Children of Fire (Complete)

sixty-four

Gideon

Leaving Emerson behind was absolutely the hardest thing I had ever had to do. I was still riding the high of her agreeing to marry me, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and take her away from all the bullshit that came with being my old lady. I could see in her eyes before we left that she was hurting, but the fact that she was keeping it together on the outside proved to me that I had made the right decision by asking her to be my wife. She knew the role that she had taken on when she agreed to be mine, and she knew that she was now not only a beacon of hope for me, but for all of the other old ladies in the club.

I watched her disappear in the reflection of my side mirrors until the lights from the clubhouse faded into darkness and I could no longer make out her shape, but I swore that I watched her comfort my mother when Emerson was in need of comforting as well, she was a selfless person, and she balanced me out perfectly. Night rides on my bike were usually something that I enjoyed, but tonight it was an unsettling feeling. The rumbles of thunder that emitted from our bikes surrounded us in an ominous cloud-- a raging storm that was making its way straight for Eddie's warehouse.

I knew they wouldn't be expecting us this soon, and I definitely didn't think they would expect us to attack this late at night-- if I had to guess, they were probably sitting around drinking and having a good time. Hell, it's what we would be doing if we weren't planning on slaughtering every member of his gang. Instead, we were riding our bikes into the world of 'what ifs'. What if they knew we were coming? What if this had been some elaborate plan of theirs and they were on their way to attack our clubhouse now? What if things went south and I never got the chance to marry Emerson?

I couldn't think like that. I had to look ahead, and I had to trust that my instincts and our plan were the right thing to do right now. We rounded the corner and I knew that we only had a few more minutes before we reached our destination. There was a diner just ahead where we planned on pulling over and arming ourselves so we didn't have to take the time to do it once we got there. I pulled in and my brothers followed suit, backing into the parking spots in the back lot. I turned my bike off and stepped off, reaching into my side bag and grabbing an extra gun to put in my shoulder holster. I had my usual gun in my waistband and a knife in my boot. I couldn't be too careful, so I had hidden an extra knife inside my cut as well. It wasn't the normal place I would keep it, but it was fairly easy to access and they weren't smart enough to ask me to remove my cut. If they were going to kill me, they'd definitely want to keep it on so they could prove it was me.

My brothers silently followed suit, tucking guns away and concealing knives, brass knuckles, explosives, and I could have sworn one of the stranger guys from a different charter had put fucking ninja stars in his cut. Whatever, if it got the job done then who was I to judge, right? Killian was popping his knuckles next to me and readjusting his hair in its usual messy bun. I pulled my own hair back, not wanting it to be a hindrance in the next few minutes ahead of us. Once everyone was finished, I turned around and took one last glance at the men surrounding me. It was time to finish this, once and for all, and the adrenaline was starting to pump through my veins. It was always a little exciting when we planned an attack, and knowing that our plan was to annihilate every one of Eddie's members had us excited.

I mounted my bike again and kicked it to life, the familiar roaring noise beneath me had my adrenaline pumping faster and faster with each passing second. Before I knew it, I was gliding along the road at a slow pace, Eddie's compound was just ahead of me. I motioned for the other Presidents to break off and take their post. It was show time.

Eddie's compound was large, and his land stretched on for what seemed like miles. We parked our bikes at the end of his land and traveled the rest of the way on foot. Sure, we wanted him to know we were here, but we didn't want to give it all away with the sound of 40 motorcycles rumbling up to his front door. I looked at my phone, only 2 minutes before we were meant to kick all the doors in. I picked up the pace and was running as silently as I could towards the front of the compound, I couldn't feel anything other than the anxious thumping of my heart, and the only thing on my mind was feeling Eddie's bones crunching beneath my fist.