His Promise

by Wilder, Brook

  She inhaled, then exhaled. Hailey dragged her finger along the mousepad and the computer came to life. She clicked on the browser button and flexed her fingers before typing: Chasing Spirits Motorcycle Club, Chicago, IL.

  A number of other results appeared but the actual location stuck out right away. An image of the club appeared beside a phone number and a picture of the riders. Hailey dragged the mouse over the phone number and highlighted it.

  She frowned and pushed her chair away from the desk. Mom is one of the only people that I know that still has a landline. But, where does she keep it? Hailey peered around the living room, and briefly upstairs before her search brought her back into the livingroom.

  Hailey sighed and moved into the kitchen and her eyes widened upon noticing the wall phone beside the pantry. She hurried back to the desk and scribbled the number onto a piece of stationary. She rushed back into the kitchen and leaned against the wall. Hailey lifted the phone off of the cradle and held it to her ear. The dial tone impatiently waited for her to dial, and Hailey slowly pressed each number.

  She held her breath. The line went silent for a moment before it began to ring. Her stomach turned and she made a mental note to grab crackers or a piece of bread out of the pantry to quell the feeling in her stomach. Hailey chewed on her lip as the line on the other end went on it’s fourth ring.

  She’d begun to regret calling until Clyde breathlessly answered the phone after the sixth ring, “Chasing Spirits Motorcycle Club, how can I help you this morning?”

  Hailey gripped the phone so tightly she thought that she might crack the plastic if she gripped it any tighter. “Clyde,”

  On the other end, the sound of Clyde’s fingers flying across his keyboard could be heard. He cleared his throat and said, “Yes, this is Clyde. Are you familiar with us? Are you calling about becoming a member?”

  “N-no, I’m not. I’m actually calling to speak with…. Rocco.”

  There was a pause on the other end before Clyde repeated, “You’re calling to speak with Rocco?”

  Hailey nodded and said, “Yes, Rocco. Is he there? Is it too early?”

  “Is this Hailey?”

  Hailey’s heart beat so hard in her chest that she thought she was going to pass out. “Yeah. I just need to talk to Rocco really fast, I don’t really have any time for questions-”

  “Hailey, Rocco hasn’t been back to the club since yesterday.”

  “What?”

  Clyde’s typing resumed and he said, “He and Meish exchanged words about Becca, I’m guessing. Next thing I knew, Pete and Greg were slamming their fists into his face.”

  Hailey threw her hand backwards and braced herself against the kitchen counter. “W-what? Is he okay? Do you know anything?”

  Clyde sighed and said, “I can’t really say too much about it, especially at the club. All I know is, he’s probably not coming back for a while.”

  “Where would he go in the meantime?”

  “Hard to say, I stopped by his place last night to see if I needed to force him to go to the hospital but he never answered the door.”

  Hailey’s heart fell into her stomach and a wave of nausea swirled in her lower belly. She knew that this sick feeling had nothing to do with the baby growing inside of her. Hailey clenched her fingers around the receiver and her lips formed a small “o.” She sucked in a cooling breath. “Clyde, you don’t have any idea of where Rocco would go?”

  Hailey’s trembling voice moved through the phone line and into Clyde’s ears. He heaved a heavy sigh and said, “I don’t, Hailey. I’m still trying to figure that out, but there’s not much that I can do without Meish breathing down my neck. I’m risking an ass load by even talking to you.”

  Hailey nodded. “I understand. Do you know if Rocco came looking for me?”

  “I don’t. He didn’t tell me anything.”

  He might not have been thinking straight when he left, he tells Clyde everything. Hailey’s fingers loosened around the receiver and she said, “If you hear from him, tell him that I’m looking for him.” A thick, tight band of pain wrapped around Hailey’s neck. She frowned and said, “Please.”

  She pictured Clyde nodding and nervously glancing towards the stained glass door of Meish’s office. I should let him go, he’s risked enough for me. “Thanks, Clyde.”

  “Anytime. I’ve gotta go.”

  “Bye.” The lined disconnected and the dial tone echoed in Hailey’s ears, she gently set the phone back onto the receiver. Her eyes fell to the floor, they worked their way up the small indents between each tile piece. Where’s Rocco? She lifted one of her hands and placed it over her mouth.

  Her mind raced, should she scream into her palm so as not to wake up any of her family members? Should she cry into her pillow upstairs and resign herself to the fact that even if she tried, she might still have to raise her baby alone and she would never see Rocco again? Hailey angrily swiped at the tears that were rolling down her bright red cheeks and lifted one foot.

  Each step felt like lifting a cement brick off of the floor, she ambled into the livingroom, where a dull glow still emanated from her mother’s laptop. She shook her head and moved towards the staircase.

  Hailey took a deep breath and bounded up the steps, she came to the top of the stairs. Her eyes moved towards the bedroom door of her mother and. It would still be a couple of hours before they even thought about waking up and fussing around the brownstone. The window at the end of the hall allowed a few rays of sunlight to illuminate the floor in front of it. Hailey turned her head, and was face to face with the spare room that her mother had opened up to Becca.

