Never by Blue Saffire

Chapter 40

Lights Out

Sal

I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been watching the door all day. I was surprised when Vault showed up in the middle of the night, dressed in one of his tailor-made suits.

Vault is handsome and hilarious. He’s also very smart. It was no surprise when he made his way through law school and blew right through his bar exams. If I’m right, he passed in multiple states.

Cage was so proud of him when he graduated undergrad with honors. I know Vault stayed committed to his law practice after we all thought Cage had died because he wanted to honor Cage’s memory.

Now Vault is a partner at L & S. I laugh every time I hear the name of the firm. To the outside world, it looks like Larry and Schultz. That’s not true at all. The firm is Lost Souls property.

The Lost Souls have some of the most educated bikers you will ever meet. Cage made sure of that. These dirty boys clean up nicely when necessary.

Vault has King by a few years, so Cage was a large part of his life. I’ve always looked up to Vault like another big brother. He would pick me up from school at times.

He sat with me when I built my first computer from spare parts, watching in awe because I couldn’t have been older than ten. I’d also only looked at the instructions once. That’s all it took for me to memorize the design and replicate the build from the research I did online.

Now he’s stands at the kitchen island with his back leaned against it and one ankle crossed over the other. I’ve just come back from the bathroom. I stop in my tracks as I watch his thoughts play on his face.

“Where’d you get those marks from?” Vault finally asks, pointing his half-eaten apple at my neck.

I knew he was going to. He’s been staring at my neck since he got here. I almost blurted it out just so he’d stop staring.

“It’s nothing, trust me.” I wave him off.

“Nothing… could get someone hurt, baby girl. King will want to know what’s going on,” he says with a lifted brow.

“King is going to mind his business. I’m a big girl. I can handle this.” I cock my hip to the side and cross my arms over my chest.

Vault holds my gaze. He shakes his head at my determined and defiant glare. Taking another bite of his apple, he narrows his eyes at my neck.

“Did he tell you he sleepwalks?” he says knowingly.

I shake my head. “No.”

“I don’t think he knows. Shit freaked us the fuck out the first time. King told us not to bother him.”

“What?” I lick my dry lips and start again. “What happens when he does?”

“Nothing much, really. He comes out of his room and sits on the floor, outside the door. Almost like he’s guarding something inside. Weird shit, but you have to be some type of fucked up to be one of us.” He winks.

“This is so very true,” I tease and wink back.

“Is that from one of his episodes?”

I also knew Vault wasn’t going to let this go. I rub at my neck and wince. It’s still a little sore.

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Yeah, King isn’t going to like that.” He frowns.

“King isn’t going to find out. Gutter and I will handle this when he gets back,” I hiss, glaring at him in warning.

Vault watches me for a moment, those honey eyes homing in on me. Not saying a word, he studies me. He finishes his apple and tosses it.

“Gutter doesn’t say much to many, but I don’t think he’s a bad guy. Just be careful,” he finally says.

I walk over and throw my arms around his waist. “Thank you for your concern. It will be fine,” I reassure him. I look up at Vault. “You want to order something to eat?”

“Nope.” He taps the tip of my nose. “You should know by now I plan to cook something up. My other great talent. I could have been a chef, you know?”

I give a genuine, heartfelt laugh. It feels good and goes a long way to calm my nerves. I’ll feel better when I can see Gutter and we can talk about what happened last night.

Vault moves into the kitchen and I sit on a barstool at the island to watch. He has always loved cooking. Once he gets started, we get lost in conversation about old times and have a few good laughs.

When his phone rings, he smiles and wiggles his brows. He holds it up, waving it at me. Gutter’s name on the screen. Vault chuckles, then puts the phone on speaker.

“Talk to me,” Vault says with a smile.

“You with Sal?” Gutter says gruffly.

Something sounds off. I scoot to the edge of my seat. My palms become sweaty. The smile slips from Vault’s lips.

“Yeah, she’s right here,” Vault replies.

“I’m on my way. Hoover and Spencer popped up on the grid about an hour ago. The boys lost Hoover. My gut is telling me you’re going to have company,” Gutter rumbles.

No sooner than he finishes his words, the lights go out. Instantly, something feels off. My blood turns cold and my flight instincts begin to takeover.

“We got company all right. You boys move your asses,” Vault hisses at the phone.

I can see him through the phone’s light. He moves quickly to my side, grasping my arm. I try not to panic, but my mind is racing. The generator hasn’t kicked in.

“I’m going to need you to stay as quiet as you can,” Vault orders, while dragging me to the nearest closet.

He opens the door and pushes me inside. I don’t even have time to reply before the door shuts behind me. I start to hyperventilate.

My hands are shaking, my palms are sweaty. I close my eyes and reel it in. I’m not going out in some closet.

That’s when it hits me. This is the hallway closet Gutter showed me when I moved in. There’s a secret doorway in here. It leads to a safe room. There are guns and cameras in there.

All of that stuff runs on a backup generator. I scramble to find the knob, running my hand along the back of the closet. I bump into something that tips over and makes a small sound.

I close my eyes and soundlessly stomp my feet in frustration. I go completely still after my quiet tantrum. When I hear nothing outside the closet, I try once more.

Seeing it in my mind from the first time Gutter showed it to me, I feel for the handle. When I find it, I breathe a sigh of relief and push the door in, scurrying inside.

