L
Jennie's grip on my arm disappeared instantly. She moved so quickly I barely had time to see her darting down the hall. I knew where she was going immediately, to the nursery where her kids were.
I followed her quickly.
Seokmin started shouting orders. It wasn't chaos. We were well practiced.
I could hear him shouting at me, but I held up my index finger, telling him one minute. I needed to check on Jennie before I figured out what we were doing.
When I walked into the nursery, she was sitting on the ground, legs crossed under, holding both her kids in a tight embrace.
Seokmin must have given the order to let her in when he noticed where she was running to.
I squatted next to her, running my hand over her back while she held her kids. Neither of them said anything, but it was clear by the expressions on their face, they didn't understand the emotion they were feeling from her.
"You guys are gonna stay here and play a little longer," I told them.
"Okay," Holden said.
He was the first to pull away, and Jennie hated to let him go. I watched her push back the tears. She was terrified. I couldn't blame her. I didn't really think Taehyung would harm the kids–not directly anyway–but harming her would harm them. He didn't care about those consequences though.
She was still hugging Olive when Seokmin appeared at the door. He circled his finger in the air, telling me to speed things along.
"We gotta go, babe. They're safe here."
She nodded her head, and then released Olive who scurred back to playing with her big brother and Storm.
I stood, pulling Jennie to her feet too, keeping our hands locked as I walked us out of the nursery, where Seokmin was giving the same speech about not opening the doors until he gave the order.
"You gotta go with the other old ladies," I told her when we reached the bar. Rachel nodded her head at me as soon as she saw me. She was waiting for Jennie.
"No," she whispered. "I can't. I don't want to leave you."
I pulled her to me, making sure our bodies were flush together, grabbing the back of her neck and anchoring us. With my other hand, I brushed her hair away from her ear, leaning down to whisper, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Or our kids. Nothing. But I need to know you're safe. Rachel knows what to do."
She pulled her head away from my chest, looking up at me. There were tears in her eyes. Fear too.
We needed to know how Taehyung found out she was here. We needed to know if he knew or if he'd finally just pulled his head out of his ass and realized I was a much bigger part of her life than he wanted me to be.
That I always would be. Even when he had her it was me in her mind, the one she was thinking about, wishing she was with me and not him.
"I know you won't," she breathed.
I slid my hand down the nape of her neck until I got to her lower back, fisting her shirt in my hands. Her lips tilted up. She needed the reassurance of my kiss. I would never deny her that. I brushed my lips against hers lightly. But she wasn't satisfied. In the midst of her fear, I was her anchor, and she needed that reminder.
Her fingers threaded through my hair, pulling my head closer to hers, pushing her lips against mine roughly. Her lips parted immediately, an invitation. I could never refuse her. My tongue swept into her mouth, tasting her, pouring all the reassurance I could into her. I could taste her anxiety. It was in the way she kissed me. It wasn't the usual urgency, but something more, rougher, deeper, like it was clawing at her.
I had no idea what it felt like to be her, to have lived through the hell she lived through. My trauma was different; my demons were different. I found a way to fight them. The knife. Stopping my brothers from dying when all my urges were to cut others open and watch them bleed.
I was her outlet in that moment. This kiss. That's how she was battling her anxiety.
That was why I didn't pull away. I let her control the kiss, taking what she needed until she was the one who pulled away.
Rachel appeared out of nowhere. She was the quietest in the club, second only to Nickhun. She regularly snuck up on brothers.
"Let's go," she said to Jennie.
Jennie nodded, running her hand down my body until she grabbed my hand. She held it as Rachel pulled her away, not breaking contact until only the tips of our fingers touched.
Then, she was gone.
"Church!" Seokmin shouted, knowing he finally had my attention.
The guys and I moved quicker than we ever had, sitting in our chairs and keeping our mouths shut while we waited.
This wasn't the first time a threat had been brought to our front door. Fuck, it probably wouldn't be the last. It was the first time it was being drawn out though. Usually it was sneak attacks, drive bys, shit like that. No one had ever done blatant surveillance like Taehyung and his men were. Nickhun wasn't in the room, and that could only mean one thing. He must be on the roof, looking through his scope, ready to pull. None of the prospects were here either, that wasn't unusual. I wondered what their orders were though.
