BRANDON
Feeling the vibrations of my bike while driving down a long stretch of road usually soothed my nerves, lulled me into a peaceful place. Not today. Not when all I could think about was Hannah sitting behind that fucking pig on his bike. I barely slept after seeing her dragged into a room with that Mexican, Eduardo. And after that I had to watch her get on a bike with Carter.
Shark kept me from driving over to them and ripping her off, throwing her across my bike, and hauling ass out of town. It wasn’t time; we weren't ready. Hell, we only just started to talk about getting out.
No one left the Riders easily. It could be done; hell, we weren’t some gangbanging fucks. But it wasn't easy. Because once you left, you couldn’t come back. We needed to not only get the okay to get out, but we needed to leave in good standing or we’d be fucked. A good way to do that was money. Buying our out. To do that, we needed cash. A lot of it.
The run with the cartel, it was pretty profitable. I had to give Nathan that much credit. The last payday dished out twice as much cash as what went into my pocket the month before. A few more runs and I’d be able to start thinking seriously about my future. Hannah’s future.
That pixie wouldn’t get out of my fucking head, and I was starting to resolve myself to the idea she wouldn't be going anywhere either. Did I want her to get out? Not one girl in my life ever stuck around in my mind long enough to get to know her, but Hannah was different. Could I see myself settling down, having a wife, a kid or two? Fuck, would I even know how to be a dad? I never had one. My mom did well enough, tried as best she could, but I had nothing to compare to.
Hell, Hannah deserved better. She didn’t come from this life; this was just a pit stop for her. A stroke of bad luck landed her where she was, and I couldn’t pretend that didn’t matter. It did. For both of us.
After rolling for over an hour, Shark motioned for the next turn off. We had to pick up the truck and get back on the road. Three more hours at least until we made the pick up, and the Soldiers were riding ahead to keep the passage safe. Aaron was stuck with the Soldiers while Shark and I joined the small handful of our own guys on the exit ramp. I didn’t like the increase of the load without the increase in protection any more than Shark did, but we had to make do with what we were given. It wasn’t like we had many choices at the moment.
“This is the place?” I pulled my bike up to Shark.
“Yeah.” He looked at his phone again, then up at the sign on what looked like an abandoned building. “This is it.”
“It’s right on the highway.” I jerked my thumb. The building could be seen from the main road, and it didn’t look like there were any back entrances. “Let’s go ‘round back.” We rode through the lot and rounded the building. No access roads, just more empty land.
Shark parked and started looking around. “There’s no one here.” He checked his phone for the time and then cursed. “Where the fuck is the truck and Eduardo’s guys?”
I grabbed my phone and dialed Nathan. “Was the barbecue cancelled?” I asked, rolling my eyes at Nathan’s code words.
“No. Did you get the address wrong?”
“Fuck no. We’re here, no burger grilling, though.”
“Fuck. Give me ten.” The click of the line echoed in my ears. I looked between Shark and Blaze.
“Get Aaron and tell them to turn the fuck around.” I tried to get Nathan back on the line while Shark started to do that. The call went straight to voicemail.
“Nothing. Voicemail.” Shark shook his head. “He knows to keep his shit open while he’s with those assholes. We should have sent two of our guys. Who gives a fuck what that Eduardo said, he’s not running this shit on this road.”
My phone vibrated in my hand and I answered right away. “Nathan?”
“Get back on the highway. Three exits down, then get off. The party was moved. Once you're off the highway, go three miles down the dirt road, house on the left.”
“Got it. Have you heard from Aaron?”
“No. Get going.” He hung up again.
“Looks like they moved the pick up.”
“Right. Just happened to move it since we talked yesterday.” Shark revved his bike. “Fuck those guys. Who’s fucking with us, Soldiers or the cartel?”
“Does it really matter?” I snapped my helmet strap and rode off around the building, heading back to the highway.
I didn’t trust the Soldiers, and I sure as fuck didn’t have any love for the cartel bastards, but throwing us off schedule didn’t serve anyone’s purpose as far as I could see. Why was the pick up changed?
When we finally arrived at the new location, the truck was sitting pretty waiting for us. The
driver sat in the cab with the door open and a handful of his buddies stood outside the truck glaring at us as we rode up to it.
“Sorry, the location was changed on us,” I greeted the men. The driver nodded, but the others said nothing. I doubted they spoke much English, and I spoke about a word in Spanish.
“We’re late now. Let’s go.” The driver wiped his forehead with a handkerchief and stuffed it back in his jeans. He looked down at his men and rattled off some instructions in Spanish.
Once we were ready to go, I sent Nathan a quick message letting him know the pick up was complete and we were heading out. Shark had a weird look on his face, the same he got when something didn’t sit right with him. I tried to get his attention, but he shook his head, probably trying to shake off the feeling.
The highway was pretty empty. Not many people headed the way we were going. Nothing touristy or exciting to see. Just a whole lot of nothingness really. So when the first cop car passed us, I took notice pretty quickly. Shark saw the cruiser, too, and sped up to get in front of the truck.
We hadn’t heard anything from Aaron about trouble up ahead, so we pressed on, but I kept an eye out for any other cruisers. When the second one passed us, I gave a worried glance over at Shark. He sped up ahead, leaving our little train behind. Fuck.
I waved Blaze up to the front and kept the back of the truck covered. Whatever the fuck was going on made my skin tingle. Not much good ever happened when my skin tingled. Shark sensed something, no other reason for him to break his position.
After hours of riding, we finally came up to the Soldiers. Shark stood with them at the rest stop, his hands fisted and his face red from yelling. The truck parked, and I rode over to where he stood. I scanned the small group but found no trace of our guys.
“What the fuck happened?” I hopped off my bike and stood at Shark’s side.
“Fuck if I know.” Hunter waved hand in the air at Shark. “This fucker just barreled in here throwing accusations.”
“Where’s our guy?” I demanded, signing Shark’s rage for the moment.
“I don’t know. He saw those cruisers and freaked. Took off down the first exit we came across.” Hunter didn't look at me when he spat out that lie. Aaron wasn’t a seasoned member, but never would he hightail it at just the sight of a cop. Fuck, cops harassed us almost daily.
“I’ve been calling his cell. Voicemail each time.” Blaze stepped up to us.
“Hey, assholes.” The driver of the truck walked over to us. “I don’t care what your internal shit is about. I’m gonna piss and we hit the road.” He shoved his way through us. I watched him walk away, then turned back to Hunter.
“Who changed the pick up location at the last minute?”
“I don’t know. I wasn't doing the pick up.” He lit a smoke.
“You sat there last night. The location was changed this morning. Nathan didn't know about it, which means you fucks did.” I stepped up to him.
“Whatever. Take it up with Carter when we get back.” He looked off into the distance, trying to dismiss me.
The driver walked past us, not even looking our way, and headed to the truck. “I guess we’re ready.” I jerked a thumb in his direction. “We’ll take the back; you take the front.” I gave Shark a nod and we headed back to our bikes.
“Who made you in charge, asshole?” Hunter bit out at me.
I didn’t turn around. I gave him the finger and kept heading to my bike. I wasn’t going to kick his ass yet. Not here. Not with Eduardo’s guy watching. I’d wait. But an ass kicking was in his future.