The Biker's Fate Chapter 228

Knight

ONE WEEK LATER, I walked through the clubhouse and into the middle of a little kid fight.

"No, Lily, you can't go out there without me," Maverick snapped.

My nephew, Maverick, was effectively bossing Hawk's daughter, Lily, around.

"Why can't I go outside?" she demanded. "Mom and Dad said as long as we stay on the compound, we can go wherever."

"What's up, you two?" I asked.

Maverick smiled. "Hey, Uncle Knight."

"Uncle Knight!" Lily rushed for me, hugging my legs. "Why are you never here anymore?"

"Just been busy," I said. "But now that it's gettin' warmer, we'll all go out on your dad's boat, okay?"

"Awesome," she said.

"Where's Dad, Mav?" I asked.

"He's meetin' with the prez."

"Okay, so why can't Lily play outside?"

"Because it's dangerous if I'm not with her."

I laid my hand on Maverick's head. "Bud, the area by the picnic tables has a ten-foot fence around it."

Maverick crossed his arms. "I don't care. I need to do homework, so I need the computer and I don't want her going out there without me."

I kept my chuckle to myself. From the second Maverick met Lily, he'd decided she was his. Carter and Cassidy had been trying to help him understand that being an alpha male was good, but there was a fine line between protective and controlling and he sometimes stepped over it. Lily adored Maverick and for the most part, put up with his bossiness, but when he pushed her too far, the sweet, amiable little girl turned into a powerhouse who gave Maverick hell.

"It's been raining for, like, days," Lily said. "And I'm going outside. I'm done with my homework, so I'm going to ride my scooter."

She turned on her heel and headed out the back slider. Maverick let out a frustrated growl, so I knelt in front of him. "Bud, listen. Lily's safe out there, yeah? There are cameras everywhere and someone's always monitorin' them."

"But she's my responsibility, Uncle Knight."

"Why is she your responsibility?"

"Because she's my ol' lady."

I forced back my laugh... again. Shit, Maverick was funny. He was so sincere, standing here and actin' like Lily was the same as any of the brothers' women. If she grew up and fell in love with someone else, I didn't know how Maverick would deal.

"Bud, Lily's too young to be anyone's ol' lady, which means she's still her dad's responsibility. I know you care about Lily and you don't want anything bad to happen to her, and that's okay. That's good. But you got a lot of years before you have to be responsible for anyone but yourself. Just enjoy bein' a kid for a while, yeah?"

He sighed and I knew I hadn't come anywhere near convincing him. "Okay, Uncle Knight."

"Go finish your homework."

Maverick stopped by the slider and peeked outside, calling, "Put your helmet on, Lil!"

"I will!" she snapped.

Maverick waited a second or two then headed to the alcove where we had the computers. It wasn't lost on me that Maverick moved his notes and powered up the computer closest to the window that would give him the best view of his "ol' lady."

I headed down the hall to Crow's office and knocked.

"Come in."

I pushed open the door and grinned at my brother and Hawk, feet up on Crow's desk, shootin' the shit. "Do you never work?"

"Not if we can help it," Hawk said.

Ace stood and hugged me. Hawk and Crow gave me a head nod.

"What are you doin' here?" Ace asked.

"Booker's meetin' me here in a few. We're goin' through this shit with Kim's house." I nodded over my shoulder. "You didn't tell me Mav's got himself an ol' lady."

"Fuck me," Ace ground out. "He's on that again?"

Hawk laughed. "Lily fuckin' loves it."

"I woulda figured you'd be more concerned," I said.

"Hell, no. That kid's got eyes in the back of his head. Lily can't do anything without Mav seein'. He helps me keep an eye on her." Hawk grinned. "You know what she's like. She disappears like a fuckin' rabbit in a magician's hat."

Lily did have a tendency to follow shiny things and was typically so quiet, you'd blink and she'd already be in a different room without anyone noticing she'd walked away.

"You give my kid shit when it comes time to ask for her hand in marriage, you and I are gonna have words," Ace said.

I laughed. "Y'all have fun. I'll see ya later."

Pulling the door closed on my way out of the office, I headed toward Booker's, my phone buzzing as I stepped inside. It was Kim. "Hey, sugar."

"Hey, honey. Um... where's Fozzie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's not here. Neither Buck nor Flea are here... come to think of it, the place is kind of deserted, but Fozzie's not in my stall. Where'd you put him?"

My blood went cold. "Baby, I didn't put him anywhere. Don't move. I'm on my way over."

Kim

I hung up with Knight and forced back panic. I couldn't, however, stop the tears. God! Who the hell would take my horse? My uncle was the only person I could think of and, if it was him, he'd kill Fozzie. Bart had killed one of my horses before, and the thought of anyone hurting Fozzie brought on a rush of hopelessness and a resurgence of panic. I planted my butt on the ground across from Fozzie's stall and stared at it... hoping this was all a bad dream and he'd poke his head out. He didn't.

Apollo did, though. In fact, he blew snot all over my head as he leaned down to see who the hell was sobbing by his door. I couldn't stop a quiet chuckle as he seemed to be checking on me, making sure I was okay. I stood, stroked his muzzle, then handed him a peppermint from my stash in Fozzie's tack box. Apollo seemed perfectly content in his stall, so I pulled myself together and headed to the main house to see if I could find JoEllen.

I arrived to find the front door partially open and my heart sank. "Jo?" I called.

The sound of a thud followed by breaking glass echoed in the small house, and as much as it might piss off my man, I made a run toward it. I noticed Jo's normally neat home ransacked, but I couldn't see her. "Jo?"

A muffled voice came from behind the kitchen island and I inched around it, finding Jo hog-tied on the floor, a broken glass and knocked over chair next to her. She was gagged and banged up. "Ohmigod! Hold on," I said. "Don't move. I don't want you to cut yourself." I pulled the gag from her mouth and grabbed a pair of scissors so I could cut her bindings. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I was just walkin' back into the house when I was hit from behind. I remember staggering a bit and slamming my face into the wall."

"Yeah, you have a nasty bruise on your forehead." I helped her to stand up and move to the sofa. "Sit down for a bit. I'll clean up the glass."

My phone buzzed and I answered it without looking at the screen. "Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you?" Knight demanded.

"At Jo's. She was attacked."

He hung up on me and I sighed, but I didn't have time to worry about the verbal spanking I was inevitably going to receive... I needed to make sure Jo was okay.

A few seconds later, the front door banged and Knight bellowed, "Kimberly!"

"Shh," I ordered as I met him at the door. "Jo's really banged up."

He grabbed my arms and pushed me against the foyer wall. "You ever fuckin' do that again, Kim..." He squeezed his eyes shut for a second. "When I tell you to stay put, you fuckin' stay put."

"I'm okay, honey."

"I got to the stall and you weren't there..."

"I know," I said. "I should have texted you. I'm sorry."

He pulled me against him and wrapped his arms around me. "Fuck, sugar."

"I'm okay." I hugged him and smiled against his chest. "Did you track Fozzie?"

"Booker's doin' it right now and he'll be here soon. Got a call out to the crew as well, so we'll find Flea... he was on watch today."

"Ohmigod, I really need him to be okay. Both of them."

"I know, sugar. We'll find them."