by Eve R. Hart
“My son is Tripp and I can’t get in touch with him,” I blurted out.
“Oh,” she said and jumped. “Okay, hold on.”
She ran off and I could do nothing but wait.
“You’re looking for me?” a man with a beard and long hair said as he walked into the room. “Abigail said you’re Tripp’s mom?”
“Yes,” I told him. “Melissa.”
“I’m Iron. What’s the problem?”
I glanced down and noticed the patch on his chest that read President. I was pretty sure I’d heard his name before but my head was swirling, making it hard to place anything right now.
“I’ve been trying to call him, but he’s not answering.”
“Alright,” he said as he reached for his phone.
“But that’s not all,” I rushed to say. “I’m… um…” How did I put this? “I know Sketch. And I went to the tattoo shop to bring him some food, but there’s no one there. The door was unlocked. I called Tripp to see what should be done, but then he didn’t answer.”
Iron’s face went hard, making me feel that I wasn’t crazy for panicking like I was.
“Have a seat,” he told me and directed me to one of the stools at the bar they had set up there.
Then it seemed like all hell broke loose.
He was yelling for people. His phone was to his ear. The room suddenly became filled with people I didn’t know, all of them darting around like the place was under attack.
The chaos made my head swim.
“Hi,” Abigail, as Iron had called her, said as she found me at some point later. “Want to come to the kitchen with me? I can get you something to drink.”
I nodded and let her lead me away. I felt like I was in the way and maybe somewhere more quiet would help to settle my nerves. Though, I honestly didn’t believe that for one second.
“Coffee, water, soda?” Abigail asked me after I’d taken a seat at one of the tables in the large room that seemed to be half kitchen and half dining area. “There’s some sweet tea too.”
“Water, please.” She sent me a friendly smile and a moment later, there was a cold bottle of water sitting in front of me. “Thank you.”
“I’m Abigail,” she said brightly. “Charming is my man. My brother had also been a part of the club.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t really sure what to say. What did that mean? Had her brother left the club? Because I thought that wasn’t something that you did. Then again, it wasn’t like I knew much about this lifestyle.
Tripp hadn’t been too open about it. He wasn’t secretive about it, exactly. He talked fondly of his brothers, as he’d called them. The other members, I understood that much. He would tell me about certain things they did, like how they spent time with the sick kids at the hospital. He never told me about what the club was about other than the connection and love of motorcycles. He never explained to me what his role here was in it. I suddenly couldn’t believe that I didn’t even know what he did for the club. It was something I’d let go all these years. Maybe I should have pushed for more. If I had, would I have been more prepared for something like this?
Putting all of that aside, I smiled at Abigail.
I’d heard Charming’s name a couple of times but that was about it. I didn’t know him or what he even looked like.
“I’m Melissa, Tripp’s my son.” I knew I’d already told her this but she didn’t look as if the repeat of information was a bother to her. “His father just divorced me and I came down here to tell him. I also hoped to take a break from everything. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
I was rambling. It was the only way I was able to hold it together right now. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong. And I was scared that Tripp and Sketch were in serious trouble.
“I’ve been there,” she told me softly. “Well, not the divorce thing, but being lost, I understand that. Let’s just say, I had my life planned out for me and I didn’t want it. My brother, Dade, he was in an accident and I came here to help him. It was bad, he lost his leg. Once I was here, I kind of never left.”
“Oh,” I said, giving her my full attention. “That sounds awful. I bet that was hard on both of you.”
“It was. He was angry a lot. But not really at the club or the fact that it happened. I think it was more like he was frustrated because he couldn’t figure it out on his own. It was a back and forth of him refusing to wear his prosthesis and then hating not being able to get around as easily without it.”
“Did it get better?”
“Yeah, it started to. I loved the days when we would hang out and he would forget everything that happened.” Sadness filled her features and I hadn’t missed what she’d said. “He died not that long ago. It’s still a little hard on us all.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly and reached out to touch her hand.
“Anyway, I just ended up staying here because this felt more like home than my own home ever had. These people took me in and treated me as if I was a part of everything here.”
“Tripp sounds the same way when he talks about his life here. Sometimes I feel like this club is more family to him than I am.”
At that, she grimaced, and then looked a little apologetic.
“No, it’s okay,” I rushed to assure her. “Tripp and his dad don’t get along. I’m glad he found a place where he can be himself.”
“It was the same for Dade. The club really saved him, I think.”
“Sketch talks about it like that. He’s really grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this club.”
Her mouth fell open and her face froze in shock.
I wondered if I’d said too much.
“You know Sketch… that well?”
“I do,” I told her with a soft nod. “He’s, um, different, but he kind of found his way into my heart.”
