After Us (Next Generation #6) - J.M. Walker Page 0,92
unnerving silence.
He nodded again, rolling up the window.
The back door opened then, revealing the guy who made me nervous for some unknown reason. The two men in the front of the SUV were tattooed up to the nines. With dark clothes and black leather jackets, they looked like bikers. But their jackets had no patches, so I wasn’t sure who they were.
“Who are you?” I asked even though I knew they weren’t going to tell me.
“We’re here to bring you to wherever you need to go, sweetheart,” the younger guy in the back of the SUV said. “That’s all you need to concern yourself with.”
“I need my baby,” I said on a sob.
“Piper.” Jaron came up behind me, pulling me into his arms as I cried against him. “We’ll go to Shadow’s and go from there. But most of the police are paid off in this area. We can’t trust them. I have other people looking into this shit.” He cupped my face, leaning down so he was at eye level with me. “We will get her back. I promise you. But you need to get checked out.” Because I could be pregnant going unsaid.
I stifled another sob and nodded.
Jaron kissed my forehead before brushing his nose against mine. “I’ll kill him for hurting you.”
My throat burned, the tears rolling my down cheeks again.
He helped me into the back of the SUV, holding me against him as he shut the door behind. He gave the driver the address. Jaron tried making conversation with them and I knew then that he was scared. He wasn’t a talker, but he was trying to distract us. There was a possibility that we would never see our daughter again and that thought alone was enough to drive us both mad.
“What do you guys do?” Jaron asked, tightening his hold on me.
The younger man shifted beside me. “We help people.”
The driver’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.
“Thank you,” Jaron muttered.
The closer we got to Shadow’s clubhouse, the less I knew what was going to happen.
I didn’t know if Brynn was safe. I didn’t even know if she was alive. I shouldn’t have yelled at Price. It was my fault. All of my fault. Why couldn’t they take me instead? Or Jaron? If it was the mayor who had a hand in this like we assumed, why did he take her? Maybe it was to get back at Jaron. I didn’t know. But I could sense the fear in him that I would blame him. I didn’t. I just wanted our baby back. I wanted to know if there was a new baby growing in me. I wanted to know that we were fine. That all of us were in fact fine.
While the strangers drove us to our destination, Jaron held me and whispered sweet words in my ears. They were words of encouragement. Words telling me how much he loved me. Words telling me to be strong and that although the mayor was an evil bastard, he wouldn’t hurt her. Words telling me that we would get her back, but they were only words. I didn’t believe him. I wanted to. I tried to. But until I had my daughter back in my arms, I couldn’t believe a single thing Jaron told me.
Piper
The guys had driven us to the Mayhem’s Revenge clubhouse, but I couldn’t even remember how we had gotten here. The drive could have been minutes or hours and I never noticed.
“How can I pay you back?” Jaron asked, helping me out of the SUV.
“You don’t need to, kid,” the guy in the passenger seat said.
Jaron grunted. “Everything comes with a price. I don’t want to owe you if I don’t have to.”
The back window rolled down, revealing the smaller guy. “You don’t owe us and there’s no catch either. We help people. It’s what we do.”
“Tike,” the driver barked.
“Now you know my name, so I guess we’re even,” he said, glaring at his friend.
Instead of waiting for us to answer, the window rolled back up.
Before we could find out anything about them, they drove off, the tires screeching out of the parking lot. I found I had more questions about the silent strangers but couldn’t dwell on that too much when we were surrounded by several members of Hell’s Harlem.
To say that I was surprised to see his parents, was an understatement.
“Dad, I…” A shuddered breath left Jaron, his hand tightening around mine as he kept me close.