Betting on Beaumont: A Brooklyn Novel #3 (The Brooklyn Series) (21 page)

Keeping my eyes on my phone, I answer him honestly, “I hope the asshole is heading straight for the boarder. Maybe we’ll get lucky and a fucking tornado will toss his ass straight off too Oz, or a gator-filled marshland. Either option sounds good to me, but knowing this piece of shit—he’s more than likely going straight to my wife and Savannah. He’s hell bent of getting revenge for his boyfriend’s death. He’s a fucking snake. Finding ways to slip past cops, feds, and even our security team. I won’t underestimate him for a single second. I just pray that Kayden and Jax stay safe and keep everyone else safe from this fucking psychopath. If they get a chance to blow his head off, I pray to fucking God that they take it. He belongs six foot under the goddamn ground.”

Hitting send I text Kayden back my response telling him to keep me updated and to stay safe. I let him know Brooklyn was texting me right now. At least if she’s texting me, I know everyone’s still safe.

Brooklyn:

OMG, Dixon. I wish u were here right now. I don’t know if they’re showing it on the news there…but Zak broke out of prison. Kayden and Jax just sent us upstairs to Savannah’s bedroom telling us to lock ourselves inside. I’m scared, baby. It doesn’t look good. Power is flickering on and off, and it’s storming out really bad. Kayden and Jax are out doing God knows what with freaking rifles hanging off of their backs. They called 911, but with roads closed thanks to this stupid storm, they don’t know when they’ll be here.

I can hear Brooklyn’s voice in my head as I read her text. I hate that I’m stuck in New Orleans when she needs me.

“You’re going to think I lost my mind…but I need to get to Houston, like now.” I slide down off of the bar stool and hit send on my response to Brooklyn before pocketing my phone.

Tank gives me a nervous look before climbing down off of his bar stool. Grabbing his beer, he tosses back the rest of his glass before slamming it onto the bar. Licking his lips, he runs his hands nervously over his face before slipping his hands into the pockets of his coveralls. “I understand why…but how? All planes are grounded? The storm isn’t supposed to move back out to sea until tomorrow?”

Fuck.

I need to get to Brooklyn. I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens and I never even tried to get to her.

-Brooklyn

“This cannot be happening…
oh my God…oh my God
…” Savannah says to herself out loud as she paces back and forth at the foot of the bed.

We’re sitting in her bedroom on lock down as we wait to see if Zak will appear and make all of our nightmares a reality.

I thought we had moved past this chapter of our lives. After his trial, when Savannah and I walked out of that court room together, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of our shoulders. He was going to prison and would never be able to hurt us ever again.

Somehow this guy was able to escape. Kayden wouldn’t tell us anything, besides that there was a chance he was coming here to finish what he started. Images of him from that night in the parking garage flash before my eyes making panic flow through my veins like ice, and my stomach twists with fear.

I don’t scare easily, but when you have a man with nothing left to lose, and vengeance being the only thing he cares about, you can bet your ass I’m scared…not just scared, but fucking petrified. Not just for myself, Savannah, and her mother-in-law who are held up in this room with me, but for Kayden and Jax, who are out there right now in this storm, in gale force winds, down pouring rain, and complete darkness, trying to find this lunatic.

The only thing we can hope for is Zak came to some kind of sense while in prison, and his only agenda at this moment is avoiding going back. The only way he can guarantee that is to run to the Mexican border.

But I have this sinking feeling deep in my bones that is telling me he’s coming for us.

I hate that Dixon isn’t here, even though a small part of me is grateful he isn’t. At least with him in Louisiana I know he’s safe from Zak.

I wish I could text Dixon, but my phone is down in the library where I left it charging while watching Witches of East End with Savannah. I have no idea if the news has gone national or not. So I have no idea if he knows what’s happened or not. The phone lines are out thanks to the storm. All I can hope for is that Kayden in the panic of it all, thought to contact Dixon and let him know what’s going on. I hate to think about him sitting at his hotel feeling hopeless and not knowing how to reach me or if I’m okay.

Pushing herself out of the small chair beside the bed, Lorelei approaches Savannah, wrapping her arm around her shoulders. “Why don’t you sit down, sweetie? You really shouldn’t be on your feet. You’ve got to look out for the babies.” I watch out of the corner of my eye as Savannah reluctantly sits down on the edge of the bed. With her due in less than two weeks and on strict bedrest orders. This is the last thing she needs. It only makes my anger toward Zak intensify. 

I keep my eyes focused on the darkness outside of her bedroom window, getting lost in my thoughts as they race through my mind.

“What the hell is wrong with this guy? Has he not put us through enough shit already?” I finally ask out loud.

Forcing myself to leave the window and try to relax because me stressing out isn’t going to help Savannah or this situation, I approach the bed, and sink down onto it beside Savannah. I bring my head to rest on her shoulder as she takes my hand into hers. We hold on to each other tightly, looking for strength from one another. We’ve both gone through so much because of this man, and just when we think we can finally put him and all that pain behind us, he comes crashing back into our lives shaking the foundation beneath our feet.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Savannah says, “I don’t know. He’s so hell bent on seeking revenge on me for killing Jacob; he’s not thinking rationally. I hate not knowing what’s going on. What if he’s here and he does something to Kayden or Jax?” Suddenly, Savannah stops speaking and bends over slightly while holding her stomach. “Oooww!” She screams, causing Lorelei and myself both to jump to our feet and bring our full attention to her.

“Are you okay? Did you just have a contraction?” Lorelei asks, crouching down in front of her.

