by Kay Marie
We get to Declan’s warehouse after four. When I called him to tell him when we’d be here, he told me he wouldn’t be able to meet with us. He has more meetings or something. Rascal pulls the truck into the warehouse and locks up. After that, the four of us stop for an early dinner.
“Do we have to stay the night here? I’m ready to get the fuck home,” Kicks whines.
“Yes, we have to stay here. Bull doesn’t want us driving late with what we have with us,” I tell him.
“When we get back, I’m going on a long as fuck ride on my bike.” He lets out a heavy sigh.
“Me too, brother. Me too,” Rascal says to Kicks. Shade and I laugh. The waitress comes over to our table.
“What can I get for y’all?” She looks right at Rascal, giving him a flirtatious smile.
“I’ll take a burger with rings and a Coke,” he tells her. Her face falls when he doesn’t give her the attention she was hoping for. The rest of us give her our order and she walks away.
“Dude, what the fuck? She was fucking hot,” Kicks nudges him.
“Yeah, and?” Rascal says.
“Shit, if you’re not gonna hit it, then I will,” Kicks replies.
“Good luck with that,” Rascal deadpans.
“You don’t believe I could get with her?”
“Kicks, you have shit for game,” Shade laughs.
“Man, fuck you both,” Kicks says.
Ten minutes later, the waitress brings our food out to us.
“Can I get y’all anything else,” she asks.
“How about your phone number?” Kicks says to her. She gives him a small smile.
“Uh, I have a boyfriend. Sorry.” She turns and walks away quickly. Shade, Rascal and I burst out laughing.
“Real smooth,” I say to Kicks and he flips me off. We eat our food, leave some cash and head out. When we get to the hotel and get settled, I call Cali but get her voice mail. She had planned on working on her menu for the bakery, so I shoot her a text.
To Cali: Hey babe. We’re stopped for the night. Call me later.
I lay on one of the beds and turn on the TV. Shade walks in a couple of minutes later looking more stressed than ever.
“What’s up?” I say.
“My fucking sister. She was nagging me about wanting to leave the clubhouse so she can go spend time with her boyfriend,” he tells me. “Her boyfriend, who every time I’m supposed to meet the guy, something happens and he can’t make it.”
“That doesn’t sound suspicious at all,” I say.
“Right? But my sweet, innocent little sister won’t listen to what I have to say. She thinks I’m not giving the guy a chance.”
“You are the overprotective big brother. Of course, she doesn’t want to listen to you,” I tell him.
“She’s fucking exhausting.” He falls backward onto the other bed.
“Why don’t you let her go, but have Sketch tail her,” I suggest.
“That’s another thing I don’t get. Sketch has been all too willing to stay with her.”
“Don’t put too much thought into it. Sketch is a good guy,” I remind him.
“I know. It’s fucking weird,” he says. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“We’ll drive into Round Rock so I can stop and pick up Cali’s ring. Rascal will ride with y’all back to the clubhouse while I head to the house. Minx and Rivet are setting up some flowers and balloons so I can surprise Cali. When I get to the house, I’ll call Hollywood to bring her over,” I explain to him.
“Oh shit. You’re not wasting any time,” Shade laughs.
“I know what I want and I’m goin’ after it,” I tell him, smiling. I fall asleep waiting for a response from Cali. Raze texted me and told me she and Minx were experimenting with some new recipes Cali found. When she gets in the zone, there’s no stopping her.
The next morning we grab a quick breakfast and get on the road. We’re all anxious to be home. It takes us around seven hours to get to Round Rock. We stop somewhere we can transfer product from my car to Shade’s without being too suspicious then go our separate ways. I go to the jewelry store while they head home.
As I’m walking out of the jewelry store, there’s a suspicious car. The driver has his arm hanging out of the window and a tattoo of a clown on his arm catches my eye. It’s all black and grey except for the red eyes. The driver is a hitman for the Torres Cartel. I stay as calm as I can walking to my car. As soon as I get in my car, I send a group text to Bull, Ranger, Shadow, and Rascal.
Group message: Torres hitman outside the jewelry store. I’m gonna try to lose him before I head anywhere near the clubhouse.
From Bull: Son of a bitch. Keep us updated. Call if you need back up.
I start my car. When I pull out of the parking lot, I get on the highway and head north toward Georgetown. Sure enough, the hitman is following me. I pick up speed and weave in and out of cars before taking a random exit. I don’t see any cars around so I run a stop sign, drifting to the left and taking off. I glance in my rearview mirror and the hitman is keeping up better than I thought he would. There are some curves in the road ahead, but I don’t slow down and neither does the hitman. We drift around a few curves. After the last one, I hit the gas and fly forward. I hit call on my Bluetooth, calling Shade.
“Buster, what the fuck is going on,” he asks when he answers.
“This motherfucker is right on my ass. I haven’t been able to shake him yet,” I explain. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Before Shade can respond, the hitman’s car comes and clips the back left corner of mine. At the speed I’m going, it causes my car to spin out before rolling over three times. When it stops, I’m upside down. I’m shaken up but I don’t waste any time. I undo my seat belt with one hand while putting the other hand out so I don’t fall on my head. I slowly crawl out of the window and am trying to crawl away from the car when it explodes.
