by Zoey Parker
Lucy.
The note was short and sweet, and it told me enough to know she’d gone on her own. She hadn’t been kidnapped or taken away by anybody. She’d made the decision herself to leave. I just had to figure out why she’d gone.
I pulled out my phone and called her. I took for granted that she had taken the phone with her. I had no real reason to expect her to actually have it on her, and I had even less reason to expect her to answer it, but I did.
“Lucy, it’s me, Blade. Call me back when you get this message. We need to talk.”
Lucy was my only chance at getting to her father and getting beyond all this crap he was doing to me. I needed her to answer the phone. I needed her to call me back. I called a few more times, but I didn’t leave any other voicemails. I figured the first one was enough.
After I stopped trying to reach her, I called Robby.
“You find anything?” he said when he picked up.
“Yeah, she left on her own. I don’t know how she got out or where she went, but she’s out there somewhere. No one took her,” I told him.
“How the hell did she get past me?” he asked. I could hear the astonishment in his voice. “My back was only turned for a moment.”
“Gotcha. She’s easy to underestimate, brother. Don’t beat yourself up.” I was reminded of how I had underestimated her when she came into the strip club the first time, but she’d proven me wrong with ease. She could dance. She was good at it. She would have made bank if I’d let her take the stage.
“I’m really sorry, Blade. What do you want me to do?” he asked.
“Nothing. Just stay on standby. I’m trying to reach her. She went somewhere, and you’ve already had guy out looking for her with no luck. I don’t know how much luck I’m going to have either.”
“She’s something else, isn’t she?”
“You have no idea, Robby. For being so sheltered, she’s really independent and resourceful. I’m sure she’s going to continue surprising us before it’s all said and done.” We laughed, and I hung up the phone.
I texted her.
“Call me. I need your help.”
I knew my name would come up on the phone with the text. I hoped she had it on her. Her phone was the only way we had to reach her or locate her. She didn’t have any cards, so there was no way to trace her through her accounts. With only cash, she was going to be nearly impossible to find, but I figured we’d luck out at some point. We always did.
I thought about calling Liza to help us find her. She wasn’t a private investigator, but she was good at tracking people down. She had connections. She was a good one to have on our side for more reasons than just her abilities as a lawyer.
I wasn’t ready to talk to her just yet. Any call I made to her was going to wind up on the case, and it wasn’t time to talk about the case. It was time to find Lucy, get her back with us, and figure out a plan of attack against her father. Using her, of course.
I told myself I wasn’t going to keep calling Lucy, but I called her a few more times. If she still had her phone, I wanted my name and number to come up enough times to convince her to answer.
In between calls to Lucy’s phone, I grabbed a few things to take to the clubhouse with me. I was going to stay there for a few days while I worked with Liza to establish my defense. Once news made it to Mr. Smithfield that I was free, it wasn’t going to be safe for me to be alone at the house. I didn’t know what else he would try, if anything, but I knew he was capable of pulling just about any stunt he tried. He had people who could help him pull anything off.
I grabbed my things and hopped in the Charger to head over. I wanted to be on my bike. I needed the power and freedom it brought with it, but I also needed to be ready to right out to get Lucy the minute I got ahold of her. Once I knew where she was, I was going to bring her back myself.
On the way to the clubhouse, I kept my phone plugged into its charger with the ringer turned up, and I kept my eyes on the rearview, making sure I wasn’t being followed. I didn’t know who would be out looking for me. I didn’t know who would be waiting for me anywhere, but I didn’t want to take any chances either.
Brick and Hatchet greeted me with Robby at the door of the clubhouse when I pulled up a few minutes later. I slid my phone in my pocket after trying to call her again and not getting an answer, again.
“Any word?” Brick asked me.
“Nothing, but I’m ready. When she calls, I’ll be on my way to get her, wherever she is,” I told him as I walked inside.
Hatchet pulled the door shut behind us.
“We’re keeping the place locked down until all of this blows over,” Brick told me. “It’s only a matter of time before her father’s reach expands to grab the whole MC.”
“Right. I’m sorry I got us into this, brother,” I told my president.
“Are you kidding? Man, this isn’t shit. I’ve gotten us into more trouble than this, and you would think your founder and president would be smart enough to avoid trouble with the law. Well, I wasn’t always that smart,” he said with a laugh, dismissing my concern.
“We’ll wait it out,” Robby told me. “Until we can find either Lucy or her father. Then, of course, we’ll do what needs to be done.”
His voice was menacing. Robby didn’t play around when it came to problems. He liked to handle them the best way he knew how: with his size and strength. I saw it in his eyes – he wasn’t in the mood to play around with people like Bryan Smithfield.
