Ryder

by Hope Stone

  I sounded a lot more confident than I felt. But after the night we’d all had, I figured Ryder was right. Being at home in Verde Hills would feel a whole lot better than sitting in this apartment.

  Thirty-Three

  Ryder

  I wanted to hear what Hawk had to say, but I really didn’t want to talk about it in front of Scorpion so I said, “Why don’t you go take a leak? The bathrooms are right back there.”

  He nodded and got up and I wondered how such a skinny kid was prospecting with a violent MC like Las Balas. I also wondered what the hell Lily saw in him, because it sure wasn’t his appearance. As soon as he walked away, Hawk leaned over to me and said, “You’ve got balls bringing a Las Balas recruit in here.”

  “It was the best of the worst options, trust me. So what’s up?

  “Okay, so I went to Frog Park, where Viper and his guys do business. I asked if he knew anything about the explosion, the scare at the convention center, and anything about Lily’s disappearance.”

  I didn’t know what Hawk had to do to get that kind of information from one of our rivals and I didn’t want to ask. The less I knew, the better. “What did he say?”

  “He said that they didn’t have anything to do with the warehouse fire, and none of the other MCs in town were claiming it. Everyone thinks it was us.”

  “Of course they do, which puts us right in the middle of their target. What about the shots fired at the convention center? Was that them trying to get revenge?” That didn’t make sense because of the short amount of time between the explosion and the shots at the convention center. They wouldn’t have had time to get in.

  “He said that it was most likely a false alarm. Like someone heard something they thought was gunfire, panicked, and then everyone started running.”

  “That makes sense. But none of this had anything to do with Lily. Who would kidnap her? It makes no sense.” I hadn’t really used the word “kidnap” to myself before this moment, but that was pretty much the only explanation at this point.

  “Right. When I told him that the kid sister of one of our guys had gone missing, he said he didn’t know anything about it. But when I pressed him, he changed his answer.”

  I could only imagine what he meant when he said, “pressed him.”

  “He said that El Diablo was making a delivery in Baker at an old airstrip out in the desert.”

  “That clearing off to the west?” That was a common place for planes to come in from South America and deliver and pick up drugs, guns…and sex trafficked girls.

  “Fuck. But how would El Diablo get my sister? She was in the middle of a fucking crowd of 12,000 people.”

  “I don’t even know that he has her, but it seems like we should take a little night ride out to make sure.”

  Before I could answer, I heard a commotion outside the bathroom. A bunch of guys were yelling and I heard banging on a wall.

  I raced over there and sure enough, Scorpion was getting his ass kicked. “Leave him alone!” I said in my loudest most commanding voice before physically pulling three guys off of him. They were drunk off their asses. “You need to go fucking home.”

  “What the fuck is he doing here? You brought a Las Balas guy here?” The guy talking was slurring his words.

  Scorpion was wiping blood from his nose, but nodded to me that he was okay.

  “Last I checked I’m the VP of this club. When Padre isn’t here, I’m the senior member and I don’t need you questioning my fucking decisions.”

  “His sister is missing, man. The kid has been seeing her. He’s here to help.” Hawk stood by my side, in front of Scorpion in a protective stance.

  “Help get information for Las Balas, you mean.” The guy could barely stand up. It would take one punch to knock him out, flat on his ass.

  “You want to start something? Is that what you want?” Honestly I hoped he would. I needed to beat the shit out of someone and I’d love nothing more than a good reason to do it.

  “Come on, man. Let’s go. My old lady is here and can drop you off at home.”

  They staggered out of the Blue Dog and I doubted they would even remember any of this in the morning. Looking out the window on the back door, I realized that the sky was getting lighter. It was already morning.

  “Hey, kid. Let’s take a little road trip.”

  I decided to take the bike since I could get there faster. It was about a hundred and ninety miles from La Playa to Baker, and it would take me a little over an hour to get there on my bike, versus almost two hours in the VW.

  Hawk was rounding up the rest of the brothers—well, the ones who were sober enough to drive, anyway. A nice Sunday morning drive out to the desert was always appealing, even if the reason was an emergency.

  Scorpion and I headed back to my apartment to get the bike.

  “Why did you choose Las Balas, Scott?” We were stuck at a train crossing. He seemed like a pretty decent kid, all things considered. “There’s a ton of other clubs in La Playa.”

  “One of my high school buddies was a prospect right out of school. They ran the neighborhood near Fillmore. I was gonna prospect, then, but my ma got sick.”

  “What happened?”

  “To the friend, or my ma?”

  “Both.”

  “My friend got shot in a drive by and my ma died.”

  We were silent for a minute, as the train kept going past. I had to wonder if his friend was killed by one of our guys. Las Balas was one of our sworn enemies, and a lot of shit went down between us.

  “I lost my parents, too. It sucks.”

  “Yeah. Lily told me. She said you’ve been real good to her, though. Stepped up like a dad and stuff. I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but I would have done it too, if I had.”

  “You don’t really have a choice. You just do what you have to do. Family is family.” The damn train finally passed and the gates went up.

  “Look. You seem like a good kid, Scott. Can I give you some advice?”

