“You know, if you didn’t have so much muscle, the bullet would’ve missed you,” Forrest mused. “Lucky shot.”
“Doesn’t feel lucky,” I said as he pressed a bandage to each side of my shoulder.
“They never do,” he replied dryly.
As soon as I was wrapped like a mummy and taken whatever pills Forrest had dropped into my palm, we grabbed our things and left the room, not bothering to clean up the mess Forrest had made as he took care of my shoulder. A cleaning crew would come in later, people we trusted, to take care of the blood and bodies. Wilson had probably already called them—he was usually Johnny-on-the-spot with that shit.
Everyone was clustered in the garage when we got downstairs, probably because most of the rooms had dead men in them. Cam eyeballed me as I strode toward them and gave me a short nod.
“Siah and Eph will meet us up north,” Eli informed me. “They’ll check on your place again before they go.”
“Have them grab a truck,” I said, watching as Casper rubbed Cecilia’s back. She still wasn’t really responding to anything around her. “Tell them to head to Cecilia’s place and pack it up.”
“You sure about that?” Cam asked.
“She’s not gonna be back for a while,” I replied. I turned back to Eli. “Don’t bother with the furniture, but everything else goes, including her car.”
“Oh, they’re gonna love that,” Eli said with a chuckle.
“They can suck it the fuck up,” Forrest said, his eyes on Cecilia. “She’s gonna need her things when she lands.”
“Due to the hostile working conditions of this property, I’m going to relocate back to San Diego,” Wilson said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can get more accomplished there anyway.”
“Keep trying to reach Richard Campbell’s daughter,” I ordered.
“Her name is Kaley,” Wilson replied.
“Don’t care. Find her. Make contact. We need to cut the head of this fucking snake.”
“I’ll fingerprint the visitors before I go,” Wilson replied. “See if we can get any new information from them.”
“You’re gonna fingerprint dead men?” Casper asked blandly.
“Yes,” Wilson replied.
“We need to move,” Lu chimed in. Her face was drawn and her jaw was tight as she leaned against the wall.
“You’re ridin’ with me,” Eli informed her.
“My bike’s here,” she argued without any heat.
“And it’s gonna stay that way. We’ll store it in here,” Eli said firmly, shouldering his bag. “No way you’re ridin’ like that. Come on.”
We filed out of the garage, leaving Wilson inside to finish up, and as soon as Casper handed Cecilia off to Farrah, he met me at the hood of my truck.
“Our best bet would be to make it to Sacramento in one shot. As soon as we meet up with the chapter up there, we’re golden,” he said, handing me Olive’s car seat. The baby was completely passed out, a little pink hat covering her head and a small yellow blanket tucked around her. “The boys know we’re on our way.”
“Good,” I said. “I’m not sure how often we’ll have to stop. I’ll tell Cec to feed and change Olive on the fly so we’re not stopping for long periods.”
“That’s what I’d do,” Casper said. “Jesus, how the fuck is he tracking her down?”
“I’ve got no clue, but the man must be connected in a big way.”
“No shit,” Casper muttered. “Can’t tell you how much I fuckin’ hate feelin’ like we’re runnin.’ I’ve never run from a fight in my entire goddamn life.”
“You’ve got shit happening back home,” I replied. “Can’t be two places at once.”
“Problem is, we’re just bringin’ the problems down here and addin’ them to the ones we’ve got up there.”
“You hear anything?”
“Not a goddamn thing,” he spat. “People don’t just fuckin’ disappear. I have no idea what the hell is goin’ on up there.”
“Two days, and you’ll be there to sort it.”
“I fuckin’ hope so,” Casper said. “Keep your eyes sharp. I’ll catch you on the other side.”
He went around the truck to kiss Farrah goodbye and I strode to Cecilia’s door. She was sitting sideways in the seat, waiting for Olive. As soon as I got close, she hopped down so I could put the baby’s car seat inside.
