to put a photo inside it.

“That’s perfect Bethany, and I can print out the picture of you and the babies I took last night to put in it.” I help her pay for her stuff, and we go over to the kiosk to print out the picture. She asks me to do a couple more, because she wants to give it her daddy and one to papaw and tutu. So I take her to get a couple frames to put them in. Once we are done we head out to the trucks. Loki drove one with Alivia and Bethany in it, and Bacon drove the other one with me and Nat. Both are full of bags by the time we are all done shopping. I give Bethany a great big hug and slip some money in her purse. I want her to still get toys for the hospital kids like she has been wanting to. Loki and Alivia give us a hug and we head home.

Cooper

I’m ready for this day to be over with. We have been interviewed already, and the reporter is now talking to Crow about the different bikes. He said that his camera guy wasn’t feeling good this morning and asked if he could come back tomorrow to take pictures of everything. We told him that was fine, and Cotton looks at me, “You’ll have to make sure you pretty yourself up really good. We don’t need you breaking the camera.”

I laugh, “You’re one to talk. You look haggard. Did you and Sis sleep any at all last night?”

He runs his hand through his hair, “Yeah a couple hours. I tried not to move in bed, I was afraid that I would hurt her by jostling the bed. We were up a couple times to feed and change the twins. Things are definitely different now. It’s a great difference, but it’s an adjustment. I’m loving it. I just know that we are going to miss sleeping some.” He laughs. I can’t help it, I laugh too. Cotton runs his hand through his hair and puts it up in his man bun. “They don’t cry too much. I thought babies cried all the time. What’s funny is they already seem to be a Daddy’s girl and Momma’s boy.”

I laugh. “Hey man, I was going to wait to say anything, but Natalie is letting us adopt the baby. Bexley can’t have kids because of what Michael did to her, so we are over the moon excited. We are going to help her with her schooling too. She is wanting to be a pediatrician, and she has several scholarships. She is going to do the classes online that she can, then go to campus next year. I’m going to get her an apartment near campus, and make sure it’s in a safe neighborhood.”

“That’s awesome news brother! I commend her for doing that. I feel that some girls would have went another direction and end up regretting it. I’m sure Bex has already told Saige. She texted and said that Bethany bought us all a gift while shopping today, and Bex got Bethany more princess and unicorn things.”

I laugh. I knew Bex would go all out and get Bethany anything she wanted and then some.

* * *

Bexley iswith us at the garage to hang out and watch the photographer. I’m going to cut out as soon as he’s done, and we’re going to spend the day riding, just be together. A van pulls up to the garage near where we are standing. I get a tingling sensation going up my spine and before I can say or do anything there is an explosion from behind us. We both are thrown from it, and Bex lands a few feet from me. There’s a loud ringing in my ears, and it’s like everything is going in slow motion. I look back at the garage, as I try to crawl to Bex. I see Crow laying on the ground, debris all over him. His head is at an odd angle and it hits me he’s dead. I get to Bexley and see that she is breathing, just knocked out. I let out the breath I was holding and look up when a shadow falls over me. “Tsk, tsk. You can’t be awake right now buddy.” I feel something hit the back of my head, and everything fades to black.

Twelve

Bexley

I wakeup and try to focus on what’s going on. I remember talking to Coop when a van pulled up and then an explosion from behind us. Crow had been in the garage opening the big door when it happened. I try to move but I can’t. I’m tied to a chair. I try to pull my hands from the ropes, but they are tight. I look around the room and see that Cooper is tied up to a pipe hanging from the ceiling. His shirt is off him and there is blood on his neck that looks like it ran down from his head.

“Cooper. Cooper. Please wake up. Answer me babe. Please.” I plead for him to wake up. He comes to after a few minutes of me calling to him.

“Bex, you okay baby? Can you get loose?” He rasps. I struggle with the ropes some more, and they are just digging into my wrists, cutting them. I can feel the blood running down my fingers.

“No, I can’t. Where are we? What happened?” I ask.

“I remember the explosion. I crawled to you, to make sure you were okay. I saw Crow and he was dead. Either the explosion or the way he landed when he was thrown broke his neck. Once I got to you someone came up and said I needed to be asleep for a while, hit me hard on the back of the head. Thank God Cotton was running late, or it could have been him too. We need to get out of here. I can’t see anything much except for you. What all can you see?” Cooper asks.

I take a look around the room we are in. I can see Cooper hanging in front of me, a table to the side of me with all kinds of tools, knives, pipes on it. A door to the far right of us, I tell him. I can’t see behind me no matter how much I strain to turn. I keep working my wrists and rest them. I’ve got to get out of these ropes. I feel the blood running down my wrists to the rope and dripping off my fingers. But the ropes are getting a tad bit looser. I stop moving when I hear the door open, and gasp out, “Michael!” I feel like I’m about to pass out, but I try to stay strong. I am strong! He’s not going to tear me down again, and I refuse for him to kill us.

“Ahh there’s my pet. How are you Poppet? Are you comfortable enough?” Michael asks as he walks to stand between Cooper and me. He reaches out runs his finger down the side of my face and tries to run a finger across my lips, but I bite him hard. “You fucking whore!” he screams as he slaps me. “You will not be so gutsy in a few minutes. I’m going to let you watch as I tear your boyfriend apart slowly. You’ll cry and beg me to stop, but I won’t Poppet. Not until he is dead, and you learn that your place is here beside me always.”

Cotton

I pull up to the garage and see some smoke coming from the side where the bay door is. I pull out my phone and call nine one one as I assess the damage. It’s when I actually get to the side of the building that I see debris everywhere, the whole side of the building gone, and Crow laying on the ground. I rush over to him and check for a pulse, but he’s gone. I look for Tires and Bexley but don’t see them anywhere. His bike is here, so where are they? I start to panic, I know my brother is strong, he’s proven that time and again while we were deployed. I hang up with the dispatcher as a firetruck, a few police cars, and an ambulance pull in. Loki is the first to make it to me, “What the Hell happened? Where’s Tires and Bex?” He hasn’t seen Crow yet.

“I don’t know Lok, but Crow is dead. He’s buried in the rubble, looks like his neck is broke. I checked for a pulse, and there isn’t one. I couldn’t do CPR with half a wall laying on his chest.”

Loki looks at me, nods and goes with his crew to check for fire or anything they can do. Hawke and Wolfe are the paramedics and I see them walk forward with a body bag as the officers take photos. I hate to be the one to make this call, but I have to let Stone know what is going on, and that his son and Bex are missing.

“What the hell do you mean they are missing? Have you found the prospects that was supposed to be there to help open? The photographer? Anybody that might can help?” Stone asks.

I can hear him moving around and the sound of his keys. I hear the truck door shut and him starting it up. I look around at the people moving around here. There is no other bike besides mine, Tires, and Crows. “Stone, I have no clue. I’ll call Tech, see if he can pull anything up on video from the security cameras here. I don’t see any bikes except Tires and Crows. No other vehicles were here when I pulled in.”

“I’ll be there shortly. Don’t tell Saige yet. Let’s see if we can figure out what is going on first. Son of a bitch!” I hear the screeching of brakes and Stone slamming the door. “Saige, what the hell do you think you are doing flying in front of other vehicles? Just where do you think you’re going?” he yells at her. I hear her yell back, “I’m going with you to the garage. My brother and best friend are missing, and I want to know how. We all know who!”

“Stone, put her on the phone, please?” I ask.

“Yeah, you might have better luck than me.” He grumbles.

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