“Well, we don’t know what all is going on right now,” I told them both. “First order of business is finding Lucy. Her note said she left on her own, but I’m starting to suspect her father is behind it, even if he didn’t actually take her himself.”
“I’m going to let this be your call for now,” Brick told me. “But if he comes after the MC, we’re going to eliminate him.” He patted me on the back and walked away, leaving me standing with Robby in the middle of the room.
I looked over at Robby and saw a serious look on his face. He was on the same page as our president. I knew if we went after Mr. Smithfield without handling my personal situation first, I was done for. There wouldn’t have been any way to stop a conviction if the person who had put everyone up to it was eliminated.
Chapter 28
Lucy
Blade was out of jail. I knew because he’d started calling me at regular intervals. He was blowing up my phone. He’d call me in bursts. There would be a few calls, and he would stop for a little while. Then, he’d call me again, a bunch of times back to back.
I had gone to the gas station next door to grab a cup of coffee and a muffin for breakfast. I sat on one of the benches outside the bus station and ate my muffin while I drank the warm, comforting coffee. I needed a shower. I needed a hot meal. I needed a real bed to sleep in.
Blade started calling me again. He had all the things I needed. If I just answered the phone, everything I needed would be mine again. I’d get the shower, the hot meal, and the bed. And, even better, I’d get Blade with them.
I stared at the screen of my phone. Blade had offered to adopt my son, even without knowing I was due to have a boy. Blade had told me he would take care of my child and me. He wanted to raise my son as his own, as if the boy hadn’t had a different father.
“Fuck it,” I said aloud and swiped the screen to answer the phone.
I was quiet when I first put the phone to my ear. I froze. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to answer Blade’s call.
“Lucy?” he asked. “Are you there?”
“Yeah,” I said, astonished at how weak my voice sounded. I was tired. I had taken a long bus ride to get to this place in the middle of nowhere. I hadn’t slept on the bus or on the benches, not well anyway. And as far as I could remember, the muffin was the first thing I’d had to eat since I left his house.
“Are you okay?” he asked almost frantically.
“I’m fine.”
“Where are you? I’l
l come and get you,” he said quickly.
I remembered the sign behind the register at the gas station. “Riverdale, at the bus station.”
“That’s over a hundred miles away, Lucy! How the hell did you end up there?” he asked, sounding both shocked and a little angry.
“I took the bus. That’s why I’m at the bus station,” I told him, maybe a little bitchier than I meant to be.
“Okay, I’m on the way. You stay right there. It’s almost a two-hour trip from here. I’ll be there as soon as I can be.” I could hear in his voice that he was already moving. He was walking quickly to wherever it was he was going, probably out to the car.
“Okay, I’m not going anywhere. I’m tired, Blade,” I told him.
“Relax. I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.” We paused, like there was something else we both wanted to say before saying goodbye. Neither one of us wanted to be the first one to say it, it seemed, so we hung up instead.
I had a pocket full of cash, and I was sitting at the bus station waiting on my boyfriend or lover, or whatever I was supposed to call him, to show up to take me home. I could have moved on. I could have grabbed a hotel room and started looking for a job, a place to stay, or a ride to the next town. I could have started my life over and used the money to get above everything that had happened.
I laughed at myself as I waited. I wasn’t as independent as I thought. I wasn’t as strong as I thought. But to be fair, I was also carrying a child. I was far enough along for them to know the sex and, given my size, I was liable to start showing soon. Once the baby came, I wasn’t going to be able to work easily.
Running from my father wasn’t the answer, anyway. He was going to follow me eventually. I wondered what he had on Dylan to make him side with him. If I was going to stand up to him, though, I was going to need Blade’s help.
I sat and mulled over my situation until I saw the black Charger pull up in front of the terminal. My heart skipped a beat. I wasn’t sad anymore about everything that was going on. I knew we were going to make it right.
“Need a ride?” Blade asked, rolling his window down.
I was thankful we didn’t have a tearful, heartwarming reunion. I was relieved he’d greeted me with humor. I still climbed into the car and reached across to wrap my arms around his neck. “Thank you so much for coming to get me.” I could already hear the life returning to my voice. I truly was grateful to have him back with me.
“What were you doing?” he asked with a crooked smile on his face, as if he were more amused by me than anything.
I had really expected him to be angry with me. To see the care and concern in his eyes, the relief from having me back with him, I knew right away that everything was going to be okay. I was right where I should have been the entire time.
“I-I don’t know,” I told him. I shook my head. “I panicked, I guess.” Thinking back, I really had no idea what I had been thinking by running off like that.