“You got everything?” I asked her, reaching up to push her tangled hair out of her face.
“Yeah, we were already packed,” she replied. “I had Lu grab me a blanket so I could sleep.”
“Good idea.” I stared at the dark shadows beneath her eyes and the sharp ridge of her cheekbones. “You need the rest.”
“We’re headed north?” she asked.
“Yep. Oregon or bust,” I joked.
“Okay.” She gave me a wan smile and turned away, climbing gingerly into the truck. When she sat down, she winced.
“You alright?”
She nodded as she buckled her seat belt. “Just sore.”
I closed the door as she pulled the throw blanket up around her shoulders. Yeah, I bet she was sore. I couldn’t imagine that any of the activities over the past week had been easy on her healing body. On top of everything else, I hated the fact that she didn’t even have time to recover from giving birth.
She was riding the razor’s edge, and everyone could see it. She’d held up, no one could argue that—keeping a cool head, doing whatever was asked of her, and never complaining or breaking down. It was coming, though.
Some point soon, she was going to lose it, and I was super fucking concerned that none of us were going to know how to help her when she did. Crying, screaming, throwing shit—I could calm that down. But the brittle way she was moving? The blank stares? The calm, almost robotic responses? They scared the hell out of me.
We didn’t bother going in circles or trying to lose any potential tails—it was too late for that—instead, I drove straight to the freeway and hauled ass west. Cecilia and Olive slept until we’d hit California and were headed north.
“There’s nowhere to change her back here,” Cecilia complained, rifling through a bag to find supplies.
“Just lay her on your knees,” Farrah replied, turning in her seat so she could watch. “Make it work.”
“I don’t want to make it work,” Cecilia mumbled tiredly. “I want to be sitting on a couch somewhere, with space to spread out.”
“You’ll get there,” I reassured her, glancing in the rear view mirror. “Just a couple more days.”
I kept my eyes on the road as Cecilia pulled Olive out of her seat and got her changed. Our plan to keep going while she took care of the baby had seemed like a good one at the time, but I had to admit that in practice, it was more nerve-wracking than I’d thought it would be. Freeway drivers were assholes, and I was constantly cursing under my breath as they did stupid shit—cutting each other off and generally driving like idiots at eighty miles an hour. On top of that, Olive seriously didn’t like being changed, and the cab was filled with screaming so loud that it made my ears ring. I’d never been so glad that my truck was considerably bigger than most of the cars surrounding us.
“Finally,” Farrah said with a laugh when Olive stopped wailing.
“It’s hard to maneuver back here,” Cecilia replied. “She doesn’t like being undressed.”
“You were completely the opposite,” Farrah mused. She propped her chin on the seat back. “Probably because your skin was so sensitive. We even had to use cloth diapers because anything else gave you a rash.”
“I didn’t know that,” Cecilia said. “Was it a total pain in the ass?”
“Yeah, at first,” Farrah said with a nod. “But once we had it figured out, it was no big deal.” Farrah chuckled. “I was glad we didn’t need to use cloth with Lily, though. By that time, I was up to my ears in laundry already.”
“These diapers don’t seem to bother Olive,” Cecilia said with a sigh.
“All I have to do is feed her and change her,” Cecilia replied. “It’s not exactly rocket science. I have plenty of time to screw shit up.”
“True,” Farrah said. “But that doesn’t mean you will.”
“Come on,” Cecilia said with a scoff. I looked at her in the mirror. “You know it’s only a matter of time before I do.” She looked dully out the window.
“I don’t know that,” Farrah argued, her voice still soft. “You’ve never given yourself enough credit.”
When Cecilia didn’t respond, Farrah turned forward and settled back in her seat. The cab was quiet beyond the sound of the freeway as Cecilia finished feeding Olive and buckled her back into her seat. Not long after, the sound of Cec’s quiet snores drifted to the front seat.
“You ever think that maybe she’s never given herself enough credit because none of you have, either?” I said finally, the quiet words falling like a bomb between us.
