"I hate this waiting game. I'm used to runs but when shit like this goes down I can't stand it." I said as I took another sip of beer. Tara nodded in agreement as Kiara flipped her burner phone over and over in her hands. Gemma walked over and sat down next to Tara with a beer of her own.
"On the bright side, this might make Chibs pull his head out of his ass." Leave it to Gemma to be the voice of reason in the group. I sighed and took another drink as Tara shook her head.
"Gemma, if he doesn't get a clue after this then he's crazy. Not like Happy crazy either." I looked over at her and twisted my mouth. She shrugged and I hitched my shoulder. It would be blasphemy to argue that my husband was completely sane, but I was good with that truth.
"Why'd you get all quiet?" I asked Kiara as she typed quickly on her phone. She shook her head and continued typing. I snatched the phone from her and pushed her out of reach. I scrolled through the text quickly before slamming my half full beer on the counter. The beer foamed up and started pouring over the bar as I called Juice.
"Juan Carlos, there better be a good damn reason you're telling my sister about Happy wrecking his bike instead of me!" I snapped loudly as soon as Juice answered the phone. I could hear him wince at my use of his legal name.
"He told me not to say anything to you. I figured if I told Kiara then he wouldn't kill me." Juice said quickly as I wiped the beer off the counter with a rag. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.
"He won't be alive to kill you if he doesn't get on his fucking phone and call me." I growled before ending the call and passing the phone back to Kiara. It wasn't a minute later that my phone started vibrating in my pocket.
"Kat, I don't feel like fucking fighting right now. We're about to get into some shit. I'm fine and I love you." Happy's voice was low and raspy. I knew he was irritated and I was too relieved at hearing his voice to even be mad anymore.
"I love you, Happy. I don't want to fight but don't ever hold shit back from me again. Be careful, baby." He grunted in response before the call was ended on his end. I set to pacing the length of the bar and staring at the clock.
I knew there wasn't a set time for these types of things, but each minute was excruciating and felt as if it were breaking some time limit. Gemma frowned over at me and offered me a fresh bottle of beer. I sighed and took it to nurse on my back and forth pacing. Harley's head followed my every movement.
"Katerina, you're making me dizzy. Sit down." Kiara said as she rubbed her eyes. I sighed and lowered myself onto the floor beside Harley. I realized how unsanitary the floor of the clubhouse probably was but I just wanted to sit with my overly large, overly protective cuddly guard dog.
"You're too pretty for your own good." I jerked awake and looked back for the source of the familiar voice. Happy was leaning against the couch with a tight smile. I rose to my feet and brushed myself off as my breathing pillow stood up and shook himself awake.
"Happy, you look like shit." I said as I ran my eyes over his right side. He shrugged and shook his head as he pulled me over to his chest. I breathed a guilty sigh of relief before leaning back and searching his eyes.
"We're still working on it, Katerina. Jax sent me back to get some stuff. I need to ask you a favor though." He brushed both of my cheeks with his thumbs as I nodded.
"The guy we got has some kind of dog phobia. I need to borrow lard butt over there." He said as he nodded towards Harley who was eating something that appeared to be nachos off the floor. I twisted my mouth and looked back at Happy.
"If he has one scratch on him when he comes back I'm holding you personally responsible. Go see Freya for a minute and I'll get his harness and lead." I said as I headed out to the truck. Happy caught me by the waist and jerked me back towards him, catching my mouth with his lips. I moaned and twisted my hands in his kutte before pushing away.
"You'll get some when you get the job done, Killah." I winked and darted out of his grasp. I heard him chuckle as he headed down the hall to his dorm where our daughter was sleeping.
Harley cocked his head to the side at the sight of his thick, padded leather harness in my hands. He rarely ever wore it unless we were going out of Charming or Bakersfield. The harness represented work to him and he quickly flipped the switch from pillow to beast. I ran my thumb over his silver stamped name on the harness before passing off the connecting lead to Happy with a hard swallow.
