Mina
“I’m certain he’s gone to Stomper and the Sons,” Park reasoned.
Skid had been gone for a full day and they hadn’t had any word from him. Mina had gotten up early that morning, unable to attempt sleep any longer, and insisted that her father figure out what to do. She sat in his office, her hair a rumpled mess and a large mug of coffee in her hands. “It would be a lot easier if you were wrong,” she remarked, blowing on the top of the liquid to cool it off.
“It’s complicated regardless. I can’t just call him back here, not after I kicked him out like that, but I can send someone to check on him. Animal can go to their hangout under the pretense of delivering a message to Stomper to get out of Chicago. While he’s there, he can keep his eyes open for Skid. He can tell us if he’s with them, and what kind of a role he seems to be playing. It’s not much, but it will give us an idea of what’s going on. If Skid has officially joined the Sons, I’m not sure there’s much I can do.”
Mina didn’t want to think about that part, so she focused on the mission instead. “Isn’t there someone else you can send? I don’t really trust Animal.” She never would have been so candid with her father before about his men. The club was his thing, and even though she was a part of it by blood, she had never felt as though she really belonged. Suddenly, over the last day, it was like she was finally stepping up and accepting her role as the president’s daughter. Park seemed pleased, and Mina was pleasantly surprised at herself.
Park shook his head and turned to look out the small basement window of his office. It showed nothing but sky, a rectangle of clear blue with only a few wisps of clouds. “I’m not sure that I trust him, either. But that makes him a perfect candidate.”
“How do you figure?”
He turned back to Mina, his face grim. “Animal is determined to rise in the ranks of the club. That much has been clear ever since he joined. The thing is, I don’t really want him to. I have no reason to trust him, and this is as much a mission to prove his worth as it is to find out about Skid. Animal has never liked Skid, so he’ll take the chance to make him sound worse than he really is if he’s as much of a manipulative liar as I think he is. If he comes back and claims that Skid has joined the Sons, then I’ll have to send out a real reconnaissance team to find out. If he says otherwise, I’ll know I can finally take him at his word.”
Mina folded her arms in front of her chest, feeling the lack of sleep taking over her eyelids. She desperately wanted to get Skid back, but she was tired of all the politicking. It would be so much easier and make so much more sense if Park could just call him, apologize, and bring him back. “I guess it’ll have to do.”
“It will. It’s at least a start.”
“And what happens when Stomper gets pissed off at your message? How are we going to fight the Sons if our own ranks are so messed up?” She never would have worried about such things before, but she knew that a turf battle would shake Satan’s Legion to its core. Skid’s departure had been enough drama for one week.
“We’ll deal with it if it comes. It won’t be the first fight, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I have hopes that Stomper is smart enough to just leave.” He pulled his lower lip between his teeth and slowly let it out again. “I don’t like this any more than you do, Mina, but it’s all we’ve got for right now.”
“Okay.”
Animal was more than happy to do as his president requested, showing up at Park’s office as soon as he was called. The mission was explained to him, and he hung on to every word, salivating a little at the idea of representing the whole club. His dark eyes turned to her meaningfully when Park was done talking. “And what reward do I get for running this special errand?”
Mina rolled her eyes and was about to tell him off when her father cleared his throat.
“The knowledge of a job well done ought to be sufficient.” He gave Animal a glance that only Park could give, one that suggested he shut up if he knew what was good for him. “Just tell me everything you see, no matter how insignificant you might think it is. This is a delicate situation we’re handling here.”
“You can count on me.” With one last, lustful glance at Mina, he left and rode out.
Mina had never been so anxious for Animal to return to the clubhouse. She had avoided him like the plague ever since he’d propositioned her, and she’d never really liked him much anyway. Despite her father’s reassuring words, she still wasn’t convinced they should have sent him to talk with the Sons. Someone more diplomatic would have been better, but who? Grill was too passive. The perfect person would have been Skid, ironically.
She waited anxiously up in her room, where she had the best view of the road. Had she not been pregnant, and had Skid’s words about protecting their child not still been bouncing around in her head, she would have climbed up on the roof to watch for him. Animal was her one link to Skid right now, and it was one she wasn’t going to let go of.
When a small black dot could be seen in the distance, she stood and pressed her face to the glass. Let Animal think she was eager to see him when she came rushing down to the garage to greet him; she didn’t care as long as she knew what was happening with Skid. She barreled down the stairs, screaming for her father on the way there.
He joined her at the door to the garage as she pushed the button to lift the door. “What is it?”
“It’s Animal. He’s coming back. I saw him on the road.” But as the door lifted and the machine drew closer, she realized it wasn’t Animal at all. The man’s shoulders were wide, but he still fit through a doorway easily. His dark hair and the pitch-black tattoos on his arms were so well etched into her mind, and yet it didn’t make sense. “Skid?”
