Page 34 of Stone

“You have no idea who you’re messing with,” I warn. “If you have any sense at all, you’d take your skanky ass’s and leave before you get into deep shit.

“Do I look scared,” he sniggers, spit hitting my cheek.

“You should be,” I smirk back at him. I go to hit him again, but he beats me to it, and back hands me across the face. He pushes me hard and I lose my footing. I hit the ground, so does my head and everything goes black.

The next thing I know, I’m laid in the middle of the road, my vision unfocused. I push myself onto my knees with my hands, my palms stinging from the tiny cuts and grazes that I must have gained on the way down. But what fills me with utter horror is that the car is gone, and so is Sasha.

ChapterTwenty-Two

Stone

“Where the fuck is Ghost?” I grit out when I suddenly realize that we’ve been hashing out a plan of action for hours, going over the different scenarios and possible pitfalls, but our strongest member is MIA. When it comes to undercover surveillance, gathering vital information and the logistics when making an unpredictable strike, Ghost is the fucking business, and he’s nowhere to be seen. “Why’s he not here working on this?”

“He’s already on it,” Smoke informs the group. “Been hanging out in Yerington for the past two days. Once he has what he needs, he’ll be back to check over the options and give his input as to how we should play this out.” He’s just about to say something else when Bad to the Bone, the original George Thorogood version, rings out from his cell phone. He looks down at the screen, then throws me a curious glance before answering the call.

“You okay, honey?” Jesus, this is not the time for Smoke to be taking calls from chicks when we have more pressing matters to deal with. “Okay, sweetness, take a deep breath then tell me where you are?” His eyes are still firmly fixed on me, and although his face isn’t giving much away, I’ve known Smoke too long not to pick up the fact that he’s forcing himself to keep his voice at a level of calmness. “Stay where you are. Stone will come and get you. No, don’t call the police. We will handle it.” He puts his hand over the mouthpiece. “Edge, get Cub in here now. Mayhem, find Hurricane and Crave, then meet us outside. We need to get ready to ride out.” Immediately, they start to move. He goes back to the phone. “Everything’s going to be fine, trust me.” With those last words, he cuts the call.

“What the fuck is going on, Prez?” My stomach is in knots. That sensation you get in your gut when you know some shit has happened.

“It was Oriana. She’s been carjacked. You need to get to Dixie Street off the 395. Best to take my truck.”

“Is she hurt? What about Sasha?” I shoot to my feet.

“She’s okay, but when they drove off with the car, Sasha was still in the back.”

“No, no, no.” Pain sears through my chest like a hot poker. My hands go to my hair, grabbing at chunks and tugging until my scalp stings. “It’s Jimmy, he’s taken Sasha!”

“Get a grip, Stone, we don’t know that for sure.” Smoke grabs my shoulder, and despite me being the bulkier of the two, he shakes me hard enough to rattle my brain out of panic mode. “Cub will track the vehicle on the computer. Oriana rang straight away so they won’t have got far.”

“I’ll ride out with the guys to find Sasha. Whoever it is that took her, I’m going to fucking annihilate them.” I make my move to leave. “You go get Oriana, seeing how she fucking rang you,”

“Really? You’re gonna go there?” Smoke snapped back at me. “Think about it, Stone, she knows exactly how you’d lose your shit, and she’s right.” He throws his truck keys at my chest; my hand comes up to hold them there. “Now go get Oriana,” I growl at him, and go to throw the keys back at him, but before I get the chance, he snarls back at me. “That’s not a request, Stone. That’s an order. The last thing I need is you going in with the devil on your back, guns blazing, before we even known what shit is going down.”

“But it’s Sasha,” I argue back.

“You need to trust me, brother. Sasha is MC family, and we protect our own, so do as I fucking say. Leave this with me. Go get Oriana before some nosey asshole contacts the cops. The local police might be in our pocket, but if they find out there’s a missing child, then they might not be willing to keep it under wraps. If they get involved, it could turn into a total shitshow. So, fuck off and let me get to it.” He grabs his Glock from the drawer in his desk and tucks it into the waistband at the back of his pants. “And don’t be a jerk going all ballistic on Oriana. She’ll be beating herself up enough over it already.”

With those last words of warning, I storm out of Smoke’s office and out of the clubhouse. I don’t show any respect to Smoke’s Ford truck either when I wrench open the door, throw myself into the driver’s seat and slam the door behind me. Foot to the floor, I tear out of the compound like my ass is on fire. I’m raging, my head about to explode, ready to declare war.

Oriana

I can’t breathe. I’m gasping for air, but I don’t seem to be able to get enough into my lungs. Even though my throat feels like it’s closing, it doesn’t stop the painful sobs spilling from my mouth.

Oh my God, Sasha!

The first thing I did, once I had some clarity, was to grab the phone, but my instinct was not to press the one key for Stone but to press two. I just knew that I couldn’t speak to Stone, couldn’t tell him that I had lost his baby girl.

My next move would have been to call the police, but Smoke had made it clear not to involve them. Guess that’s the way of MC brotherhood.

Once I’d cut the call, I got the urge to scream and shout out for help, race in the direction the car had gone, but instead, I slumped my ass to the curb, legs like Jell-O, head spinning like I’d just stepped off a carousel and I’ve been here ever since.

My heart is gripped in a tight vice of pain.

My mind is saturated with dread and fear as to what that poor girl has been plunged into, what she might be enduring as we speak. Hasn’t she gone through enough already for someone so young?

And it’s all my fault.

Sasha was in my charge, and the first time I take her out somewhere I fail catastrophically. I’ve faced challenges in my life, haven’t we all, but this? My lack of action and inability to keep her safe will undoubtedly have a devastating effect on this sweet child.

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