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  “She is still having some respiratory distress, and there is medicine going through this tube here to keep her from having discomfort.”

  “Discomfort?”

  “Because of Gina’s condition, the baby could go through withdrawal.”

  The thought ripped Cheyenne’s insides apart and her eyes began to water.

  “If you place your hand inside you can touch her hand. She is a very alert newborn. She’ll know you’re here.”

  “Why does she have a blindfold on?”

  “It’s to shield her eyes. She is jaundiced so we have special lights that will help treat it.”

  Cheyenne stood before the isolette. She stared down at the baby that was her sister, but in reality, she would raise her as a daughter. Cheyenne’s heart raced as she placed a finger inside Samantha’s palm. The baby’s head moved, and Cheyenne’s breath caught as Samantha wrapped her tiny fingers around Cheyenne’s. Randy stood back a bit. The baby looked so tiny and helpless. He was afraid he’d break her. It was then that he realized, that this life, this tiny life that he had no role in creating was now under his watchful eye. He had hinted at having children with Cheyenne for about a month now. He never expected the role of Dad to come so soon.

  “Randy, come say hello,” Cheyenne urged.

  The baby laid on her back. The inside of the isolette was warm, intending to recreate the temperature of the womb. Slowly, Randy reached inside and gently let his thumb touch Samantha’s hand. He had never felt anything so incredibly soft before. He thought maybe the baby had fallen back to sleep until both of the baby’s hands clasped onto Randy’s thumb. The baby clutched and didn’t let go. Randy choked a bit. This tiny little girl was so helpless – he would be her greatest line of defense. He was amazed by the strength of the baby’s grip. The tiniest of whimpers escaped from her mouth as Randy let go. Refusing to face Cheyenne and the nurse, he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.

  Life changes people. It brings things out in people that existed all along – but dormant. Randy Ford had become the man he was raised to be. Just as Cheyenne had emerged from the ashes of a former life, Randy had rose to the challenge. It wasn’t about the two of them anymore.

  Cheyenne patted Randy on his back as they were escorted from the room. Samantha needed to have more tests performed. As Randy departed the room, a memory came to mind. It wasn’t his father, his mother or any other relative. It was Cheyenne’s father, Michael West, just before his death. “Take care of my girl, Randy Ford.”

  Never before had the weight of those words effected Randy so.

  Nurse Ann smiled at Randy and Cheyenne and instructed them to get the petition for emergency custody initiated right away. She also advised them of the visiting hours. As Nurse Ann left Randy and Cheyenne on the bench that sat just outside the nursery, Cheyenne’s head fell onto Randy’s shoulders. Grabbing Cheyenne’s hand, Randy kissed it and said, “It’s going to be alright. You’ll see…”

  They rose from the bench and climbed in the elevator.

  For them everything may be okay, but in that moment, something made Randy question the safety of another member of his family.

  “Danny?” Randy asked with a perplexed look on his face.

  “Ford… What are you doing here? Hey Cheyenne,” Danny said with a wave.

  “I was about to ask you the same...”

  “Didn’t Shelly tell you? Dad’s in the hospital from a bad accident.”

  “Yeah, but Dan… he got out last night. I was there when Shelly got the call.”

  “Call… what call?!”

  “A call from a nurse… Telling her your dad got out of the hospital.”

  “Dude, he’s in the ICU. He’s being transferred to an assisted living facility next week. We don’t have the capability to take care of him like this.”

  “Then who the hell was that call from?!”

  “Randy, where is my sister?”

  Cheyenne stared at them both with wide eyes. “Oh, my God…”

  Staring at the TV screen in the elevator, the headlines crossed the bottom.

  “Oh, my God!” Cheyenne screamed. “The Devils are out?! Well if that happened this morning, where the hell is Shelly?!” Cheyenne demanded to know.

  Danny picked up his cell phone.

  “Shit seventeen missed calls.”

  “Any from Shelly?”

  “No five from Averi. Nine from Tim and one from Colt. Fuck!”

  “Everyone is meeting at the gym,” Randy announced. “I didn’t want to say anything to you earlier, Chey. Not with your mom.”

