by Wilder, L.
As soon as we were parked, Clutch got out of his SUV and started towards ours. When he was close, Murphy rolled down his window and asked, “Hey, brother. Y’all been waiting long?”
“Just about ten minutes or so.”
Murphy looked over to their oversized bike trailer and asked, “Looks like you’ve got quite a load.”
“That we do. We’ll hang about a mile or so behind you guys, so we’ll be close if you run into any trouble along the way.”
“Sounds good. Y’all ready to do this thing?”
“Yep. We’re all gassed up and ready to roll whenever you are.”
“Then, let’s move out.”
Once he’d gotten back in his truck, Clutch pulled up behind us, and we started driving towards Mobile. Over the past few days, I hadn’t gotten much sleep, so I chose to sit in the back of the, leaving all the driving to Murphy and Gunner. We’d been on the road for just over an hour, and surprisingly, the guys were quiet, so I closed my eyes and propped my head against the window. I was just about to doze off when I felt Blaze nudge me with his elbow.
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
“Thought any more about what we talked about?”
I didn’t bother opening my eyes when I answered, “Might help if I knew what you were referring to.”
“Don’t give me that shit. You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he huffed.
“Nope. Don’t have a clue.” I lied.
“The girl. Have you thought anymore about what you’re gonna do?”
“About what?”
“Tracking her down?” he pushed.
Before I could answer, Murphy asked, “What girl?”
I cringed when Blaze answered, “You remember that chick he met on my birthday?”
“Oh, yeah. The hot blonde that blew him off?” Murphy snickered.
“Yep, that’d be the one.”
“What about her?”
“He saw her the other night at the diner, and—”
I interrupted him by grumbling, “And nothing. The story ends there.”
“It wouldn’t have to end there if you’d just get your ass in gear and go after her.”
“Why would he have to go after? She’s already come to him.”
Surprised by Murphy’s question, I sat up in my seat and asked him, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I saw her at the front gate … or at least I thought it was her.”
“What? When?”
“I don’t know. A few months ago … Might’ve been longer than that. I figured she’d come there looking for you.” Murphy nudged Gunner as he asked, “You saw her, didn’t ya? Pretty thing. Real blue eyes. She was driving that red beetle. Had her hair pulled up, and she was wearing a U of M sweatshirt.”
“Nah, brother. At least not that I can remember,” Gunner answered.
“Well, damn.”
“Well? What the fuck happened? Did she make it through the gate or what?”
“Nope,” he answered. “She talked to Gauge for a minute, and the next thing I knew, she’d just up and left.”
“Why the fuck are you just now telling me this?”
“Sorry, brother. I figured Gauge would’ve mentioned it to ya.”
“He never said a word about it.”
He shrugged. “It’s been a while, man. Hell, I’m pretty sure he was still prospecting at the time. I’m sure it just slipped his mind or something.”
“Fuck.” With an irritated sigh, I leaned back in my seat and glared out the window. “Wonder why she’d come to the clubhouse?”
Blaze shook his head. “No idea. It would take a lot for a girl like that to come to the Satan’s Fury clubhouse, so she must’ve wanted to see you pretty bad. Not sure what Gauge told her, but clearly, it wasn’t good.”
“Obviously not.” I was eager to ask Gauge why Reece had come to see me and considered taking out my phone and calling him right then and there, but quickly decided against it. I didn’t want Blaze and Murphy listening in on our conversation. The last thing I wanted was to give them more ammunition to use against me, so I just blew it off. “Doesn’t matter why she came. It doesn’t change anything. I’ve got things to tend to before I can even think about trying to track her down.”
Blaze gave me one of his disapproving looks as he mumbled, “I just don’t get it. How can you be so goddamn smart about some things, and so fucking stupid about others?”
“Don’t give me that shit. The club comes first, brother. If you were in my shoes, you’d do the same damn thing.”
Thankfully, that ended the conversation, and for the next two hours, we rode in silence. I’d hoped to catch up on some sleep, but I couldn’t take my mind off of Reece. It didn’t make sense that she would make the effort to come out to the clubhouse without calling first. It wasn’t like she hadn’t tried before. She called many times, but she always seemed to reach out when I was out on a run or in a meeting with the brothers. When I had tried to return her calls, I couldn’t get through to her. The number she’d given me was a landline, so I couldn’t even text her. Eventually, I’d just given up trying. I figured she had her reasons for not leaving her new number. I let my stupid pride keep me from following my gut and tracking her down. It bugged me that she’d shut me out, and I simply couldn’t take knowing that she was happy without me. I thought it would be easier to just forget about her, but I was wrong—very, very wrong.
