Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Ender
Clove should’ve been there.
That thought hit me every time I stepped into the common room, like my brain kept checking for her out of habit and then slamming into the same wall when she wasn’t there.
Wrecker’s voice carried down the hallway. “Church. Now.”
The guys moved immediately.
No complaints. No dragging feet. Chairs scraped as they stood, boots thudding against the floor. The weight of it settled over all of us as we filed into the church room and took our seats around the table.
The door shut behind us.
The women stayed outside.
Wrecker stood at the head of the table, his hands braced on the wood. He didn’t waste time clearing his throat or setting a tone. “We’ve got movement,” he said.
Every head lifted. My spine straightened, and my pulse kicked harder.
Wrecker’s gaze moved around the room, landing briefly on me before shifting again. “I spoke to Yogi.”
That name rolled through the room like a low rumble.
“He confirmed he has four nomads working pipeline jobs in our general region,” Wrecker said. “Says he hasn’t heard from them in about two weeks.”
Two weeks.
That didn’t sit right.
“They’re his guys,” someone muttered.
“Nomads,” Wrecker corrected, “but one of them is his sister’s son.”
That detail landed heavier than the rest.
Family complicated everything.
“He swears they wouldn’t hurt Star the way she was hurt,” Wrecker continued. “And he swears they didn’t take Clove.”
My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached.
Bullshit.
“He says we’re wrong,” Wrecker added evenly. “Says if it was his guys, he’d know.”
I leaned forward before I could stop myself. “That’s a lie, and we’re fucking stupid if we believe it.”
The room went still. Every head turned toward me.
Dad’s glare hit me from across the table, sharp and warning.
Wrecker didn’t raise his voice. “Careful.”
“He has to know,” I said, heat creeping into my chest. “Four nomads go dark for two weeks when this whole Star thing happened? That’s not coincidence.”
Dad shifted in his chair. “Ender.”
I ignored him.
Wrecker studied me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. “Yogi asked for twenty-four hours.”
A bitter laugh scraped out of me. “Of course he did.”
“He wants to talk to his people,” Wrecker said. “He wants to find out what’s going on.”
“Or give them time to clean it up,” I shot back.
Dad’s chair scraped loudly as he leaned forward. “That’s enough.”
I turned my head toward him, anger flaring hot and immediate. “You think I’m wrong?”
“I think you’re letting this get personal,” he said.
I stared at him, incredulous. “She’s missing.”
“We know,” he countered. “We all want to find her, but you need to chill out before you go off half-cocked.”
Freak spoke up then, his voice low and steady but vibrating with restrained fury. “Ender’s right.”
Every eye in the room shifted to him.
“We’ve been sitting on our hands,” Freak said. “Talking. Waiting. My daughter is out there, and whoever took her hasn’t said a damn word.”
“That’s what worries me,” Arlo said, frowning. “Why kidnap her and not ask for anything? What do they want?”
Silence followed.
Basil cleared his throat. “What if it’s not Northbound?”
Heads turned again.
“What if it’s someone else?” Basil continued, his voice tight but controlled. “Someone who has something against Clove.”
That earned him a few looks of disbelief.
“Against Clove?” Thorn scoffed. “Who the hell would hate her?”
“Yeah,” Jude added. “She’s the nicest person in this club. And that’s saying something.”
Fox leaned back in his chair, shaking his head slowly. “I remember when we were kids, Clove used to cry if someone scraped their knee. She’d try to give them her own Band-Aid even if she needed it.”
A faint, painful smile tugged at the corner of my mouth before I could stop it.
That was Clove.
Sweet. Quiet. Always thinking of everyone else.
Wrecker held up a hand. “Whether this is Northbound or someone else entirely, we’re going to find out.”
He looked around the table, meeting each man’s gaze in turn. “Yogi has twenty-four hours to get back to me. If he doesn’t, or if we don’t like what he has to say, we go to Northbound territory and get our answers face-to-face.”
A low murmur of approval rolled through the room.
That was the line.
That was the promise.
Wrecker straightened. “Until then, we keep digging. We don’t do anything that forces this early.”
Early.
I clenched my fists under the table.
Church ended just as abruptly as it had begun.
Chairs scraped back. Men stood. Voices stayed low as everyone filed out, tension clinging like static.
I didn’t move.
Neither did Dad.
He sat across from me, elbows resting on the table, his gaze steady and assessing. “You ready to tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?” he asked.
I stared at the wood grain in front of me with my jaw tight.
“It’s not like you to talk back to Wrecker,” he said calmly.
“Well,” I bit out, “when it feels like Wrecker isn’t doing anything, I guess I have something to say.”
“He’s doing what he can,” Dad replied.
“Well, it’s not enough,” I snapped. “Because Clove isn’t here, is she?”
The words hung between us, raw and ugly.
Dad tipped his head slightly, studying me the way he used to when I was a kid and had gotten into trouble I didn’t want to explain.
“She’s going to come home,” he said quietly.
I nodded once and pushed to my feet. “She better.” My voice dropped, cold and unyielding. “Or the whole fuck of Northbound Reapers are dead.”
I didn’t wait for his response.
I stormed out of church, down the hallway, and past the common area where conversations died the second I appeared. I shoved through the front door and stepped out into the night.
The air was brisk for this time of year.
I crossed the lot to my bike, pulled a cigarette from my pocket, and lit it with hands that shook just enough to piss me off.
I leaned against the bike and tipped my head back, staring up at the sky.
Stars scattered across it, distant and indifferent.
Clove was out there somewhere under the same sky.
I took a drag and let the smoke curl out slowly. I wasn’t going to stop.
Not for Wrecker. Not for Yogi. Not for anyone.
I’d find her.
And when I did, I’d make sure the people who took her understood exactly what kind of mistake they’d made.