  Cheyenne nodded as she fished out her car keys.

  “You’re riding with me. Not a chance in hell…” Randy said with a hard gaze.

  “Randy-” Cheyenne began but he held a hand up.

  “Leave it. We’ll pick it up later.”

  Chapter Ten

  Beauty and her Bite

  Averi stepped out of the gun shop as Rex Lynch approached her. He had found some clothes and was dressed in a faded white t-shirt and a pair of distressed jeans.

  “Well what do we have here?” he said in a sly voice.

  “Leave me alone, Lynch! I’m not in the mood for your shit!” Averi yelled as she kept her eyes drilled to the pavement.

  “Hey, hey hey… Where do you think you’re going?” Rex said as he blocked Averi’s path.

  “Move,” she said calmly.

  When he didn’t move, she screamed, “MOVE!”

  “Why don’t you come take a ride with me?”

  “Because you’re fugly and have horrible breath,” Averi said with a sly smirk on her face.

  “Cute…” Rex said as he pushed Averi up against the concrete wall of the gun shop. His hands pressing into her arms hurt.

  “You and me are gonna have a little chat.”

  “Sorry, Rex,” Averi said as she broke free. “Nothing to chat about.”

  Walking away at a face pace, Averi could hear Rex’s shoes pound against the pavement, cutting the distance between them.

  “Shit…” Averi said as she threw her bags into the back of Colt’s truck. Looking back, she saw that Rex was running towards her. Grabbing her Glock, she took the safety off and prepared to shoot.

  “Oh, honey! Put that down, you ain’t gonna shoot me!”

  “You wanna fucking bet!” Averi yelled as she took a shot at Rex’s feet. She missed, but barely.

  “Bitch!” Rex said as he stormed towards her. Grabbing her ponytail with one hand, Rex slapped Averi hard with the other hand.

  “Oh, wait til my husband gets his hands on you…” Averi said through gritted teeth. Her face seared but nothing burned as bad as the rage that flooded her body.

  “Need your hubby to do your bidding for you?”

  “Not a chance, Rexy,” Averi said as she reloaded her gun behind her back.

  “Now, you’re gonna come with me. Because of your husband and brothers, we’re facing a bit of a dilemma. So you’re gonna help me out.”

  “Oh, am I?” Averi said in a sarcastic voice. “No, I don’t think I will.”

  Rex gripped Averi’s shirt as he glared at her. Instead of looking scared, though, Averi smiled broadly at him.

  “I ain’t scared of your husband…” Rex barked.

  “So you’re a liar as well as being stupid. He’s not going to let this slide.”

  “What did you call me?”

  “Fuck off…”

  Rex hit her again and this time, it would be his own undoing.

  “Averi?!” a frantic voice screamed from across the road.

  Rex laughed as he watched Randy barrel across the road.

  “Trust me he’s the least of your problems,” Averi said as she put the gun to Rex’s head.

  “Did he put his hands on you?!” Randy screamed. Cheyenne ran behind him with a worried look on her face.

  Averi didn’t respond though, because as she had the gun pointed to Rex’s head, he prepared to hit her yet again. As she pull
ed the trigger Averi’s elbow was jarred and instead of hitting him in between the eyes, the bullet lodged in Rex’s shoulder blades. As Rex fell to the ground, Randy approached his sister with wide eyes. He eyes narrowed in on the red marks on her neck face and arms.

  “He did hit you! Fucking son of a bitch!” Randy screamed as he gripped Rex’s shirt.

  “C’mon Randy! We gotta go!” Averi yelled.

  Cheyenne grabbed Randy’s arm.

  “C’mon, babe. Get up!” Cheyenne yelled.

  Rex was reaching for his gun.

  “C’mon, Randy!” Cheyenne yelled with fear in her voice. “No vigilante bullshit. Let’s go! We’ve got bigger problems.”

  “Rand… Why is Danny driving your truck?”

  “We’ve got problems, Ave. Big problems. Let’s go.”

  ***

  Monument Avenue was gridlocked outside of Colt’s gym. Trucks parked haphazardly in the street blocked the way as Danny laid on the horn. Averi sat in the passenger side of Colt’s truck as Randy sat behind the wheel.

