Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Walker
I ignore Wilder’s pleas to take a minute to come up with a plan and jump in my truck. There’s a pit in my stomach telling me something is wrong with Skylar. Maybe she had a good reason to turn the system off, but whatever that was turned bad. I can’t explain how I know; I just do.
As I peel out of the parking lot, that pit grows into a boulder, weighing heavy in my gut. My mind races through every possibility. My eyes were on Klutch, but his whole club seemed to have made the trip, and since I don’t know how many that is or who they all are, the potential for one of them getting to Sky is huge.
I call her cell over and over, but she doesn’t answer. It’s not safe, but as I drive, I bring up the cameras to my property, not seeing anything amiss. All is quiet from every angle—until I pull up the view showing the base of my hill on the mountain.
“Fuck!” I slam my hand on the steering wheel because my ATV is parked on the road, and next to it are a bunch of overturned boxes. But the worst part is my dog, who’s running in circles, looking panicked and unsure what to do.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Skylar is gone, and whatever is in those boxes has something to do with it. My foot nearly bottoms out on the gas as I head out of town. Right before the turn that’ll take me to the base of the hill, the rumbling of motorcycles sound, and in my rearview, I spot the Sons coming up from behind.
Feeling like I have the backup I’ll need, we make the turn, and five minutes later, we’re parked and staring at the scene. What look like pictures from Skylar’s childhood are scattered everywhere, the slight gust of wind spreading them. There aren’t many things that would’ve convinced Sky to leave my house, but memories of her mom, especially if she was told about the fire, are definitely one of them.
While I try to calm my anxious dog, the bikers work to gather all the memories without being asked. When I get Skylar back, and there’s no doubt in my mind I will, she’ll be grateful.
Wilder, Rowan, and Ridge pull up shortly after. Rowan approaches me while Wilder sticks close to his SUV, his phone to his ear, and Ridge walks around, studying the scene.
“Sky turned off the alarms, but the cameras were still recording to the cloud. I have the whole thing,” Rowan says when he approaches, holding out his phone. I hit play and watch in horror as a woman lures Skylar to her trunk and then stabs her in the neck with a needle before shoving her inside.
“Who is she?”
“No clue, but Wilder’s on the phone with Bakersfield PD and every agency in between, putting out a BOLO. We have a clear view of the license plate, so as long as they don’t dump this car, we should find her quickly.”
“They’re not stupid. They’ll probably find this thing on the side of the road somewhere within the hour,” I say, rubbing at my temple, a headache forming.
“Maybe, but maybe not. It’s a lead.”
Wilder tucks his phone in his tactical vest and walks over, looking somber. “Highway patrol just pulled over the band of Broken Rebels riding south. Klutch wasn’t with them, but according to them, he had to stop for gas and was ten minutes behind them. They said they’ll wait off the side of the highway and see if he rides by. But since we have no evidence they had anything to do with it, they had to let them go.”
“You heard him at the bar. He made it obvious he took her,” I say.
“Words are just that: words. We have to have physical proof. I’m sorry.”
“So we just sit around and wait? Fuck that. Someone had to have seen something.” I pull out my phone and hit Miss Martha’s contact.
“Walker, are you okay? I heard there was some trouble down at the bar.”
Of course, she already heard about that. “Yeah, I’m fine, but Skylar isn’t.”
I give her a rundown of what we know. Every few seconds, she lets out a pissed-off sound that gets louder as I go on. By the time I’m done, the woman is spitting mad.
“You sit tight. If someone saw that car, I’ll know within the next twenty minutes.”
“Thanks, Miss Martha.”
“And when we find it, you let me at that woman. I’ll show her how a real woman handles her business.”
The call ends, and even though I’m more scared than I’ve ever been in my life, I nearly smile at how lucky I am to have this community.
“Is there something we can do?” Cyrus asks.
“I don’t think so. The Broken Rebels are halfway to Bakersfield, and Skylar isn’t with them. They won’t be stupid enough to have her anywhere near them. If I were to guess, they’ll hold her somewhere until things calm down.”
“Guess we’ll get out of here, then.” He pulls on a pair of leather gloves. “Sorry we weren’t much help.”
I shake his hand. “You were more help than you’ll ever know. He wouldn’t have taken me seriously without you.”
“I don’t know. You held your own. But I’d love to knock their asses down a peg, so don’t hesitate to call us up again. I might even send them some karma all on my own.”
“I won’t stop you.”
The Sons climb on their bikes and ride away. Once they’re gone, things go quiet, and I’m left feeling antsy. I have to do something. Sitting around and waiting is fucking torture. I can’t stop wondering where she is: is she okay, is she being hurt, and to make things worse, is the baby okay?