“You got something you want to say?” Farrah asked, her voice both amused and hard at the same time. I was walking into a minefield that I had no business being in, but Christ, I was too fucking old to ignore the bullshit anymore.
I chose my words carefully.
“She’s not the same person she was when we were twenty years old,” I said, switching lanes to pass a car that wasn’t keeping up with the flow of traffic. “And even if she was, all of you acting like she’s some selfish brat is getting real fuckin’ old.”
“You might want to stop there,” Farrah replied flatly.
“Why?” I said with a grunt. “I’ve already started, might as well lay it all out.”
“Oh, please, tell me how I’ve done Cecilia wrong,” Farrah snapped. “I’d love to hear it.”
“I know you love her,” I said, making Farrah laugh derisively. “But Jesus, I’ve never met a group of people so willing to believe the worst about a person.”
“I don’t believe the worst of Cecilia.”
“Don’t you?” I asked, glancing at her. “If Cecilia was saying something shitty, she was the asshole—it didn’t matter who she was speaking to, or what they’d said about her. If she was teasing Lily, she was a bully. If she was making nasty comments, even just to defend herself, she was mean. From what I saw, you gave up on her instead of figuring out why she was doing the shit she was doing.”
“You have no clue what you’re talking about,” Farrah replied.
“Don’t I?” I shook my head. “Who do you think she was talking to back then? It wasn’t you. It wasn’t Casper. It sure as fuck wasn’t Leo.”
I jerked as a hand settled on my shoulder. “Enough, Mark,” Cecilia warned sleepily. “That’s enough.”
I opened my mouth to argue and then snapped it shut. She was right. It wasn’t my place to educate Farrah on all the ways she’d fucked up back then. I knew she’d done her best, slogging through the devastation after the shooting in her back yard and trying to take care of everyone at the same time. Cecilia had told me things in confidence, and even if the promises I’d made were half a lifetime ago, I still needed to keep them to myself.
I reached forward and turned on the radio, gesturing for Farrah to pick a station. Thankfully, the olive branch worked, and she leaned forward to fiddle with the dials. I had a feeling that we weren’t done with our conversation, but at least for a while, we were calling a truce. Once we were out of the truck and Cecilia was out of earshot, I was pretty sure Farrah was going to tear me a new one.
Conversation was spotty for the next couple of hours. Cecilia drifted in and out of sleep, Farrah did word search and crossword puzzles that she’d pulled out of her purse, and I kept my eyes on the road, both ahead and behind us. Cam and Casper switched between leading the way and following behind the truck. Eli’s car and Forrest’s SUV stayed visible, but I didn’t notice any other cars that seemed out of place. Beyond the fact that we were trying to reach Sacramento as soon as possible, it was a pretty uneventful and boring drive.
Just outside Bakersfield, we finally stopped for fuel and so everyone could stretch their legs. As I climbed out of the truck, I kept my head on a swivel. The gas station we’d pulled into was busy, but thankfully, I didn’t see anyone that seemed out of place or seemed to be watching us.
“Wilson’s been tryin’ to reach you,” Forrest said, his mouth set in a grim line as he strode toward me. “Call him.”
Chapter 11
Cecilia
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I told my mom as I handed Olive to her. “Pronto.”
“Alright,” she replied. As I turned to get my supplies out of the truck, she called for my dad. “Cody, we need an escort to the ladies room.”
“Announce it to the world,” I mumbled.
“I knew Casper wasn’t his real name,” Eli said as he walked toward us.
“She’s the only one who calls him Cody,” I replied as I slung my purse over my shoulder. “I wouldn’t try it.”
“Of course not,” Eli said with a shit-eating grin, raising his hands in surrender.
“You’re pretty,” my mom said in amusement, looking him up and down. “Too bad me and my girls already found our other halves.”
“Um, excuse me?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Oh, please,” Mom said with a scoff. “The only people who haven’t figured it out is you two dumbasses.”