  “I’m perfectly capable of driving, Randy…” Averi complained.

  “Let me handle this. You’ve dealt with enough this afternoon!” Randy insisted. Finally, he started to wail on the horn, too.

  It appeared that Colt and Tim had called every able-bodied guy they could think of. Randy recognized guys from his construction company, fellas from the bar, hot under the collar guys from the lumber yard.

  “Jesus Christ,” Cheyenne complained as she looked at the scene with wide eyes.

  “So Randy, you said we have bigger problems… What’s bigger than this?!” Averi asked heatedly.

  “I’ll tell you inside. I’ll tell you all at once,” Randy replied looking stressed.

  Annoyed, Averi sighed audibly.

  Inside the gym, Colt shouted orders as his baby fell asleep on his chest.

  “Open up the garage, Jax! There is parking around back and they can unload there,” Colt yelled.

  Jax nodded as he headed outside to help clear out some of the mayhem.

  “Colt,” Officer Jennings, a rookie, called out. “What the hell is going on?!”

  Colt laughed as he slapped the cop on the shoulder. "Well, Jennings,” Colt said firmly. “Let me spell it out for you. Thirty-seven members of the Seventy Devils Motorcycle Club just broke out of prison. Where do you think they’re coming? Not the border, I’ll tell you that. Since you all couldn’t keep them contained, we’re going to do what we have to do to keep our town safe.”

  “Colt! Just leave it up to the law!” the officer begged.

  “And what? Get killed? Hell no!”

  “Think about your son!” Officer Jennings begged.

  Colt turned on his heel and stormed over to the officer.

  “I am... And he deserves to live in a town where he doesn’t have to fear for his safety. And look… here’s my beautiful bride,” said Colt as Averi walked through the door. Randy, Cheyenne and Danny walked in the door behind her with nervous looks cemented upon their faces. “Why does my beautiful bride have marks on her face?!” Colt demanded to know.

  “Fucking Rex…” Randy yelled with a deep scowl on his face.

  “Linch Pin?! So it’s true. They are out!” Colt screamed. Turning his sights on Officer Jennings, “What are you doing here?! Go look for ‘em! Or do I have to do that for you, too?!”

  Colt was about to storm out the door behind the cop to hand Rex his ass, when Averi slowed his roll.

  “Don’t worry about it, babe…” Averi said calmly.

  “What do you mean don’t worry about it?!”

  “It’s taken care of.”

  “Seriously, dude. She’s lethal,” Randy admitted.

  “Two in the shoulder. He would’ve been dead but he moved.”

  “That’s my girl…” Colt said as he pulled Averi in for a hug. “Danny… Where’s Shelly?” Colt asked, looking confused.

  “I’ll get to it. We’ve got issues man…” Randy complained. “Get Tim in here.”

  “Randy, tell me what the hell is going on!” Averi yelled, becoming impatient.

  Colt ran to the front door with a bewildered look upon his face. “Tim! C’mere…”

  Then just as Randy was about to relay his suspicions, the urgent news broadcast on the flatscreen one-upped him. A male news reporter with a grim look upon his face stood in front of Oakeley’s police headquarters.

  “I am here in front of police headquarters in Oakeley, Texas, where just moments ago, police announced the discovery of a female body at the West Plain Quarry. They are not yet releasing the victim’s name because they are waiting for family to come forward and identify the body. Police believe that they have positively ID’d the victim as a 27 year old woman from Oakeley, Texas. She has been described as having red curly hair, fair skin, and of an average build. Her height is approximately five feet five inches and she has a small cursive ‘T’ tattoo on her left wrist. The body was brutally beaten and tossed behind a small office at the quarry yard. Anyone with information is being asked to call Oakeley Detectives.”

  “No…” Averi said in a haunted voice. “No!” she repeated. A rush of air flooded from Averi’s mouth. The news had stolen the breath from her lungs. Colt stared at the TV with a stony gaze, while Cheyenne stood next to him with a horrified gaze pouring from her eyes. Averi’s cries sounded off of everything. Randy grabbed his sister and held her as her body shook violently underneath his grasp.

