Daisy was standing at the sink in James’s house, peeling potatoes. It had been a little over two weeks since the confrontation in the diner, and despite the efforts of the police and the Cuthroats, there had been no sign of the Firechrome.

 

It had gotten ugly in the diner when the police arrived. Though they were on good relations with the Cutthroats, the ugliness of the scene had nearly resulted in the arrest of them all. The only reason they weren’t arrested was that the Firechrome were the only ones to pull weapons and multiple witnesses had corroborated the story; the only aggressive move the Cutthroats made was Dix trying to get Riley and coming to her aid after Leo hit her.

 

She was still in a funk. To have come so close then have Riley snatched away again was almost more than she could bear. She knew they had done the right thing because she was certain Leo would have carried out his threat. He didn’t care about anything other than himself. He might profess loving Riley, and maybe he did in his own twisted way, but he wasn’t above using him to get what he wanted.

 

She and Dix were still sleeping together, but the passions he’d ignited in her had been dampened. He’d tried to draw her out several times, and though they still sometimes made love, it had become, for the lack of a better term, unsatisfying. She was simply letting him use her, as she had let Leo use her, and he knew it. She tried to not take her bitterness out on him, but she couldn’t hold in her anger and frustration and had lashed out at him several times. It wasn’t his fault. The police hadn’t picked up Leo’s trail, and her own frantic phone call to Leeda had turned up nothing. Why did she think he could do better?

 

The first couple of times she’d gotten bitchy he’d taken it, but this morning when she was snarling at him about their search for Riley going nowhere, he had invited to her leave if she thought she could do better on her own. That was like a splash of cold water and she’d later gone to him and begged his forgiveness.

 

She knew he was doing everything he reasonably could. More than she should expect. The Cutthroats were on high alert, following up every lead they received from the business community. There had been a lot at first, but slowly the problem with the Firechrome was fading from the community’s memory and the tips had dwindled.

 

She looked at the potato in her hand and snorted. She’d been peeling this same potato, or more accurately, not peeling it, for the last five minutes. It seemed her entire world was falling apart. She was driving a wedge between herself and Dix, and she could tell he was getting tired of it. She was getting tired of it, but she couldn’t figure out how to drag herself out of the depression she was in.

 

“Do you need help peeling?” James asked, causing her to jump.

 

“What?”

 

“I asked if you needed help peeling. You’ve been standing there, staring at that potato for at least fifteen minutes.”

 

“I have not!” she said with a small smile. James’s kind and gentle humor always lifted her a little.

 

“Okay, maybe not fifteen, but at least two or three.”

 

“Sorry,” she said, scraping at it again with the peeler. “Daydreaming.”

 

“Daydreams or nightmares?”

 

She finished the potato, rinsed it, then sat it aside as she lifted another out of the bag. “Nightmares, I guess.”

 

He stepped up beside her and took the spud from her hand and put it down. “Don’t give up on him,” he said softly.

 

“Who? Riley?”

 

“And Dix.”

 

“I’m not!” When his eyebrow cocked up, she sighed. “I know he’s doing everything possible. I know that! He’s doing more than I have any right to ask from him. But it’s so damned hard to sit here and do nothing.”

 

“Daisy, you have it all wrong. You’re so used to having to do everything yourself, you don’t realize the entire club, and most of the town, are looking for your son. The town doesn’t know it, but they are.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Do you? Then why did you say you were sitting here, doing nothing? You’re doing the hardest thing imaginable. Waiting. You’re waiting for those bastards to stick their heads up again so we can cut them off.”

 

“What if they don’t come back? What if I should be looking somewhere else?”

 

“Fair enough. Where would you look, if not here?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“So waiting for news here is the same waiting somewhere else.”

 

“Yeah, I guess.”

 

“Except there’s one difference.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Dix, and the rest of the Cutthroats are here. Here you have people who care about you to help.”

 

“Who? Dix?”

 

“And me.”

 

She looked at him a moment. “I have such a hard time wrapping my mind around why you and the Cutthroats care.”

 

He smiled. “To be honest, I suspect most of the Cutthroats don’t care, not really. They’ll help you if they can, but they’re more interested in protecting the club. It just so happens that you both want the same thing, to find Leo Watson and the Firechrome. So long as your interests and theirs align, I think you can depend on them.”

 

“And you?”

 

“Dix, I think he cares more than you realize,” he said, ignoring her question. “I know Leo putting the knife to Riley is gnawing at him. He hasn’t been able to let that go, and I wouldn’t want to be Leo if Dix ever catches him alone. I can’t speak for him, but I think that dredged up some feeling best left buried and I think he’ll move heaven and earth to get Riley away from Leo now.”

 

“And you?”

 

“Then there’s you,” he said. Since he started down this path, he was going to see it through.

 

“What about me?”

 

“I’ve known Dix a long time, most of his life as you know. And you’re the first girl I’ve seen him really get sweet on.”

 

“You’re crazy!”

 

He chuckled. “Trust an old man on this. I can tell by the way he looks at you.”

 

“Sure he is. He almost kicked my ass out this morning.”

