Duke (The Henchmen MC 5)

"Out in the open here, Duke."

With that, Duke pulled the bar and the doors swung open, bringing Reign and Duke back down the stairs. From my angle, I could see the feet of others in the doorway, but they didn't come in.

"Babe," Reign said, nodding his head at me. "Holding up alright?"

"I'm fine," I said immediately.

"No woman is ever fine, but given the situation, I'll let that slide. Here," he said, pulling a cell out of his pocket and handing it to me. "It already has Duke's number programmed. Along with mine, Cash's, and Repo's. Just covering our bases," he added when I stiffened. He turned to Duke. "Lo sent four of her people to escort her back to Hailstorm. We have to be at the compound."

"But isn't that..." I started to object, then shut my mouth. It wasn't my place to tell them it wasn't safe there. They knew that better than anyone.

"Don't worry. We have reinforcements," Reign said, but wouldn't elaborate. "We got to get moving. Say goodbye to your woman," he said to Duke then ran back up the stairs.

Duke crossed over to me, hands cupping my face like I was something precious, his dark eyes watching me intensely, like he was trying to memorize me.

"Just putting shit on pause. We will pick up right where we left off when this is all settled."

"I know," I said but there was a sinking feeling in my stomach, like we were saying goodbye for good. With the way The Henchmen were dropping, there was a fair chance that we were.

"Alright, give me a kiss to hold me over," he demanded and just continued to cup my face, waiting for me to go up on my toes and do just that.

So I did.

And I kissed him with everything I had until we were both breathless, until I was swaying on my feet, and until, eventually, Reign made a coughing noise and we hesitantly broke apart.

"I have to go first," he said, dropping my face. "I'll see you as soon as I can," he said, then turned and took the stairs two at a time.

He didn't look back and I had a feeling it was because he knew he would storm back down if he did.

I watched him until he disappeared.

From outside, I could vaguely hear car doors slam and drive away.

It was another couple of minutes before one of the voices from above called down the stairs.

"Alright, hon, we got to get moving," he said, leaning down to look down the stairs. "I'm Malcolm. I work for Lo."

I nodded tightly at that and slowly took the stairs.

Then I was flanked by four people I had never known before who were dressed like they'd take a bullet for me. I was shuffled into an SUV.

Then I was driven to Hailstorm.SIXTEENDukeI couldn't look back.

If I looked back, I might have had a thought I never thought before: fuck brotherhood. And I would have jogged back down, got my woman, got her the fuck out of Navesink Bank and somewhere safe and started over.

But that wasn't an option.

My brothers needed me more than Penny did right now.

There was nowhere safer in the world for her than Hailstorm. There was no way Reign and Repo would have sent their women and kids there if it wasn't secure.

The ones who weren't safe were the rest of us.

And we needed that shit to stop.

So I was in a SUV with Reign on the way back to the compound where what was left of us were meeting.

Me. Reign. Cash. Repo. Renny.

That was it.

And, God willing, Wolf eventually.

"First things first, we are going to have a meeting while Lo's guys look over the place. Then we need to sit and talk about how to make the compound secure. This is fucking bullshit that we are being picked off on our own grounds. For fuck's sake, they got inside."

I nodded, trying to keep my head on the task as we pulled in through the gates and had them shut behind us by Lo's guys.

There was no mistaking most of her people. While she employed people of varying skills and backgrounds, the training her people went through up on the hill gave all of them who hadn't already come from military backgrounds, a military carriage. It was in the perfect posture, the watchful eyes, the confident way they moved around. It also didn't hurt that they all seemed most comfortable in some sort of utility pants and fitted tees.

And there were at least a dozen of them floating around.

"If this many guys are here, who the fuck is at..."

"The women are fine," Reign cut me off. "Think I'd let her send all these people here if I didn't know enough would be behind to watch over our people?" he asked and he was right.