Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Ender
Every second I wasn’t moving felt like I was wasting something I couldn’t afford to lose.
Time.
Clove had been gone for hours.
No, longer than that.
I’d stopped checking my phone because it didn’t help.
Every time I pulled it out, there was nothing new.
No missed calls. No messages. No updates that mattered.
Just the same quiet that had settled over everything since her name had been spoken out loud and echoed back at us with nothing attached to it.
Missing.
I grabbed my keys off the bar and turned.
“Ender.” Kingston’s voice cut through the noise in my head. I stopped and looked back at him.
He stood near the pool table, arms crossed, watching me the way he did when he knew I was about to do something I wouldn’t talk about later.
“You riding?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He nodded once. “I’ll come.”
I didn’t argue. Didn’t thank him either. Kingston didn’t need thanks. He was already pulling his own keys out of his pocket.
Outside, the air was sharp and hot. I swung my leg over my bike and kicked it to life; the engine rumbled under me, familiar.
Kingston pulled up beside me with his bike idling low. “You got a plan?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Destination?”
“Also no.” I just needed to get out of the clubhouse. I needed to feel like I was doing something other than waiting.
He exhaled slowly, like he was letting something go. “Alright then.”
We took off.
The road blurred under my tires as the town stretched out around us. Familiar streets suddenly felt wrong. I scanned everything without consciously trying to. Parked trucks, dark alleys, empty lots, anything that looked even slightly out of place.
Nothing.
My mind kept circling the same useless thoughts.
Where would you take someone if you didn’t want to be found?
Clove wasn’t careless. She wasn’t stupid. She didn’t wander off alone without telling someone where she was going. If she was gone, it wasn’t because she made a mistake.
Someone had taken her.
My jaw tightened.
We rode until the town lights thinned out, then farther, until the buildings gave way to open stretches of road and tree lines that swallowed sound. Kingston rode a little behind me now, giving me space without saying anything.
I appreciated that.
The wind tore at my face, but it helped. It kept my head clear. Kept the anger pressed down where it belonged.
Because anger was loud.
And loud got sloppy.
I didn’t need sloppy. I needed her back.
I didn’t say that out loud, not to Kingston, not to myself.
Clove belonged safe. That was all.
I wasn’t going down the hole of what else it meant.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled over so fast Kingston barely had time to react. Gravel crunched under my boots as I kicked the stand down and yanked the phone out.
Nothing useful.
Just a text from Wrecker asking where we went.
I stared at the screen for a second longer than necessary, then shoved the phone back into my pocket.
Kingston rolled up beside me and killed his engine. “Anything?”
“Just your daddy checking up on us.”
Kingston chuckled. “Easy, brother. You don’t need to be pissed at me, too. You gonna text him back?”
I texted him one word. Riding.
He studied my face, his eyes sharp. “You good?”
I nodded. “I just need to keep moving.”
Kingston didn’t argue.
We rode again.
I took us down roads I didn’t usually bother with. Gravel backroads, dead ends, stretches that led nowhere. Places people went when they didn’t want to be seen. Places that felt temporary.
I looked for signs.
Fresh tire tracks. Trash that didn’t belong. Anything.
My thoughts kept drifting back to Clove whether I wanted them to or not.
Her laugh, soft and a little surprised every time, like she didn’t expect to be amused even when she was. The way she always tucked her hair behind her ear when she was nervous. The way she watched everything quietly, filing things away without saying much.
She was smart.
She would already be thinking about how to get out.
That thought settled something tight in my chest.
She wouldn’t panic. She wouldn’t waste energy screaming or fighting blindly. She’d conserve. Observe. Wait for the right moment.
I trusted that about her.
The problem was, I didn’t trust whoever had her.
My phone buzzed again.
This time, I answered it.
“What?” I said, not bothering to soften my tone.
Wrecker didn’t react to it. “Where are you riding?”
“Around.”
“I figured.” A pause. “You need to come back.”
“I will.”
“Ender.”
“I said I will.”
Another pause. Longer this time. “We’ve got calls out,” he said carefully. “Northbound Reapers included. Haven’t heard back yet.”
That name hit something cold in my gut. “They got reason to grab her?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “Which makes me think this isn’t them.”
“Then why call them?”
“Because I don’t know who else would do this. Clove doesn’t have anyone who would do this to her.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “You think she is still alive?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes briefly and felt the same. “How do you know?”
“Because if she wasn’t,” Wrecker said evenly, “we’d already know.”
That was the truth of it. “She wouldn’t disappear without a message,” I said.
“No,” he agreed. “She wouldn’t.”
I heard movement on his end. Voices. Freak’s voice, tight and clipped with something I didn’t want to name.
“Ender,” Wrecker said. “We’re doing everything we can.”
“I know.”
“You can’t burn yourself out on day two.”
“I’m not.”
“That’s not what Kingston says.”
I glanced over at Kingston, who was pretending not to listen while doing a terrible job of it.
“I’m fine,” I said.
Wrecker sighed. “Come back. Church in the morning.”
“I’ll be there.”
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone for a second, then shoved it away and swung back onto my bike.
Kingston didn’t comment as we rode back toward town, but I could feel his awareness like a weight at my back.
We pulled into the clubhouse lot with the sky still dark. I killed the engine and sat there for a second, hands still gripping the bars.
“You coming inside?” Kingston asked.
“In a minute.”
He nodded. “I’ll be around.”
He left me there, alone with the sound of my own breathing.
I eventually went inside, but I didn’t sleep.
Sleep felt irresponsible.
Instead, I leaned against the bar and stared at nothing while my mind replayed every moment from the last time I’d seen Clove.
She’d been laughing.
That was the part that stuck with me.
Laughing like nothing bad could touch her.
I sat at the bar for hours. The clubhouse was quiet, while all I could do was worry.
At eight, a message from Wrecker came across my phone. Church now.
At least he wasn’t waiting till later. I headed down the hallway and was the first in the room.
The room filled slowly.
Wrecker stood at the front, with his arms crossed, his presence steady. “We’re still waiting on callbacks,” he said. “We don’t move blind.”
Freak stood near the wall, his jaw tight, hands clenched so hard I could see the strain in his forearms. He hadn’t said much since Clove went missing. Didn’t need to. The silence around him said enough.
“How long are we gonna wait?” I asked.
The room stilled.
Wrecker’s gaze snapped to me, sharp. “As long as it takes to do this right.”
“Right doesn’t matter if she’s gone,” I shot back.
“She’s not gone,” he said firmly.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes,” he said, voice hardening, “I do.”
I leaned forward without realizing it, something tight and restless crawling under my skin. “Then why aren’t we moving faster?”
“Because rushing gets people killed,” Wrecker replied. “And that includes her.”
Freak pushed off the wall, finally speaking. “We find her,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “One way or another. We have to keep looking.”
Wrecker nodded. “We will.”
I clenched my fists, and my nails bit into my palms. “And if we don’t?”
The question hung there, ugly and heavy.
Wrecker met my eyes. “We will.”
The finality in his tone shut me up, but it didn’t calm the storm inside me.
Church ended without ceremony.
People filtered out in small groups, voices low, tension thick. Freak left with Carnie, his arm tight around her shoulders. Basil followed close behind them, his face pale and drawn.
I watched them go, something cold settling in my chest.
This wasn’t just about Clove anymore.
It was about all of us.
Kingston came up beside me. “You alright?”
“No,” I said honestly.
He nodded like he’d expected that answer. “You wanna ride again?”
“Yes.”
We didn’t say where.
We just moved.
Rode wherever the road took us. We were going to find Clove.
And whoever had Clove?
They were about to find out exactly who the Fallen Lords were.