Even after all this time, she still had me tied up in knots. It was eating away at me that I didn’t know why she’d come to the clubhouse looking for me. What she had to say must’ve been something pretty fucking important, especially if she felt the need to have the conversation face to face. I would’ve liked to think that she’d come to tell me that she was wrong to leave without saying goodbye and wanted a second chance, but I just didn’t see that happening. Something told me it was something bigger than that, but it just didn’t matter anymore. With the amount of time that had passed, I needed to face the fact that she’d made her decision to move on, and I needed to do the same. It wasn’t going to be an easy task, but at least I had work to distract me.
I could feel the tension radiating off my brothers as we pulled up to the warehouse in Mobile. Like me, they were wondering how things were going to play out with all the new changes. While we knew it had to be done, none of us were thrilled that Ronin chose to move things to Mobile. We all knew Gus had given his approval on the new location, but that didn’t change the fact that we knew very little about the area, making us all the more on edge than usual. We knew that there was a risk with every drop-off. There was always a chance that our presence might be detected, either by the cops or an adversary, and we did everything in our power to make sure that didn’t happen. We were careful to ensure that no mistakes were made, and most of all, we kept our eyes and ears open at all times, paying attention to even the most trivial of details. That’s one of the reasons why it bugged me that Ronin didn’t have a barge waiting for us at the front dock. Instead, he had a seventy-foot high-performance yacht sitting there. It was dark, and Mobile was a busy port. I was beginning to think that we’d shown up at the wrong fucking dock when Ronin and his guys came strolling up behind us. As he looked down at his watch, he said, “You guys made good time. I wasn’t expecting you here so early.”
With narrowed eyes, Murphy motioned over to the fancy boat and asked, “What the fuck is that?”
“That, my friend, is a 2018 Sunseeker Predator,” he boasted. “She’ll be our new means of transportation.”
“You fucking kidding me?” Murphy roared.
“You got a problem with something?”
“We’ve never had an issue with the barges. Worked great every time. Why the fuck would we change shit up now?”
Ronin’s expression hardened as he replied, “Because you boys led a mob boss to my back door, and I had no other choice but to make some changes. Some bigger than others, but in the end, it’s all good. With the
yacht, I’ll be able to get your shipment there in half the time.”
“Does Gus even know about this? ’Cause you sure as hell didn’t mention it when we were here the other day.”
“Of course, he knows, Murph.” He crossed his arms as he snarled, “You know me better than that. I’d never make a move like this without consulting him first.”
“And he was good with it?”
“Why you asking me? Call your president and check in with him yourself.”
Clearly pissed, Murphy reached into his pocket for his phone. He never took his eyes off of Ronin as he called Gus. The conversation was short, and Murphy was clearly unsettled with the change, but Gus confirmed that he did know about the change in transport. As soon as they were done talking, Murphy shoved his phone back in his pocket. With no apology given, he looked over to us and said, “Looks like we’re good to go.”
“All right, boys.” Ronin smirked. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
With the others following close behind, Blaze and I headed over to the back of the horse trailers and started unloading our cargo while Clutch and Stitch started unloading theirs. Once we had everything pulled out of the trailers, we started making our way over to the dock. As T-Bone stepped onto the boat, he whispered, “Man, oh man. This is one fine-looking boat right here. I sure would like to get me one of these!”
“And how you gonna manage that?” Gunner teased. “Planning on selling a kidney or two?”
“Fuck no, brother. I’m gonna win the fucking lottery. You just wait and see,” he answered with confidence. “Two mill is up for grabs this weekend, and I plan on making it mine.”
Gunner smiled as he asked, “You got your ticket yet?”
“Nah, but I’ll get around to it,” he answered as he followed the others down the small stairwell.
“Um-hmm. I’ve heard that one before. You’ll remember to buy one right around the time they start to announce the winner,” Gunner scoffed. “I wouldn’t worry with it anyway. It’s always those crazy motherfuckers with no front teeth who win those damn things. Might as well just save your money.”
Blaze stepped up behind T-Bone and patted him on the back. “If that’s the case, then I’d say our brother here has a good chance of winning the whole damn thing.”
Just as T-Bone was about to respond, Murphy skirted by us and grumbled, “I’ll buy you all a fucking ticket if y’all will just hurry the hell up and get this shit put away.”
One by one, we loaded each of the crates into the cargo section of the yacht’s lower deck. We were all on edge as we tried to adjust to our new surroundings. We didn’t let anything get by us. We checked out every little sound and every flicker of light, so it took us longer than expected to get the full shipment secured in the various storage compartments. Once we were certain everything was set to go, Murphy and I went over to speak with Ronin. “You’re all set.”
“Right on time.” As Ronin started towards the yacht, he said, “I’ll touch base with Gus as soon as we get everything delivered.”
“I’ll let him know.”
We watched as Ronin and his guys boarded the boat, and once they were gone, Clutch and Stitch came over to say their goodbyes. “You boys have a safe trip back.”
“You aren’t following us back?” Blaze asked with surprise.
“I don’t think so.” He glanced down at his phone as he said, “We were looking, and we think it’ll be faster for us to head back through Arkansas.”