“Oh, that has to be awkward.” She let out a little laugh and shook her head. “How is Tripp handling that? Family is like off-limits or something around here.” Her eyes rolled so hard I was worried they’d get stuck in the back of her head. “These boys can be so dumb sometimes. It seems like you and I have a lot in common.”
I let a little laugh slip out.
“Tripp and I haven’t really talked about it. Honestly, I’m not sure he knows. Suspects maybe, but I haven’t told him anything. I have no idea if Sketch has said something to him. I’m not sure why he would. He hasn’t come home with any bruises, so maybe not.”
Home.
The word just slipped right out of my mouth.
And by the twinkle in Abigail’s eyes, she’d caught it too.
“Well, um, anyway,” I said and cleared my throat.
I opened the bottle and took a long pull of water. I almost wished it was something stronger.
“They’ll find them,” she assured me. “They won’t stop until they do.”
I gave her a weak smile.
I wanted to believe that everything would be okay, but there was this feeling gnawing in my stomach that there was real danger out there. One they didn’t have a clue about. Maybe that was worse because they didn’t have any idea where to start looking.
Any way that I looked at it, the situation wasn’t good.
And I felt utterly helpless.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Iron
What the fuck was goin’ on?
Sketch was missing.
Cami was missing.
Tripp and the Prospect weren’t answering, and they were nowhere to be seen on the cameras.
Which might not have meant anything given that all the feeds looked clean. The container yard was as quiet as always.
So, I had to ask it again, what the hell was goin’ on?
When shit hits the fan… it really fuckin’ hits.
I had an idea that there was something we were missing and it was something big.
The club had been fairly calm lately. No threats hangin’ around. Business had been running smoothly. There wasn’t really a sin
gle person that I could think of that was on our bad side. Not one person I could come up with that would be stupid enough to go up against us.
The clubhouse was in chaos.
Cable was in his room trying to find something that would tell me what the hell had happened.
Most of the women were here, having dropped everything the moment they heard something was goin’ on. They were currently in the kitchen comforting each other and Melissa.
There was something up with Melissa and Sketch, I could see it. And she was Tripp’s mom on top of it. Yeah, that was a whole other level of stress I didn’t need right now.
As much as this club had somehow turned out to be something better than I ever could have imagined, times like this really made me realize just how much I had on my shoulders. It made me think that I couldn’t let a single one of them down because that could mean that lives were lost. This family… it was all that a lot of them had. And I would do my damnedest to keep them together.
Mase sent me a chin jerk as he walked my way.
“They good?” I asked talking about Ryan and his son. He’d gone over to the school to pick them up, not wanting to wait until it was over for the day.
I couldn’t blame him. With Cami missing, we didn’t know who could be next. It wasn’t just us that had a target on our back.
I was pulling everyone in because I had to keep them safe. I didn’t want to wait, not with so many damn people missing and no clue what was going on. I just needed them all to get here now so I’d know they were safe. I didn’t want to take a chance there was a bigger plan out there. I might be blind to whatever it was, but I’d do my damnedest to shield everyone from it.
“They’re good. Better now that we’re here,” he said, his gaze on his family as they walked back to the kitchen to join the others.
“We’ll keep it that way.”
“And we’ll get everyone back,” he said, likely knowing that was what I needed to hear right now. “So who the hell is behind this?”
“Not one fuckin’ clue,” I breathed out, frustrated as hell. “I gotta call Brand. Start sendin’ people out. Comb every inch of the city. I sent Colby to check the container yard already, just waitin’ to hear back from him.”
“Got it,” he replied back with a clap on my shoulder before he moved away.
I pulled out my phone.
I was dreading this moment. I’d hoped that I’d be able to find Cami and not have to make this call. But as the minutes ticked on, it was looking less and less likely that this was something we’d be able to get handled quickly.
With any luck, he’d only be a few hours away since they were supposed to be headed back this morning.
I didn’t like the idea of him ridin’ after I told him the news. The last thing we needed was for something to happen to him too.
Damn, this was a mess.
I was going to fix it and save my club.
There just wasn’t any other way I’d let it go down.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Brand
I could feel Blade’s eyes on me as I stood there in shock with my phone to my ear.
I’d felt it going off about ten minutes ago and signaled for Blade to pull over when we came up on the next offramp. Standing here in this gas station parking lot, I felt the world give way beneath me as I listened to Iron speak.
Cami was missing.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t hear anything over the pulsing of my heart in my ears.
Iron was still talking, but I hadn’t been able to take a single word he’d said in after he told me that my woman was missing.
The love of my life.
My reason for living most days.
She was my light and soon to be, mother of my child.
“Brand!” Iron yelled in my ear.
I wanted to answer him but I couldn’t open my mouth.
I couldn’t do much of anything.
I snapped back into reality about the fourth time he’d yelled my name.
“Did someone take her? Where the hell is she, Iron?! I need her found.”
