Children of Fire (Complete)

twenty-four

Emerson

I was a bit startled whenever Gideon crossed the floor in a hurry and grasped the top of my arm a little harder than I'm sure he intended to.

"You better pray to your God that this isn't your fault." Gideon growled at Callahan, his face inches away from Callahan's own startled one. What the hell was he talking about? He whirled me around so fast I got dizzy and drug me towards the large oak doors of the entrance. I tried to wriggle my way out of Gides hold, but it was too tight and he was too strong.

"What's going on? Where are we going?" I asked frantically, tripping over my own feet as I struggled to keep up. Gideon ignored my requests as he burst through the front door, snatching his keys from the valet booth and walking towards the vehicle. "Gideon! Let go of me!" I protested, trying my hardest to get out of his grip to no avail. "Gideon, please! You're hurting me!" I finally yelled, praying that it snapped him out of whatever trance he was in. He stopped dead in his tracks, a few feet from the SUV, and abruptly dropped my arm, turning to face me with a look of absolute horror on his face.

"I'm sorry, Emerson." He said suddenly, bringing his hands up to my face. He placed each rough, calloused hand on either side of my face and tilted it upwards to stare into his eyes. I could see the torment behind them, and I knew that whatever was happening couldn't be good. "I'm so sorry." He said again, dropping my face and bending down quickly to wrap his arms tightly around my waist. "I didn't mean to hurt you, and I am so sorry. It's just... something happened and we've got to get to the clubhouse." He pulled away and gripped my face again, and I had to admit that being wrapped in Gideon's embrace was completely different than being in Killian's arms. Gideon has more muscle, and his strong arms caged me in between them like steel— safe and impenetrable.

I rested my hands on either side of hips, hoping that my touch would be the slightest bit soothing to him. He seemed to relax, only slightly, before speaking again. "I don't have the time to drop you off first, and we've really got to go. I'll answer any questions you have once this night is over with, but for now, I need you to stay close to me and keep whatever you see tonight between the two of us, okay?" I nodded my head fervently, keeping my hands gripped tight on his hips. "Come on," he said, pressing a gentle kiss on the top of my head. "Let's go, we're wasting time."

The drive back to the clubhouse was much shorter than our drive to Callahan's charity event, but that was probably due to the fact that Gideon never let the speedometer drop below 95 miles per hour. There was a gate surrounding a rather large warehouse, and the entrance looked like someone had barreled through it like it was wet paper. I could see three or four bodies littered across the parking lot, several motorcycles had been knocked over, and I could see a few pools of blood scattered along the ground, but other than that— it seemed eerily calm outside. I could only assume that the inside of the warehouse was much different. Gideon slammed to a halt, the tires squealing on the SUV, and before I could even reach over to open my door, three men had piled out of the warehouse with their guns pointed directly at Gideon and myself.

Fuck.

"Lower your fucking guns, you bunch of idiots!" Gideon bellowed, raising his arms in disbelief. "Did you really think they'd come back for seconds?" He asked his men, who were putting their guns back in the waistbands of their jeans. I hadn't realized until now that I was shaking like a leaf, until Gideon came around and opened my door, offering me his hand so I could hop out of the SUV easier. "Follow me, stay close." He murmured, taking a few steps inside of the clubhouse.

Just as I had imagined, beyond the threshold of the large metal door leading inside, it was pure and utter chaos. There were women sobbing over bodies, and men walking back and forth. I noticed Reg and Butters were conversing near the bar, both seemed unharmed. I stayed close to Gideons side as he sought out Ray, cursing under his breath every few seconds. Ray came bounding into the common area from a long hallway, his eyes fixed on Gideon. Nobody in the room seemed to have noticed me, and for that I was grateful. I definitely looked out of place in the midst of blood soaked, leather clad men.