It was at least a forty-hour drive back to Washington, and I couldn’t blame them for wanting to find the shortest route. “Yeah. You’re probably right about that.”
Before they both turned to leave, Stitch looked over to me and said, “Good work on tracking down Josue. You let Gus know, if he needs us, we’re just a phone call away.”
“Appreciate that, brother.”
After a few more bro-hugs, we got in our SUVs and drove in our separate directions. While I was glad everything went as planned, I couldn’t have been happier that we were headed home. I tried to settle back in my seat, but adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, making it difficult to relax. Thankfully, after an hour or so, the tension started to fade, giving way to my exhaustion. Hoping that the guys would give me a break, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. By the time we made it to the interstate, I was out, and I didn’t come to until we made it back to Memphis. The sun was just starting to come up when we pulled through the gates of the clubhouse. Even though it was early, I wasn’t surprised to see that Gus and Moose were there waiting for us when we walked in. It was clear from their expressions that they were eager to hear how things had gone. While Murphy and Blaze filled them in, I went over to have a word with Gauge. He was rubbing the sleep from his eyes when I said, “Hey, brother. I need to ask you about something.”
“Sure thing. Whatcha got on your mind?” he asked with a big yawn.
“I wanted to ask you about a girl who came by the clubhouse a few months back—a blonde driving a red Volkswagen. Murphy seems to think you were working the gate when she pulled up.” His eyebrows furrowed as I asked, “You got any idea who I’m talking about?”
“Yeah, I think so. If I’m not mistaken, I think she’d come looking for you.”
“Any idea what she wanted?”
“No. She wouldn’t tell me much. Just that she wanted to see you about something.”
“If it was so important, why she didn’t come on inside?”
“She was about to when you came out of the clubhouse.”
“Okay. Then, why didn’t you send her over my way?”
“I was gonna, but then she saw that you weren’t alone, and she hightailed it out of here.”
“I wasn’t alone? Who the fuck was I with?”
“Kenadee. I guess she thought you two were together or something.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Cause you had the puppy Blaze was giving Kevin, and she was going on and on about it.” He shrugged. “I tried to tell her that Kenadee wasn’t your girl, but she left before I could explain.”
I ran my hand over my face as I groaned, “Well, damn.”
“I told you all this before, and you didn’t seem all that worried about it.”
“When was that?”
“Right after Kevin’s birthday party.” When he saw the confused look on my face, he continued, “We’d all gone to the bar to have a few more drinks. I guess you’d had a few more than I realized.”
“Yeah, I was pretty wasted that night.” I could’ve given him hell, but knowing it wouldn’t change anything, I decided to let it go. “It’s all good. Don’t worry about it.”
With that, I turned and started down the hallway. When I got back to my room, I hoped that checking on Navarro’s location would help take my mind off of Reece, but as soon as I’d confirmed that he was still in Little Rock, I found myself thinking about her once again. Feeling frustrated, I closed my laptop and headed to the bathroom for a hot shower. I turned on the water and removed my clothes, and once the water had gotten warm enough, I stepped inside. The heat of the water immediately started to ease the tightness in my neck and shoulders, but it did nothing for the thoughts that were racing through my head. I found myself thinking back to what Blaze had said, and I was starting to think he was right. The time had come for me to find out if this thing with Reece was real or if it was all in my head.
6
Reece
Fear can be a very powerful thing. It can gnaw at you, feed on your doubts and insecurities, and it can make you do crazy things, detrimental things. If you aren’t careful, it can destroy everything you’ve worked for. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I couldn’t. I had my family to think of, my mother and my son, and I couldn’t let my fear of failure stop me from trying. It wasn’t easy. When Myles told me about my uncle’s death, I was ready to give up. I thought my article was done, that there was no longer a story to be written or revenge to be had, but thankfu
lly, he was there to give me the push I needed to see it through. As promised, I’d gone by and grabbed us both a cup of coffee before heading over to his office. When he noticed me walking towards him, he asked, “Black with two sugars?”
“Yep!” As I handed him his cup, I noticed that my files were scattered across his desk. “Did you get through it all?”
“I was just finishing up.” He took a sip of his coffee before he continued, “You’ve really done your homework.”
“I may have gone a little overboard.”
“No, not at all,” he assured me. “I know you were disappointed that Rodrigo was dead, but you still have what you need to write an amazing piece. It’s just a matter of adding a little meat to the bones.”
“And how do I do that?”
“First, we’re going over to that apartment. We’ll ask around and see if we can find anyone willing to talk.”
“Okay, and if we don’t find anything there?”
“Then, we head on over to Little Rock. I’ve already spoken with Graves, and he’s given us the go ahead.”
There was something about him contacting Graves that gave me an uneasy feeling so, I said, “Myles, I really appreciate everything you’re doing here, I really do, and I owe you a great deal for helping me out and all, but …”
“You don’t have to worry, Reece. I know this is your story, and I have no intentions of overstepping in any way,” he assured me.