“I don’t know…I think they’re just Braxton Hicks?” From the look of fear and panic on Lorelei’s face, I think it’s safe to guess that she is thinking these contractions are far too strong to simply be practice contractions.

My heart slams to a screeching halt in my chest as the thought of Savannah going into labor right now smacks me like a fucking brick to the face.

She glances down at her watch. “It’s twelve after nine; if you have another contraction, Savannah, you tell me, okay? We need to see how far apart they are.”

Roads are closed and we have a bad ass storm system crashing down on us at the moment flooding roads and making it almost impossible for anyone to get to us. If she’s truly in labor, how the hell are we going to get her to a hospital?

She’s having twins for Christ sake!

It’s way too dangerous for her to try and deliver these babies here—not to mention we may have a steroid popping psychopath on the loose and looking for us.

Nodding her head
yes
, Savannah breathes through the pain. I quickly retrieve her water bottle off of the bedside table and hand it to her to drink. She needs to stay relaxed and hydrated. It’s almost impossible to expect her to remain calm with this fucking situation.

“Here, drink some more water.” Feeling overwhelmed with this entire situation, I toss my hands in the air as I take over Savannah’s spot in the room and begin pacing back and forth. “Damn it! Why hasn’t anyone come up to tell us what the hell is going on!?”

No sooner do the words leave my mouth, we hear gun shots fired. “Oh. My. God!” We all scream as the gun shots startle us.

Savannah springs to her feet and attempts to run— but it’s more like waddles— toward the bedroom door.

“Savannah! Stop!” I shout along with Lorelei, as we try to stop her from leaving the bedroom.

My heart is racing in my chest, and my body is shaking from my head to my toes as I run after her. The sound of that gunshot rings inside of my head on replay, making fear bubble inside of me. I’m trying so hard to stay strong for Savannah, but with every passing moment I feel my strength crumbling.

It doesn’t take us long to catch up to her; within seconds we’re by her side following her down the long staircase and attempting to talk sense into her. She needs to turn around right now and go back to the bedroom. She isn’t thinking clearly. Not only is she putting herself in danger, but also her babies.

“Savannah, we need to go back upstairs. Right! Now!” I shout with a panic-laced voice, grabbing her arm as I attempt to stop her from descending the stairs.

Savannah stops beside me gripping the railing with her free hand and whips her head to glare back at me. Yanking her arm out of my grasp, she snaps at me, “I’m going to make sure my husband is okay; you can either come with me, or go back upstairs. It’s your choice.”

I know she’s scared, but she’s not thinking clearly at all. I can tell already, there’s no talking her out of going after Kayden.

“You’ve lost your fuckin’ mind, but I’m not letting you go alone.” Even though I know it’s crazy, I reluctantly follow her down the remaining stairs.

“I’m going back up to the room to call 911. We have no idea if anyone is injured, and Savannah’s carrying my twin grandbabies. If I’m right, she’s in labor right now. I will not risk her life or the life of my grandbabies by not trying to get help here as soon as possible. Who knows how long it’ll take for them to get here since Kayden said police were on their way forever ago, and still not a soul in sight.

“Alright. We need to ammo up. Kayden has guns and ammunition in his game room. Come on, we need to hurry,” Savannah orders, taking my hand and pulling me toward his game room, as Lorelei quickly sprints back up the stairs. Realizing the game room is beside the library, I quickly dart inside to retrieve my phone, and text a message to Dixon. I keep it short and to the point, telling him what’s happened before shoving it into my back pocket. There’s no time to wait for a response. Savannah is already at the gun cabinet and retrieving a hidden key taped underneath it.

Unlocking the cabinet, Savannah grabs a revolver; she quickly opens the chamber, filling it with bullets, before we make our way out the front door in search of where the gun shots came from, and for Kayden and Jax.

We hear the sound of men fighting as we approach the left side of the house. Savannah holds the gun out in front of her as we round the corner of the house. Immediately we spot Zak. It’s hard to see him in the dark and the rain in our eyes, but with the lights shining out of the house it’s just enough to make him out. He’s fighting Jax, and it’s apparent who’s kickin’ whose ass.

Jax notices us and shouts over his shoulder for us to go back inside the house. Reaching for Savannah’s arm, I try to pull her back toward the house. We hear footsteps sloshing through the muddy ground and turn to discover Kayden running toward us; he’s soaked to the bone and covered in mud.

“Savannah? What the hell? You need to get back inside the house!” His eyes are filled with panic and fear, and his voice booms loudly with anger as he looks from us to Jax and Zak.

Savannah stumbles backwards toward me as the severity of the situation begins to sink in. My body is numb as I try to hold onto Savannah and keep my legs working. I feel as if I’ll collapse onto the ground at any moment as fear paralyzes me.

Jax is standing, holding Zak by his collar, landing punch after punch. Kayden, ignoring us now, focuses entirely on them. Suddenly without warning, he charges Zak and tackles him to the ground, landing several punches to Zak’s face, “You son of a bitch! When I’m through with you, you’ll wish you’d stayed in jail!”

Jax jumps back and hovers above them, holding his gun, ready to take a shot if needed. I suddenly notice red and blue bright lights glowing through the trees as the sound of police sirens fill the air. I feel my stomach drop and my breath rushes out of me as the realization that the police are finally here sinks in.

“Savannah, come on…please.” I yank on her arm, trying to get her to start moving, but her feet stay firmly planted on the soggy ground.

Grabbing her stomach, she suddenly curls over her stomach screaming, “Oooowww…” She lifts her eyes up to mine, and I notice them grow wide as her face pales, “My water just broke…”