Storm by Aria Ray

Chapter Nineteen

Zoe

Angered by my presence, Storm pulled me into the warehouse. I was shaking with relief from dodging bullets. I had no doubt that I would have been caught in the gunfire outside if he hadn’t helped me.

He held me in his arms, reminding me I would be safe there. We were fused together for a moment before we heard sounds coming from the stairs. We quickly pulled apart.

“What’s going on?” I asked, afraid of who I might see emerge from the stairs.

“It’s alright. It’s Grit. He went down there to check the basement,” Storm said.

Storm thought I was panicking about Alison and that it would be for the best if I was taken out of the situation. I had tried to stay where Storm left me, but I couldn’t. I had felt so close to finding her, but now I was convinced she was gone. The kidnappers had done something to her; that had to be the reason why they never showed up for the ransom.

I saw Grit first. In the darkness of the warehouse, I could just about see a shape bundled in his arms. My breath quickened. I looked over at Storm who was gripping his gun tightly, like he was ready to shoot in a split-second if necessary.

“Alison?” I whispered her name. Despite all the gunfire outside, my voice sounded clear and loud.

The bundle in Grit’s arm moved and moaned.

“She’s alright. She just needs some care,” Grit said.

He stood at the top of the stairs, and I rushed towards them.

Alison turned her head so I could see her face. A cry escaped, as I pulled her into my arms. She was shaking as I held her. Now, we were both crying.

She seemed so frail. I was afraid of breaking her, but I didn’t want to let her go. She sobbed on my shoulder while I stroked her precious hair.

“I’ve got you now, Ali. I’ve got you. You’re going to be fine. I’ll take care of you.” I murmured in her ear while she clung to me. I couldn’t stop my tears, and I didn’t know if they were from joy or sadness. All I knew was that I was so relieved. I would be grateful to Storm and his men for the rest of my life.

“Daniel?” I heard Storm ask Grit.

“She was the only person down there. If they have Daniel, they don’t have him here,” Grit replied.

An ache grew in my heart for Breaker. I knew exactly what he was going through. I wished I could help him find his son, but right now, I was just glad I had my sister back.

Two men were ordered by Storm to help Alison and me into the back of a car. I didn’t want to let go of her, so we remained stuck together.

The gunfire had ceased. From what I could tell, it seemed that the kidnappers who had brought Alison to this place were now in captivity. The Dark Slayers MC had them in their control.

There were two other men, guards who had been at the main entrance of the warehouse. Their slumped bodies were on the ground. Under any other circumstance, I couldn’t have condoned the harming or killing of other humans, even men like them who purposely lived on the other side of the law. In this case, these men were responsible for the condition my sister was in currently. They deserved every bullet they got.

I didn’t know what Storm planned to do with the kidnappers, but I hoped it wasn’t anything pretty.

We walked past the carnage outside and headed straight for the car. Storm and Grit remained inside the warehouse. They were leading a team of their men to survey the place.

Alison needed medical attention. She would need to be taken to an emergency room. She had spoken so little so far that I didn’t even know if she could formulate words. Physically, she seemed weak and dazed.

I had no idea what these men had done to her. I wiped tears from my cheeks while I held her in my arms.

One of the guys who had been assigned to us by Storm was a medic.

He checked Alison’s pupils and pulse while we settled inside the backseat of the car.

“She’s severely dehydrated,” the man said. “So yeah, she needs to go to the hospital straight away.”

“Okay, I’ll take her,” I murmured, stroking her forehead.

The other guy got in the driver’s seat. He had already been instructed by Storm to take us to the hospital.

As the medic shut the door, I panicked. “You’re not coming with us?”

We might need some medical attention on the way to the hospital. What if Alison passed out before we got to the emergency room? I didn’t know what I was supposed to do to keep her stable.

“I can’t go with you. I need to take care of the boss,” he replied.

“The boss?” I was confused. The only boss he could mean was Storm. What was wrong with Storm? “What happened to him?”

“He was shot. I need to take a look at the wound. She’ll be fine. Once you get to the emergency room, you’ll have nothing to worry about,” the man said.

Storm was shot?!

I sat there, stunned at this discovery.

I had been so relieved over finding Alison, that I hadn’t even noticed he’d been injured. I scrambled out of the car.

A few men tried to stop me from running into the warehouse, but I slipped past them before they could hold me back.

I saw Storm as soon as I ran in. He was standing in a huddle with Grit and a few of the other men. All of them looked in my direction when I entered.

Storm took me in from head to toe. My eyes drifted to the dark patch on his shoulder where he was bleeding.

“You’ve been shot!” I exclaimed.

Storm clenched his jaws and gave Grit the most disgruntled look I’d ever witnessed before coming towards me. His men knew enough to leave us alone.

“It’s just a scratch,” he said, teeth gritted as he closed the distance between us.

“Just a scratch? You’re bleeding!” I reached for his hand which was now covered in dried blood. He hadn’t even bothered to wipe it off. “And you’re gritting your teeth. You’re in pain, Storm.”

I held the hand up between us and saw how his pupils contracted. The wound must have been painful for him, but other than a clenching of his jaws, he didn’t display any other signs of suffering.

“You need to come to the emergency room with us. Come on, let’s go,” I said, tugging his hand.

Storm stayed put. There was no way I could move this mountain of a man unless he wanted to move. Slowly, he pulled his hand from mine. My heart sank. I knew what he was about to say.

“I’m not going to the emergency room with you, Zoe.”

“Why not? You’re shot. You’re probably buzzing with adrenaline right now and don’t feel it, but you will feel it soon. The wound could fester. It could be dangerous. Storm, it’s a gunshot wound!” I shouted, the words spilling out of me in a jumble.

