Page 76 of Taken By the Biker Daddies

“I’ll hang up for now,” Clyde said. “But if you want the people around you to be safe, you’ll call me back and do what I say.”

Then he hung up, leaving his words still floating around in my head.

If I want the people around me to be safe? What else was he planning? And who got shot?

A knock on the door jolted me out of my thoughts, making me jump. I dropped my phone, in fact. It landed on the carpet.

“Lauren?” It was Jake’s voice filled with concern.

“I’m changing,” I lied as I picked up my phone, not feeling ready to face him. “What is it?”

“I’m leaving,” he said. “Wade called, so I have to go back and take care of some stuff.”

He was leaving already? Was it because of all the stuff that happened with Black Storm? Wait. Jake said Wade called him even though he had been ignoring me. Did something happen to Wade?

I felt the blood drain from my face as Clyde’s question echoed in my head. Did Wade get shot?

I opened the door. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Everything’s fine,” Jake answered with a grin as he scratched his head. “I mean considering all that’s happened.”

I didn’t buy it. I knew Jake well enough by now to know that he was hiding something from me right this minute, just as I knew Max was hiding something earlier.

“Anyway, I have to go.” He gave me a quick hug and started walking off. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

I nodded. “You too.”

I watched him leave then went back inside my room and sat on my bed. I was even more worried now, my guilt weighing heavily on my chest.

First, Max. Now, Wade? Did that mean Jake would be next? What if someone tried to kill him while he was making his way back?

I couldn’t bear that thought, nor of the thought of any of them getting more hurt than they already were. I couldn’t just stay here while the lives of the men I loved were in danger. I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing.

I had to do something. There was one thing I could do.

I didn’t want to, but I had no choice. I started this mess. I had to end it before irreparable damage could be done.

With trembling fingers, I called the number that had just called mine. As soon as I heard Clyde speak, I swallowed, holding back tears as I steeled my resolve and my voice.

“Stay the hell away from them. I’ll do whatever you want.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Wade

“Mr. McMillan, please, you can’t just do whatever you want.”

I ignored the nurse’s plea and pulled the needle out of the vein on the back of my hand, ignoring the drop of blood that oozed out. As I got out of bed, I felt the stinging pain from the gunshot wound in my side, and I couldn’t help but grimace.

If I hadn’t had one of the special gauze packs with me that I kept from my days on the battlefield, I would have bled to death before I reached the hospital. I didn’t, though, and the doctor was even able to patch me up, saying I would heal up nicely.

In other words, I would be fine, so there was no reason for me to stay in a fucking hospital any longer than I already had.

I waited for the wave of dizziness that had come over me to ebb, before grabbing my shirt from the chair. The nurse tried to grab it from me.

“Mr. McMillan, Dr. Mathers said you have to stay for a few more days,” the nurse told me. “If you can’t, then you have to at least sign a form before you leave.”

“Fine,” I said. “Get me the form and I’ll sign.”

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