I puff out a relieved breath to find the monitors on and the lights working. They cut on as soon as I enter the room. I run to the screens to see what’s going on.

I cover my mouth to keep from screaming when I see the screen before me. Vault is on his knees. The man from the video of my apartment is standing behind him with a gun to Vault’s head. I can’t hear what’s being said, but I know this can’t end like this.

I spring into action, needing to help my friend. Quickly, I run for the lockbox, glad I insisted Gutter show me the weapons to protect me. I lift my hand to scan my print.

I will not sit here and watch my friend be killed. It’s not in me.

Gutter will be pissed, but oh well.

Gutter

“Drive, drive, drive,” I chant in my head, while racing the mustang toward my apartment.

I wish I was on my fucking bike, but this baby will do. I’m only blocks away. I try not to sound panicked when Vault answers my call, but I’m fucking losing it inside.

I swerve hard around a car moving at a snail’s pace. There’s a red light coming ahead, but I blow right through that shit. A truck nearly clips my backside, but I fishtail out of the way, making it through in the blink of an eye.

Terry cringes in his seat, but he doesn’t say a word as I bark out information to Vault. All plans of taking Terry to the clubhouse first go up in smoke. Sal and I have so much to talk about. I need her to understand how serious what happened last night was.

However, all of that was forgotten the moment I could feel in my bones my woman needed me. A chill runs through me at Vault’s final words back to me over the phone.

“We got company all right. You boys move your asses.”

I shift gears, blowing right through another light. When my building comes into view, I can’t help saying a prayer. I swerve my car around, hard, literally flying into a parking spot.

“You, stay here,” I ordered to a nervous-looking Terry.

Me and my crew of four move swiftly into the building. It’s the one time I wish I had a ground-level apartment. The anxiety in my chest threatens to kill me before I get to the top floor. Only three floors in this building, but that’s two too many.

Now here I stand, outside my apartment door. My own breathing ringing in my ears as I try to calm the fuck down and think rationally. Voices can be heard on the other side of the door.

I nod at Diggs as he flattens against the other side of the door. I can’t afford to rush this and get Sal hurt, but I don’t want to take too long and risk the same outcome. I place my ear closer to listen for the voices.

“You don’t want to do this, man.” I recognize that voice as Vault’s.

“Where the fuck is the girl?” Someone else snarls in frustration. I hear a bit of fear mixed in his words.

That’s enough for me. I shift, haul back and send my boot into the door. I rush in to find Vault on his knees and Hoover, or at least what looks like Hoover, standing over him with a gun to his head.

Hoover’s face fills with panic at the sight of me and my four brothers around me. He grabs the collar of Vault’s dress shirt and presses the gun closer to his head.

Vault looks more annoyed than worried. We lock eyes and he tells me all I need to know with a look. Sal’s safe. This motherfucker is about to die.

“Where’s your boss?” I ask. The fear in his eyes clues me into the fact that this is indeed the real Hoover. From what I know of that psycho Spencer, he doesn’t have enough sense to know fear.

“Fuck you,” Hoover snaps. “I came for the girl, hand her over.”

I snort. “Does it look like you’re in the position to make demands?”

He licks his lips and looks around me again. I know we make an imposing sight. I have at least two other Squad members at my back. Their eyes alone suggest death is near.

“I’ll blow—” He gets ready to threaten, but I cut him off.

“Don’t even finish that shit. Trust me, that’s not what’s about to happen.” I snort. “Tell me where Spencer is. My patience ran out days ago.”

He stands with his lips pursed tightly. There’s indecision in his gaze. Something catches his eye that brings confidence back to his face. I chance a look out the corner of my eye and see Sal holding up a gun with shaky hands.

Her eyes have a glazed-over look. She’s pointing at Hoover, but something is off. Her lips are parted and sweat is beading on her upper lip.

“Well, hello, sweetheart,” Hoover purrs, bringing my attention back to him.

He lifts his gun to point it at Sal, and I don’t think twice. Vault breaks Hoover’s right leg with one swift motion. Simultaneously, I fire two to Hoover’s head and two to his chest. In my mind, that’s two for Sal’s mental anguish and two for the damage in her heart.

I don’t even wait for the body to fall before I holster my guns and cross the room. I wrap my arms around a shaking Sal, pulling the gun from her palm and hand it over to Diggs.

I cup her head against my shoulder. “You’re safe now,” I whisper in her ear.

“I know him, I remember him now,” Sal sobs softly. “He was the clerk that I gave my paperwork to for London. He worked in Professor Spencer’s office.”

“It’s okay, it’s over,” I reassure her.

She wraps her arms around me tightly. It’s as if we’re anchoring each other in this moment. I close my eyes and just breathe her in.

“I love you, Salalia. It will all be fine,” I promise.

She pulls away to look up into my eyes. The trust and love there are like the warm blanket I remember my mother wrapping me in when she sang to me at night. It was always filled with warmth and love.

“Oh, my God. Are you guys okay?” Terry’s voice comes from behind me, breaking the moment.

I stiffen, knowing I told him to stay in the fucking car. I turn my head to find him frowning at the body on the floor. He runs a hand through his long dark hair.

“Pier, the police are coming,” Terry warns.

“It’ll be fine.” I grimace. “Welcome to my city, Ter.”