Page 60 of Demo

Clearing his throat, Demo answered the phone in a sultry voice, “What are you wearing, beautiful?” There was a long pause. Long enough for Demo to pull the phone back from his ear to see if the call was still connected. It was. Demo put it back to his ear, asking, “Paige?”

A little voice came over the line. “Is this Demo?”

Demo’s blood ran cold at the fear in Mikey’s voice. “It’s me, Mikey. What’s wrong?” He caught Pumpkin’s eye and mouthed for him to call Bulldog. As soon as he got Pumpkin’s nod, Demo started running for the front doors.

“A scary man is here.”

Fury ran through him. He’d left them less than an hour ago! What the fuck?! Demo jumped behind the wheel of his Bronco. “Mikey, where’s Nelly Bean?”

“Asleep. We’re in our room.”

Thank God for small favors. “Mikey, I need you to take the chair that’s in the corner of your room. I know it’s heavy so you’re going to have to be really strong for me. I need you to push it in front of the door. Can you do that?”

There was a small, “Ah-huh.”

“Where’s your mom?”

“Downstairs with the scary man.” Demo could hear the faint huffing and puffing of the boy trying to push the chair across the carpet to the door.

“Did you recognize him?” Demo pulled onto the main drive and immediately gunned it. Unlike some of his other club members, Demo didn’t normally carry a weapon on him in a hip or shoulder holster. But he did have a gun in a lockbox under his seat just in case.

“No,” Mikey whined, like he was in trouble.

“That’s fine,” Demo assured him. The scary man was dead regardless, but Demo wasn’t going to tell the boy that. He caught sight of headlights behind him and recognized Angel’s white Traverse. “Mikey, you’re doing really well. I need you to do me two big favors. Can you do that?”

“Yeah!”

“I need you to place the phone as close to the door as possible. Leave the call connected and put it on speaker. Just put it by the crack under the door and leave it there. After that,” Demo added quickly, “I need you to get Nelly Bean and hide both of you in the closet. Can you do that for me, Mikey? Can you put the phone down and then go hide?”

Mikey’s fearful voice cracked as he answered, “I think so.”

“Good boy. You’re doing great! I am so proud of you.”

“Are you going to save my mom?”

Fuck, yes, I am. “Absolutely. I’m almost there.”

“Okay. I’m putting the phone down now.”

“Put it on speaker,” Demo reminded him. “And, Mikey, you were very brave to call me. You did good.”

“Thanks, Demo,” he muttered. Then Demo heard the scraping sounds of the phone being put down and the pitter-patter of small feet walking away.

Voices carried over the line. Nothing intelligible, but two very distinct voices. One male, one female. Paige was still alive.

Demo had been concentrating so hard on Mikey and keepinghimcalm that he hadn’t allowed himself to consider the possibility of what was happening to Paige at that moment. There were fates worse than death, but Demo would never allow it to come to that. No matter what happened, Paige would survive and he would love her nonetheless.

Any alternative was unthinkable.

He made a sharp turn into Paige’s driveway. He saw the porch light was still on and her front door was partly open. Through the shades on the living room windows, he saw two adult silhouettes standing very close to the other.

Demo pulled his wheel sharply to the left, blocking in theMercedesparked in her driveway. Angel’s Traverse pulled up behind him, but it was Bulldog and Bear who jumped out. Demo didn’t pause to ask why they were in Angel’s cage. He grabbed out his SIG M17 from the lockbox below his seat and ran for Paige’s house.

CHAPTER 11

“Back door,” Bulldog ordered to Bear. The Road Captain nodded and ran off into the snow. “How many?”

“One,” Demo said as he pounded up the stairs. He was not caring about a stealth entrance. Their headlights would have given them away.

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