Page 52 of Warrant
“We’re looking for the boy, too,” I told him.
He opened the door, letting sunlight spill into the area. “I don’t know where they took him.”
“Do you knowwhythey took them?” This was the third time I’d asked him their plans. I was hoping that maybe he’d slip upif I asked enough times and would give me some useful intel. It was surprising how many people fell for that.
He shook his head. “Too low on the roster to know that shit.”
“You heading back to them?”
“Maybe.”
“Just a fair warning. If you’re there when we find him, we’re not going to take it easy on you.” He grinned, white teeth flashing in the sunlight. He didn’t look like a low level shit bag. Too many teeth for starters. Knowing how to brush those teeth was another clue he didn’t belong with these guys. Fuck, he looked like he could belong to our club. Tall, dark hair, muscular, tattoos, good looking—if you were into men. “You wouldn’t be smiling if you saw their father. He’s a big fucker. And he’spissed.”
“I bet,” he said, then he was through the door and it was shutting us back into the gloom.
Turning back to the bed, I saw that Aella was awake. She looked terrified and her eyes were bouncing between me and the door the man had just walked out. I got the feeling she was about to bolt after him. Which meant she knew he was safe.
I could only imagine what kinds of situations he’d protected her from for her to want to follow him. That and the fact that she didn’t know me. Crouching down, I caught her gaze. “I’m a friend of your dad’s.”
She frowned at me, but didn’t say anything and didn’t move. “He and your Uncle Steel and Axel are here, looking for you.”
That made her face soften a little. Hope flashed over her features. She looked at my cut and studied it and must have decided that added credibility because she hesitantly took the hand I held out.
I waited until she clambered off the bed, then walked her to the door. It took me a minute to realize she didn’t have any shoeson. Rather than wasting time looking around for them, I hefted her into my arms and carried her out of the warehouse.
CHAPTER 21
Warrant
As soon as we rounded the corner of the building, I saw my brothers congregating in front of the SUV and bikes. I shrugged the little girl a bit higher so she was more comfortable to carry and moved toward them.
The moment Aella saw her dad she started squirming in my arms. She didn’t have shoes on, but it wasn’t that hot out today, so I set her down and watched as she ran toward her father. “Daddy!”
Riggs’s head snapped to the side at the sound of his daughter’s voice and he all but mowed down Butcher as he turned and ran toward her.
“Fuck me,” Butcher bellowed as he managed to get out of the way before Riggs stomped all over him with his boots. “Where’s the fucking fire…” He froze as he saw the little girl. “Oh, I guess that’s okay.”
Most of the guys hadn’t heard her call out because they’d been focused on their conversation, but Riggs’s ears were clearly tuned in to his kids. He swept his girl up into his arms and squeezed her close.
I walked past and slapped Jury on the shoulder. “It’s okay, don’t cry.”
“Someone’s cutting onions out here,” Jury said with an exaggerated sniff. The man was covered head to toe in tattoos and was a tough bastard, but there was a soft smile on his face.
In all reality his eyes were dry, but all of us were likely feeling a little soft inside watching the reunion. How did you remain emotionless in the face of a missing kid being reunited with her father? Shit was sweet. And despite the exterior we presented to the outside, we weren’t made of stone.
“Pyre,” Cypher called, “give her a quick look over. Make sure she’s good, then you can do a more detailed exam once we get back to the clubhouse. Everyone else, load everything up.”
I walked over to Cypher and Scythe. “There was a guy in there with her.”
“Is Forge coming back?” Aella asked as Pyre held her hand and led her over to a nearby SUV.
“No, he’s not coming back,” I told her, realizing that was the name of her friend inside.
“We have a body to move?” Scythe asked, keeping his voice low so the little girl wouldn’t hear him. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“We can help with that,” Toxic said, pointing at himself then Butcher. “We’ve gotten good at getting rid of bodies.”
“No body. He got away.”
