“Don’t tell me how to feel,” she said, pointing her tiny finger at his chest. “I have never been so insulted in my life! So please, just go. I don’t need your help. I don’t need your damn club. Emily and I will be fine.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Tinker told her. “And you’re right. We don’t need the club. Now, let’s get some stuff and get out of here.”
“What?” she asked, suddenly confused by his words.
“I told the club to fuck off,” he explained. “I made a promise to you, Keily. And I intend on keeping it. So, stop talking and grab some necessities. We still have to stop by the shop.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You can’t leave your family.”
“I already did.”
Tinker wasn’t going to argue with her. Walking into the bathroom, he grabbed Keily’s toothbrush, toothpaste, and toiletries. Carrying them back out into the living room he saw her standing there, staring at the red stain on the floor.
“Stop.”
“Where…” she hesitated. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” Tinker told her, even though that was a lie. But she already saw too much, knew too much. And he didn’t want anything else to haunt her dreams. Changing the subject, he asked, “Where’s your bag?”
Keily shook her head and turned away from the spot of the floor. “On…” She cleared her throat. “On my bed.”
“Hey.” He waited until she looked at him. “Stop. No more. Let it go. Got it? If not, it will eat you up inside.” He tried to give her the best advice he could. “Trust me. Just let it go.”
She nodded then sighed.
“Now, clothes,” he told her. “For you and Emily. Hurry.”
Keily rushed past him and into Emily’s room while he took the bathroom stuff into her room and placed it in the bag she had already started on the bed. He waited patiently for her to finish and once she was, he grabbed the duffle, zipped it up, and lifted it over his shoulder.
“Get Emily.”
Moments later, Keily was back by his side., carrying Emily who was already asleep in her car seat. Tinker reached for her hand and together they walked out of the front door. He led them over to her car and opened the back door.
“We aren’t taking your car,” he said, reaching in to unlatch the car seat base.
“What are we taking?” she asked.
“Mine.”
Grabbing the base, he shut the car door and said, “Come on.”
Quickly they made it across the short distance that separated her house from his shop, and as he unlocked the door, Tinker sighed.
“Did you think I would let you leave without saying goodbye?” his mother said, her feet kicked up on his desk.
“Mom…”
“Save it,” she told him.
Planting her feet on the floor, she stood and walked around the counter. Amber looked at Keily, her eyes saddened. “I’m so sorry, Keily.” Then, his mom pulled her in for an awkward hug. “Please know that Reaper’s feelings are not mine. They aren’t any of ours.” She pulled back to look into Keily’s eyes. “Please.” She gave a slight smile. “Watch his back for me, yeah?”
Keily nodded, tears now in her eyes, too.
His mother turned to look at him, with tear-filled eyes the same shade as his. Tinker swallowed hard. She stepped toward him as she continued to speak. “Be careful. Trust no one. If you need anything you call me. Understand?”
“Mom…” She knew Tinker couldn’t do that. Once he cut off the club, their help and protection were taken off the table.
“Jameson!” she said sternly. “Do. You. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, to appease her.
“You are my son,” his mom said. “Way before you were a member of this damn club. Motherhood never ends. Don’t you dare take that away from me.”
The tears building in her eyes cut him like a knife. “Don’t cry.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” she countered, sounding like a child.
Tinker chuckled.
He dropped the bag and car seat base to wrap his mother in a tight bear hug. He didn’t know when he’d see her again, or if he ever would. So, he took a moment to savor the feel of her. The scent of the perfume she wore.
Damn, I’m going to miss you, too, Mom. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud, not without breaking down himself.
So, before that could happen, he released her and then cleared his throat. “I have to pack a bag.”
“It’s already done,” Amber said, swallowing hard. She walked around the counter and pulled out his military-grade travel bag and handed it to him over the counter.
Unzipping it, he glanced inside to see that she had packed everything he would need. And more.
“There’s this bag, too,” she said, handing him another smaller one.
“What’s this?”
“Baby formula and diapers,” she answered. “It should be enough to get y’all out of the state, at least.”
Tinker nodded.
“Now get out of here.” Amber shooed them toward the door. “Before Williams shows up and another train gets derailed.”
“Is he on his way?” Tinker asked.
“Yes. He called Sledge about ten minutes ago.”
“Alright.”
Tinker picked up all the bags and playing pack mule, he waited for his mom to open the door between the office and the garage. He led the way over to his truck and set the bags on the ground. Opening the back door, he buckled and secured Emily's car seat base and then moved so Keily could get her situated in the back seat. Once she was finished, Tinker loaded the bags onto the back floorboard. He would have just tossed them in the bed of the truck, but Texas weather was sometimes unpredictable and rain-soaked clothes wasn’t something they needed, especially not where they were going.
He turned back to his mom. “I love you,” he told her, wrapping her in another hug.
“I love you, too, son.”