 

“But he didn’t, did he? And I’m sorry to have to say this, but you haven’t been treating him fairly.”

 

That stung. “I know,” she said softly. “I apologized to him this morning.”

 

“I think you needed the wakeup call.”

 

“I did. But why do you think he’s sweet on me?”

 

“Despite opinion to the contrary, women aren’t the only ones with intuition. He may not even know it himself, but when he looks at you, when he talks about you, there’s a softness there I have never seen before. I may be wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

 

“He’s never said anything to me.”

 

James shrugged then chuckled. “He’s still a man, Daisy. I’m too old now to worry about such crap, but men aren’t supposed to show their feelings and all that. If I’m right, give him time. He’s a smart guy. He’ll figure it out.”

 

“And if you’re wrong?”

 

He shrugged. “Then I’m wrong. You’re no worse off than you were before, are you?”

 

“No, I suppose not. But what about you? Why do you care? You’ve dodged the question both times.”

 

He grinned. “Me? I’m easy. I want to keep you around so I can look at you.”

 

She barked out a laugh. “Is that so?”

 

His smile softened. “Actually…I always wanted a little girl. But after Kyle was born, Susan developed Adenomyosis and had to have a hysterectomy.” He paused, but he hadn’t answered the question so she waited him out. “If we were to have a daughter, I would like to think she’d be a lot like you.”

 

Her face twisted and she whimpered as she struggled not to cry. “Thank you, James.”

 

He shrugged and kissed her on the forehead. “You asked. So, now answer my question.”

 

“What question is that?”

 

“Do you need help with them taters or not?”

 

She grinned and picked up the potato again. “No, I’ve got it. Go do some manly stuff.”

 

His face twisted as he hiked up one hip and let loose with a raucous fart. “How’s that? Or was I supposed to do that on the couch?”

 

She stood over the sink, potato in one hand, peeler in the other, laughing until she cried.

 

***

 

“How’d it go?” Daisy asked Dix as he stepped into the trailer.

 

“Not good. They’re afraid.”

 

“Who wouldn’t be?”

 

“We’re doing all we can!”

 

She made placating gestures with her hands. “I know. But getting a phone call threatening to kidnap your daughters…I know exactly how she feels.”

 

He sighed. “I know. We’re stretched to the breaking point now. Covering OMP and Terrill’s, plus all their wives, plus their kids, we simply don’t have the manpower to do that for long.”

 

“Which is probably why they’re doing it.”

 

“Probably,” he agreed. He’d just returned from pulling his two-hour shift watching the Wells family. Donna Wells had received a phone call while Cale was there threatening to kidnap her daughters while at school. Donna had a come apart and it had taken all of Cale’s and Randy’s persuasion to keep her from pulling the kids out of school, packing a bag, and leaving town.

 

“There’s only one more week of school, then you won’t have to cover that anymore.”

 

“If we can hold it together that long,” he said as his phone began to ring. He checked the screen but didn’t recognize the number “Dixon.”

 

“Let me speak to Daisy.”

 

“Who’s this?”

 

“Just let me speak to Daisy.”

 

“Not until you tell me who you are.”

 

“Leo Watson.”

 

“Leo! You fucking bastard! Where are you?” he raged.

 

“Let me speak to Daisy.”

 

Dix gripped his phone so tight his knuckled turned white, then tapped the speaker button. “She can hear you,” he growled. Try to find out where he is! he mouthed and she nodded.

 

“What do you want, Leo?”

 

“I just wanted to let you know Riley is sick.”

 

Her heart nearly stopped. “Sick how?”

 

“A cough, a bit of a fever. He’s been calling for you.”

 

“Where are you? Have you taken him to the doctor?”

 

“No, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

 

“Where are you?”

 

Leo chuckled. “I’m sure your pet gorilla would love to know.”

 

“Why are you telling me this?” she cried.

 

“If you want to see Riley again, you’re going to have to ask me to forgive you.”

 

“Fuck you, Leo!”

 

“I want you beg me to forgive you and to take you back. Hey, Champ! You want to say hi to Mommy?”

 

They heard a young voice cough. “Mommy?”

 

“Yes, baby?” she said as tears began to stream down her face.

 

“When are you coming home?”

 

“Soon, baby. Mommy will see you soon. Do you know where you are?”

 

“Daddy’s house.”

 

“Where’s that? Can you tell Mommy where Daddy’s house is so Mommy can come home?”

 

“It’s by the—”

 

Dix could just make out “park with the ducks,” as Riley’s voice disappeared. A park? It was something, at least.

 

“That’s enough, Champ. Why don’t you go play with Nikki, okay?” Leo said taking over the phone. “Go someplace without your bodyguard and give me a call. We’ll talk about you coming home.”

 

“You broke my phone, remember? How am I supposed to call?” she snarled.

 

“Sucks to be you. You’re supposed be so fucking smart. You figure it out.”

 

When the phone bleeped, he slid it off the table as Daisy rose without a word and walked to the bedroom. With a sigh he rose and followed her. If I ever catch that sadistic son of a bitch, I’ll kill him!

 

***