Frisco

7. Kali

7

KALI

I t’d been three weeks, and I was still thinking of that kiss.

God. That kiss.

That was the downside, that I hadn’t been able to get Sha —that kiss out of my head.

That kiss .

God.

The way he held my face with such gentleness…

How his lips touched—nope. I needed to stop. There was no reason to keep thinking about it, except that I needed to get laid.

But the upside? They left!

Things felt more calm and settled around town after they left, but there was also a restlessness. I could say that because I saw it. The grocery store had been slow, but then while the Red Demons were here, people had started coming in with an extra urgency in their step. The way they talked. The way they looked around. It was like the motorcycle club had woken something in the community, something new and exciting and edgy. Now it was gone, and people were like, “When are they coming back?”

That lasted until the new bikers arrived.

Who these new guys were, I didn’t know, but they wore cuts and they rode Harleys. Shane said they’d be spreading the word about my mom’s bar, so bikers would become the new norm for her establishment. They stopped through town, filling up or getting food, but mostly her bar was their pit stop. I’d heard that they’d also been spotted hanging out at Gorman’s Auto Repair, which wasn’t too surprising. I knew Allen Gorman from school, knew his dad had been in a riding club. He wasn’t in a motorcycle club—or I didn’t think he was. Maybe he had been, but it wasn’t a 1% one. Still, they’d recently renovated some of the buildings on his lot with bunk beds, so there you go, I guess.

I heard all that from the same people who wanted to know if I knew the Red Demons personally, since they’d been hanging out at my mom’s bar. That was everyone. Everyone wanted to know.

The only two who didn’t ask were my roommates, and that was mostly because they were worried about their jobs. Harper still needed a new company for his costumes, and Aly said things had been more stressful at the fire station. She didn’t elaborate on that. Because of those situations, neither of them brought up anything. To their credit, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they’d forgotten about the Red Demons. Either way, I was appreciative of the silence.

But everyone else wanted the details on when or if the Red Demons were coming back.

Were they doing a charter here?

What would that mean for the community?

Probably bad, right?

How would they mix with the new bikers? Would they get along?

Even Otis came out of his office more than normal, hitching his pants up and pretending to ask about the weather, which was the worst segue into the motorcycle club. He tried, though. Ben’s eyes got bigger and bigger the more he heard. Noah seemed put off, and I didn’t know what that was all about.

I was at work stocking cereal when the next person came over.

I was used to it by now, so I waited, feeling whoever it was at my side.

People either finally asked what they wanted to know, or they left.

I waited, grabbing the next box and putting it on the shelf. The person still stood there, so I looked—could be a customer needing something... Nope.

“Ruby.”

It was my mom, and she’d been quiet as long as she had been because she was biting her lip. Her hair was pulled up in a frizzy bun, and I winced because I knew I had a mirrored look on my head, except darker hair. I’d been going the natural way lately, but I needed to get my usual products.

Her hands went to her hips. Her face was tight as she watched me stock the boxes.

“You’re doing this?” Her voice went high. “This?!”

I sighed. “Mom.”

“Mom.” She snorted. “ Mama . I was Mama until you were thirteen. Then you hit the teens and fuck the mama shit. I’m all about Mom, and now you’re an adult and calling me Ruby. I know you don’t want me to make a scene in the Un-Friendly Grocery Store.” She raised her voice even higher, tilting her head up. “You hearing me, Otis? You hearing how pissed off you’re making me because you got my girl shelving goddamn cereal when she’s got a four-year nursing degree?”

I sighed and picked up the chocolate cereal box to shelf it. “Everyone’s hearing you, Mama.”

That got her.

She stopped, but let out a small growl with her mouth closed. Her fingers started tapping on her hip. “I’m pissed off, that’s what I am, and not just at you, but the other one too.”

I frowned. “Claudia?”

My mom went still, freezing in mid-glare at the Cheerios.

“Mom.”

It took effort, but she jerked her gaze away and blinked, refocusing on me. “I need you to go and get your sister. Bring her back.”

“What? Where’d she go? And no.”

She was so not looking at me.

Something had happened here that I didn’t understand. Ruby Hinton was not being Ruby Hinton. She was a stranger right now. “Where’d Claudia go?”

Her frown was seriously fierce. “I don’t want to—they’ve helped me. The bar, but… Screw it.” Her eyes snapped to mine, and they were so clear, so piercing. “You know your sister was with that Demon?”