  “No! Not Shelly… Randy… Why?! Why Shelly?! She was a sister to me. She wouldn’t hurt anyone… Why did they do this to her?!” Averi howled as tears streamed down her face.

  In a husky voice that was barely more than a whisper, Randy replied, “It’s gon’ be alright. We’re gonna find out who did this… We’re gonna get ‘em.” Randy intended to hold true to his promise. Shelly was like a sister to him. A really annoying one. But that didn’t mean he didn’t care about her. They’d all been through a lot together. It hurt him, too. He just didn’t let it show. Randy held a firm grip around his sister as he cast a nervous glance back at his brother Tim.

  Tim was called Silent Storm for a reason. In his eyes a fury brewed. Tim stood there, silent and still as he casted a lethal gaze towards the TV. Colt gave Tim an understanding glance. Tim’s knuckles whitened from the intensity of his fist’s clench. Rage and pain poured from Tim’s usually soft eyes.

  Randy, who was usually the hot-headed brother, looked with deep concern at his typically calm and collected brother. It was a complete reversal of roles.

  “Timmy,” Averi called for her brother through her sobs.

  Hearing the desperation in his sister’s voice set Tim off. Snapping his teeth together, Tim’s ice blue eyes regarded Colt for a moment. The two had come to a silent understanding. Colt passed baby Matthew off to Cheyenne and gave his wife a glance. She knew there would be no talking them out of what came next. Charging out the front door of Colt’s gym, Tim and Colt were hell bent on finding who did this to Shelly with Danny following right behind them. They’d find the person responsible and they’d make him pay.

  “Tim! Colt! No!” Averi pleaded.

  “Let ‘em go, Ave…” Randy said calmly as he held his sister back.

  A moment later, the sound of Randy’s truck screeched down Monument Avenue as a look of worry set in Averi’s eyes.

  Chapter Eleven

  All Roads Lead to War

  Randy took the reins at the gym and kept everything in order. He had an operation that ran about as smoothly as a car without wheels, but shit was getting handled and that’s all he cared about.

  Randy ordered Jax and Harlan to unload Colt’s truck as he ushered Averi, Cheyenne and his nephew, Matthew upstairs to the apartment few knew even existed. Colt and Randy had just put the finishing touches on it a few weeks ago and Colt planned to rent it out for some extra cash. It was a good thing they hadn’t found a tenant yet.

  “Randy, can’t we just go somewhere for the weekend an
d bypass this shit storm?!” Cheyenne asked. “Look at your sister… She’s devastated.”

  “And that is why we need to take these bastards out,” Randy said in a huff.

  “Look what happened at the Ranch!” Cheyenne yelled with wide eyes. Her bright blue irises pleaded with Randy.

  “Yes… look what happened at the Ranch… No more Trent. No more Dave. No more Jimmy. Time for another clean sweep! Including that fucker that roughed up my sister and did this to Shelly. I’m not letting this shit slide,” Randy said in an outburst. He had a wild look to his eyes.

  Cheyenne had to admit that life was really peaceful without the Devils around.

  “Don’t get hurt and don’t get arrested,” Cheyenne begged.

  Averi slumped down onto the sofa with her hands covering her face.

  “Who would want to hurt her… She’d never hurt a fly. She didn’t even want to shoot at the Devils. I had to teach her,” Averi vented.

  Randy sighed heavily as he approached his sister.

  “This is what I’ve been sayin’ all along. These guys will try to hurt you, just to get back at us,” Randy admitted.

  Randy turned and faced Cheyenne. “I’m talking to both of you. They will try to get to our families. We took out two of their Presidents, got over forty of them locked up, and spilled the blood of who knows how many supporters. They are out for our blood.”

  “We can handle ourselves, though,” Averi insisted.

  “Do you think I’m protective because I think you’re weak? No. I’m like this because I love you and would go insane if anything happened to you two,” Randy yelled. “That’s what Tim is going through right now. That’s what we’re all going through. I know you can handle yourselves, but you shouldn’t have to. That’s what we’re here for. Now please, sit down and keep yourselves safe. It’s selfish, I know, but if anything happened to you two, I’d lose my ever loving mind.”