Page 46 of Single Mom for the Bikers

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” I scream after him. “We said to stay back.”

“Yeah. Like any of us were going to do that,” Phoenix coughs out from behind me. “There’s people outside watching the women. Nitro’s checking for more explosives, but thinks we’re clear.”

“My leg’s stuck!” a panicked voice yells from inside the apartment.

We pass through a small kitchen into a living room where the front windows have all blown out. A fire is spreading through the room, slowly engulfing a sofa and close to jumping to the nearby rug. Off the living room is a bedroom which is right over the front door. A part of the ceiling has collapsed onto the bed, and there’s a young woman with a bloody leg on the floor, where it looks like she’s been trying to crawl.

Sledge gets the debris off her leg easily, then scoops her up and throws her over his shoulder. “Anyone else?”

She shakes her head. “No, my roommate is gone for the weekend.”

“Get her downstairs, we’ll check the rest of the building. The fire department should already be on the way,” I order. Sledge nods and takes off.

Me, Phoenix, Wild Child and Ripper work our way down the hall and take the stairs to the next floor. By now, panicked people are streaming down the stairs. The worst of the damage was up front, but fire can spread fast. We should get the fuck outta here too.

That was a fucking message, and I’ve got one guess as to who sent it and why they picked this target.

Shelby waits for us outside, standing with some of the other old ladies, including Emily, who throws herself at Wild Child, and Faith, who looks like she’d stopped breathing until Ripper came out after us. Natalie is already with Quickshot, who must’ve made it out first. The fire department tears around the corner and screeches to a stop. A moment later, they’re getting hoses out and start spraying down what’s left of the entrance to the Eagles’ Roost. I feel a hundred years older, and all the cuts and scrapes are starting to ache.

Shelby breaks from the group and runs my way. I open my arms and pull her into my chest, resting my chin on the top of her head. “I was so scared,” she whispers.

Nitro, the resident explosive’s expert, comes over, along with King and some of the other members. “Looks like someone planted some surprises under a couple of the cars nearby. We’ll have to check surveillance video, but if I had to guess, they wanted to make a lot of noise and get people running to the door for the second explosion.”

King nods. “Prez is up. Let’s go see if Snark has the footage ready yet.”

On our return to the clubhouse, Eagle-eye’s waiting for us on the steel platform in front of the clubhouse front door, with hisbig arms crossed over his barrel chest and his mouth a hard line under his mustache. Jupiter, his boxer dog, stands by his legs, his nose up as he sniffs the air in the direction of the explosion.

“Any casualties?” Eagle-eye asks, expression grim.

I shake my head. “Don’t think so. Was a close call, though.” My ears are ringing and my head is throbbing.

“Cleanup Crew! Wrecking Ball! You’re on watch. Grab some backup and trade off in a couple hours. Everyone else? Get some fucking sleep so we can move if we have to,” Eagle-eye bellows. “Stay alert, boys. The shit just hit the fan.”

26

SHELBY

“Areyou sure it's okay for me to come along?” I’ve only known Alessa for a couple of days, but she and her family have been so amazing about helping me with Mia. I don’t know why I’m so nervous about meeting some of the other old ladies. Probably because in the back of my mind I’m still waiting to get mean girled.

Alessa rolls her eyes like I'm being ridiculous and smiles. “Of course! It wouldn't be fair for us to have Harem Brunch Club while you sit by yourself. Especially now with so many of the men out patrolling. Last night was terrifying. I don’t know what the Outlaw Sons are thinking.”

“Do they know who planted the bombs?” I ask with a shiver, remembering the moment of standing outside in the street, watching smoke pour out of the building and flames shoot from the windows. That short time of not knowing if Havoc was alive or dead really made me realize how much he means to me.

“Not officially, no. But who else would it be? Viking has been in a meeting all morning with Eagle-eye, and Snark is busy pulling together as much surveillance footage as possible. All we can doright now is keep ourselves safe so they don’t worry more than they have to. Anyway, you're basically an honorary member now so consider yourself my plus one.”

“We’re going to… Summer’s house?”

“No. Well, kinda. It was Summer’s house for a while, but they had triplets and wanted more room. Harper is living there with her men, Thunder, Lightning, Shadow and Outlaw.”

“I’m not going to remember any of these names.”

Alessa laughs. “Don’t worry. Harper’s still figuring us all out, too. What’s important to remember is that Emily and Faith have birthdays soon so we’re throwing them a little party.”

“Right. Emily and Faith. Faith is Eagle-eye’s daughter?”

“Yep, and just to make things extra confusing, Eagle-eye’s old lady is Emily’s mother. They had a bit of a surprise baby not that long ago, so now Em and Faith are sort of sisters? Trust me, if you stick around long enough you’ll figure it out but it never stops being complicated. Fortunately I had a good start on complicated families.”

“What do you mean?” I remember one of the guys saying something about Alessa’s family, too. “Sorry, maybe that was rude. You don’t have to answer.”

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