  Hailey clutched her belly and moved towards the door. She curled her fingers together at first, and her hand hovered in front of the wooden door. Hailey shook her head and her hand fell to her side. She wrapped her fingers around the polished doorknob, and pushed the door open.

  A memory flashed through Hailey’s mind, the way that the smell of sex, sweat, and dirt would seep into the hall when she’d step into Becca’s room back at the motorcycle club. Hailey swallowed a lump in her throat and stepped inside. She gently shut the door behind her.

  Becca’s head was buried under a mess of pillows and blankets. Thin wisps of her blonde hair spilled over the edge of the blanket and her hand hung off of the edge of the bed. She reminded Hailey of a child that had spent the entire day running up and down the street, exhaustion colored the entire scene in front of her.

  Hailey moved forward, and the floorboards creaked underneath her foot. Becca shuffled underneath the dense blankets. Hailey settled onto the edge of the bed and set her hand on top of Becca’s thigh. She patted it once, then twice, when Becca didn’t stir.

  Becca groaned and rolled over onto her side.

  Hailey patted her with more urgency and leaned forward as she whispered, “Becca, Becca, wake up.”

  Becca lifted her head up and looked towards the window beside her bed, she blinked, and swiped her knuckles across her eyes. She pulled herself into a sitting position and said, “Hailey?”

  “Becca, I called the club.”

  Becca sat back against the headboard of the bed and dragged a couple of her bony fingers through her hair. She shook her head and said, “You did what ?”

  Hailey pulled her legs up onto the bed and folded them. “I called the club,” she repeated, “I needed to talk to Rocco, because I wanted to try and explain things to him. I wanted to tell him that I thought that you and he were-”

  “You thought that we were fucking around behind your back,” Becca finished. Her eyes were watery from the yawn that passed through her lips, she sighed and crossed her arms over her breast.

  It had been forever since Hailey had witnessed Becca in the process of waking up. When Hailey nudged her out of her drug addled stupors at the club, Becca had been worlds away from her usual self. However, Becca was not and had never been a morning person.

  “I wouldn’t have woken you up to talk about this but I did
n’t know what else to do,” Hailey’s voice cracked as she wrapped her arms around her belly and said, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  Becca sighed and pulled her legs out from underneath the blanket. She moved over to the other side of the bed and swung her legs off of the side of it. Becca slipped an arm around Hailey’s trembling shoulders. “Hey, it’s no big deal. It’s just been a long time since I’ve gotten to sleep like a normal person.”

  Hailey winced and nodded, “Yeah.”

  “So, what’s up? Did they threaten you when you called the club?”

  Hailey remembered the sympathetic tone of Clyde’s voice when she spoke to him a few moments before. “No, the exact opposite. Clyde picked up and told me that Rocco got into a bit of trouble with a few riders. They got into a fight outside of the club, and Rocco disappeared. Clyde says that he’s not at his apartment.”

  Becca nodded and said, “He just picked up and left?” Becca shook her head and said, “Although, I’d skip town if I had someone like Meish on my tail.”

  A wave of fear passed over Hailey at the thought of Meish catching up with Rocco. What would he do? Over the years, she’d only heard vague details from her father about getting even with guys that crossed him. Now, she wondered if she didn’t hear any additional details because her father would have been making her apart of his crime. “I don’t know what to do, Becca. I need to find him.”

  “There’s got to be a way for you to figure out where he is.” Becca twisted her neck and looked out the window. The sun had yet to rise over the tall peaks of the brownstones that lined the rest of the block. “Listen, we’ll figure something out. But, we’re not going to get anywhere on a few hours of sleep.” Becca’s palm moved in smooth circles on Hailey’s back. “You can’t think straight right now.”

  A fresh round of tears blurred Hailey’s vision. She blinked a couple of times, and nodded. Hailey pushed herself off of the bed and rose to her feet. “Thank you, Becca.”

  Becca fell backwards onto the bed and nodded. “No problem.”

  Hailey stepped into the hallway and gently closed the door behind her. The long hallway in front of her was distorted as she slowly shuffled down the hall. Hailey blinked the tears away again and stopped just outside of her bedroom door. With a heavy sigh, she wrapped her fingers around the doorknob and pushed the door open.

  Chapter 22

  Sweat gathered around her collarbone, the blankets acted as one, massive restraint on top of her skin. Hailey jerked to the side, the bleached, silk streets that covered her bed were twisted in between her legs. Her heart pounded hard against her chest, and she bolted upright. The room in front of her was a blur, it was a mess of colors and twisted shapes. Her hand reflexively went up to her temples.

  Hailey’s eyes bulged out of her skull and she slapped her hand over her mouth before leaping off of the bed. Her feet touched the floor and she bolted towards the door. There was a crackling noise as the door smacked against the wall. Her feet slapped against the linoleum of the bathroom floor, and a dagger of pain shot through her knees as she leaned over the toilet. Hailey’s fingers gripped the rim of the toilet as her stomach churned and voided it’s contents. Her hand rose weakly towards the handle on the toilet and she pushed the plunger down.