  “Sure.”

  “I know you think that you’re in love with Lily. Shit, you might even really be. I don’t know. But she’s sixteen years old. Being a patch in Las Balas isn’t gonna lead you to any kind of life. You’re gonna end up like your friend.”

  From his body language, I sensed defensiveness kicking in. “You gotta trust me, here. If I could do it over again…if I could be twenty, I wouldn’t do half the shit I did. If you and Lily are gonna pull through you need to do two things. First, wait until she’s legal, man. Seriously. That shit will get you in prison. Second, stay the hell away from Las Balas. Go back to school or get a job or something. Go straight, get married—not to my sister—have a couple kids and take them to soccer practice. Choose a better life than this.”

  He was looking straight at me as I pulled into the parking structure of my apartment complex. “Is that what you want to do? Get out of Outlaw Souls? Choose a better life?”

  I took a deep breath before getting out of the car. “I don’t know, kid. Right now I just want to find my sister.”

  Thirty-Four

  Paige

  We got stuck at a stupid train on our way to the freeway. My mom was in the passenger seat and my dad was following behind in the Audi. My mom had thrown a shit fit when he got an R8. He kept saying he got a deal on it because he’d bought it for only $150,000 from another doctor in the office. Bailey called it his “mid-life crisis car.”

  I’d been surprised that they brought it to La Playa, but then again, my dad took it whenever they wanted to get somewhere in a hurry. It was a fantastic sports car. I’d only driven it a couple of times, but was very glad he’d taught me how to drive a stick shift when I was in high school.

  There wasn’t much traffic on the road, but we were stuck at the damn train track. My mom looked completely drained, as she rested her head back and had her eyes closed. The sun was coming up, and I wondered when was the last time she’d pulled an all-nighter. I could barely remember the last
time I’d stayed up to see the sunrise.

  “Mom?”

  “Hmmm?” she said, eyes still closed.

  “Was it hard to love Bailey at first because of how she was conceived?” It wasn’t the kind of question you’d normally ask, but we were both tired and a little numb from the events of the night.

  “Not at all. Not even for one minute. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I saw it as a blessing from God. I didn’t understand why He chose to bring Bailey into this world like that, but it was part of a plan that I didn’t need to understand. When Mary got pregnant, she didn’t understand it either. But she trusted. And as soon as I took one look at your sister’s face, I knew. She was a pure, innocent baby. She deserved…deserves…” She started to cry and couldn’t talk anymore.

  I heard the Audi engine revving behind us and I reached out to squeeze her hand. “We’ll find her, Mom. We just have to trust.”

  Betty White was barking her face off when we pulled in the driveway. Dad opened the garage door of the second garage and pulled the Audi in. It had only been a couple of weeks since I’d been here, but it felt like it had been months.

  Mom got out of the car and went in the front door. Betty White came bounding out to greet me, sniffing and licking me. My parents had gotten her from a rescue place that my mom had done some charity work with through the club. She was some kind of mix, but was all white and had blue eyes and had a black and pink nose and tongue. Bailey had named her when she became obsessed with the television show The Golden Girls on the oldies channel.

  We walked in the huge double doors and it felt like I was walking back in time. I half expected Bailey to come bounding down the stairs, wearing her backpack and talking about some drama at school.

  I wished I had a time machine and could go back to before the concert. I wanted to return to that simpler time when my only concern was whether or not to go to LBCs for burritos after the beach or not.

  But those times were gone. I walked into the kitchen and set my stuff down on the island, and looked out the window at the ocean view that was so expansive, you could see Margarita Island in the distance. Somewhere out there in the world was Bailey. If she could have come home, she would have. If she could have texted or called, she would have. But she hadn’t done any of those things, and it was all I could do not to fall apart. I needed to stay strong for my parents.

  “There are some bagels in the pantry if you’re hungry,” Mom said.

  I shook my head. “I couldn’t eat.”

  Dad walked in and said, “Let’s remember to cancel tennis with the Schweigers.”

  “That’s right. What should we tell them?”

  “I don’t care. Say we’re sick or something.” He went to get a bottled water.

  “It wouldn’t be far from the truth. None of us has slept all night and we are sick with worry.”

  “Have you heard from your friend yet? What was his name? Passenger or something?”

  I checked my phone and saw that there was a missed call from Ryder. How did I miss the call? I quickly called back.

  It rang three times before he picked up. “Ryder.”

  “Hey, it’s Paige. Sorry I missed your call. Did you find the girls?” My heart was pounding, hoping he’d say yes. Both of my parents were looking at me expectantly.

  “Not yet. But we got a solid lead. We are headed out to Baker now, I just stopped off to get my bike.”

  “Baker! That’s halfway to Vegas! How could they have gotten all the way out there?”

  “Oh my god,” my mother said as she put her face in her hands and walked into the dining room.

  “I’m not sure, actually. But we are all headed out there now. I’ll let you know what we find.”

  “Okay.”

  I guess my fear came through my voice because he said, “I will find them. Paige. I will.”

  Tears came to my eyes and I nodded. “Be safe.”