"You realize you're taking two thirds of my family with you, Happy." I looked at him and wished I could beg him to stay. He nodded and wrapped his arms around me protectively.
"We'll be fine, Kat. Freya is sleeping so you should try to get some rest. I'm taking the truck." I nodded and kissed him goodbye before he and Harley disappeared from the clubhouse. I looked over at Phil, the only other person in the room and hitched my shoulder before resigning to Happy's bed.
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"Never knew he could be that aggressive." Tig said as he lit a cigarette and looked over at Harley who was now playing with a frog. I nodded and took a drag of my own smoke. I'd gotten all of the information we needed out of the guy without Harley even touching him. He wasn't any less intimidating two inches away from the man's jugular though.
"He's trained. Wouldn't trust him around the girls if he wasn't. First time I've ever actually asked him to do that though. Most of it's just instinct to protect us." I said as he jumped back when the frog croaked. I laughed and scratched the back of his head reassuringly. For such a huge dog, he could be a big baby.
"Think she's still alive?" Tig asked bluntly. If there was one thing you could count on from Tig it was for him to not beat around the bush. I nodded and flicked my cigarette into the gravel driveway. We were just waiting on the call from Jax to make a move on the warehouse a couple blocks away.
"They'd already send her body or head back if they'd killed her. I don't like this hostage shit. Too many variables and it just feels like a damn trap." Tig nodded as the wheels in his mind turned that thought over. My phone vibrated with a message from Jax. I read it quickly and whistled to get Harley's attention.
"I take it we're heading in?" Tig asked as I let Harley in the backseat. There was no way he'd stay in the bed of the truck once he heard gunshots. I nodded at Tig and got into the driver's seat. It felt unnatural to work out of a truck instead of my bike, but I could see the advantages sometimes.
I sent a quick text to Katerina, letting her know that we were heading in and that I'd let her know something as soon as I could. Tig passed me a freshly loaded magazine before pulling out my shotgun from the floorboard of the back seat. Harley started whining as soon as I came to a stop.
"Stay in here and don't eat the seats, big guy." I let him lick my hand before giving him a reassuring pat on the head. Tig smirked and I flipped him off.
"You wanna leave it running for him?" Tig joked as I grabbed my backpack out of the bed of the truck. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. The windows were cracked so he could get some air. I knew Tig was just trying to settle his nerves with jokes, so I just let it go.
"We've counted four inside and one outside. Shouldn't be that bad if we can get the first one down quiet." Jax was talking to the group of six of us, but he was looking directly at me. I nodded and passed my shotgun over to Opie.
"Bobby: you, Tig and Juice head towards the rear door once Happy's got the guy down. Chibs, Opie and I will use the front door with Happy." We all nodded and I headed off down the hill. The man standing post by the front door was smoking a cigarette without a care in the world.
I waited until he had his head turned up towards the sky, exhaling his last drag of cigarette smoke. I came up behind him, virtually silent, and wrapped my forearm around his neck. He dropped the AR he was holding and put his hands up. Dragging him back to the wood line, I snapped his neck before letting him fall to the ground.
As soon as we got inside the warehouse, I knew something was wrong. The four men that Jax had mentioned were nowhere to be seen and Lauren was sitting bound and gagged in a chair underneath the only light on in the building. I grabbed the back of Chibs' kutte and shook my head before he could surge forward to her.
There was movement behind us and I spun around to face six heavily armed, amused Cartel members. I gritted my teeth and kept my barrel pointing at the larger one in the middle. Jax groaned and moved his own gun between two more of the assholes.
"We've got more over here!" A Spanish voice called across the warehouse. I silently went through a trail of fucks and damnits as I thought about how to get out of here whole.
"Well, well, we meet again Mr. Teller. Here I thought you said you were done with us." Romeo Parada, our once business partner said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes and waited for some type of order from Jax.
