Page 26 of The Biker’s Second Chance (Chrome Creed MC #2)

THE SHELTER

SPIKE

A shrill ring echoes through the air.

My eyes pop open and thankfully before I jump up I remember that Jayne was laying on top of me.

As quickly as I can I slide her to the side and rush out of the bed.

Dread is vibrating through my body as I hear the sound of the club phone ringing again. It’s nearly three in the morning, no one calls this late unless it’s bad news.

I’m not sure I can handle any more bad news.

I get to the phone just as Zero and Leo gets to the phone. Usually one of the prospects would answer the phone but with it being so late Leo waves Zero off. I slide next to my president as he picks up the phone.

"Yeah?" Leo answers but instead of Xavier's deep voice I hear a woman's. My first reaction is to be pissed that some chick would be calling here this late at night. Everyone knows the rules that calls here. Unless it's an emergency, no one calls after hours.

It only takes me a few seconds after hearing the panicked speed talking through the phone for me to realize that this is indeed an emergency.

"Tracy, you have to calm down. I don't know what you're saying." Leo tries to speak but I can hear the woman's constant stream of words. She's not listening to anything that Leo is saying.

Tracy? It only takes me a second to figure out who this Tracy he's talking to is.

It's the manager over at the women's shelter we work with. The same shelter we took most of the women we got from the party and left there to be safe.

"Fuck, what's going on?" I ask Leo, the stress of not knowing what is happening already starting to rise in my body.

Leo puts a finger up before he says into the phone, "Hold on. Just hold on." He pulls the phone away from his ear and presses the speaker button.

By know several others have come out from their room and are huddled around the phone trying to figure out who the hell is calling this late at night.

Rumble, Lash, Tella, Creek, Doc, Saint, Virus. Nearly everyone is up and moving. Thankfully, it seems like Jayne is still sound asleep in the room. I don't want her to know that something has happened to the women that she sacrificed so much for.

"Okay, now slow down and tell me what's going on. I can't help you if I can't understand." Leo speaks once the phone is down and everyone care hear.

"They came for them." Tracy sobs on the phone as she continues trying to talk, "Those bastards broke down the door, walked in and pulled those girls out of here by their hair. The screams. I couldn't stop them." Tracy continues to cry.

"Shit? Who? Did you see who did it?" I speak up knowing we're going to need more information.

"Burning Souls. I don't know the name but the guy who seemed to be in charge kept on talking about how those women were property of Burning souls.

I've never seen anything like this. They didn't care if the women were hurt.

One guys simply tossed one of the girls down the metal front stairs.

I heard her head crack when she hit the bottom. " Tracy groans.

This wasn't supposed to happen. When we plucked those girls from the party we told them that they were going to be safe. That no one was going to come back and hurt them.

How was I supposed to know that it was a fucking lie.

"They took all of them?" Leo asks.

"No, two of the really young ones the left and another girl was hiding in the bathroom. Leo, they even took three girls that had nothing to do with them. They have been in this shelter for months waiting on placement from the state. They had nothing to do with this."

I let my head fall forward, not only did we not keep the women that we saved safe but we also put other women in jeopardy.

"Alright, are you okay? Have they all left?" Leo questions again, this time I can feel him staring at me. It's almost as if he's waiting for me to say something but I'm speechless. I've got nothing to add.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little shaken up. I'll be fine. What are we going to do about these women?" Tracy asks and a silence follows.

Leo is still staring at me, his mouth shut waiting for me to answer. I can't.

"We'll do what we can. Give us a little time. Thanks for letting us know what was going on." With that, Leo hangs up the phone.

I can feel the anger coming off him in waves. I'm the one who get the club into this. He told me that he was counting on me to take over and to prove to him that I was capable of the job.

I'm not capable. I don't know what the fuck to do any more. What does it matter how many of the women we save if the next day Xavier will just pop back up and take them away again. If anything I think I might have made the entire situation much worse.

I stare back at Leo for a second willing him to understand how much I was at a loss but before he could open his mouth to say anything to me, Zero calls out.

"We've got movement outside."

All at once, everyone is on alert.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Leo barks and takes off in the direction Zero is looking.

Zero is a great prospect, he's trained and loyal. Out of all of the folks here on the last legs of their prospect run I trust Zero to know what he's talking about.

"There's someone out there. I can't see anything. The flood lights didn't come on." Zero says over his shoulder as he continues to look out the window.

"Shit, get the fucking flashlight and your piece." Leo snaps at me as if I'm a newbie instead of his VP.

I guess right now I'm not pulling my weight.

Rumble and Lash follow behind Leo as he rushes outside to see what the threat is while I run to the back room and grab the large flashlight and a weapon.

Creek and the rest of the fellas do the same as me.

Everyone getting a weapon just in case someone truly is dumb enough to step foot into our territory.

By the time I get outside, Leo is still looking around trying to find any sign that someone was outside but from the looks of it if there was anyone here they are gone now.

"What the fuck..." Tella curses and we all turn to look at him. Instead of looking out into the horizon to figure out if anyone is there he has his flashlight trained on the side of the clubhouse.

My stomach ties itself in knots and I feel like I'm about to throw the hell up.

Spray painted on the side of the club in big white letters are the words. "I found you".

How is it possible that Xavier can every fucking where at once.

Better yet, how the hell can I possibly fight someone who seems to be coming at me from all sides.

I wanted to think that I was prepared for something like this.

That I would have no problem taking over for Leo when he was on his way out from the president's chair but if the last few days are any inclination Leo would be better off leaving the club to someone like Rumble or Tella.

At least with those two he'd know the club wouldn't crumble the second he walked out the door.