“Well, we have a long drive ahead of us. Do you want to get something to eat before we hit the road? Maybe we can talk a little then and start getting to the bottom of all of this,” he said. Underneath his relief, I could see that he knew something else was behind my flight from his house. He knew something had set me off. I wasn’t prone to panic attacks or anxiety, anything like that.
“Oh, I could definitely use some food,” I told him.
He laughed. “You mean to tell me you took all that money from my closet, and you didn’t buy yourself anything to eat? You just sat in the bus station? What the hell, Lucy?”
If he was angry, he was covering it up well. If he had been angry, I supposed the relief was enough to change his mood.
I shook my head and fought back a sudden wave of tears. I had no idea. Suddenly all of the panic I had felt after seeing Dylan seemed so irrational. I had been running out of fear, not out of my usual sense of bold independence and rebellion. I needed to stop trying to analyze everything I was doing because I was getting it wrong. I needed to figure out, instead, what was going to work best for me, for my child, and for my relationship with Blade.
“Look, let’s get you something warm to eat. There’s a restaurant right up the road. You’ll feel better after that. Then we can go from there,” he said in a comforting voice.
I sank back into the leather seat and let him take me away from the bus station. He took me to the nearby restaurant he’d mentioned, and we sat in a booth together. It wasn’t anything special, just a little diner where people passing through could easily grab a quick bite to eat, which was exactly what we were doing.
It felt good to have warm food in me again. It felt good to have Blade there with me and to know he was looking out for me. He didn’t ask for me to return the money I had taken. He paid the tab and let me eat instead of trying to get anything out of me.
I didn’t know how to tell him that Dylan had shown up at the hospital, but I knew once I did he’d see straight through the stunt just like I had begun to. He’d see that my father was behind the whole thing, trying to get me to come home or, at least, leave the Vicious Thrills.
It wasn’t fair that my life had been turned upside down, but at least I had someone there to set it back right side up. While I ate, I reached across the table and took his hand in mine. He still didn’t try to pry. He just held my little hand in his. His touch told me he was glad to have me back. It reiterated what he’d said before, that he was going to protect me and take care of me.
I sat back after the last bite of food and pulled my hand away from him. I let my eyes look into his. Again, I caught him staring at me with love and relief in his eyes. Every time he looked at me, it was like he was seeing a great piece of art for the first time. There was a hint of wonder in his expression, as if he couldn’t believe I was right there in front of him, but I was.
I blushed and a small smile lifted the corners of my mouth. Everything I had wanted and needed had been right there in his eyes the whole time I’d been running trying to find safety.
I took a deep breath and sighed. He didn’t have to say anything; I knew it was time to let him know everything that had happened, everything I didn’t want to admit because it had become embarrassing.
Once again, the biker thug was saving the day. Once again, the man who was supposed to be a dirty, womanizing criminal was turning out to be the gentleman, the knight in shining chrome.
His stare and smile were becoming unnerving. While it was flattering to have him admiring me the way he was, it also felt like he was simply waiting on me to say something. I took a sip of my drink.
“Can we talk in the car?” I asked him. “I don’t feel comfortable talking about it in public.”
“Sure. We can talk whenever, wherever you want, but we do have to talk about it,” he said, raising his eyebrows.
There it was. It wasn’t anger. It came across more like concern. He was concerned as to why I had run, and rightfully so, I guessed. I had left him high and dry, and I had run out on one of the top members of the MC. I could have really screwed things up.
“Okay, let’s talk on the way back,” I said with a deliberate sense of finality.
“Sounds good to me.” He put his napkin on the table next to his plate. He slid out of the booth and held his hand out for me. “Are you ready to go?”
“I guess I am,” I said with a laugh. He wasn’t giving me much choice, it seemed. His behavior said it was time to go, regardless of how ready I really was. What he really meant was it was time to talk.
I took his hand and slid out of the booth to follow him out of the diner. I felt safer just being next to him. He was broad and tall, and he always dressed so his muscles were obvious through his shirts. No one was going to mess with us. No one was going to try anything with him around. It felt good.
Plus, I was going home. That felt good, too.
Chapter 29
Blade
As Lucy and I stepped outside the diner, I was overcome with the need to
be close to her. I held the door as she stepped through, and then I gently took her arm and pulled her to me. I embraced her. My arms wrapped around her, swallowing her as I pulled her to my chest. She tilted her head up and we kissed. It was a long, slow kiss. There was no tongue, just our lips lingering together, just the touch, the connection.
Her hands were at my sides, spreading open as far as they could to hold onto me. She pulled me to her. Our bodies pressed firmly together in the sunlight outside the old quiet diner on the secluded road in the middle of nowhere.
I wanted to hear her story. I wanted to know what had happened that set her off like that and sent her running from me, from the life we had talked about building together. I knew it had to be something serious.