I should have just kept chasing Rad, even if it was on foot. I should have done more.
Cherry is in the back of an ambulance, and Zane is outside yelling at the cops to get the fuck off the club’s property. My head aches, my mouth watering for some vodka. Zane was shot too, but he had a bulletproof vest on under his shirt. Smart man.
Joint in my hand, I inhale a large puff off of it and blow it toward the ceiling. I don’t give a fuck if the cops see it, let them arrest me. I’m just waiting for someone to push me over the limit so I can release whatever the fuck is roaring inside my chest.
“Hey,” Delilah says from the doorway.
Focusing on the rolled-up weed in-between my fingers, I reply. “Hey.”
“We’re going to find her, you know that, right?” Looking to her, my brows furrowed, I swallow.
“As soon as these cops are out of our driveway, I’m going looking for her,” I tell her matter of fact.
She nods. “Yeah, me too.”
“No, you’re not!” Zane snaps from behind her, pushing into the room before sitting next to me at the table. He places two glasses on the table, pouring tequila to the rim. Using his glass, he pushes the other toward me before downing his.
“They’re leaving,” he mutters, wincing as he leans back in the chair. He palms his ribs with one hand.
“You going to be alright?” I ask between sips of the tequila.
He gives me a look before snatching the joint from my hand and smoking it down to a nub.
“Rad’s days are numbered. No man, nor soul comes into our club and does this shit. This is our home, our way of life, and God be my witness, I’m going to show this fucking world that you do not fuck with the Devil’s Dust.” Zane looks to me with bloodshot eyes. Sitting forward, he rests his arms on the table. “It’s like we’ve been groomed and trained all of our lives for this moment, Saint. Let’s show our parents what the fuck we’re made of.”
I raise my fist. “Amen, brother.” And he bumps it.
Shadow and Bobby come into the room, both wearing a grimace on their faces. Shadow sits at the head of the table and hangs his head. Our club is losing its strength, its soul, and he knows it. It all started when Bull died. It’s like with every day he’s gone, the club heartbeat becomes more faint.
Running both of his hands down his face, he sighs loudly.
“I don’t even know where to start,” he mutters, dropping his hands to the table.
Bobby, standing next to him, pats him on the shoulder.
“Hey, we’ve been down this road before, we can handle this,” Bobby encourages him. I take another sip of the tequila. This isn’t just any other time, this is now. This is my woman who was taken. I want fucking justice, and now!
“Yeah, but that was back when Bull was the president,” Shadow grumbles, sitting back in his chair, rubbing his chin. I’ve never seen Shadow second guess his strength as a leader, and to see it now… it makes me wonder if being an outlaw is going to bite us in the ass right now rather than help us.
Nobody is going to help us, but us.
I stand, shoving my chair out from behind me. I need a fucking minute, a second to understand what the fuck just happened and what I have to bring to the table to get my girl back. To get this club back to the top.
Rubbing the ache throbbing in the back of my neck, I head down the hall and find myself in Piper’s room staring at her bed. In my mind, I see her body arch from my touch, her mouth parting from the moan vibrating through her lips.
I blink the image away. It smells like her in here. Grabbing her pillow, I raise it to my face and inhale the smell of her shampoo.
“Where are you, Piper?” I whisper to myself, hoping something will reply back softly.
Dropping the pillow, I wander around the room aimlessly. Coming into the bathroom, I go to turn the lights off and spot a bright pink box on the floor. Bending down to pick it up, I notice it’s a pregnancy test. My brows furrow, eyes looking around the counter for a test before finding an upside-down stick with a pink cap in the trash can. Dropping the box to the floor, I snatch the piss test and find two pink lines.
Pregnant.
Is it hers though?
“She was going to tell you.”
Whipping around, I find Delilah leaning against the door frame, her makeup smeared down her face from crying as she chews on a fingernail.
“This is… Piper’s?”
She silently nods, and my chest clenches. It’s like God is testing me, giving me another chance at saving the woman who is carrying my child.
I’m going to be a dad. Again.
Feeling a little dizzy, I close my eyes. Visions of Piper smiling, and her red hair flashing behind my lids.
This time, I’m going to save the girl. And keep her. This fucking Outlaw will prevail regardless of what anyone thinks.
Stomping out of the room, I march down the hallway, test in my hand. Shoving through the doors to the club’s church, I toss the stick on the table. All eyes land on it.
“She’s pregnant. It’s mine. We need a plan and fucking now!” My body trembles, adrenaline making me feel sick. Zane looks to me, something gleaming in his eyes. I know him and Piper had history back in the day, maybe knowing I swept Piper off her feet and she’s carrying my child makes him uncomfortable.
“This just got more complicated.” Bobby sighs, leaning back in his chair.
“Where’s Big Chief, does he have a Lojack or some shit on it?” I ask with a shrug.
Big Chief loves that truck, surely he has some kind of GPS on it isn’t too far-fetched.
Shadow sits up in his chair, his back straitening.
“Find him. Find out!” Shadow commands, and Zane and I are out of the room before he can finish his sentence.
2
Piper
Lying back on the bed, my shoulder feels like it’s being pulled from its socket causing my arm to tingle from the loss of blood circulation. I hold my other hand over my abdomen knowing there is a life inside a once hallow abdomen. The idea of being a mom circling in my head. I have a responsibility, a little human that I am to raise. All I’ve done my whole life is be pretty. I’ve failed at everything I’ve done but I won’t fail at being a mother. It’s the first thing in a long line of shit I’m going to do right.
I lie here for what seems like for hours. My eyes tired, head pounding, stomach growling for food.
I sing along to the radio, trying to drown my current situation in lyrics. My eyes fixated on the ceiling as I howl the words to “You Don’t Own Me” by… Grace, I think. I don’t know how I know this song, the words started as a whisper before I started wailing along. My eyes stinging with the urge to cry, God, why am I so weepy. It has to be hormones or something. Pregnant women have those like crazy, right?
The door to the room opens, I raise my head finding Candy. She turns the stereo off, perching her ass on the edge of the wooden trunk. Her nails painted perfectly with one finger tattooed with wings.
“What am I to do with you, Piper?”
Not wanting to play her games, I lay my head back down and look back up at the ceiling. It’s a loaded question, anything I say she’ll twist.