He released her after a moment and opened the driver’s side door. Climbing in, he pressed the button on his visor and waited for the door to raise before starting his truck and backing out. Without glancing back, he shifted it into gear and took off down the drive. As he neared the end, he slowed as he saw Joker, Ink, Kailyn, and Sparo on one side of the road, and Gunny, Doc, Tuck, Steph, and Ava on the other. And as they passed by, the men saluted him and the women waved, showing their support. The action caused his chest to tighten. Tinker nodded his head and raised two fingers off the wheel. At the end of the driveway, he made another turn – this one, taking him away from everything he’d ever known…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sledge
“She’s not here.”
“What do you mean, she isn’t here?” Williams asked. “I told you I would be coming to bring her in.”
Sledge wasn’t liking the agent’s attitude. Something about the guy was putting him off. Maybe it was Keily’s insistence that she’d never spoken to him before, but recognized his voice, or maybe the fact that he was so pushy. Either way, the guy was rubbing him the wrong way and Sledge wanted him gone.
“I don’t know what to tell you.” Sledge shrugged. “She didn’t want to stay. And we don’t make it a habit of holding people against their wills.”
“You had orders!” Williams replied angrily.
“Well, here’s the thing about orders…” Sledge said, his voice deep and filled with annoyance. “I don’t take any. And the sooner you realize that the safer you will be.”
“Are you threatening me?” Williams roared. Several agents stepped forward, which only caused the Devil’s Henchmen to react. “Do I need to remind you of who I am?”
Sledge stepped forward. “I’m not threatening you at all, agent.” He said the last word as if it were a curse. “I was giving you a small piece of friendly advice. However, I think you and your boys may have forgotten where you are. On this property, those badges don’t mean shit. Howeve
r, continue to flap your jaw and…” Sledge shrugged. “Accidents happen. Even mass ones.”
He made sure to make eye contact with every agent standing there. These men didn’t intimidate him. Not even close. At one point in his life, he was chasing down terrorists looking down the barrel of a rifle at every turn. These men, on the other hand, were nothing more than bitches in his book.
Williams stepped back and turned to his men. “Find her!” he yelled.
The men made a move toward Sledge’s home but stopped as each member of his club leveled their guns toward them. The agents looked to Williams for help.
Sledge shook his head. “She isn’t here,” he repeated.
“Then where did she go?” Williams raged.
“Why?” Sledge asked. “Why do you care so much? If she ran and hid, then that means she’s safe.”
“Because it’s my job to make sure she stays that way,” Williams explained, but Sledge wasn’t buying it.
“That so?” he asked. “Hmm.”
“You have something to say?” Williams asked, seething.
“Actually, I do.” Sledge walked over to the man and got in his face. In a low voice that only Williams would hear, he said, “I think you’re a lying sack of shit. I think you are after this girl because you think she knows something… about you, and you need to shut her up before she spills the beans.” Sledge smiled. “I don’t think this has anything to do with Patrick Dean. I think this is about you getting ratted out for being a fake.” He stared the other man in the eyes and saw the fear flare for a split second before it was gone. That was all Sledge needed to know. “And you know what else I know? I also know, you will never find her. Now, get the fuck off my property and out of my town, while you’re still breathing and able to move on your own accord.”
Both men stood there for a moment, eyes locked on each other until finally, Williams blinked as he turned toward his men and ordered them to load up. He climbed into his black SUV, then he turned back to Sledge. “This isn’t over.”
“Yeah, it is,” Sledge replied, not bothered by the threat. “Or at least for your sake, you better hope it is.”
He stood there, arms crossed over his chest as he watched to vehicles leave, one by one. His anger bubbled.
Keily had been right. Fuck!
Tinker had known to trust her, and Sledge had abandoned him. That knowledge had him wanting to destroy something. He’d let Tinker leave and now his nephew would have the hounds of hell following him. Taking a deep breath, Sledge tried to calm himself before he went back into the house. The last thing he needed was to lose his shit in front of his sister. If she knew the danger Tinker was now in, Amber would burn the world to find her boy – just as he would.
But for now, Sledge had to trust in Tinker to keep Emily and Keily safe. He prayed his nephew would keep a level head. He knew how feelings could distort the line between right and wrong. But he also knew that sometimes, those same feelings helped a person develop a deep sense of protectiveness. If there was anyone who would protect Keily and her kids, at all cost, it was Tinker.
And that thought filled him with both pride and fear…
“What are you thinking?” Gunny asked.
“Get everyone in the Chapel. Now.”
“Done.”
Gunny moved off to do his bidding as Sledge headed inside. He had phone calls to make before he could create a plan of action. He just hoped Tinker was calm enough to answer the phone… Because without his help, Sledge didn’t know how to protect them. And if his gut were right, Tinker and Keily would need all the help they could get.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Keily
“Oh, my God!” She wanted to pull her hair out. “Answer the damn phone!”
“No,” he repeated. “I don’t give two shits what Sledge has to say.”
“What if it’s important?” Keily asked.
“Then my mom would have called.”
Keily couldn’t argue with that.
So, as the phone continued to ring again, she remained quiet. However, that didn’t stop the nagging feeling in her gut that something was going on, and whatever it was, involved them. More importantly, her.
