“I need to go find my uncles,” Ember says, eyes locked on where I’m gripping her wrist.
“They’re not here right now, Em. Everyone is out looking for you,” I explain. “I’m gonna call Reaper now and let him know you’re here, but I need you to stick with me. Can you do that?”
Ember lifts her gaze to mine and nods. “Fine.”
“Good.” Swinging my leg over, I straighten, let her wrist go, and take her hand instead. “Let’s get you inside,” I tell her, and pull my phone out of my pocket while guiding her toward the doors.
I find Reaper’s number immediately and lift the phone to my ear.
Reaper answers on the second ring. “Yeah.”
“Got Ember. We’re at the clubhouse,” I tell him.
“Get her inside. We’ll be there in fifteen,” Reaper tells me and hangs up.
Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I open the door while telling Ember what her uncle said. She doesn’t say anything, just simply nods.
Once inside, I allow her to pull away from me and notice her arms go around herself, almost like she is trying to shield herself from being seen.
“You want a shirt to put on?” I find myself asking her.
Ember whirls around and stares at me, her hands run along her arms, lift, and she seems to try to shield the scars on her chest.
What the fuck happened to her? Some of them look like cigarette burns.
“I’ll just go to one of my uncles’ rooms and get one of his,” Ember remarks and starts to pull away from me.
“I’m sure the doors to their rooms are locked. I can get you a shirt, Em, it’s not a big deal,” I tell her, stepping toward her only to stop when she steps backward.
“You don’t have to do that,” she whispers, not meeting my gaze. “I’ll wait for them.”
As much as I want to push it, I drop the subject. “You want something to drink? Eat?”
“Water, please,” she answers.
I don’t know what happened to her, but whatever it is, it’s fucked with her. Whatever happened today fucked with her more and she’s shutting down, closing in around herself in a way I’ve never seen before.
I make my way around the bar, grab a water from the cooler, and take it to her. She needs something to drink. Hell, for all I know, she could be in shock.
“Here, Em, drink this,” I say, removing the cap and handing her the bottle.
Slowly, Ember takes the bottle and lifts it to her lips, sipping from the lid.
The way she does this seems off in a lot of ways. She’s too damn calm, especially for the shit that’s happened. Her being taken from her car, I figured she’d be freaking out, crying, shouting. Instead, she’s just standing there sipping water, eyes weary and watchful.
I open my mouth to say something else to her, but before I get the chance, the sound of bikes can be heard from outside. I knew it was just Ember and me in the clubhouse. Ivy and the others were at Reaper’s. He wanted all the women and children in one place with security around them while everyone was out looking for Ember, including prospects.
Means the sound of bikes is every last one of them returning.
Reaper must have sent out a text to the group chat. I felt my phone go off, but I hadn’t checked it. My attention had been on Ember.
Not even a moment later, the door is thrown open and I finally see Ember react. Her body jumps, and she drops the water bottle.
“Ember, fuck,” Tombstone shouts.
“Fuck me,” Angel growls, coming in.
Reaper didn’t say anything, but his eyes were sharp and watching Ember closely as he approached.
