“You want to try throwing the other two or do you just want your prize?”
He immediately drops the rings back on the counter and reaches for the penguin in my arms, his hands opening and closing in a “gimme” gesture. I chuckle as I pass the toy over to him and he almost falls back as he struggles to wrap his arms around its belly.
“Here, why don’t you let Mama carry that for you?” his mom asks, trying to take it from him but he rips it out of her grasp and wobbles on his feet before righting himself.
“No. I got this.”
His little voice is muffled by the toy and I laugh as she flashes me a look.
“Thank you.”
“No problem,” I reply, nodding. She turns and takes off after the kid as he struggles to carry his new friend, his steps faltering as the penguin’s weight throws him off balance. Chuckling, I shake my head and turn back to Streak. The smile falls from my face when he glares at me and I grit my teeth. I’m done with this fucker.
“Hey, our shift’s up,” Storm calls out to all of us and Streak jumps up so fast he almost knocks the chair over.
“Thank fucking God.” He stomps out of the booth and I roll my eyes as I follow behind him. Blaze walks up to us as we all meet between the rows of booths and the next shift files into the spaces we just abandoned.
“I got something I want to run by you so head to the clubhouse before y’all go home,” he instructs and I nod, irritated that I’m not going to be able to get to Piper sooner but I do need to grab the folders out of my room. Since getting back together with Piper, she’s stolen a lot of my attention and the cases got put on the back burner but I need to start digging into them again. Especially now that I have more to lose.
I follow the rest of the group back out to the parking lot where our bikes are parked and the roar of our engines flood the air around us as we pull out onto the street in a single file line. My mind drifts to the cases again as we drive back to the clubhouse and I hope that the time I’ve spent away from them will help me see things in a new light. Maybe I’ll have a new perspective. Smith was right last night when he said I was a brand new man with Piper. Hell, I can’t even remember that guy and I can’t help but think that maybe that was the reason I couldn’t come up with a lead. Maybe now, with more to fight for, I’ll finally be able to see things clearly. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up. I still can’t convince anymore of my brothers that there is something going on and now that Piper is back in my life, I’m terrified of actually being right. What the fuck would I do if something happens to her? How would I survive?
Shaking my head, I push the thoughts from my mind as we pull into the clubhouse parking lot. They are too damn painful and I can’t think like that or I’ll go crazy. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect her, though. She is my whole goddamn world and I’ve already lived enough of my life without her. After parking in our usual spots, we all climb off our bikes and everyone jokes around as we make our way to the door. I step out ahead of everyone else, eager to get the files and get back to Piper and when I pull the door open and step into the bar, all my thoughts screech to a halt.
What. The. Fuck?
Autopsy photos of Dina, Laney, and Sammy are plastered all over the walls over and over again, so close together that you can’t even see the blue paint that Ali, Carly, and Tate put on the walls a few months back. Some are in color and others are in black and white but they all stare back at me, taunting me with my inability to figure this shit out. My mind is blank, struggling to take it all in at once and process it as my heart thunders in my chest, wild and chaotic.
“Holy fuck,” someone whispers behind me and I glance over my shoulder as Storm stares at the photos with wide eyes and pulls Ali closer. She gasps and a tear slips down her cheek as she looks around at all the women we lost and my stomach sinks like a stone. Not a single wall in the place isn’t covered in their faces but right in the middle, written in red above the war room door is a message that confirms all my worst fears.
I AM WINNING
“Girls…” Blaze says, his voice haunted as his eyes travel around the room and I realize that everyone is standing behind me now, staring in horror at our home. “Go outside and wait for us.”
“No,” Chance snaps, shaking his head, his body tensing as he wraps a protective arm around Carly. “Not outside. Not out in the open.”
Blaze nods and blows out a breath, almost like he’s collecting himself. “Right. Upstairs, then.”
Chance nods in agreement as Smith and Moose do the same before kissing their girls. The girls huddle together and file toward the stairs, whispering to each other in frantic, scared voices as they climb up and after they disappear down the hallway, I release a breath but we all are silent as we try to sort through our thoughts and this new reality we’ve found ourselves in.
I’ve never wanted to be wrong more in my goddamn life than I do right now.
Running my hand through my hair, I try to think about what this means for all of us but there is so much we need to do, so much to plan and prepare for that I don’t even know where to start. I wish this was a dream or just the worst case scenario playing in my head.
I wish that I had investigated harder… been more insistent that something was going on when Kodiak challenged me.
I wish I would have been on Rodriguez’s case more.
I wish I would have found anything to help us solve this.
“Streak,” Blaze calls, snapping me out of my thoughts. His voice is authoritative and I think it puts us all just a little more at ease to know he’s got a plan. Or, at least, I hope he does. Streak walks up to his side and they lock eyes. “Go check the security footage.”
“On it.” He nods and takes off up the stairs, disappearing down the hallway to his room as I turn to look at the rest of the guys as I try to force my mind to work. What the hell do we do? Where do we go from here? Storm turns and claps his hand on my shoulder as he shakes his head.
“Man… I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you.”
I shake my head and blow out a breath. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Hell, it’s not their fault and I don’t blame them one bit. Even I was starting to believe that it was all in my head but as I turn back around and stare up at the walls and the message left for us, my stomach twists and my heart climb up into my throat. If I close my eyes, I can see a photo of any of our girls up there with the other three and I clench my fists. He’s been ahead of us at every turn, so far ahead that we didn’t even realize we should be watching out for him and we’re so far behind this guy, so lost that I don’t even know how we’re going to stop him. An image of another photo pops into my head, this time of Piper next to Dina, Laney, and Sammy and my stomach rolls again.
Fuck.
I’m going to throw up.
“What do we do?” Smith asks, echoing my thoughts and as I open my eyes and turn back to look at them, they all shake their heads.
I know what I want to do. I want to take my wife and disappear until this is all over but I can’t do that. These men are my brothers and I won’t abandon them.
Not now.