Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jarrett
My dead friend’s busted head stares back at me.
I lean in. Take a closer look. They defiled his skull. Skin’s missing from his cheeks, a crude attempt to carve a smile. I can see each one of his teeth, aside from the missing lower jaw. He’s even gold a gold filling on one of his back molars. But otherwise, he’s got a nice set of teeth.
I don’t feel myself take a step back. The fog of war descends over my eyes and my ears. But for once, this feeling of war sits right with my heart.
I’m ready to kill. I want to kill. I want bloody, bone-breaking vengeance.
These motherless bitches killed one of our own.
I don’t hear Gunney’s voice calling for everyone to get inside for church — not until he grabs my shoulder and practically screams it in my ear.
I turn my head, look at him. Blink away the haze in my vision.
It’s just four of us remaining in the parking lot. Me, Bear, Ozzy, and Gunney. And I know Bear and Ozzy are only there out of concern for me; they’ve both got looks on their faces like someone facing down a feral dog and they’re unsure of whether that animal’s going to strike or want to play fetch.
“Where’s your head at, Jynx?” Gunney says.
I frown.
Jynx?
That’s right. Grease and the others probably didn’t get around to telling him.
“I’m not Jynx,” I say. My voice sounds hollow.
“The hell are you talking about?” Gunney says.
“Jarrett never gambled in Reno. He borrowed the money to help Selena. So, yeah, we talked it over and he’s not ‘Jynx’ anymore. I still think Jerry might be a good name for him, but that’s up for debate.”
Selena’s name hits me like a bolt of lightning.
She’s got to be involved.
I need to see her.
Something about how she left isn’t right. I know what it sounds like when she lies, and I know what it sounds like on those rare occasions when she’s telling the truth. She wasn’t lying when she told me she loved me. And she wasn’t lying when she begged me to forget about her.
The fear and desperation in her voice is too potent to fake.
Something’s got to be behind it. Someone’s got their claws into her.
Her disappearance and Grease’s death aren’t just a coincidence. There’s no way. Somehow she’s mixed up in this.
And if she’s mixed up in it, her kid is too.
Jake. My fists tighten and my heart roars thinking about that kid being in danger.
I’ll kill them all. Nothing’s going to save them if they even fucking touched that kid.
For all Selena’s faults, for all the crimes she’s committed, she doesn’t deserve to have anything happen to her kid. And that kid? If he’s even half as good and innocent as I remember, he deserves so much better.
I don’t realize I’m on my bike until I hit the ignition.
“Where the fuck are you going?” Bear says, grabbing me by the shoulder.
“I’m going to find her,” I say.
“Out in the whole wide fucking world? Have you lost it, brother?”
“Bear, I think she’s involved in all this. Somehow. But I don’t think it’s by choice,” I say. Judging by the look on Bear’s face, I know he thinks I’m full of shit. “Listen, I know her the same way you know Roxy. The same way Ozzy knows Maria or Gunney knows Sam. Trust me.”
Gunney and Ozzy come over to stand by Bear’s side. All three of them look concerned as hell.
“We’ve got church, brother,” Gunney says. “These cocksucking eunuchs killed one of our own, and we need to stick together.”
“If I’m right about Selena, then we’ll all be ending up in the same place: on the doorstep of these motherfuckers,” I say. “And if you want my vote for church, fine, I can give that to you. Here’s my vote: I vote we kill them all, that we burn their clubhouse to the ground and salt the fucking earth and whatever ashes remain.”
“We’ll be behind you, mate, once we make sure everyone here is safe,” Ozzy says, ignoring the side-eye from Gunney. “But how are you going to find her?”
“You remember that lighthouse story you were telling earlier? Gimme your phone, Ozzy.”
“I don’t think now’s the time to make a reservation at a lighthouse, bro. Besides, it’s all the way in New Zealand. It’s a good spot, though. Scenic. Maybe after we figure this mess out I can book it for you.”
“No, goddamnit. I’m talking about that app shit. Where you looked your phone up and tracked it.”
Ozzy pulls his phone out, works on it for a second, then hands it over to me. “You put your phone number in, you put your account login with your mobile provider, then you can track it. It’ll give you the coordinates on the map there. All that flash GPS and stuff in live time.”
I grunt and follow his instructions. In a second, I’ve got a blinking dot on a map. She’s heading south on the interstate. She’s got a good head start on me, but, for once in my life, I’m thankful my backup bike is a piece of shit — cause, for all the time she’s got on me, she’s still got a long ways to go and that bike she’s on will not take her above forty-five miles per hour.
“Thanks, Ozzy,” I say, checking the map one last time before shoving the phone in my pocket.
“No worries, brother. But if my wife calls before I get ahold of her, make sure she knows to get somewhere safe.”
“Brother, I think it’s the other way around — the world needs to be kept safe from her. Anyone who comes for Maria is signing their own death warrant,” I say.
“Yeah, she’s pretty great, isn’t she?” Ozzy says, smiling.
“That she is.”
“Take care, brother,” Bear says, clapping me on the back.
“Give ‘em hell. And don’t fucking die,” Gunney says as he gives me a hug.
I shake the hands of all three men, knowing full well it might be the last I see of either of them. I hold no illusions that this is going to be easy. Or anything but brutal and bloody.
But if the woman I love and her kid are trapped in this mess, I’ll fight until my last breath leaves my body just to make sure they’re safe.
This could be my last ride.
At least I’ll get to die for a good cause.