  Her back connected with the wall underneath the towel rack. Limp strands of her hair hung over her eyes, and she sighed as she focused on the toilet seat in front of her. She ran her hand along her belly.

  How far along am I? She slipped her hand underneath the rounded curve of her belly and she frowned. I know that this baby won’t be born for months, but what am I going to do until then? Hailey braced herself against the wall and staggered to her feet. She stumbled over to the sink and flicked cold water on her cheeks. Hailey reached inside of the medicine cabinet and rinsed her mouth out. She stepped into the hallway and the low rumble of conversation rose up from below.

  Her mother and stepfather's voice floated over the banister, and she drifted towards the staircase. She turned her head towards Becca’s bedroom, and the door was slightly ajar. Hailey moved down the steps and sighed, her stomach rolled and lurched with each step. Anna lifted her eyes towards the staircase and abandoned her work on her laptop.

  “Hailey, you’re finally awake. I was thinking that we’d go get some breakfast, and take a look at some of the maternity clothes at the new shop on twenty-third.”

  Hailey’s mouth felt dry, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Wordlessly, Hailey moved into the kitchen and pulled a glass out of the cupboard. Anna was hot on her heels.

  “What do you think? We can even look for baby furniture while we’re out.”

  Hailey poured water into the glass and sighed. “Mom, I just need a second.” She lifted the glass to her lips and welcomed the flood of water that cascaded down her throat. Hailey set the glass onto the counter and breezed into the livingroom. Her stepfather, Eric, a hulking, lumberjack looking man, eased out of his armchair and stopped just in front of her. He extended his arms and said, “I feel like we’ve barely had a chance to talk since you’ve been back in town. Your mother has been talking my ear off every time I’ve come to bed.”

  Hailey grinned and stepped into Eric’s arms. Eric had always played the role of a stepfather fairly well, he didn’t push, he didn’t try to replace her father, and he always let the relationship be whatever it was. Hailey patted Eric’s back and said, “It’s good to see you.” Hailey had always thought that if her father had given up the motorcycle club lifestyle, that he’d be like Eric. Approachable, and sensitive.

  Hailey winced, and held her hands out in front of her eyes. The sun had officially risen and was shining full force into the livingroom. Just past the window, she could make out Rocco’s bike. It rested against the street, untouched.

  Looks like kids haven’t messed with it. She moved towards the window and placed her hands on either side of the window pane. I need to ask Mom about getting a parking permit for that bike. I can’t let anything happen to it. Hailey whipped her head around and said, “Mom, I-”

  Hailey closed her mouth and looked towards the window. Anna knitted her eyebrows together and hustled over to the window. “What’s wrong? Did you see one of those thugs? Did they follow you?”

  Hailey shook her head just as Becca emerged from the basement. She scanned Anna’s panicked expression and said, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

  Hailey held up one of her hands. “No, nothing happened. I was just… thinking.” She hurried upstairs and burst into her bedroom. She yanked the comforter off of her bed, and swept the pillows onto the floor.

  “Where the hell did it go?” Her eyes landed on the bright glint to the left of her and she snatched the keys into her hands. There were five keys that dangled on the key ring, one of them was longer, and more jagged, designed to be shoved into the ignition of a motorcycle.

  I can get into Rocco’s apartment. If he comes back, I can already be there. I could explain everything. Hailey lifted her eyes to see Anna standing in the doorway with Becca behind her. Anna frowned and said, “What’s wrong?”

  Hailey shook her head and said, “I need to go back to Chicago.”

  Anna shared a glance with Becca and said, “Why do you need to go back? Why would you want to go back? What if something happens to you and the baby?”

  Hailey opened the doors to her closet and pulled out a small drawstring back. She stuffed a couple of jeans, shirts, and underwear into the bag and said, “I need to try and find Rocco. He hit the road because the guy that runs the club—Meish, was after him. He’s pretty pissed that Becca and I have escaped.”

  “Well, yeah, he is. Hailey, I can’t let you put yourself in danger. You’re not thinking straight.” Anna widened her stance in the doorway and stretched out her long arms until her hands rested against the doorframe. “You are not going to throw yourself into trouble.”

  Hailey’s eyes flickered from Anna’s stern expression and the frown
that rested on Becca’s lips. She curled her fingers around the drawstrings on the bag and she said, “I need to go. I need to let him know-”

  “Hailey, you’ve barely been awake for three hours. Did you think that you’ve thoroughly thought this through in your sleep?”

  “Mom, I appreciate what-”

  Anna held up one of her finely manicured hands. “ No. If you are so eager to find this Rocco guy, then you’re at least going to think it through. Sleep on it, and consider looking for him tomorrow.”

  Haile slumped onto her mattress and slid one of her arms over her belly. “Okay.”