Craving Rose (The Aces' Sons 5)

I crossed the room and sat down on the edge of his bed, ducking a little so I wouldn’t hit my head on the top bunk.

“Yeah,” I said, brushing his hair back from his face. “But don’t worry, the boys’ll figure it out.”

“Is Dad okay?” he asked, swallowing hard.

“Your dad’s fine,” I assured him.

His dad was fine, but Kara’s might not be. It took everything I had to keep a neutral expression on my face when I wanted to start bawling.

“It’s Kara’s dad, isn’t it?” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “That’s why he didn’t pick her up today.”

My boy noticed everything.

“We’re trying to figure out why he didn’t,” I replied calmly.

“Oh,” he replied, his eyes darkening as he glanced toward his bedroom door. “I won’t say anything to Kara.”

“Thanks, bud,” I choked out, nodding. “I’ll talk to her when we have news.”

“No need to freak her out,” he said wisely, his voice cracking. He bit the inside of his cheek as his chin quivered.

“It’s going to be okay, son,” I said, leaning forward to kiss his head. “Try and get some sleep.”

I left the room and hurried down the hallway, barely getting my bedroom door shut behind me before the first sob left my mouth. Where the fuck were Mack and Rose?

Chapter 16

Will

“Still nothing,” Molly told me, dropping her phone onto the table between us. She sighed in frustration. “I’ve checked every goddamn hospital in a fifty mile radius. No one matching Mack’s or Rose’s descriptions have been admitted in the past three days.”

“This doesn’t make any fucking sense,” I muttered.

It was like my sister had just disappeared off the face of the planet. We’d contacted every person we knew, brought in support from other chapters and allies along the west coast, called in every favor we had—and we still knew nothing.

The baby sister I’d been protecting our entire lives was going through God knew what, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. She’d always counted on me to have her back, and I couldn’t even find her. I felt like I was going to come out of my skin.

My mom was barely functioning, her lips and the skin around her fingernails so picked over, they constantly bled. Dad was raging, and Tommy was practically silent. We were barely holding it together.

Nothing had prepared us for something like this. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense. We hadn’t gotten a ransom call, and no one was claiming responsibility for their disappearance. They were just gone.

“Church,” Dragon bellowed, striding to the door near the bar.

I kissed Molly and followed him in, my dad and Tommy on my heels.

As soon as the door closed, Dragon started speaking.

“Casper’s been in touch,” he said, not even bothering to sit down. “Thinks he’s figured out where the missin’ shipments have been goin’.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Honestly, who the fuck cared about the missing guns when my sister was nowhere to be found?

“Bunch of skinheads,” Dragon said in disgust. “Not worried about sellin’, seein’ as how they’re busy buildin’ their own arsenal.”

“Fuck,” my dad muttered.

“He wanted to give me a heads-up,” Dragon said, meeting my eyes. “Cause he’s sure as he can be that they don’t give a shit about us. No reason to fuck with a member and his woman when they got what they needed from us already.”

“Jesus Christ,” Tommy snapped, his hands pressed to the sides of his head. “Where the fuck are they?”

“No luck at the hospitals?” my dad asked me.

“Nothing.”

“We’re missin’ somethin’,” Dragon said, shaking his head. He looked at my dad. “But we’ll find your girl, Grease.”

“Just keep thinkin’,” my dad said, his voice hoarse, “that it’s a good thing she’s with Mack.” He covered his mouth with his hand and I had to look away from the helplessness in his eyes. “’Cause he’s the only man that’d protect her the way I would.”

“Fuck this,” Tommy muttered. He stormed toward the door, and just as he swung it open, the rest of the clubhouse went nuts.

“The fuck’s happenin’?” Dragon asked as we hurried out of the room.

I caught Molly’s wide eyes and shook my head at her as I jogged toward the front door, pulling my pistol out of the holster at my back. Men surrounded me as we poured into the forecourt, and I cursed as a blue car flew up the long, gravel drive, spitting gravel. I raised my arms as it got closer, aiming at the driver as I stared into the front windshield.

Holy fuck.

“Don’t shoot,” I screamed, dropping my arms as I ran forward. “Don’t fucking shoot!”

The second my dad saw Rose, he flew into motion. By the time she’d put the car in park and climbed out of the car, he was there to catch her.

“We have to go back. We have to go now,” Rose said as I reached them.