Page 26 of Flash

“More important than whatever you were doing,” Tex says, his cowboy hat traded for his motorcycle helmet now as he straddles his bike.

“Or whoever,” Jag quips with a smirk.

I chuckle. Somehow I doubt that, but I’ll bite.

“Well? Are you going to fill me in or is it a surprise?” I ask.

“My little sister called me.” Hero’s eyes darken and his jaw ticks, and all the levity inside of me vanishes.

“Val?” I clarify, but I already know the answer. Hero has three younger sisters, but there’s only one he’s been lying awake at night worrying about for the past year and a half.

He nods sharply. “She’s finally leaving the prick.”

“Good,” I grunt.

“A-fucking-men,” Piston says, and the rest of the guys murmur their agreement.

“He’s supposed to be working third shift tonight, but last week she found a camera hidden at the house and she’s worried there’s more she didn’t find. She just needs us there while she gathers up her stuff in case he’s watching some secret live feed and comes running home to stop her from taking off,” he explains.

My insides thrum with adrenaline and I rev my engine.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I jerk my head for Hero to lead the way since he’s the one who has the address. He roars out of the driveway and the rest of us fall into formation behind him, with Piston just slightly behind me to one side, and Jag and Tex staggered behind him.

It’s assholes like Val’s boyfriend who sowed the seeds of anger inside of me from a young age. Bullies, people who think it’s their right to push people around and put their hands where they don’t belong. People who pick on anyone they see as smaller and weaker than they are, like their girlfriends, their own kids, or the awkward gay kid who sticks out like a sore thumb in a rural high school in the early nineties. Funny how people like that tend to shut the hell up pretty damn fast when we come around these days. It’s a lot harder to feel tough when you’re staring down five pissed off bikers, covered in tattoos and boiling with decades of rage.

They don’t have to know how much damn work I’ve put into learning how to control my anger issues. Let them piss themselves wondering how hard I hit instead.

It doesn’t take us long to reach her place. I didn’t realize how close she lived, and now the restraint it must have taken for Hero not to come over here and drag her to safety sooner really sinks in. I’m not sure I would be able to hold back if it were my flesh and blood getting pushed around like that. But you can’t save someone who isn’t ready to be saved.

We pull our bikes up, surrounding her car in the driveway, just in case the guy does come back and tries to fuck with it to keep her from leaving. The tension rolling off of Hero is palpable as he dismounts and loses his helmet. We all follow suit, right behind him on the way up to the front door. I glance around for a doorbell camera or any other outdoor cameras and I don’t see any obvious ones. Of course, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

A clock inside my head starts to tick down as soon as we approach the door. If there are any outdoor cameras, he’ll know now that something is going on, which means our time is limited to get Val out of here without a confrontation.

Hero knocks and it takes a solid minute or two before the door is cautiously inched open.

The woman on the other side of the door has the same almond shaped eyes and bushy eyebrows as Hero, but there’s a purple bruise staining her left cheek. His fingers flex into a fist as soon as he notices it and I brace for him to lose his shit. Piston reaches out before I can and puts a steadying hand on Hero’s shoulder, squeezing it to let him know we’re all behind him.

“Say the word and I’ll kill him, Val. I swear to god I will,” he says gruffly.

“Stop it, Kaid. That’s why I didn’t tell you sooner. He’s not worth spending the rest of your life in prison,” she says softly. “Thanks for coming though, I appreciate it.”

“Wasn’t even a second thought.” He reaches out slowly and, when she doesn’t flinch back, pulls her into a hug.

When Hero lets her go, she wipes a stray tear off her cheek and opens the door wider.

“I’m not going to bother taking much, just what I can fit in my suitcase. I have most of it organized already, I just didn’t want to start actually packing it until you were here in case…”

He nods in understanding.

“He’s not going to get through us, sweetness. I can promise you that.” Jag flashes a toothy grin.

She gives him a small, appreciative smile and then holds the door open to welcome us in. I grab Tex’s arm to hold him back.

“We’ll hang out here in case he shows up,” I volunteer.

Piston, Jag, and Hero disappear inside, and the door swings closed behind them while Tex and I take up spots on the porch like a pair of Roman guards, arms crossed over our chests, both on alert for any sign of trouble.

“Did Hero really interrupt you in the middle of a hookup or was he just being a smartass?” Tex asks.

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