Page 56 of Unbreakable

I attempt to say something, but my head is pounding so badly I can’t seem to get words to form. My mouth just opening and closing like a floundering fish. He scoops me up and makes a dash off the stage moving us towards the back. Not being able to see, I can only guess it’s the storage room or the dressing room.

“Arizona, is she okay? Please tell me she’s okay!” I hear a screaming Vee ask.

“I’m okay, just fell off the pole and hit the stage. What the fuck is going on?” I ask as we enter the dressing room. The brute holding me shuts and locks the door behind us before he moves across the room and sits me down in the nearest seat.

“Did you get the other girl?” I hear him ask out loud as he’s doing it.

“Nah, the old man parked his ass there with the guard dog. If I would’ve made a move, he would’ve known we weren’t goin’ to follow the plan.”

“Wait, guard dog, where’s Ash?” I ask, looking around in a frenzy, only seeing Vee and Jade present in the room, the latter seated on the floor with her legs pulled into her chest and her arms wrapped around them.

“Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” I finally say, my voice growing louder and more demanding, causing everyone to shut up.

“We’re members of the Reject’s MC. My dad is the Prez, but we don’t agree with his direction for the club. This dude named Mike came to him with a deal to take over the Hellion’s. All we had to do was help him get their Prez’s daughter back, claimed she was his Ol’ lady. He said his cuz was on the inside and was looking to take them down, said the current Prez was takin’ them legit and they didn’t like it. We were sent to scope out the two friends to try and get close so we could get near the girl. Except we didn’t want to do that, and when I saw VeeVee was one of the girls, I knew I couldn’t follow through. I was going to get both of them while Nic got you and escape under the cover of the fire, but fucking Charles interfered.” he explains, my eyes shoot to Vee when he mentions her name. Her eyes grow as big as saucers when he says the name VeeVee, growing teary before she runs to him, wrapping her arms around him.

“What am I missing here?” I ask, throwing my arms up in the air, still very aware of the gunfire going on out in the main area of the club. Why are we seated here talking when we should be getting the hell up out of here?

“He’s my brother. I haven’t seen him since we were ten and my dad left, taking him with him. My dad’s an asshole and beat us every day. My mom was planning to leave and he caught wind, beating her one last time before he packed up Luca’s stuff and took him with him. The cops wouldn’t do anything at the time because he was his father, said it was a family issue to take care of. My mom knew what would happen if she pushed it any further so she mourned Luca’s absence but never looked for him.” she tells me as she keeps her arms wrapped around him.

“I can’t believe I joked about asking you out. How did Dad get tied up with the Reject’s? I don’t remember him being a biker?”

“He was always with them. It just got worse when we left and he took over. He’s a fucking ass, and I hope to hell someone takes him out.”

I don’t know how long we are back here, Vee and Luca reconnecting, Nic hitting on me relentlessly while I comfort Jade, when the gunshots finally die down.

“Now’s the time to get out of here. Either your boys with the Hellions are here, or the Rejects have taken everyone out. Either way, we can’t stay here any longer.” Luca tells us, pulling his gun and heading over to the door. Nic and him head out in front of us, keeping us tucked safely, or as safe as can be, behind them.

We head out into the bar area, the guys coming to a halt as we step onto the floor of the club, catching a glimpse through the cracks between their massive bodies I see a line of men, all wearing the Hellion’s Cuts, Bash firmly placed in the middle, but I don’t see Jace, Ash or Hank.

A pissing match ensues with me walking away from everyone when it’s finally disclosed Luca is Vee’s brother. I listen, taking everything in as I find out my friend has yet again been taken. But still no mention as to where Jace is.

My ears perk up when I hear Bash talking again.

“That’s my contact at the police department, he held off the call as long as he could. The police are on their way. You guys go, I will stay here and handle it. I stopped the cameras from recording remotely as soon as I saw the Rejects come in shooting and saw what was going down. Go, get out of here now. I got the girls. They can be witnesses.”

“Let’s go, we can meet two miles down the road and make our plan. Rejects, you’re with us.” Sam orders as they all fall in line and head out. Bash moves over to where me, Vee, and Jade have been standing out of the way while they were all talking.

“Bash, where the hell is Jace and Hank? They were here when this all went down and I don’t see them.” I ask again, almost to the point of pleading.

He looks down to the ground before looking back up at me, sadness filling his face, his eyes slightly glassed over. “They were shot. Jace was hit the worst, they’re enroute to the hospital, once we’re done here I’m heading over there.”

“What!!!!” Vee and I both scream out in unison.

“You’re not going without us.” I tell him as I move over standing in front of him with my arms crossed over my chest.

The police sirens begin to get louder, alerting us they are getting close. Bash made sure to give us the rundown on what we could say. Nothing about Ash, simply the only thing we knew was a group of bikers came in and began shooting up the place and we managed to make it to the back and locked ourselves up in the dressing room. Bash tells them he was alerted by someone pushing the personal alarm button that went directly to his phone. When he got here, there were a couple bikers left and the patrons that were left were fighting back. He tells them they must have become spooked from the sirens of the ambulance who picked up their friends and ran.

I don’t know if they believed his part of the story, but I couldn’t worry about that right now, not when Jace was injured and I had no clue if he was okay.

It seems to take the cops forever, they ask the same questions, just in a different way, like they are trying to trip one of us up. When they’re done I don’t even bother running to the back to change clothes, I start to head straight for my car, Vee hot on my heels.

“Arizona, stop!” Bash screams out, halting me in my spot.

“Where the hell are you goin’?” he asks, moving across the room decreasing the distance between us.

“I’m going to the fucking hospital to check on Jace and Hank.” Tears are already forming in my eyes.

“Hold on and y’all can ride with me, but you need to change first.” he tells me, I start to argue with him but he just looks at me more sternly before pointing in the direction of the dressing room. “Go change and be quick about it.”

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