Lex

Peyton was Crip’s girlfriend, and Tegan was Pee Bee’s. Together, the three of us sat in Pee Bee’s home, talking.

They tried to comfort me, but there was little that could be done to settle my nerves completely. Each passing hour brought along with it a reminder that the chances of Adam ever coming home alive were less and less.

“It’s midnight,” I said. “And we haven’t heard anything since they left. Nothing.”

Peyton, full of nervous energy, was pacing the floor. When she spoke, she talked a thousand miles an hour, but everything she said made sense. For the most part.

Tegan, on the other hand, was slightly more reserved, but still outspoken. She seemed to think a little more before she spoke.

“They won’t call until it’s over. And then, maybe, and I mean maybe, we’ll get a call,” Peyton said. “And they won’t text, either.”

“Why can’t they just give us an update?” I asked.

“Too much risk. No calls, no texts. If they do call, it’ll be a one word cryptic statement. We’re just going to have to keep waiting.”

My heart hurt, and I felt like I needed to remind myself to breathe. Over the course of the night, it became worse, and worse.

As the dull thud of pain pulsed from my chest, I looked at Peyton. “I feel like I’m going to die.”

She stopped pacing and looked at me. “Cops find criminals all the time, but not because they’re gifted. Believe me, I’ve researched more cases than you can imagine. Do you know how they solve most crimes?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Snitches,” she said. “Informants. Someone outside their force.”

“Okay,” I said, not quite following whatever point she was trying to make.

“Okay. So, if cops solve crimes by talking to informants, and not from actually finding facts on their own, it means that anyone with the ability to extract information from the public could do the same, right?”

I nodded. “I suppose so.”

“Crip’s a former Navy SEAL. He’s the real deal. I know earlier you said you thought he was a dick, and you’re right. He is. But he’s a dick that cares for his brothers like they’re his flesh and blood. If Cholo can be found, he’ll find him. He will.”

“And when he does, you can bet Pee Bee will crush whoever is in the way,” Tegan said. “He’s the protector of these guys, and he takes his position of Sergeant-at-Arms to heart.”

“I get that. I do,” I said. “They’re trying to find him, and when they do, there’s going to be hell to pay. I just…”

I let out a sigh.

“What?” Peyton asked.

“I think it’s too late. They’ve had him for, what? Maybe almost two days?”

Peyton looked at Tegan.

Tegan took a breath, let it out, and stood up. “I remember when I met Cholo. We went to Palm Springs to a rally. There were like, I don’t know, a thousand bikes parked in a field, and people everywhere. I don’t know, maybe more.”

Peyton nodded. “There was 5,000.”

“Okay, 5,000,” Tegan said. “Anyway. I wanted to go down on Pee Bee’s cock right there at the rally, and I didn’t care who saw it. Cholo was standing guard over the bikes, you know, making sure nobody fucked with them. So, anyway, Pee Bee asked him to keep an eye out for us.”

She raised her eyebrows. “So, I sucked Pee Bee’s dick right there on his bike. The entire time, Cholo stood and glared out at the sea of motorcycles. Believe me, I was watching.”

She paused and put her hands on her hips. “So, afterward, Pee Bee turned to Cholo and thanked him for keeping an eye out. Cholo looked at us, nodded his head, and went right back to mean-mugging the crowd of people. Well, while we walked up to the tent to get some barbeque, I thought about how much he was protecting, and what everyone was risking by leaving their bikes parked out in that field.”

I liked hearing her story, and imagined Adam flexing his muscles at anyone who passed by, but had no idea why she was telling me.

“He was watching a hundred bikes,” she said “At $20,000 each, that’s $2,000,000 worth of merchandise. And, I wondered why would someone allow one person to be responsible for the well-being of two MILLION dollars’ worth of bikes. After I got to know Cholo, I realized why they chose him.”

I liked her story. I grinned for the first time of the night. “Why?”

“Because Crip might be the best trained. And Pee Bee might be the meanest. But, the toughest? The pit bull of the club? That one guy that nobody wants to see get mad? That man is Cholo. He’s the toughest one of the bunch. Believe me, Cholo will never, and I mean never give up.”

I looked at Peyton.

“True story,” she blurted. “Cholo’s one tough son-of-a-bitch. Toughest of the entire fucking club. And not to go on and on about my job, but if there’s another thing I’ve learned in my research, it’s that in circumstances like these, giving up is dying. Those who don’t give up? They get through it. He’s going to be just fine, because he’ll never give up.”

My lower lip started to quiver. “Do you…really? You really think so?”

Peyton opened her arms. I stood up and stumbled toward her.

“He’s not a quitter,” she said. “He’ll hold on until they get to him.”

I felt like a child, but I couldn’t help myself. I fell into her arms and sobbed on her shoulder until my muscles ached.

I wanted Adam back, and I wanted everything that I didn’t have the courage to do with him to happen. I wanted to make love to him, and I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him to make me tacos, and I wanted to go see Maria again.

I wanted to sit on his bike in the garage and make my tears go away.

The sound of Tegan’s phone ringing caused me to tense. She ran to the kitchen, pulled it from her purse, and while Peyton and I stared at her with open mouths, she looked at the screen.

“It’s Pee Bee!” she shouted.

She swiped her fingers across the screen repeatedly, and finally answered it.

“Hello?”

She held the phone against her face with a shaking hand. In each other’s arms, Peyton and I walked toward her.

Tegan didn’t say another word, she just listened.

As we stepped in front of her, her eyes went wide. Then, the phone slid from her shaking hand and hit the floor with a clank.

And she burst into tears.