A crowd of other members had gathered in and around the garage, and they looked ready to fight when they, too, saw who had arrived. Park stepped forward as the motorcycle drew to a halt. He put out his hands to signal to his men to stand down. “Step into my office.”
There was only time for him to glance at Mina before he disappeared into the basement, but she saw everything in his eyes in just that one second. She saw the trouble that had boiled to the front of his mind over the last few weeks, the bad memories he thought he had left behind but which now plagued him. She saw the way he was fighting against it and hoping to return to her, but that everything just seemed futile. Most of all, Mina hoped she saw that the love she felt for him was returned. Skid had told her that he loved her, but he had left without a fight. She could only hope she and Park could get him back.
The two men spent over an hour installed in the president’s office, and Mina did her best not to pace right outside the door. She went upstairs with the pretense of going to her room, but there was nothing there waiting for her. Logic dictated that she should eat something, for the baby if not for herself, but her stomach revolted at every type of food. It wasn’t fair that she should be left out again. She thought she had moved past that, that Park was finally going to let her in on all his little club secrets. But whatever they had to discuss, they wanted to do it between the two of them.
Finally, as she wandered down the basement hallway to stare impatiently at the office door once again, it finally opened. Skid emerged and closed the door behind him. His eyes met hers, and his feet paused on the old linoleum.
“Skid …”
He came to her, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the office. He said nothing until they were on the opposite side of the building, just below the stairs that led back up to the garage. “Mina, I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need to hear any of it,” she said quickly. “I just need you to know that I want you to come back. I don’t know what my father said in there, but he wants you to come back, too. We need you here.” Her reservations seemed to have been erased by the time without him, and everything she had thought about their relationship came flooding out. “I know it’s been hard on you to be around Stomper again. I can’t begin to understand what you went through in the army or how it affects you now, but it’s time to leave your past behind and concentrate on the future now.” She took his hand and pressed it gently against her stomach.
Skid closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them his look was intense. “I know. I’m working on it. Just give me a little time.” He folded her into his arms and pulled her close, kissing her passionately.
Mina turned to liquid, not realizing until that moment just how much the last two days had twisted her up inside. She kissed him back with everything she had, hoping she could make him understand that this was about so much more than rival clubs and old memories.
But it was he who finally broke away, giving her one final kiss on the forehead. “I’ve got to go.” He jogged up the stairs, and the sound of his motorcycle echoed through the building a moment later.
Confused and hurt, Mina wasn’t sure that she had gotten through to him. She trotted down the hallway to the office and opened the door without bothering to knock first. Park was at his desk, but he didn’t look up at her. He probably knew exactly who would be the first to come through his door. “What happened? Why is he leaving again?”
Park tipped back his chair ad looked at her for a long moment. “He’s setting up a meeting between myself and Stomper,” came the oversimplified answer.
“And?” she demanded. There was so much more to talk about. “Don’t make me pull teeth to get it out of you.”
“And that’s it for right now.”
“Didn’t you ask him to come back? Didn’t you tell him you had been completely wrong about him? And don’t sit there and tell me it isn’t that simple. You forget that I’ve grown up in this place. I’ve seen men beat the holy living shit out of each other one minute and go drinking together the next. There’s no reason the two of you can’t get along.” She stomped her foot to accentuate her point.
“Maybe so, in other situations. But the Sons of Chaos are involved, Mina. That complicates things in ways you can’t even imagine. Just because Skid hasn’t sworn his allegiance to them doesn’t mean he can just leave. We’ll see what happens with this meeting, and then we’ll go from there.”
“And what about Animal?” Mina had been so caught up in Skid’s arrival that she hadn’t even thought about the other man until this point. “I suppose he ran off and joined the Sons.”
“He’s dead,” Park said simply. The news didn’t seem to affect him.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to say to that. But it was clear she wasn’t getting any real answers, and Skid was already gone. “When is this meeting supposed to take place?”
“Tonight, and don’t even ask because you aren’t going.” He rose from his chair and began straightening papers on his desk. “This doesn’t have anything to do with leaving you out of things, which I’m sure is what you’re thinking. But it could be very dangerous, and we can’t risk it.”
“I understand.”
“Now, don’t try to fight me on this, Mina. Skid agrees that … Wait. What?” He paused and looked at her, shocked that she wasn’t arguing.
“I understand,” she repeated. “The safety of the baby is the most important thing right now. Just promise me that you’ll tell me what happened when you get back. And promise me that you’re coming back. I need you.”
Park smiled softly. “I can do that, kiddo.”