Trevor

Trevor

We are taking a break during practice when Sebastian’s phone starts ringing. He frowns before digging into his bag and pulling it out. His frown deepens when he looks at the screen before answering.

“Hey, baby, we’re still in practice. What’s—”

The look on his face shifts in a moment, and it’s a look that sends a chill straight down my spine. He goes practically pale white before he’s grabbing his keys and running. I don’t know what’s happened, but Sage and Erica are shopping together, and something heavy settles in my gut, telling me to follow him.

I hear several of the coaches shout out after us, but that doesn’t slow us down in the slightest.

“Stay on the phone, baby. I’m coming, I’m coming,” he says as we reach his car in record time.

It’s a little hard to get in with all of our gear on but we manage, and Sebastian is peeling out of the parking lot in the next second.

“Erica? Erica!” Sebastian barks into the phone.

“What the fuck is going on?” I ask.

Sebastian’s hand is shaking as he puts his phone on speaker as he runs a red light, maneuvering around honking cars as he continues.

I don’t hear anything at first, then the faint sound of Erica’s voice in the background comes through.

“Let her go!”

Panic races through me at her words.

“Her?!” I shout. “Her who?!”

I’m pissed I didn’t have the foresight to grab my own phone because I need to hear Sage’s voice. Need to know she’s okay. In the next second, a gunshot rings out that has both Sebastian and I holding our breath. The air inside the car is so dangerous, so silent, it feels as if time has frozen despite the speed with which we are racing down the busy streets of Seattle.

“Erica?” Sebastian rasps roughly, but no one responds.

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.

Sebastian is practically drifting his Suburban in the parking garage before racing up floor after floor.

“Are you guys okay?” a man’s muffled voice sounds through the phone just as we come around a corner to see two men standing over our girls.

Sebastian doesn’t bother finding a spot. He slams the car into park in the middle of the road and races out of the car, but I’m faster. Sage and Erica are both sitting on the ground while the men are standing over them. My eyes instantly go to Sage, scanning over her for injuries and coming up empty, thank God. I set my sights on the man closest to her before full-on tackling him to the ground.

We tussle a bit before I hear Erica’s voice.

“Trev! Seb! Stop! They helped us!”

I pause, looking down at the man beneath me, noticing the security-labeled clothing he’s wearing before I look up at her.

“You sure?”

She nods quickly, causing me to release him and scramble toward a silent Sage. I grab her face and force her to look at me.

“Baby,” I breathe out, my heart beating like a jackhammer. “What the fuck happened? What’s going on?”

Her beautiful purple hues are cloudy with pain and fear, a watery layer of tears dimming their shine as she looks at me.

“T-trev?”

“I’m here,” I say as Sebastian speaks.

“How did they save you?” he demands, looking like a crazed man, still not releasing the man beneath him.

“They scared the guys off, thankfully,” Erica says, her voice breaking off on a sob that has Sebastian abandoning his target and gathering his wife into his arms. She falls apart, sobbing and clinging to him like she might drift away otherwise. My heart hurts for her, but I’m far too concerned with what happened and why my girl has hardly said a word yet.

“Sweetheart,” I say gently, brushing away the silent tears that are currently streaming down her cheeks. “Talk to me,” I beg.

I watch as her lower lip begins to tremble before she blows out a rough breath and speaks.

“He’s coming for me.”

“Who?” I push again, but she stays quiet.

“A couple of guys pulled up in a van, they tried to take Sage,” Erica says.

“Both of you, you mean,” Seb says as he holds her tighter.

Erica shakes her head, though, as she shares a heavy look with me.

“No, just Sage.”

The panic I felt in the car is nothing compared to what I feel now. I gather Sage’s body into my arms, holding her as tightly as I possibly can as I blow out a staggered breath.

“We got the license plate,” the guy who took the punch from Seb says. “Police are on their way.”

We both nod as Sebastian holds out his hand.

“Thanks, sorry I punched you.”

He shrugs. “Would have done the same thing, and if I had to be punched by anyone, it’s cool that it was Sebastian Caldwell.”

He tries to laugh, but it doesn’t land. The four of us just stare at him, causing him to share an awkward look with his buddy. A police car pulls up at the next moment and begins questioning everyone. Sage doesn’t say much, she just tells the exact same story as Erica without sharing any extra details.

“He said, ‘Leave her, he only wants this one’ when he was holding Sage.”

“Who is he?” the cop asks Erica.

She shrugs before looking toward a practically catatonic Sage.

“Ma’am, can you tell us anything? Give us a name? Something?”

“No point, you’ll never get him,” she says numbly.

“We have a lot of resources at our disposal, and you’re clearly in danger. Let us help,” the cop tries to reason.

Sage’s eyes harden as she looks up at him, a hard clamp to her jaw as she speaks.

“Alec Hale. The Snakebacks president of the Sante Fe chapter.”

I watch as the cop visibly swallows, and his eyes widen.

“What the fuck does that mean? Who is that?” I ask the cop before facing Sage.

She looks at me but doesn’t speak as she shakes her head. My eyes come to Erica who seems to know exactly what I’m thinking. She comes beside Sage, taking my place as I walk over to the cop and take him to the side.

“What’s going on? Do you know this guy?”

“Not personally,” he says as he jots something down on his notepad.

“What is he? A gangster or something?” I ask.

“The Snakebacks are a national Motorcycle Club, one percenters. No one you want to mess with.”

Motorcycle club? What the fuck? Like Sons of Anarchy shit?

“What about Sage? What does it mean he’s coming after her like this? What can we do until you catch him?”

The cop huffs out a laugh as he shakes his head.

“I’m afraid it’s a hell of a lot trickier than that. We have the license plate the guys gave us, and we will do our best with that lead, but these guys have a reputation, and it isn’t for being good citizens with their properties in their name or paying their taxes. We’ve been trying to nail the Seattle chapter for years with no luck. In my experience, they only come out of the shadows when they are ready to.”

“Okay, well why the fuck is this prick biker targeting my girl?” I say, doing my best to keep my fear for Sage under wraps as I get some answers.

“You tell me, she clearly isn’t talking to us.”

I shake my head as I look over my shoulder to see her staring off into the space in front of her, Erica holding her comfortingly.

“My guess,” the cop continues, “is that you’re shacking up with a Snakeback president’s old lady. Between you and me, if I were you, I’d be getting the hell away from her as fast as possible before you get a target painted on your back.”

I turn to face him, disgust filling my face as I sneer at him.

“Not a chance in fucking hell.”

The cop shrugs. “Then I’d suggest some private security until we have an update.”

“Done,” I say before turning on my heel and getting back to my girl.

I’ll call a company in a bit, for now, I need to get my girl home and have a serious fucking talk with her.

It’s time.