I wanted him to be safe. I hated seeing him hurt.

“Exactly. A gunshot wound would need to be reported to the cops. If I go to the hospital with you now, the cops are going to show up there,” he replied.

“So, you’re going to risk your life for this?” I snapped.

“Little Joe here will take a look and bandage me up,” he said and bobbed his head at the medic standing at the warehouse entrance. He was one of the guys who ran after me and failed to stop me from entering the warehouse.

“What if it’s more than just a bandage job?” I hissed at him.

The corners of Storm’s mouth turned up like he was about to smirk, and I wished he would take me in his arms and kiss me again.

“Right now, the only person you need to worry about is your sister. Take her to the hospital. She needs to get looked at, now. I’ll be fine. Just go, Zoe,” he commanded.

Torn up over leaving him, I walked to the car where Alison sat in the back seat. Storm was right. I needed to be with my sister who had been through one of the most traumatic experiences a person could go through. But the wound on Storm’s shoulder didn’t look as innocent as he was making it out to be.

I wanted to be there for him. I wanted to make sure he was going to look after it.

I heard police cars in the distance, and my heart raced even faster. The scene around me turned more intense. The MC was rushing to clear up and dash away. They didn’t want to stick around to greet the cops.

Just as I was about to step into the car, Grit appeared behind me.

“Storm wants me to go to the hospital with you,” he said.

When I turned to him, he must have seen the look of fear and confusion on my face.

“Don’t worry, Zoe, everything will be alright. Your sister is going to be fine, and Storm’s gunshot is just a graze. The bullet hasn’t caused any actual damage. We have guys who can take care of it better than those at the ER.”

I felt better after hearing this.

We both got into the car. Alison had dozed off. I sat beside her, arranging her so her head was in my lap and I could hold her.

The car roared to life almost immediately and zoomed out onto the road. The police sirens sounded louder now, but we headed in the opposite direction.

“Did we get them? The men who did this to her?” I asked.

Grit was sitting in the front seat beside the driver. He looked over his shoulder at me.

“One of them got away,” he told me, “But that isn’t something you need to concern yourself with. We’ll take care of the situation.”

I sank into the seat, staring down at Alison’s helpless frail body. I had no idea what she had endured. The photographs they sent of her were too disturbing to think about, but I planned to ask Alison to tell me everything she remembered. I needed to know.

She mumbled something in her sleep and then shuddered. I checked her pulse again. She was going to make it.

Tears streamed down my cheeks again as I tried to be positive. It was over, right?

This was what I wanted. Alison was safe and back with us.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Storm. Was he going to be okay? What did this mean for us? Was our relationship over now?

At least Alison wasn’t in pain anymore. She was asleep. She had made it back alive and was being looked after by medical professionals who knew what they were doing. She was under the influence of sedatives now and wouldn’t have to face the horrors and memories of her abduction for another few hours. Alison looked peaceful, as she lay sleeping in the hospital bed.

For over an hour, doctors and nurses had worked on making her comfortable. She was severely dehydrated. There were bruises all over her body and she seemed too dazed and confused to answer any question posed to her.

Grit was there with me the whole time. He made up a story of how she was in an abusive relationship, claiming we had rescued her and brought her straight to the hospital. He took charge of answering any questions that came at us.

I understood the need for him to lie; neither he nor the MC wanted any interference in how they were going to handle the people who did this to Alison. The people who still may know where Daniel was located. Now that Storm and his men had one of the kidnappers in their possession, maybe there was a chance we could find the other missing people from our town, too.

At the end of the fateful hour, the doctors told us the news we were waiting to hear: Alison’s status was updated to standard care, but she needed to remain under their observation.

Grit and I remained in her room while she slept. Neither of us spoke at first. Instead, we watched her like a hawk. I sensed Grit’s protectiveness towards her. For some reason, he had decided to be personally responsible for her welfare.

“I’m going to spend the rest of the night here. You don’t have to worry about her,” he finally said, breaking the silence.

“We can both spend the night here,” I replied.

“We can, or you can go back to the motel and check on Storm. I know you want to.”

I blushed but tried to hide it. Was I that obvious? I hadn’t stopped thinking about Storm this whole time.

“I’ll get in touch if there’s any change. Hopefully, she’ll just sleep through the night. So, it’s pointless for us both to stay here.”

I stood up and planted a kiss on Alison’s cheek. She didn’t feel as cold to the touch as before, when Grit had first brought her up from the basement.

Full of gratitude, I smiled at him and then left the room.

The car and driver were still waiting for me in the hospital parking lot. I couldn’t wait to see Storm again. Before anything else, there was something I needed to do first.

On my way to the car, I called my mom.

“Zoe? I’ve been trying to reach you. You were right all along, Zoe. Your father went to pay off the men—”

I had to interrupt. “Alison is alright, Mom. She’s going to be fine.”

“I want to keep believing that, honey, but I don’t know how to cling to that hope anymore,” she sobbed.

“No, Mom, Alison is really fine. She’s in the hospital, recovering, but doing well.”

There was silence on the other end. Maybe Mom thought she misheard me. Maybe she couldn’t believe her ears.

“You found Alison?” she asked.

“Yes, Mom, we found Alison.”

She shrieked so loud I had to hold the phone away from my ear.

“How? Where? I want to see her. Oh, Zoe!”

I gave the location of the hospital. “But Mom, you can’t ask any questions. It’s too soon for her to answer them. Right now, just focus on Alison and helping her physically get better, okay?”

“Okay, Zoe, I’ll do anything. I’m just so happy to have her back,” she replied, still sobbing.