you! tore through him. The emotion behind her words made his heart ache. He needed to get her away from Carlos.
The perfect opportunity arose when Carlos and one of his men started down the tarmac.
“Take his men out first,” Steele whispered.
“On it,” Arson replied.
“Wait!” Steele said before Arson had a chance to act. “Listen.”
The plane. It was coming from behind them.
Ax began to panic. If Sage got on that plane, it was over. He would never see her again. He had to do something. “I’m going out there.”
“The fuck you are,” Steele hissed.
He turned on Steele. “Carlos wants me. The reason Sage is standing out there with a gun to her head, is because of me.”
Steele’s hand tagged the back of Ax’s neck, pulling him in close. “And if you go out there right now, you’ll both die. I can’t lose you, brother. Sage and Petal can’t lose you. Do you hear me?”
“Plane’s about to land,” Buck warned.
While Steele and Buck focused on Carlos, Ax and Arson had their guns trained on the dickhead watching Sage.
“It’s too close,” Ax muttered. He had a shot but he couldn’t risk it hitting Sage.
“Want me to take him out?” Arson asked.
“Hold up,” Steele said. “I don’t have a clear shot. What about you?” he asked Buck.
“If Carlos would move to the left, I would. Call Ink and see if they’ve got a better shot,” Buck replied.
Steele called Ink. “Ink says yes.”
“Do it?” Arson asked.
“Don’t hit Sage,” Ax growled.
“Do it,” Steele ordered.
Shots rang out and both men dropped. Carlos ran toward the car while Sage took off in the other direction.
“Get her!” Ax shouted.
While Buck and Taz went after Sage, Ax and everyone else intercepted Carlos.
“Hands up!” Steele yelled.
Carlos threw his hands into the air. “You do not want to do this,” he sneered.
Ax smiled at him. “You’re wrong. We very much want to do this.”
A look of fear skittered across Carlos’s face. “My uncle won’t stand for it. Killing me will be a declaration of war with the cartel!”
“Who do you think told us where to find you?” Steele asked.
Fear turning to disbelief, Carlos said, “I am family. He would not do that to me.”
Ax scoffed. “Of course, he would. The moment you jeopardized his business by starting a fucking war with the club and getting pinched by the DEA, you became a liability. Digging it in further, he added, “And to top it off, he’s a family man who doesn’t countenance to wife beaters.”
“He would not do that to me!” Carlos shouted, reaching for his gun.
Ax pulled the trigger. Carlos went down. He pulled the trigger a second time, and a third, and was about to go for a fourth when he heard Sage scream his name.
He turned to find her racing across the tarmac toward him. She hit at full-force, nearly taking him off his feet. A sob tore from her mouth as she crawled up his body and buried her face in his neck.
“It’s over, baby,” he whispered into her hair.
“I thought I was going to lose you,” she cried.
“Never,” he said.
“Where’s Montana?” Ink asked.
Sage pulled her head from his neck. “She was getting us coffee. Carlos took me before she returned.”
Ink’s gaze hit Ax, a tortured look appearing on his face.
“There weren’t any bodies,” Ax said.
“Then, where the fuck is she?” Ink asked.
“What bodies?” Sage said.
“We need to roll before the police get here!” Steele called out.
Ax and Sage piled into Steele’s truck, and the discussion of Montana resumed. Sage told them about going to Reyn’s and how they ended up at the salon. Ax told Sage about the bomb, assuring her that Montana wasn’t caught in the blast.
So, where was she?
Ax spent the next few days holed up with Sage. The only time he left the house was to take Petal to and from school. Had Steele not called a meeting, he would have taken the entire week. As it was, he had to convince Sage—who seemed to be a hell of a lot less traumatized than he was by the whole thing—to go with him.
“Can’t I stay here?” she whined from her perch on their bed.
He buttoned his jeans, then slid into his boots. “Nope. The last time I left you alone, you ended up getting kidnapped.”
“I promise not to leave the house.”
Ax sighed. “Fine, I was going to run by the dealership after the meeting, but since you don’t want to go, I guess I’ll have to go alone. I kind of like those Cube cars,”