  An hour later we were sitting in the den drinking coffee and trying to stay distracted. We had flipped through all of the television channels, but all that was on was another Guy Fieri food show, a bunch of church channels, and infomercials.

  “Didn’t you have some kind of business thing you wanted to talk about?” my dad said.

  “Oh yeah. I did. I’m not sure this is the right time, though.” I’d been up for more than twenty four hours at this point.

  “I can’t think of anything better to talk about to take our minds off of everything, can you?” he said.

  “No.”

  “Go ahead. We want to hear your idea.”

  “Okay. So, you know how I moved to La Playa because I wanted to help women and girls in some way, kind of like I did at the free clinic in Terrance.”

  “Right,” they both said.

  “Well, I’ve been applying for jobs like crazy at all of the nonprofits and things. I got one interview but they wanted someone with grant experience. Which was fine, because I want to be actually helping people and not in some office.”

  “Okay…”

  “So my idea is to get a mobile health clinic that goes around providing free or low-cost health services. Kind of like when Betty White got spayed at one of those mobile SPCA trucks.”

  “But you’re not a doctor or a nurse,” my dad said.

  “No, but you are. I am imagining that the truck could go to parks and parking lots and people who wouldn’t otherwise go to a doctor could come and get basic health care. We’d specialize in women’s health.”

  My mom was nodding her head. “I think it’s a great idea. Lindsey Shubert from the club just retired from being a nurse for 35 years at the hospital here. Healthcare has changed so much and is really inaccessible for a lot of people these days.”

  “What would be the costs involved? Where would you get the money?” my dad said.

  “I don’t have that information yet. I still need to do some research and a feasibility study.”

  “Honey, I love the idea. So many of the other doctors at our practice are fed up with the healthcare system. You put together a presentation and we can set up a meeting for you to pitch the idea to the partners.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I am really excited about this idea.”

  Well, I was excited about it earlier. I’d been excited about a lot of things.

  Thirty-Five

  Ryder

  I had a lot of time to think on my way out to Baker. If you’ve ever driven or ridden from LA to Vegas or back, you’ve probably seen the giant thermometer off the freeway. The town of Baker had been a thriving pit stop for tired commuters for years. The Bun Boy restaurant had a pretty decent burger, and our club used to stop there on our Vegas runs. It shut down in 2013 because the owner refused to pay franchise fees to Bob’s Big Boy. Well, that was the public story anyway. I heard that he was run out of town by bikers because he refused to pay them to stay away because they were scaring off the families.

  Across the street was the abandoned Bun Boy Motel. It was always a shitty place, but since it was abandoned it had become a hellhole for all kinds of illicit activities.

  Scorpion was doing a good job of holding on to the back of my bike as we sped along. Having him with me definitely slowed me down, but something told me he would be useful to have around. Besides, he really did seem to care for Lily. Young love and all that shit.

  Speaking of love…or something like it…the wide open space of the desert got me thinking of Paige. I’d been thinking about her a lot these days. Too much, really. What if Sofia was right? What if this was my once chance at love again?

  What kind of life could I offer a woman like her, though? She was having an adventure slumming in La Playa, but eventually she’d go back to her country club lifestyle. And where would that leave me?

  I really didn’t know how it could work out. She went to college and came from money. I was a biker who worked in an auto shop. If she had half a mind, she’d run for the fucking hills and hook up with some lawyer named Biff or Lance or something.


  She really did seem to have a pure heart, though, about wanting to help people. Who knows what can bring people together.

  I didn’t have much more time to think about it all, because we were getting close to Baker. Off in the distance, I could see a huge group of bikes congregating in the parking lot of the abandoned Bun Boy restaurant. It warmed my heart to see so many brothers coming out to help. I just hoped we weren’t on some wild goose chase—or even worse, were too late.

  My bike rumbled to a stop next to the Outlaw Souls. Everyone was there except for Yoda and Padre. It wasn’t like Padre to not be here, but frankly, I had other things on my mind.

  “What’s the latest?” I asked Hawk.

  He shook his head. “Nothing much. No one has seen El Diablo since yesterday morning, and a couple of his key guys are MIA, too.”

  “I think I might know something,” Scorpion said. “I didn’t pay much attention to it, but a couple nights ago, Chanclas and El Diablo were really drunk, and El Diablo was bragging that he was gonna show every MC in La Playa who was boss. Said that everyone in town would fear him and shit like that. Chanclas asked what he meant and he said something about being two fewer souls in Outlaw Souls. I just thought it was trash talk.”

  “Who is Chanclas?” I asked. I thought I knew all of the Las Balas patches.

  “He came from downtown LA. Didn’t have to prospect. They just brought him right in.”

  That made me wonder who he was targeting. Two fewer Outlaw Souls? Maybe I ought to be more concerned about Padre than I was. “Do you have any idea where they could be?”

  “Well, the first month or so I was prospecting, they had me drive a U-Haul full of boxes down to an old water tower out here.”

  “There’s a couple of them,” Hawk said, nodding to the tall structures in the distance.

  “It was the furthest one from the road. As soon as I arrived with the truck, they made me leave. I walked back to the highway and someone gave me a ride back to La Playa.