Seokmin sit at the head of the table, immediately taking the joint from Ten.
"I can't risk contacting Tex," he said. "So we're flying blind. The prospects say they're just sitting there."
"We need to know if he knows or just suspects," I added.
"Doesn't matter," Jaehyun said. "Whether he thinks he knows or just suspects, it's not going to change what he does."
"Jack, can you find anything out?" I asked.
"Working on it," he said. I couldn't even see him, that was how far he was bent behind his laptop, fingers moving a thousand miles a second. I've got no idea what he's looking for.
Wonwoo cracked his knuckles, tilting his head to the side.
The kid was quiet, but it was no secret he came from a cult-like religious community. One that viewed women and children as property, pretty much the way Taehyung viewed Jennie and the kids.
His jaw ticked, and the anger radiated off him. It radiated off all my brothers. There was a special place in the ground for men who attacked women and children. We fucking hated it.
"We need to call Tex," Ten said.
"I already said it was too dangerous," Seokmin told his third in command, glaring at him. Ten and Jaehyun were one of the few who never backed down from Seokmin's icy stares.
"More dangerous than sitting here?" Ten retorted. "We're sitting fucking ducks. All our women and kids are here."
"The kids are in the safe room," Seokmin said. A bomb could go off and that room wouldn't even fucking shake.
"And our women?" I asked. "They need to be safe too."
"Rachel has it under control."
I snorted. That wasn't the fucking question. Not a single one of us doubted Rachel's abilities in fucking anything. But if this place gets stormed, we're all fucking vulnerable.
Before anyone could say anything, Seokmin's phone was vibrating on the table.
"It's Tex." Thank fuck. "Yeah?" Seokmin answered.
I wished he would put it on speaker. I hated getting relayed information. It wasn't that I didn't trust Seokmin. I did. With my fucking life, but maybe not with Jennie's.
Seokmin listened, not saying more than a few words, and they were all okay and yeah and got it. Nothing else, making me more fucking anxious.
I didn't fucking get anxious.
Seokmin cut the call without saying goodbye. He held his hand up to me, knowing exactly what I was going to do, ask what the fuck happened.
Seokmin took a hint of the joint, passed it to Ten, and blew out the smoke.
"He thinks we have her, and he's not going to leave because he's already sent men to the drop location. When the ransomers don't show, he's going to use it as proof she's here."
"He doesn't' know about the escape route," Jaehyun said. "We can get them out."
"Not everyone," Seokmin countered. "We need to split up."
"More dangerous," Ten added.
"I know," Seokmin responded. "But it's the only way. We don't show, we'll be ambushed."
"I'm going," I said.
"No shit," Seokmin said. "Who else."
"Me," Wonwoo said, being the first to volunteer.
"Good thing you finally figured out how to work your gun," Eunwoo quipped at him, earning him the middle finger from Wonwoo.
In the end, Eunwoo, Miyeon, Wonwoo, Joshua, Ten, and Greaser all volunteered to go with us, leaving everyone else here to protect the clubhouse, women and children.
Once Seokmin dismissed us, we had an hour to get our shit and say our goodbyes before we snuck out. We argued for a while if it would be smarter to wait for the cover of darkness, but the longer we wait, the more likely they are to fan out, and see us when we emerge, even if we will be blocks away.
As we filed back into the bar area, the women reappeared with Rachel leading the group. Jennie was right behind her, and she rushed to me, throwing her arms around me.
"What's the plan?"
"You and I are going to go to the meet still, with Eunwoo, Miyeon, Wonwoo, Joshua, and Greaser."
"How are we going to get out?" she asked..
"There's a secret passageway. It'll pop us out blocks from the clubhouse. We've got rides stashed all over the city."
"He won't see?"
"No," I vowed. "The kids will stay here. Everyone else being left behind is going to protect them. I swear." She nodded her head at me, but she still didn't look convinced. Cupping her cheeks, I swept my thumbs across her cheeks. "I wouldn't leave them here if I didn't think they would be safe."
"I know, I know."
"Come on, we've got to get ready."
She let me pull her to our bedroom. I knew she was going to want to say goodbye to the kids, and that would take a while, so we needed to be fast.
She stood in the corner, watching while I packed our things. I took enough for three days, shoving it into a duffel bag I could easily carry. She trusted me to pack what we needed, asking no questions, letting me take the lead.