“Let’s get this ATV and the boxes up to your house. Maybe by then, we’ll hear back from Martha,” Wilder says.
Rowan hops on the ATV, and I take all the memories Skylar has left in this world up the hill. Stepping into the house, it feels so empty and devoid of life. Is this how it was before she came back into my life and I just didn’t notice? Because now that I know what it feels like to have her here, I can’t go back. She’s everything to me.
Rowan claps me on the shoulder, bringing me out of my thoughts. My feet are rooted in place between the mudroom and the rest of the house. It’s stupid, but I don’t want to bring memories of Skylar being taken into our safe space. Next week, when she’s back and we’re cuddled on the couch watching TV, I don’t want to be thinking about that time I sat on that same couch, not knowing where she was.
“I’ll be outside,” I say, flipping the switch to the exterior lights as I pass. One by one, I plug in the lights around the pasture fence, the ones around the chicken coop, and finally, the ones lining my front fence. Once again, my house is lit up the way it used to be, glowing brightly to make it easy for Skylar to find me. Even though it does little to help during the day, it makes me feel the slightest bit better.
I unplugged them when she agreed to stay, leaving them strung for when the holidays came around, not realizing I’d need them again so soon. Walking around to the backyard, I take in the mountain peaks around me, hoping to find the serenity they’ve always given me, but it’s nowhere to be found. Skylar has ruined everything I used to find comfort in because nothing means anything without her. A pretty view is just a pretty view unless you have someone to share it with.
“It’ll be okay,” Ridge says. I didn’t even hear him walk up.
“It won’t be if she doesn’t make it back to me.”
“She’s a smart girl. She’ll keep herself alive until we can get to her.”
“Why didn’t I just stay? Or have one of you come and sit with her? Why the hell did I leave her alone? And what was she thinking?”
“She was thinking everything good in her life had been taken away, and even though she was rebuilding something stronger with you, she was hoping she could get back a little of what she lost. You can’t blame her for that.”
I blow out a breath. “I know, and I don’t.”
“I didn’t want to like her. None of us did. We all had our reasons, but they were all bullshit. When it comes down to it, we didn’t want to like her because she’s a reminder of what we don’t have, what we may never have.”
“You don’t strike me as someone who wants a wife and kids.” I realize we don’t talk about shit like this. Work, sports, town gossip, and giving each other shit are pretty much the extent of our conversations. Sometimes, one of us will brag about some chick we hooked up with, but we never talk about settling down.
“I don’t—or I didn’t.” He squints, tucking his hands in his pockets. “I’m a moody son of a bitch. I can lock myself in my art room for days. And sometimes, the demons in my head trap me in bed for weeks. Otherwise, I’m just a normal guy. No one wants to deal with all that up and down, so I just accepted it would never happen. But seeing how Skylar is with your grumpy ass, it makes me think maybe someone out there could put up with me.”
“Why does everyone keep calling me grumpy?” I ask because it wasn’t until my wife showed up that people started using that word to describe me.
He pins me with a look. “Rowan’s the outgoing, crazy one, Wilder’s the rule-following stick in the mud, I’m the dark and mysterious one, and you’re the grumpy one.”
“Why are you the only one who gets a good descriptor?”
He grins, and I realize this might be the longest conversation we’ve ever had. I’m certain he only came out here to distract me, and it worked. It also made me miss Skylar even more because he’s right—she’s perfect for me, and I need her back.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out, seeing a picture of Miss Martha’s pretty face. “Hey, did you find anything out?”
“Of course I did.”
I pull the phone from my ear and hit a button. “You’re on speaker. Ridge is here.”
“Hey, sweetie. You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he says.
“Good. Clara had a hair appointment but didn’t want to take Lucy, so she drove her out to the school so she could walk the track with their dog, Princess. She had Gerry check on her now and then, since he lives across the street.”
“I’m sorry to hurry you along, but is there a point?”
“Sorry. Anyway, when Clara picked Lucy up, she showed her a picture of a Plymouth like the one that took our Sky and asked if she saw it. Lucy insists she saw it head north, which would’ve taken them up toward Marcus and Tess’ house. They aren’t home, but Atticus delivers the mail up there around that time, so I called him, and he said he saw them turn up toward Beaver Lake. He said he remembers it so clearly because no one goes up there during winter. Now, if you remember, Lawrence and Susan own some cabins up there, so I gave them a call, and they said none of them are rented, but someone definitely could’ve broken into one.”
Ridge gives me a nod and runs back to the house, taking the initiative to gather Rowan and Wilder.
“Thank you, Miss Martha.”
“No problem. Please give me a call when you find her.”
“Will do.”