Two minutes of back a forth later, we were laying down our weapons and waiting for Parada to decide if he was going to kill all of us or just Lauren. I was grasping at straws, wondering when and how I could even go for the engraved Glock that was pressing against my back.
"Who's with you!?" Parada barked a car horn went off in the distance. Tig and I met eyes for a split second. There was a moment of panic and confusion on Parada's men's side and I took my chance. I grabbed my Glock and took out two of the eleven men quickly. Jax lunged for Parada before he could draw his own gun.
Bullets were flying and hitting all around the pallet of goods I had dove behind for cover. Tig had managed to grab a piece from one of the men I took down, but we were still heavily out gunned. My mind started clearing and the noise started muffling as I went into survival mode.
They were down to three men plus Parada within three minutes and I was ready to end this shit and get home to my wife and daughter. I heard the bolt of a rifle from behind me and groaned. Before I could turn around with my hands up, glass in the window beside the door exploded as Harley jumped through it.
My bullet landed between the man's eyes as I grabbed for his rifle to go ahead and finish the remaining two men. Tig was in a losing gun fight with one of them and I moved quickly. Opie held his fire so I could cross in front of him. Harley was already moving quickly. He was well out of my reach and determined to take down the threat.
"You stupid son of a bitch." I roared as one of the men stopped shooting at Tig and turned to shoot Harley who had his teeth sunk deep into the man's thigh. I watched blood spray from him but he didn't let go until the man stopped moving and fell to the floor with several bullets in him.
As Chibs ran over to Lauren, I sprinted over to Harley who was breathing heavily and bleeding from several places. I holstered the Glock Katerina had gotten me for Christmas and ran my hands over Harley to gauge just how badly he'd gotten hurt while he protected everyone.
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It had been over two hours since I had gotten Happy's text message and I was starting to panic. Freya was crying loudly and had managed to wake Ryder up as well. Kiara bounced Ryder on her hip, hoping to quiet him by some miracle. Tara was the only one without a screaming child. Both Abel and Thomas had managed to sleep through the crying.
I finally heard the rumbling of motorcycles and the bile in my throat started subsiding slowly. Freya's head picked up off my shoulder at the noise and stopped crying almost immediately. Ryder's cries only grew louder.
"Tara, get your bag." Jax said as he came into the room and threw the doors to the chapel open. My heart started racing as the Sons filed in one by one. Chibs walked in behind Opie with Lauren walking next to him, supporting her wait on his shoulder. My relief to see her safe was short lived as Happy walked in with Harley in his arms.
There was blood all over both of them and I couldn't tell what belonged to who. He didn't pause to explain as he took Harley into the chapel and put him down on the Redwood table. Upon seeing her father pass her by, Freya started whimpering again. I kissed the side of her head and turned so she couldn't see him or what was going on.
"What happened?" I asked as Juice came over to Kiara. He shook his head and looked in on the surgery going on in the chapel.
"The killah and Harley saved everybody's asses. Seriously, we would have been a forgotten charter if it wasn't for them." Juice said as he pulled Kiara into a tight hug. I was proud that Happy had protected his brothers, but I knew Harley's only concern was getting Happy out of danger.
"I did everything I could, Happy. If he makes it through the night then the outlook will be better." Tara said as she put a comforting hand on Happy's bicep. He ignored her and picked Harley up. He was over 150lbs so I knew that wasn't an easy feat.
"Get the fuck up." Happy barked as a croweater that was sleeping on the closest couch to the chapel. She woke with a start and scrambled off the couch. Happy put Harley where she had been lying and she scoffed.
"Really? I was sleeping, Happy. That's a dog!" She seemed to have a lot more to say until Happy spun around and pressed a gun to her head. I hurried over and pulled down on his wrist. His eyes warmed a little and he holstered the weapon.
"I'm sorry, Kat. I thought he'd stay in the truck. He broke the damn window and then jumped through a window to get to us." Happy sank down on to the coffee table and ran his hand over Harley's cheek as I sat down next to him and put a reassuring hand on his thigh.