Everything goes black.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Shade
“Son of a bitch!” Rascal, Kicks, and I pulled up to the clubhouse when Buster called. His phone went dead before I could respond to him and now when I try to call back, his phone goes straight to voicemail.
“What happened,” Rascal asks.
“Buster is in trouble,” I tell him. “Get the prospects to unload the product. I gotta find Bull.”
I fly through the front doors of the clubhouse on a mission.
“Hey, Shade! Welcome back,” Porscha calls out.
“Not fucking now,” I growl out, causing her to jump. “Tink, you seen Bull?”
“He’s in his office,” she responds. I head down the hallway. His office door is open.
“Bull, we have a problem.” I close the door behind me. He lifts his head, giving me his undivided attention. “Buster called. Said he couldn’t shake his tail. He said he had a bad feeling and before I could respond, his line cut out. Now it’s going straight to voicemail.”
“Do we know the location he was at when he called?”
“No,” I say. “I can have Tech do his thing to try to find where he was.”
“Do that and I’ll call around to some contacts,” he responds. “Do not say anything to Cali yet. I’ll make sure to tell Raze to keep her at the house until we figure this shit out.”
I nod and turn around to leave his office. I head toward Tech’s room. I knock on his door a couple of times. There’s some rustling around before the door opens.
“What’s up, Shade?”
“We need you to work your magic,” I tell him. He opens the door wider.
“Come in,” he says. “What can I do?”
“I need you to see if you can tell me where Buster called me from.” He gives me a concerned look. “The cartel finally made a move.”
“Give me ten minutes and I should have something for you.” He types away on his computer. I’ve never watched him work. I don’t understand a damn thing on the screen right now.
“Done,” he says. It hadn’t even been a whole ten minutes. “It looks like his call came from Georgetown.”
“Thanks, Tech.” I slap him on the shoulder. “Keep this to yourself for now.”
I head back toward Bull’s office but I’m stopped by a soft voice.
“Hey, Shade. You guys are back. Where’s Buster?” Cali asks, her voice sad. Fuck.
“He had to run some errands before coming back,” I tell her.
“Oh, okay.” She gives me a small smile and heads back out to the main room. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. I walk into Bull’s office again, closing the door.
“Georgetown.”
“I have some allies there. I’ll give them a call,” he says. I sit on the couch while he calls his people.
“Archer, has there been any activity there?” He pauses, listening to the guy on the other line. “Mhmm, one of our guys had someone chasing them. He called and said he had a bad feeling, then his phone cut out.”
I bounce my foot, getting anxious as fuck.
“Alright, sounds good. Thank you,” Bull says and hangs up. “A couple of calls came in. He’s digging into both of them and is going to call back. For now, make sure that Minx and the girls are here and not at the house.”
“Yes, sir,” I respond and head out to the main room.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cali
It’s finally Friday. Ryan should be home today. I’ve been counting down the hours. I woke up this morning to a couple of texts from him. One was from last night. He called and texted me while I was in the kitchen baking with Minx, trying out new recipes for the holidays coming up. Raze and Sketch have been snacking on the food all morning. The other text I got from him was him telling me they were headed home and should be home around four or five. We’ve been baking on and off again this morning, but my heads not in it as much as it was last night.
Around three-thirty, we finish cleaning the kitchen and I go sit out on the front porch. It’s a great day today, being in the high sixties out. I have one of Ryan’s hoodies on to keep me warm. After a few minutes, Sketch joins me out here.
“Hey, Sketch,” I greet him.
“Hey. You doin’ alright,” he asks.
I shrug. “I’m ready for Buster to be home,” I admit.
“I’m sure he’s ready to be home with you.”
We sit there in comfortable silence for a while. It’s now I understand why Wren doesn’t mind him being around so much.
“So what’s the deal with you and Wren,” I ask him.
“There is no deal. She needs someone who will just sit with her,” he explains. “Shade is always grillin’ her with questions, playin’ the protective older brother and it’s not what she needs. I’m okay with sitting and not talking.”
“Well, that’s awful nice of you.” His eyes move to me and I give him a small smile. He’s not a bad looking man. He’s got long, dirty blonde hair, currently pulled back into a bun and a beard that isn’t too long. He’s covered in tattoos, even his neck is covered. The sound of the gate opening draws my attention. Shade’s car comes through and the gate closes behind it.
“Where’s Buster?” My stomach turns. I go inside to grab my phone. No missed calls, no new texts.
“Is everything okay,” Minx asks me.
“I don’t know. Shade and Kicks just pulled up, but Buster wasn’t with them,” I tell her. “I was going to go over there and wait for him.”
Minx looks at Raze who nods his head.
“I’ll come with you,” she says and we walk out of the house with Raze behind us.
“Stay here with the others,” Raze says to Sketch. We walk to the clubhouse. When we walk in, it’s pretty tense.
“Hey, Cali. Hey Minx,” Tink says as we sit at the bar.
“Hey, Tink. How’s it going,” Minx asks her.
