Storm by Aria Ray

Chapter Twenty-One

Storm

This motel was essentially under a Dark Slayers’ takeover. When the rest of the MC had arrived last night, I got the boys to clear out the place. The only people staying on the premises, besides the staff, were us.

Leaving Zoe lying in my bed, I went to the community room where I knew the others were already waiting for me. I’d sent them a text to congregate for a meeting just minutes before Zoe woke up.

Then I saw her face, her beautiful face. Everything else could go fuck itself. I had to have her, even though it felt wrong. Even though I still wasn’t sure what the future held for us.

I walked into the community room and found the rest of my brothers with Styrofoam cups of coffee in their hands. Nobody seemed very excited by it, or the big tray of soggy looking danishes on a table nearby. But this would have to do. We didn’t exactly come to Creekbends for its culinary achievements.

“Morning, boss,” one of the guys said while another one handed me a cup of coffee.

One sip of that and I felt the back of my head throb.

“What’s happening with the warehouse?” I asked.

“We checked every corner of the area. Some guys went out and checked the woods, too, after the cops left. There’s no trace of Daniel. There’s no trace of anybody else. That chick was the only one being held there.”

I cursed loud enough to get everyone’s attention. The others who had been talking amongst themselves all shut up and turned to us.

I was thinking about Breaker who was waiting for good news back in Griffinsford. I would have to call him now and tell him we hadn’t found his son yet. I didn’t want to have that conversation.

“And did we track down the other motherfucker?” I snapped. One of the kidnappers had snuck away in the middle of the shootout. It was a major letdown by the rest of my men. One of these guys was going to have to pay for it when we returned to Griffinsford and they all knew it. Which was why none of them wanted to respond.

“Where the fuck is he?” I shouted when I got no answer.

“He’s gone, boss. We couldn’t track him down,” someone answered weakly in the group.

I clenched my fist, making the Styrofoam cup pop in my hand and the hot coffee spilled everywhere. The pain in my shoulder was wild. Last night I’d taken some of the painkillers Little Joe had given me, but I didn’t want to take more of them. I couldn’t waste any more time sleeping the damned pills off.

“We’re going to try and find him, but we still have the other one,” someone else said, like it was a fuckin’ consolation prize.

“I need both of them here. I need answers and they have to pay for what they did to that poor girl,” I growled and just then the door behind us opened and Zoe walked in.

We turned to stare at her. I wasn’t expecting her to show up here, and I glared at her through narrowed eyes. She looked up and stopped in her tracks; probably because she noticed the expression on my face.

“Everything okay?” she muttered.

“Why are you here? Go back to the room!” I snapped at her before I could stop myself.

My head throbbed. My shoulder throbbed with a searing pain, too. Most importantly, the prospect of having to call Breaker with the bad news was really fucking with my head.

I didn’t mean to snap at Zoe. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her mouth fell open in surprise. Clearly, nobody had spoken to her this way before and she didn’t appreciate it.

I needed to apologize to her, but I wasn’t going to do it in front of my men. So, when she turned on her heels and ran out of the room, I followed her.

She knew I was coming after her, but she didn’t turn to look at me. She ran all the way to my room and slammed the door behind her. I followed her in.

“You shouldn’t have interrupted my meeting,” I said when I entered.

Zoe was busy stuffing things in her purse, getting ready to leave.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have interrupted your meeting. I shouldn’t even be here. I should be at the hospital with my sister.” She refused to look at me, to meet my eyes. That was a problem.

“Will you just slow down for a fuckin’ second, woman?”

I tried to grab her arm when she slipped past me, but she ducked away.

“I need to go see Alison,” she said.

“And I’ll get one of the guys to take you, but you need to give me a minute.”

“You have made yourself perfectly clear to me, Storm. I’m nothing more than an obstacle in your path.” Her lips quivered.

I rubbed a hand over my face, trying to think of something appropriate to say. I didn’t know how to explain myself to her. How to make her see that she was so much more than that.

Before I could speak, there was a knock on the door and Grit stepped in.

I was about to bark at him to get out, but he turned directly to Zoe.

“Don’t worry, I’ve left one of the other guys with Alison. She’s not alone.”

Zoe nodded. “I’m going to see her now.”

“Yeah, you better get there on the double. Your Mom just showed up and your sister is refusing to see her,” he said.