Eli laughed and I glared at him. “She’s right,” he said sympathetically, raising one eyebrow as he rubbed his chest in the exact spot my name was permanently etched on Mark’s chest.
“Bathroom,” I reminded my mother, choosing to ignore the entire conversation.
“I’ll walk you,” Eli offered.
“Cody,” my mom called again. When my dad didn’t turn to look at her, she rolled her eyes. “Just go with the pretty one,” she told me. “Your father is clearly preoccupied.”
“Fine.”
Mom looked at Eli, all joking gone from her expression. “If something happens to her, you’ll be the first to die.”
“Whoa,” Eli muttered, his head jerking back in surprise.
“Ignore her,” I told him as I started toward the building.
“I think my balls just shriveled up into my stomach,” he said as he caught up with me. “Seriously.” He reached down to the zipper of his pants. “They’re gone.”
“Just walk me to the bathroom,” I replied. “You can search for your balls while I’m in there.”
“You realize that if there’s more than one stall, I have to follow you in, right?”
“You realize if you follow me in, my mom isn’t the one you’ll have to worry about, right?”
“Point taken,” he mumbled, opening the glass door to the mini-mart. “I’ll just check it out and then stand outside.”
“Good idea.”
I got the key from the guy at the cash register and did my business quickly, anxious to get back on the road. God, I hated this. I felt like shit, my vagina throbbed constantly, and I just wanted somewhere to lay down and rest for at least a week. My mind wandered to Liv while I washed my hands, and I ruthlessly jerked it back to the present. The only thing I would focus on was getting us to Sacramento. There was nothing I could do to change the past, or to make us any safer, or to somehow untangle the mess my life had become. I refused to even think about it. I’d deal with it all later. Much later. Maybe never.
“All set?” Eli asked as I came out of the restroom.
“All set.” I followed him back out to the vehicles, and my stomach tightened as I got a look at Mark’s expression.
“Where’s your phone?” he asked, his hand out palm up. “In your purse?”
“Yeah.” I glanced at the other people in the group, all of them wearing the same grim expression. Reaching into my purse, I blindly searched for my phone and pulled it out.
“Give it he
re,” Mark snapped. As soon as I’d handed it over, he was completely dismantling it.
“What are you doing?” I blurted, reaching for it.
“It’s how they’ve been tracking us,” Mark replied flatly, handing back the phone without a battery. “You know Warren had a big stake in the telecom industry?”
“I had no idea where he got his money,” I replied honestly.
“Well, he did. So does the son. We figure that’s the only way he was able to track your phone so fast. When you own the business, it’s easy to throw your weight around.”
“With that much cake, we should have realized it sooner,” my brother spat.
“Money makes the world go ’round,” Lu grumbled.
“But we were at the house for days—” I snapped my mouth shut when I realized that my phone had been dead until I plugged it in to call Lily.
“Let’s get back on the road,” my dad ordered. “We’re wasting time.”
It didn’t take long before we were loaded back up and headed north again. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window, letting the cool glass soothe the headache that was forming at my temples. I just wanted it all to be over. I wanted to get settled somewhere in a little house where we could rest and I could relax, even for a few minutes.
The rest of the drive seemed to take forever, and I spent the last hour trying to keep Olive calm in her car seat, but eventually, we pulled up outside a garage on the outskirts of Sacramento. As a large gate with barbed wire across the top rolled open, I sat up straight in my seat.
I hadn’t been to the Sacramento clubhouse since I was a kid. Back in the day, my parents had brought us with them when they’d come down to visit, but as we’d gotten older, they’d started leaving us behind with various friends and family, usually my Gram.
“I swear, this place never changes,” my mom said as we rolled into a parking spot out back. “It’s like walking into a time warp, every time.”
“You’re from down here, aren’t you?” Mark asked as he shut off the truck.
“Yeah.” Mom sighed and sent him a tired smile. “Eugene is better.”
Craving Cecilia Page 13