It was one of the differences I'd noticed about her since she'd been back.
Jennie was a strong woman, and before, when we were together the first time, there was never a moment she let her opinion be ignored. The only time she gave me control was when we were having sex.
Now though, this version of her. She was weaker, more timid.
All I wanted was to help her find herself again, to watch her flourish into that woman I knew. I loved her. I would always love her, and if she never got back the pieces of herself she lost, I'd still love her. But she deserved those pieces back. For herself. For her children.
"I got everything," I told her. "Come on, let's go say goodbye to the kids."
She turned, leading the way down the hallway, letting me follow her until we got back to the nursery. It was open. Eunwoo and Miyeon were saying goodbye to their daughter. Ten was saying goodbye to his too, kneeling in front of her while Carrie stood behind her with her hands on their daughter's shoulders."
I moved my attention back to Jennie. She had Holden and Olive in front of her again. This time she was kneeling, running her hands over both of their heads. I knelt beside her, wrapping my arm around her waist, pulling her and the kids close.
My heart hammered when Olive wrapped one of her little arms around my neck, the first time she'd shown me any real type of affection.
It meant everything.
Holden wrapped his arm around his sister, and the other around his mom, and Olive pushed her head between me and Jennie, resting it on both of our shoulders at the time.
Family.
This was a family embrace.
Fuck.
I couldn't stop the emotion, so I clenched my eyes and held on. There was no way I was going to be the first to move, not even if it meant making us late for when we were supposed to leave.
Holden was the first to move, and Olive move quickly after he did.
"Listen to Rachel," Jennie told them seriously. "I'll be back in a few days."
I wasn't sure how well kids understood the concept of time. Hopefully for them it would feel like we weren't gone very long.
Jennie said goodbye one more time before putting on a brave face and standing. She waited for me to climb to my feet. The look on her face gave me a glimpse of the woman I knew before. I knew she was still in there.
When we got to the bar area, everyone who was leaving was waiting for us. Except Greaser. He was in the corner with Megan wrapped around him like a vine, unwilling to untangle her legs from around his waist.
Once Greaser was next to us, Seokmin stood in front of all of us.
"Be fucking careful. Keep in touch. I want updates as soon as you're on the road and every thirty minutes until you get there."
"Got it," Ten said.
As the highest ranking member, he was in charge of us while we were on the road.
"Let's go," he announced.
On his way towards the back,he stopped to kiss Carrie fiercely, and then, we were walking towards the secret exit. For Joshua, Wonwoo, and maybe Eunwoo and Miyeon, it would be the first time using it. Not everyone knew where it was.
As much as everyone hated it, Diesel was a prime example of why not everyone had the privileged information.
Ten went in first, slipping through the door, then Miyeon and Eunwoo. Jennie went next, putting her in the middle of the pack, then Me, followed by Wonwoo with Greaser bringing up the rear.
It was dark, cold and musty.
Jennie's hand reached back, and I took it, letting her guide me even though I knew where I was going.
It was hard to see, but we made do with Ten using the light on his cell phone.
It took us fifteen minutes to reach the end of the tunnel, taking our time.
The further we went, the warmer it got, all of our exhaled breaths getting trapped in the passageways.
"I'm gonna go out first," Ten said. "Make sure the coast is clear."
I could hear Jennie's breathing, how stressed she was.
I ran my thumb over the back of her hand, trying to calm her. If she was already this stressed, it was only going to get worse.
"All clear. We're in the van two blocks east," he said. "Let's move."
Something about leaving the cover of the passageway and into the open air had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. We weren't super close to the clubhouse, but it was still close enough that Taehyung's men could be patrolling the area. It's what we would do.
We moved quickly, trying not to draw attention to ourselves since it was still daylight.
It felt like an eternity before we were safely in the van. Ten sat in the driver's seat with Wonwoo next to him. Eunwoo and Miyeon were the furthest in the back, Greaser grumbling about how one of them should be riding in the bitch seat in the middle and not him while they just laughed at him, leaving Jennie and I to the seats in the middle of the van.
Ten pulled out, taking us away from the clubhouse, and away from the highway. It was the opposite direction we needed to go in, but we needed to be further from town before we could head north.
Shit was just getting started.