Page 10 of Gunner
“I need to get your brothers. Will you be okay here with Bear while I go find them?” My words were soft, and she nodded slightly. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” she whispered, and it took everything in my soul to walk away from her.
When our hands disconnected, I felt a pain shoot to my heart, but I pushed it aside and walked to the door, slipping outside and pulling it closed behind me. Three gazes turned to me, and I looked around for Jacob.
“I sent him to my cabin for Piper to clean him up. Did she say anything about what happened?” Smokey asked as I approached the group.
The party appeared to be over, and a large group of brothers stood near the clubhouse, watching us with curiosity and thinly veiled patience. Club rules were that family, women, and children were off-limits, and witnessing Jacob and Sadie’s pain was obviously upsetting to them. I’m surprised they weren’t already on their bikes, patrolling the streets for whoever hurt them.
“She’s asking for Jacob. Did the kid say anything?” I asked Skid, noticing his eyes were red.
Emotion wasn’t something the Death Hounds relied on, but for his only family to be here and traumatized by something or someone, it was too much for my brother to handle. Mick patted me on the back and walked toward Smokey’s cabin as Bullet joined the group. His expression was wary, and I wondered what the old-timer knew that we didn’t.
“He was walking home from the library when some asshole approached him,” Skid started and cleared his throat before continuing. “The dumb motherfucker tried to rob Jacob and had a gun pointed at him when a man walked up and slit the guy’s throat. Jacob said the man was dressed in black and winked at him before casually walking away without saying a word.”
“So, he’s not hurt?” I asked, exhaling the breath that was stuck in my lungs.
“He’s scared to death, but he’s unhurt. What happened to Sadie?” Smokey asked, and I shrugged.
“One of the Cleveland brothers thought she was a club slut and propositioned her. She freaked out and kneed him in the balls, and when she tried to leave, something caused her to faint. No one hurt her, so there’s more to what happened with her than a few rowdy brothers being assholes,” Bullet explained. My vision grew red at the thought of someone touching her, scaring her, or even thinking she was one of the easy sluts who lived off the attention of the club.
Piper walked out of her cabin, and Smokey signaled for her to join us. Women were never included in the MC’s business, but Piper was like a mother to all of us. She approached and twisted her hands together in front of her, her gaze bouncing between her cabin, my cabin, and the group of us.
“Darlin’, why don’t you go check on Sadie while we finish up,” Smokey suggested, and she silently entered my cabin.
I caught a quick glimpse of Sadie sitting in the middle of my bed and something deep inside of me settled, knowing she was safe in my cabin with Bear. He would destroy anyone who tried to get close to her and keep her calm until we could resolve whatever the fuck was going on.
“Do you think it was him?” Skid asked, and we all turned our attention to him. “Do you think it was Callahan?”
Devlin Callahan was the newest king of the Flats. He rose through the ranks, and rumor was he killed Marco and took over his empire. He was changing the dynamics of the Flats, and I wondered if he would be capable of killing someone without remorse, walking away without accolades.
“From Jacob’s description, it’s a fairly good assumption. Supposedly, he had a weakness for kids and a short fuse,” Bullet replied, and I thought back to right after I returned to Portstill and heard the news of Marco’s demise.
Everyone was terrified of Marco, and he always surrounded himself with loyal foot soldiers who protected him. If he was taken down from inside, there must have been a damn good reason. The sound of a door opening made us turn. Mick was carrying Jacob in his arms, the little boy’s eyes taking in everything.
Mick approached, and Skid took hold of Jacob. I didn’t want to traumatize him further, but we needed to know exactly who it was that saved him. The MC would now protect that man, and we owed him a debt. At least, I felt like I owed him something for saving Jacob.
“Where’s my sissy?” Jacob’s little voice asked, and I pointed to my cabin.
“Would you like to go with her for a little bit?” Skid asked, and he nodded.
We all followed him to my cabin, and Smokey knocked, waiting for permission to enter. Piper opened the door and her eyes were glassy from unshed tears. Worried that something was wrong with Sadie, I pushed past my brothers and saw she was leaning against my headboard with Bear resting across her legs.
She saw us and graced us with a smile before her eyes caught Jacob. Skid placed the boy on the bed, and he crawled onto her lap, being pulled into a fierce hug. Piper excused herself and closed the door.
“I want you two to stay here tonight until I can get to the bottom of what happened,” Smokey stated, and Sadie looked over Jacob’s head, her chin trembling.
I was sitting on the bed, holding her hand, before realizing what I was doing. All my brothers, including her brother, Skid, watched with stunned curiosity. Sadie linked her hand with mine, and soon the silence overtook the room.
Skid smiled, Mick shook his head, Smokey chuckled, and Bullet fought the laughter as Sadie and Jacob leaned into me. Bear curled around the boy and was watching everyone as they stood and observed us. I felt like I was under a spotlight, but something about this woman cracked the ice that I had encased my heart in, and I didn’t care if they liked it or not.
Sadie was mine. And so was Jacob.
Mick sat down on the foot of the bed and spoke softly. “Jacob, I need you to tell me what the man looked like.”
Sadie’s eyes grew wide and she looked to me. I shook my head, and she turned her attention to the scared child in her lap.
“Jacob, do you know who saved you?” Skid asked, answering her unasked question.
