“I really don’t remember your mom well. Did she take good care of you?”
“She was the best,” I whisper. “When we lived in a Georgia trailer park, there were wild storms that came through all the time. Our trailer shook and rumbled as if we were trapped in a tornado. I’d get so scared. Then, Needy would hold me and talk about how boring school would be tomorrow and what we’d eat for dinner the next day. She talked as if everything was normal and expected. All while her heart beat so calmly. Mom never feared those storms.”
My heart soars, remembering my mother’s arms around me. “One time, a knife-wielding junkie broke into our trailer to steal our TV. Needy told him he could have it as long as he didn’t hurt us. The man yelled for her to shut up and bring him the TV. So, she calmly picked it up and walked over. The TV wasn’t very big, maybe twenty inches. Then, she said, ‘Monroe, don’t wet yourself, baby.’ The guy looked at me, thinking I was pissing myself. That’s when she slammed that TV over his head as hard as she could. She nearly killed the guy. Later, she explained how if we were going to lose our TV, it might as well be destroyed as a weapon rather than getting sold off for drugs.”
Lowell grins. “I can see you doing that.”
I nearly blush when he compares me to my mom. “I know you come from shitty people, and Needy does, too. Yet, I really got lucky to have two strong parents. Even if I didn’t know you, I felt you in my heart. Mom told me so many stories about you and the club. This place lived in my heart long before I arrived here. Now, I could have you both in my life for real.”
Conor’s expression tenses when I look at him. He knows I’m scared of something going wrong with Needy’s extraction. What if trying to free her is what gets her killed? Should I have left well enough alone?
“We’ll get Needy away from that asshole,” Lowell promises instead of Conor. “Bring her here and let you both start over.”
His words shatter my resolve. I’ve refused to give in to my fear, disappointment, and grief for nearly a year. Crying doesn’t fix anything, yet it sure feels good as my dad hugs me and my hero stands nearby.
PART 8: FAMILY AFFAIR
CONOR
Reuniting Monroe with her mother feels like a bigger deal than taking over the club or even hunting down the men who killed my dad. I need to do right by my honey. Our relationship has been effortless in most ways. She looks at me like I’m her hero. If I fuck up the situation and get Needy killed, Monroe might never forgive me.
Not that she’s thinking about that when we drive to Kansas. Sitting in the back seat, she mostly focuses on enjoying her first road trip with Lowell and me.
“Disney World is old news,” she says when I mention taking our kids to the amusement parks one day. “We had passes when I was little. I’d rather fly to California and try those parks.”
“What about the honeymoon?” Lowell asks.
“Indonesia,” I reply immediately. “I’d like to travel for a month, going from country to country.”
Monroe’s eyes brighten. “Is that even possible?”
“Of course.”
“You watched too much ‘Amazing Race’ with your mom,” Lowell mutters. “A month is too long to be gone.”
“Dude, I get it. You’ll miss me,” I say, spurring him to roll his eyes. “But I want to travel while I’m young and childless. Now, I have someone to experience it with.”
Monroe strokes my jaw and then smiles at her dad. “I’ve never been outside the country. Think of all the fun stories we’ll have to share with our kids one day. I loved hearing about the wild shit my mom did when she was young.” Lowell glances at Monroe, who smiles wider. “I bet you have juicy dish from your youth, too.”
Grinning, Lowell does a good job of pretending to be relaxed. But I know he’s stressed. He remains that way overnight at the hotel we stop at on our way to a town just outside Kansas City. He takes me aside—twice!—to explain how Monroe ought to wait behind.
“She isn’t trained to handle this shit,” he says, crowding me at the Mexican restaurant while his daughter dances around to music she can’t sing along with. “Monroe needs to be protected.”
“No, but thanks for trying to intimidate me. I needed the laugh.”
“Dickhead.”
The second time, he pushes a different angle. “What if we show up and shooting happens? Do you want Monroe to see Needy die? Or for you or me to take a bullet?”
Patting his chest, I explain, “If I’m going to die, I want her there to tell me goodbye. Hearing about it afterward would be worse.”
“That’s stupid.”
“What are we doing?” Monroe asks, crowding me on the other side as if helping Lowell. “People are starting to stare. I suspect they think you might make out.”
Lowell gives up on leaving her behind. I do notice he never considers asking her to obey. No, no, he wants to make me the bad guy. Typical lenient father shit. No wonder Dunning has such a foul mouth.
The next morning, we wait at a gas station parking lot for Aja’s group to arrive. My sister shows up fifteen minutes late, which is actually early for her. I take this fact as a sign that she’ll take today seriously.
Aja climbs out of the black SUV’s passenger seat. She’s ditched the nun outfit she used to contact Needy. Now, in a black tracksuit and a white T-shirt, she stops to tie her pink tennis shoes before walking to me. Behind her, two men and a woman exit the SUV.
“You said to bring muscle not patched into the Serpent’s Eye. This is all I could round up on short notice,” she says and then gestures at the big tatted monster to her right. “You remember my brother, Gully.”
“I figured you’d be a member of your dad’s club,” I tell the sandy-haired caveman biker.
“I bow to no man,” he growls dramatically.
“Yeah, but he’s got no problem with me busting his balls,” Aja says and points back at the other two. “The blond, pretty boy is my ex, Eckles. The redhead fox is my other ex, Minx. They’re tight with the Serpent’s Eye but not members.”
The fiery-haired woman gives me the once-over and then checks out Monroe. The well-coifed guy zeros in on my woman’s tits. I can’t really blame them. She’s looking all kinds of sexy in a too small Cedar Point T-shirt that I suspect she swiped from Amity.
“How hard are we going in?” Aja asks, making Eckles snicker.
“We plan to grab her when she goes to a doctor’s appointment. We’ll ride up, point our guns, look scary, grab her, and ride out of town.”
“Sounds easy,” Gully grunts. “Why are we here again?”
“Because this is personal business, and I don’t know if pointing our guns will make the assholes trigger-happy. Besides, Monroe can’t shoot for shit.”
“I can shoot fine,” she mutters despite how badly she did at the shooting range before we left Elko. “I just need the target to be very close.”
Aja grins at me. “This sounds easy. Let’s get her mom and bust out of this vanilla shithole before I start singing hymns and wondering if I can find a big strong man to think for me.”