Page 13 of Ember (Royal Harlots: Yonkers, NY Chapter #1)

“ T hat asshole has my woman, and I want her the fuck back,” Jack shouted at Hurricane.

“I get it,” his Prez said, but there was no way that he understood what Jack was going through without Ember.

He knew that he shouldn’t have let his guard down, but he had.

He took a nap instead of guarding Ember, and that allowed Keith to take her.

He was able to watch the entire thing on his security cameras, and the way Keith shoved Ember into his truck and took off with her made him sick.

She didn’t put up a fight, and that wasn’t like her.

His Ember would have scratched the asshole’s eyes out, but she didn’t.

That told him that he was holding something over her to get her to go with him so calmly.

As soon as he realized what had happened, he reported the kidnapping and headed over to Hurricane’s House to get the Bastards involved. He just never imagined all the guys and Harlots who had showed up to help get Ember back.

“I speak for the Harlots when I say that we are willing to help get her back—whatever it takes,” Tina said.

He nodded his thanks as his cell rang. Jack pulled it from his pocket and saw that he had a ping on the location of his truck.

When that asshole took his truck and his woman, he disabled the tracking system.

He had been trying for days to find his truck, because he knew that it would probably lead him to Ember. That was all he wanted.

“I know where my truck is,” he said, holding up his phone triumphantly in the air.

“Who wants to go with me?” Hurricane and Yonkers stepped forward, and their wives stepped in front of them.

She’s a Harlot, so we go,” Tina insisted.

“They can tag along if they want to.” She nodded over to her husband and the other men who stepped forward.

“I’ll call this in, so it’s all legal, but then, we’ll go find my truck and hopefully get my woman back.” He loved that they all wanted to help rescue Ember, but he knew that if Keith was with her, he’d have to do things by the book.

After talking to the station, he got everyone loaded into two trucks.

“You worried about the women?” he asked Hurricane.

He drove the first truck with the guys, and his wife, Tina, drove the second truck with the Harlots.

If Jack was being honest, he was worried about the women joining along.

If finding the truck led to Keith, he worried that they’d get in the way of him running this thing by the book.

“Nope, my girl can take care of herself. What you should be worrying about is the women killing the asshole who took Ember. They consider her one of their own already. I never imagined that the Harlots would take off so quickly, but I have to admit I like that they did. It gives our Ol’ladies something to belong to—you know, besides being bikers’ wives. ”

“I’m worried that I won’t be able to take Keith in if the Harlots have their way with him,” Jack admitted.

“They know that the endgame is for you to arrest the asshole. Just let them have some fun first,” Hurricane said. Jack couldn’t help but laugh at the ways the Harlots would have fun with Keith, and most of them ended up with the guy in a body bag.

Jack spotted his truck in the driveway of an abandoned home. He knew from experience that this side of town was trouble, and why he didn’t think to look for Ember over here was beyond him. A part of him worried that Keith would take her back to Florida, and he’d never get her back.

“Up there,” he almost shouted, pointing at the truck. “That’s my truck.”

“It looks to be in one piece,” Yonkers said from the backseat. He didn’t give a fuck about his truck. All he wanted to do was find Ember and make sure that she was safe.

Hurricane pulled in behind the truck, effectively trapping it from leaving.

“I’m going in first. You’re with me, Hurricane,” Jack ordered.

The rest of you and the Harlots need to cover the exits.

If he has a weapon, do not engage him. When the cops get here, tell them that I’m inside and give them my badge number.

” He handed Yonkers his badge, knowing that it would keep the guys and the Harlots out of harm’s way if the cops knew that he was one of them.

He scaled the side of the home, noting that there was no movement that he could see inside.

No lights were on, and if he had to guess, the house had no running water or electricity.

He looked in the side window for any sign of action and found none.

He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign, but he knew that his next move needed to be him entering the home.

“I’m going in the front,” he whispered to Hurricane.

“There’s a side door over there. Go in through that door and we’ll meet in the middle.

” Hurricane nodded and made his way to the side of the building.

Jack waited for him to disappear before he entered the front door, not surprised to find the door unlocked.

The graffiti on the walls inside told him that the house had been left unsecured for a long time.

The stench was awful, and he found himself trying to hold his breath as he cleared the small house, meeting Hurricane in the kitchen. “Nothing,” Hurricane whispered.

“I’m going upstairs,” Jack said. “You stay down here unless I call for you. If anyone besides me comes down those steps, stop them.”

“Got it,” Hurricane agreed. He could see Tina and a few of the women standing ready at the back door, and he had to admit, it felt damn good to have both the Bastards and Harlots having his back.

Jack slowly crept up the squeaky stairs, wincing at every noise he made. He cleared the bathroom and the first two bedrooms, noting that the last room’s door was shut. That closed door was his last hope at finding Ember and God, he prayed that she was in there.

He slowly pushed the door open and was about to step in when he heard Ember’s scream. She shouted his name, and he took a step out of the doorway, just in time to avoid the bullets that flew past him. “Fuck,” he swore under his breath.

Hurricane ran up the steps and had Jack’s six faster than he could think, and everything around him seemed to be moving at top speed.