“Oh, it’s goin’,” she says and leans over the bar to whisper. “Porscha got shut down real quick by Shade. Y’all should have seen the look on her face.”
“I can imagine,” I giggle. “Do you know where Shade disappeared to?”
“He went down the hallway. Maybe to his room,” she tells me. I hop up and head toward him. He’s walking my way with his head hanging.
“Hey, Shade,” I say softly. “You guys are back. Where’s Buster?”
“He had to run some errands before coming back,” he tells me.
“Oh, okay.” I give him a small smile and head back to the main room.
“Did he tell you where Buster is?” Minx says when I sit back down.
“He said he had some errands to run before coming back,” I tell her.
“I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” She tries to reassure me.
A sense of dread washes over me. Something isn’t right. Shade walks into the main room and goes straight to Rascal. They’re whispering back and forth for a couple of minutes. Rascal takes out his phone and walks outside. Shade pulls his phone out, glances at it and puts it back in his pocket. He rubs his hands down his face before going over to Clutch and Diesel. He whispers something to them and the three of them are walking back down the hallway.
“Something is going on,” I tell Minx on a shaky voice.
“What? What do you mean? How do you know,” she questions.
I shake my head. “I don’t. I have this bad feeling in my gut. Shade was just whispering to Rascal. Then Shade, Clutch, and Diesel all went toward your dad’s office. It’s going to sound silly, but I can sense there’s something wrong,” I explain to Minx. She scans the room, her eyes landing on Raze. She looks panicked which makes him jump and make his way to her quickly.
“What’s up?” Worry lacing his voice now.
“Do you know what’s going on with the Riders,” Minx asks him.
“No, I haven’t been told anything. I’ve seen Shade running around but no one has told me anything,” he tells us. I wrap my arms around my stomach. Rascal walks into the clubhouse with Emma, Rivet, Wren, and Sketch behind him. The girls are walking over to us and at the same time Shade is walking toward us too. He has his head down with a somber expression.
“Cali, I need you to come with me for a minute,” he says to me once he’s at my side. I shake my head, my chest tightening. He gives me a sorrowful look. “Please?”
I stand and follow him. We walk to Bull’s office, where Bull, Clutch, and Diesel are all sitting there looking defeated.
“Cali, darlin’, come sit,” Bull says to me. I stumble into the room and make my way to the chairs in front of his desk. Shade stands behind me. “I have some bad news.”
Tears well up in my eyes, the tightness I felt before in my chest gets worse, my fingers tingle.
“It’s Ryan, isn’t it,” I ask softly. Bull nods his head. The tears fall.
“He was in a car accident,” he pauses. “His car flipped over multiple times before catching on fire.”
“No,” I say, the tears pouring down my face. “No, no, no. This isn’t real. He can’t be gone.”
My whole body shakes as I sob. At some point, Shade picks me up and carries me out of Bull’s office. When he sets me down, my nose is assaulted with Ryan’s scent, making me cry harder. Gentle hands are rubbing my back.
“Oh, Cali. I’m so sorry,” Emma says to me. She lays beside me and wraps an arm around me. I cry myself to sleep.
Chapter Thirty
Shade
I honestly wasn’t sure if it would be a good idea to take Cali back to Buster’s room. At the same time, I thought being in an already familiar place might be best. Emma must have heard her crying from the main room because she was by her side in a matter of seconds. I’m thankful she came to be with her. I didn’t know what to do. He’s my best friend, my brother, but she’s his girl. He was going to ask her to marry him. I doubt she knew because if she did, she would be in even worse shape than she is now. If that’s even possible. I close the door so no one else will bother them. I lean against the door
and sigh.
“You okay, brother?” Mouse says as he walks over to me.
“No, but I will be. I need you to stay outside this door until further notice,” I tell him. He gives me a questioning look. “Cali and Emma are in there. I don’t want anyone else going in there and bothering Cali.”
He nods in understanding and I walk back to Bull’s office. Clutch and Diesel are still sitting in there.
“I put her in Buster’s room. Emma is in there with her and Mouse is standing outside to make sure no one else goes in there,” I explain to Bull.
“Good. Let’s go round up all the brothers who are here and tell them in Church,” he says. The four of us walk out to the main room together. “Church, now.”
“Not everyone is here though,” Saint says.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. The others will be filled in when they show up,” Bull snaps out. “Now, get to fucking Church.”
I walk in and take my seat, watching as everyone else files in. Bull closes the door behind himself and moves to the head of the table.
“The Torres cartel has made themselves known. They had one of their hitmen tailing Buster. Buster flipped his car. An informant told me he didn’t make it, due to the car catching fire and exploding,” he explains to the room.
“Fuck!” Raze smacks his hand on the table. He and Buster had grown pretty close since Buster had been like a brother to Minx. Minx is going to be almost as torn up as Cali.
“We’re gonna go after those mother fuckers, right, Prez?” Saint growls out.
“You’re damn right we are, but it needs to be planned and executed with caution. We don’t need to go in blind and lose anyone else,” Bull tells us. “These fucking assholes don’t have any morals. I want everyone on lockdown while we figure this shit out and take these fuckers out. Tech, I need you to do your thing and find where these assholes are staying and how many men they have.”