“I know, brother,” Iron said, regaining his calm demeanor which didn’t really set me at ease. “We’re working on it.”
“Work faster. I’m on my way back. Find her.”
I dropped the call and met Blade’s narrowed gaze. He knew. Yeah. He knew something was up and it wasn’t good.
And we were fucking hours from home. Hours from being able to help.
“Cami and Sketch are missing. The shop was open but there’s no one there. Tripp and one of the Prospects aren’t answering calls either. We need to get home.”
I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. How was I going to ride?
He had his phone out and I saw the panic visible in his face as he called his woman. It was only a second later that I saw his body relax and I knew that Harley had picked up.
At least she was safe.
That was good news.
But where was Cami?
My phone rang again and I looked down at it.
Chris.
Fuck.
As much as I wanted to hear his voice, I wasn’t sure I could hold it together if I did.
“Answer the damn phone,” Blade growled.
“Hey,” I breathed out, doing as I was told. “We’re on our way back now, but I don’t know how much longer it’s going to take.”
“I love you, man. We’ll find her. Everything will be fine.”
I wished I could believe him. I wanted to more than anything. But there was this weight in the pit of my stomach and it was like someone had tossed me in the middle of the ocean.
“Chris,” I choked out. “I can’t…”
“Stop,” he sternly told me. “I refuse to think that way and I won’t allow you to do it either. We have to keep strong. She’s fine. If Sketch is gone too, we can only assume he’s with her, and you know he won’t let anything happen.”
Sketch loved Cami. Not the same way I did, but that wasn’t the point here. And I told myself that Chris was right, Sketch would give his life to save her. I just hoped it didn’t come to that.
“Ride back safe. Please. I can’t handle you all fucked up right now.”
“I will,” I promised and hung up.
Chris was right. I’d decided that he had to be.
Cami would be fine.
I’d make sure of it. If someone had her, I would hunt them down and tear them apart with my bare hands.
I met Blade’s gaze again, this time he gave me a firm nod like he knew exactly what was going through my mind. I was sure it showed on my face.
And I didn’t bother to hide the deadly look as I mounted my bike and took off.
Someone was going to pay.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ky
Shit had hit the fan.
And I felt completely useless.
It’d been an hour since Prez called me in and everyone was trying to come up with some sort of idea where to go looking. Iron had sent a bunch of brothers out to ride allover the city. A few of us hung around the clubhouse waiting for a better direction to head, but so far, we had shit.
I needed a moment.
I had to check on my man.
This was hard on me but I knew it had to be even harder on him. And knowing Chris, he was in the kitchen trying to calm all the women and kids down.
That was exactly where I found him.
The moment he looked up and met my eyes, I saw a little part of him shatter.
I called him over with a tilt of my head and he came right away. Then I pulled him around the corner and into the laundry room in the back.
With my hands gripping his face and my forehead resting against his, I gave him some of my strength and I tried to take away some of his pain.
“I’m scared, Ky,” he whispered.
I knew he’d been holding it in, but with me, he could let it out. He could lean on me for just a brief moment.
&n
bsp; “I know, baby,” I whispered, my thumbs brushing soothingly over his cheeks.
“If something happens to her and the baby, he’ll never be the same.” His eyes closed like it was the hardest thing for him to say.
“We all won’t be,” I told him as a way of letting him know that Brand wouldn’t be the only one suffering and that it was okay for him to feel the same.
He whispered my name and I stopped his thoughts with a hard kiss.
“I love you,” I told him once I finally pulled away. “I don’t tell you it enough and I’m sorry for that. But I want you to know that I do. I will always love you. You are the best thing that’s happened to me. Hell, to a lot of us. And we will get through this. I’ll bring them home and we’ll prove that nothing can get to us.”
His arms went around my neck as his head buried into the crook of my neck.
“I love you too. So much,” he told me, holding on for dear life. I wrapped my arms around him and breathed in his clean, beachy scent. I’d never get tired of that smell. And it was just the thing I needed right now. It gave me a boost of strength. It reminded me what I was fighting for, though I wouldn’t ever forget about my club. My family.
“Ky!” Iron yelled and I snapped to.
I gave Chris one last kiss before I ran off.
I hit the lounge and froze.
Cable looked as white as a ghost.
Claire wasn’t here yet. She was supposed to be on her way with Beau. We’d called everyone to the compound roughly thirty minutes ago. Most of them were here by now but I knew that getting a kid packed up and out the door sometimes took a little bit longer.
“S-she’s not answering.” Cable looked as if those words were the hardest thing he’d ever had to say. “Her GPS says she hasn’t left the apartment. But she’s not answering my calls.”
My eyes met Iron’s.
There was something we were seriously missing.
This had turned into life or death.
Because it was clear that Sketch and Cami weren’t just missing, something serious had happened to them. And now Claire was part of it too.