All Jack could think about was getting into the room before Keith could get off another shot.

If he was correct, the gun he was using was a shotgun, and he’d have to reload after firing two rounds. It was now or never.

Jack pushed his way into the room with his gun drawn and found Keith fumbling with the shotgun.

“You really should stick to playing music, asshole. Guns don’t seem to be your thing.

” He motioned for Keith to drop the gun and waited while the ass seemed to silently run through the pros and cons of his situation.

The soft sob coming from the chair in the corner nearly broke him.

“It will be okay, honey,” he promised Ember.

Keith is just taking a minute to decide if he wants to die today or just go to jail.

I think that this is the part where I tell you that I’m a cop, asshole.

” Before he could get out another word, Jack heard the cavalry arrive.

As they swarmed the room and took the shotgun from Keith, all Jack could do was look at Ember.

She was so fucking strong. She stood and made her way across the room to him, when his feet didn’t seem to want to work, and threw herself into his arms.

“I’ve got you, honey,” he whispered. He watched as Keith was cuffed and led past them out of the room.

“This isn’t over,” he said to Ember.

“It is,” Jack countered. “You’ve just attempted to kill a cop. Add that to kidnapping and stalking, and you’ll be in prison for a damn long time.”

“It will never stick. I’ve got connections,” Keith insisted.

“Good luck with those connections,” Jack said. “Marco is dead, and once his father finds out that you drove him to do all the shit he did, well I’m betting that your so-called connections will disappear. Get him out of here,” Jack ordered.

“Is it over?” Ember asked.

“It’s over, honey,” Jack whispered, gently kissing her forehead. He had so many things that he wanted to say to her, but they would all have to wait until he got her checked out and then took her home with him—where she belonged.

Jack walked into the bathroom to find Ember in the shower.

She was just standing under the spray, and he worried that being held captive by Keith had been too much for her.

He had her for almost a week, and he knew that it had to be sheer hell for her.

But his girl was strong, and he knew that she’d find a way out of the darkness that seemed to consume her.

She had only been home for a day, and he knew that time would make her stronger.

Ember had already made some changes, not only to the house, but also to her hair.

She had died it to match her name—a fiery red, and he had to admit, he loved it.

“You can stop staring at me,” Ember said. “I’m going to be fine, but you might not be.”

He chuckled, “Well, that sounds ominous,” he teased.

“Look on the counter by my sink,” she almost whispered. He walked across the bathroom and found a white stick sitting next to Ember’s sink. There was a blue plus sign in the little window, and his brain had trouble trying to figure out what it was.

“It’s a pregnancy test,” Ember said, as though reading his mind. “And it’s positive. We’re going to be parents.”

“Shit,” he said, running his hands through his dark hair.

“Yeah, now you get it,” she said. “I had no clue that I was pregnant. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have taken so many chances while trying to get away from Keith. But staying there much longer would have driven me mad.”

“How did you figure out that you’re pregnant?” he asked.

“When they took me in for a quick checkup at the emergency room, the nurse asked me the date of my last period. That’s when I started putting it all together.”

“But you didn’t say anything to me or to the nurse about the possibility of you being pregnant,” he said.

“Honestly, I was in shock. I had just been taken hostage by a crazy man who I thought was a friend. I needed to wrap my head around the possibility of there being a baby before I told anyone. I picked up that test at the hospital pharmacy on my way out. You were picking up the truck to meet me at the door, so I had a few minutes to spare. I was so scared that it would be positive,” she admitted.

She shivered in the shower’s spray, and Jack cursed under his breath.

“You’re freezing,” he said. Jack quickly stripped out of his clothes and stepped into the steamy shower with Ember, pulling her into his body to share his warmth.

I’m not cold so much as just numb. I guess that everything from the past few months has finally caught up with me.”

“It has been a crazy few months,” he agreed. He grabbed the shampoo and started to work it through her long, wet hair. She moaned and leaned back against him as he massaged her scalp.

“That feels so good,” she said.

“You said that you were scared that you might be pregnant,” he said, trying to circle back to their conversation. “How do you feel now that you know we’re having a baby?” he asked.

“Still scared but having you here with me helps. I can’t do this alone, Jack,” she insisted.

“And you won’t have to, honey. I’ll be right by your side the whole time,” he assured.

“Can I ask how you feel about the baby, or is it too soon? I mean, I had a few minutes to think about what life might look like when that little blue plus sign popped into the window.”

“I’ll admit—I’m a bit scared too, but for some odd reason, I love the idea of having a baby with you, Ember.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him down for a kiss.

“Thank you for saying that,” she whispered against his lips.

“You never have to thank me for wanting to be with you in every way possible, honey. I love you, Ember,” he breathed. It was the first time he had ever said that to her, and he felt as though he was holding his damn breath waiting for her to say it back. But he didn’t have to wait long.

“I love you too, Jack,” she said. He dipped his head and kissed her as though he couldn’t get enough of her, and maybe he couldn’t.

Ember had become everything that he never thought that he needed or wanted, but now, he knew that living without her was impossible.

He finally had the woman who could scorch his world—his Ember, his Royal Harlot.