It had been a few hours since they’d left Briar Prairie in their rearview, and Keily still had no idea where they were going. And from what Tinker had told her the only time she’d asked, neither did he. They were just driving.
She looked in the back seat to see that Emily was wide awake, and Keily smiled. Emily’s happiness was infectious. It was hard to remember that they were essentially running for their lives when her little girl was full of smiles.
It’s probably just gas, Keily told herself, but that didn’t change how precious the moment was for her; and right now, she needed those, more than ever.
She stared out the window and watched as they flew past the tall pine and oak trees. The landscape around them had changed drastically. But that’s what happened when you left one area of Texas and entered another. Long gone were the plains of North-Central Texas. They’d traded those in a few hours back from the woods of the East.
At least it wasn’t the deserts of El Paso, she thought to herself, not wanting to return there ever again.
While Keily had never been one to travel, being she’d never really had the funds to do so, a small part of her was excited to see new places, but a larger part was filled with fear and anxiety. North and West Texas she knew, just from the move. If anything happened, she knew how to get home. But now, they were heading deep into the East side of the state and Keily knew nothing of the area.
She continued to glance around. Studying certain landmarks while secretly hoping she wouldn’t have to use them later. If something happened to Tinker, she had no idea what she’d do.
Please, keep him safe, she said. Keep us all safe.
She tried to remember the names of the towns they had passed through, but her memory wasn’t the greatest. In fact, when she was a kid, Keily’s mother used to tell her that she would forget her head if it wasn’t attached; and nothing had changed. So, as towns like Mexia, Grapeland, and Trinity came along, she tried to think of other words or phrases to help remember them.
When they finally pulled off the highway, Tinker continued down one county road after another, until the road all together disappeared, and a dusty dirt trail took its place.
“Where are we?” she asked, glancing out the window into thick, dense trees and underbrush.
“I have a cabin here,” Tinker said. “We’ll stay here tonight and then figure out where to go from there.”
“Where exactly is here?”
“Just outside of Carlisle,” Tinker replied. “Here in a second, if you look through the trees, you’ll see the Trinity River.”
And just then, Keily saw it.
“Wow,” she said on a breath. “That’s a river?”
“Yeah.” Tinker chuckled. “Definitely not like you find back home.”
“Not even close.”
Back home, the rivers were small, more like creeks. Some of them were no more than knee-high, and others were so dry that you could walk across them without even getting your feet wet. But the Trinity River, on the other hand, was a monster.
She sat quietly as the truck bumped down the dirt road until a small cabin finally came into view. It wasn’t much, but its rustic exterior blended in with the landscape. If Keily hadn’t been looking for it, she would have missed it.
Tinker pulled the truck to a stop in front of it and turned off the ignition. “It’s not the best place, but it will do for tonight and until we can figure out what to do next.”
Keily nodded. “Okay, sounds good.”
She climbed out of the truck and opened the back door so Tinker could grab their bags. Once he had everything, she reached inside and grabbed Emily from her car seat. Tinker led the way to the cabin and unlocked the door.
The air inside was stale, indicating that nobody had been there in a long while. She left the d
oor open for a bit to bring in the fresh air.
Tinker walked over to the only bed in the one-room cabin and set their bags down on the bed. “I’ll go see what I can do to wrangle up something to eat.”
“What?” Keily looked around the room. There was nothing there. No refrigerator. No stove. Other than the bed and a small fireplace, the room was empty.
“We need dinner,” Tinker said like he was talking to someone slow.
“There’s not a café nearby?” Keily asked.
“The fewer people that see us, the better,” he reminded. “Plus, I don’t know about you, but my ass would prefer a bit of a break.”
Keily nodded. Her butt and back both hurt from sitting in the truck for so long. “So, what do you have in mind?” she asked. “I mean, with food.”
“Probably just catch a few fish,” Tinker answered. “Please tell me that you eat fish?”
“Yeah.” Keily smiled.
“Okay, good.” Tinker walked over to the corner of the room and reached up into a space in the ceiling that she hadn’t noticed. Seconds later, he pulled out a fishing rod and net. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Wait!” Keily looked around the small room.
“What?”
How could she tell him that suddenly she was scared? She wrung her hands and shifted from one foot to the other, and back.
“Hey,” he said softly, walking over to her. “I’ll be right out there.” He pointed out the door. “If you walk over to the door, you’ll see me. I promise I’m not going far. Okay?”
Keily nodded, again. “Okay,” she whispered.
She watched as Tinker walked out of the cabin, and then Emily chose that moment to cry. Keily snapped out of her daze and quickly set the car seat down on the floor. Unbuckling Emily, she pulled her from the seat and looked for a clean place to lay her so she could change her diaper. But there wasn’t one. Holding her daughter against her chest, she reached into her bag and pulled out one of her shirts, then laid it out on the floor. Keily made quick work of getting Emily changed and then set out to make her daughter a bottle. She knew she had to be hungry.
Tinker's Dilemma: Devil's Henchmen MC Next Generation, Book One Page 15