Page 67 of Devil's Work: Dark

“Good,” he says, then he begins singing to himself. I think I made him feel safe.

Reap must have gotten a hold of the other lieutenants because when I turn onto the club property, stopping at the gate, a full-fledged brother named Knuckles is on duty rather than a prospect. This brother is an ugly son of a bitch covered in tattoos, more ink than skin showing, with a short temper but a kind disposition, who got his name from his penchant of using brass knuckles to end his enemies.

He’s a good brother to have on our side. Motherfucking hell for his enemies. He nods at me before sliding open the gate. I nod as we pass him, glad to have him on our side.

“He has lots of tattoos,” Ty says as we pass by Knuckles.

I chuckle. “He does.” How the hell this kid gets me to chuckle when his mother is missing, I’ll never know. He’s his mom’s son, I guess. Can’t be raised by Rae and not have her goodness rub off.

“I don’t want that many.” Ty pulls me out of my head.

“What?” I ask.

“I don’t want that many. I like yours. I’m gonna be just like you.”

Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit.I can’t even look at the kid, clearing my throat, my heart feeling fucking huge. “Don’t know how your mom will feel about that, bud.”

He snickers like he and I are privy to a secret between just the two of us. I take the split in the drive, heading toward the houses rather than the clubhouse. Nic is peeking out the curtain when I hit their drive. Vlad must’ve called her. She greets us on the front porch biting her thumbnail, obviously worried, before I have both kids out of the truck.

Then she jolts and jogs down to help me with them. “Hi, bud,” she says to Ty.

“Hi, Miss Nic. A bad man took my mumma.”

Her eyes grow sad. “I know, sweetheart.”

“Dark’s gonna get her back because he wants to be our new dad.”

Nicola flashes her eyes my way, still sad, but smiling slightly. “Right. Then give him a hug and go into the house so he can go find her.”

“Okay.” He turns to hug my leg, but I bend down to hug him, too. “Love you, Dark,” he says right before turning to run into the house.

“Let me take her.” Nic points to the baby girl in my arms. I hand off the diaper bag, then my girl.

Kissing Lacy’s head, and with my hand still resting on her hair, I turn eyes on Nic. “Keep ’em safe.”

“With my life,” she responds automatically. “Now go get Rae back.”

Before I ever get off the compound, my truck is halted by a frantic Green flagging me down. “S’up, brother?” I ask after rolling down my window.

“Can’t get a hold of Del.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t she here?”

“No. She was, but now she’s not and I can’t reach her. I’m freaking the fuck out, man.”

“Does she have friends?”

“Other than Rae? No. We broke up when I patched in. She didn’t keep in touch with any of her friends here from when we lived together.”

“Fuck.”

“Get in,” I order him. “I got a bad feeling.”

18

RAE

Ihear crying. Where is the crying coming from? How did I end up in a hospital? It’s definitely a hospital room. An older one. Having recently been in a hospital, this room doesn’t have the same monitors as the newer ones. And there’s a woman lying in the hospital bed holding a baby. Well, that makes sense now, where the crying is coming from. But why am I in this woman’s room and why hasn’t she looked at me to tell me to get the hell out? The second bed in the room is empty.

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