Lake’s Legacy (Demon Dawgs MC: New Orleans #3)

Chapter Five Lake

CHAPTER FIVE: LAKE

“Shit!” I explode as I glance at my brothers. Each stared at me in horror after Pirate’s update. “What happened next? Did they catch up to her?”

“Hold on, no. The two men came back to the van alone and took off. I’m fast-forwarding until you get there. Wait, the van came back and stopped next to her car. Then it took off again. Okay, now I see you guys arrive. Maybe she’s hiding?”

“Or maybe they caught up to her. Keep looking. Check other cameras.”

“On it,” Pirate says before ending the call.

Where would she go? I see movement down the side street perpendicular to us. Someone is running toward us, their arms waving.

“Olivia!” I shout as I run toward her. I hear the engine first, then see the white van round the corner. It’s behind Olivia and coming up fast. I scream at her to get out of the way, but she freezes when the van pulls up alongside her.

The five of us palm our guns as we run toward the van. When the doors open and two men step out, I shoot high to avoid hitting Olivia, who stands frozen even as the man grabs her arm.

I yell for her to drop. Which, gratefully, she does. With her safely out of range, we unload on the van. The echoes of gunfire and the pings of bullets hitting metal fill the air. The windshield cracks, and we blow out both headlights, eliminating the light. The men dive back into the van. We continue shooting as they back up into the cross street before taking off.

The others continue to rush forward while I drop next to Olivia. Gathering her in my arms, I hold her quaking body. “I’ve got you, baby. You’re safe. Did they hurt you?”

Luckily, her injuries are slight. They mainly occurred when she fell to the ground. I’ll give her an exam once we’re back at the clubhouse. But first, we need to deal with her car. Abra and Zip offer to stay behind and get Olivia’s car towed. Abra’s quick exam of the engine confirmed our fear. Someone tampered with her car. The assholes knew she wouldn’t get far before the car broke down. This means they could have only tampered with it when she was at work. As Hex aptly stated, all roads lead to the hospital.

Back at the clubhouse, Levi is the first outside to meet us. Delphine and Cleo are a few steps behind him. Levi hugs his sister and refuses to relinquish her to the women. So, they wrap themselves around the siblings.

“We were so worried about you,” Delphine says, stroking Olivia’s hair.

“You saw I was in danger?” Olivia asks. Delphine nods. Delphine has a gift. She can sense when someone she cares about needs help. She’s never been wrong, so we never dismiss her premonitions. Even before Olivia entered our lives, Delphine sensed Olivia was in danger, sending us off to rescue her. I’ll forever be grateful for Delphine’s visions. They brought Olivia into my life and helped us rescue her tonight.

“I need to take care of our girl,” I tell them, breaking through the huddle and drawing out my woman.

Levi reluctantly releases her. I can see he wants to argue with me. He likely thinks I want to play doctor with my beautiful nurse. I do, but that’s not what is happening right now. “She hurt her knee when she dodged the men who tried to kidnap her,” I tell him. “We won’t be long. I’m sure Olivia is hungry.”

“Starved,” Olivia agrees, squeezing her brother’s arm. “I’m okay. We’ll only be a few minutes.”

When Hex took possession of the neglected plantation, I suggested we turn one room into an infirmary. I’d seen the decked-out space Scar created in the San Diego clubhouse and wanted something similar. Gratefully, Hex agreed. Now, I have an exam room with two tables instead of just one. I knew the likelihood of an incident putting one brother on his back would involve another brother. We always had each other’s backs and wouldn’t hesitate to jump in when another was under attack.

Hex gave me three rooms for my plan. One contained the exam tables, another the supplies, and the third had two beds for anyone needing recovery. I lifted Olivia onto the table. Under the bright lights, I can see the damage.

“I’m cutting off the pants,” I tell her. “They’re ruined.”

She nods as she glances at the dress pants with a sizeable hole in the knee. Grabbing a pair of scissors, I cut them off just above the knee. There isn’t much blood but plenty of gravel. Picking up a pair of tweezers, I carefully remove the pieces from her knee and palms before cleaning them.

I kiss her knee before wrapping it with gauze and then kiss her palms. She places her palms on my face before pulling me forward for a kiss.

“I’m okay,” she whispers against my lips.

Remembering the fear I felt when I saw the van barrel down on her has me crushing my lips against hers. Wrapping my arms around her, I plaster my body against hers. Knowing she’s safe is the only thing keeping me from rushing out of the clubhouse and hunting down those assholes. I know we need to find and stop them, but taking care of Olivia is all that matters now.

“We’re going to figure out who they are,” I tell her.

She nods. “I know. But for right now, I need you to hold me. And feed me.”

I chuckle when her stomach growls in agreement. Care first, violence later.

“After I change,” she says, sliding off the exam table and glancing at herself.

She jogs upstairs while I find Hex. He and the rest of my brothers are sitting at the table. I can smell something amazing coming out of the kitchen. I pull out the chair next to Abra’s.

“We were just talking about what Abra saw under Olivia’s hood. They messed with her radiator line, the same tactic they used on Talia’s car.”

I nod, unsurprised at the news. “They must have tampered with both cars while the women were on shift.”

“I’ve tried accessing the security feed, but Tulane has a better than decent firewall. I need to get closer and work some magic,” Pirate adds.

“What about her phone? Is it still pinging at the hospital?”

Pirate nods.

“I overheard them say they took care of my phone,” Olivia says as she slides into the seat beside mine. “I know I had the phone while I was working. They must have stolen it from my locker when I was in the shower. It’s the only time I didn’t have it on me.”

“That gives us a good window,” Pirate says. “If I can access the security feed, I can see who went in and out of the locker room. That might give us our targets.”

“I could go to security and ask them to check the feed,” Oivia offers. “I can tell them someone stole my phone. Which is true.”

“I don’t like the idea of you going back there,” I say, sliding my arm over her shoulders and drawing her closer.

“I can’t avoid going back. I work there now. At least I know I’m in danger. I’ll be alert.”

“Since I’ll be driving you to work, following you around, and then driving you home again, you’re right. You won’t be in danger again.”

Olivia snorts as if I was joking. I’m not. No way am I letting her out of my sight again. Not until we figure out the identity of these assholes and put them six feet under.

“Okay, caveman,” Olivia says, patting my chest. “We can discuss my safety later. I’m off for the next four days.”

Hearing that calms me down. I don’t want to fight with Olivia, but if she thinks I won’t follow through with my plan to keep her safe, she’ll soon figure out I mean what I say. “Does that mean you agree not to go in tomorrow to get your phone? Pirate and I can go. We’ll search the locker room for it.”

Olivia frowns. “I don’t think they’ll let you in. It’s a woman’s locker room.”

“How about the three of us go?” Cleo offers. “Safety in numbers. If anyone asks, we are simply three friends going out shopping. Olivia wanted to stop at the hospital because she left her phone. Delphine and I can watch for anyone paying her too much attention.”

Olivia nods at the suggestion, and I find I’m not against it, especially if they have us as backup. “I’ll agree if we all go. We can wait for you in the lobby. Might be good for whoever tried to kidnap you to know you have our club behind you.”

“Don’t you think they got that message when you shot at them?” Olivia asks with a smirk.

“Which reminds me. I called several body shops and told them to contact me if someone brought the van in for work. Although, I imagine they’ll ditch the van. It’s what I would do,” Abra says.