Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Good. That means I’m doing something right.” She giggled, then said, “I really am glad you came by. I’m pretty sure you made the boys’ night.”
“Well, they certainly made mine.” I hated to end the night on a bad note, but I didn’t have a choice. I knew things were about to go south with the club. I could feel it in my fucking bones. I needed to let her know that she might not see me for a while. “You may not hear from me for a few days.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“Got some stuff going down at the club.”
“But why would...”
Before she could finish her thought, I insisted, “Just promise me you’ll be patient, Frankie.”
“Only if you promise that I will hear from you at some point.”
“Absolutely.”
I leaned down and kissed her once more. The kiss was soft, gentle, and filled with a promise—a promise I intended to keep.
The sun was just starting to set when I eased out of her driveway and started back to the clubhouse. The feeling of dread I’d felt earlier had returned, only this time it was all-consuming. I knew we were about to get hit with something bad. I just didn’t know how bad until I got back to the clubhouse. I’d gone to Viper’s office to check in with him and Menace, and as soon as I walked in and saw the look on their faces, I knew something was wrong. “Hawk just called. He and Rafe just found Danny and Badger’s bikes out on Cedar Grove Road.”
“Their bikes? What about Danny or Badger?”
“No sign of them.”
“They just left their bikes abandoned on the side of the road?”
“Yeah, not sure what the hell happened.” I’d really hoped that there was a good explanation for their disappearance, one where they weren’t in immediate danger, but that clearly wasn’t the case. Viper ran his hand over his thick beard as he ordered, “We need to get the trailer over there and help ‘em load them up.”
“You got it.”
Menace and I pulled his truck around back, and once we had the trailer hooked up, we all drove over to Cedar Grove. I knew the old back road well. It was the road that didn’t get much traffic, so we always took it whenever we wanted to make a quick run to the gas station for more beer or cigarettes. We hadn’t been driving long when we spotted Hawk and Rafe standing on the side of the road. Menace pulled over on the graveled edge of the road and parked. It was just starting to get dark, making it difficult to see, so we left the headlights on as we got out and followed Viper and Axel over to Hawk.
Viper looked down at the overturned bikes as he asked, “Any idea what happened?”
“Looks like someone ran them off the road.” Hawk pointed to several black skid marks that swerved towards the middle of the road. “Must’ve forced them off right about here.”
“I’ll be damned.” Viper shook his head as he grumbled curses under his breath. “And there’s still no sign of either of them?”
“There’s nothing, Prez. Someone had to have picked them up.”
I stepped forward as I said, “This has to be about Grant. They must know we got him.”
“It’s certainly looking that way.”
“How do you wanna play this, Prez?” Hawk asked.
“We’re going into lockdown. Get the bikes back to the clubhouse. I’ll talk to Shotgun and see what he’s been able to find out from Grant. Maybe he’ll have something we can use to get these motherfuckers.”
It was hard for us to see our future brothers’ bikes abandoned and in shambles, but it was especially hard for Hawk. Danny was his ol’ lady’s brother, and the two had always been close. Hawk’s voice was strained as he said, “We gotta find ‘em, Prez. Delilah’s gonna lose her mind if something happens to Danny.”
“We’ll find them, brother.” Viper placed his hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s tough, but you’re gonna have to keep this on the downlow. That isn’t going to be easy with us going into lockdown, but you’re gonna have to put her off—at least until we figure out what we’re dealing with.”
“Understood.”
I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to do about Frankie and the boys. Going into lockdown was a move I should’ve anticipated, but I hadn’t. I wasn’t sure how I needed to play it. Frankie and I were just getting started. Bringing her and the boys in could bring us closer or it could completely rip us apart. It was something that weighed on me as we got the bikes on the trailer, and once we had them secured, we headed back. When we arrived at the clubhouse, we pulled around back to the garage. We were all completely silent, lost in our own heads, as we unloaded Danny and Badger’s bikes from the trailer. Hawk closed the garage door, securing them inside. No one said a word as we entered the clubhouse and headed to the conference room. Viper called the others in to let them know we were going into lockdown. As soon as he’d made the announcement, the others went to bring their families in while Hawk and I followed Viper down to the holding room where Shotgun was working over Grant. There were several holding rooms Shotgun used to extract information, each with its own two-way mirror for us to use whenever we needed to check-in with Shotgun.