Roadie . I nodded, not letting my mind follow my body to the other Red Demon… Nope. Not going to happen. “Yeah.”

“She followed him.”

I tilted my head. I needed that to digest a bit.

I had to repeat this. I needed to get it right. “She followed him?” There was no MC that would be okay with that—no MC ever .

“She called today, said she’s not coming back. But…” Her voice wobbled, and she stopped, her throat jerking before she could talk again. “She won’t come back for me. Won’t listen to me. I don’t want to involve Gloves. We all know he’s gotten involved enough with that club, but…” She faltered, her eyes flicking to mine.

I could read between the lines. Claudia might listen to me.

And fuck, because just fuck.

Nope.

If people couldn’t understand my mixed feelings about my mother and my sister, this was a classic example. Claudia went off, following a motorcycle club, and I was the one who would have to go and get her out? I didn’t even want to think about the damage that could entail.

“Mom.” I shook my head.

“She called, said she’s staying put and there’s nothing I can do to persuade her otherwise.” She gulped again. “Gloves is gone. I mean, he ain’t gone gone, but he ain’t here. I don’t see him for lunch or when he used to drop in for a beer, if he would’ve done that sort of thing. And you… You moved back and I thought, finally , I got both my girls here. I can make things right, can make her love me again, let me be her mama. But now…” She looked away.

Ruby Hinton was not like this.

She wasn’t uncertain, fearful. She didn’t stand with her bottom lip moving and her throat choking her up. I’d never seen my mother like this, not even the day Gloves was convicted and sentenced. I’d heard her in her bedroom those nights, but not in public, not where others could see her.

And goddamn, seriously, fuckitity fuck fuck fuck.

I sighed. “Where is she?”

She fixed her eyes on me again. They were clearing. I could almost see the hope coming back.

“Some place called Frisco, California. And I don’t mean San Fran,” she clarified.

Otis came down the aisle, hitching up his pants. “Now, Ruby, I could hear you all the way in my office—”

My mom whirled on him. “That was a good ten minutes ago. Took you that long to grow a pair and face me? After how you’re putting my daughter to work? My daughter who is more educated and just got a whole fuckton more common sense than you—”

I decided to cut through any more bullshit. “Otis.”

He looked. She looked.

“I quit.”

Now where is Frisco, California? And not San Francisco.

It was that night when it happened.

Harper and Aly came to my room, saw me packing, and wanted to know what was going on. I filled them in.

“We’re going where?” was Harper’s first question.

I frowned. “Huh?”

He was no longer paying attention to me. He was looking around, his skinny arm bent back as his hand gripped the back of his neck.

“Oh, dear.” He held his hands out in front of him, palms toward me and Aly. “This is going to take some coordination. I need to pack. I need new suitcases. I can’t use the normal stuff, not for this trip. This is a life-changing trip. I can feel it in my bones.” He breezed past us, hollering over his shoulder, “I have to prepare for this. Big things will happen. My grandmama was a psychic. I can feel her telling me to prepare. I gotta prepare! Aly, go and prepare too. Don’t forget Billy.”

Aly growled. “Why did he have to name my vibrator? You’d think if someone’s going to name a vibrator, it would be the person who uses it.” She raised her voice. “HIS NAME IS GAbrIEL! Because he makes me feel heaven every time.” She gave me a lopsided grin. “Right? Get it?”

I groaned and held a hand up. “Don’t elaborate any more. Please.”

She snorted. “Yolo. Fomo. All the omos.”

“That makes no sense.”

She was out the door.

I called after her, “Where are you going?”

She turned back. “Gonna need to pack Gabriel and maybe a few others—Michael, Uriel.”

I grunted. “Why do you have to name them after archangels?”

Her eyes went wide. “You know your archangels. I’m impressed.”

I went back to packing. “Don’t test me about Jesus.”

She laughed. “I’m not testing Harper either. His grandmother is saying to prepare. No way am I missing out. I’ve got six months of vacation. It’s time I call some of it in.”

It took me a second to digest what had just happened.

I was packing, preparing to go on this trip alone. My roommates came home, and just hearing the story, they were going. No questions. No discussion. No trying to talk me out of it. Nothing. Just instant, “We’re going with you. I gotta go and pack my vibrators because a dead grandmother told me to.” Those were my friends.

Damn.

I reached up and flicked a tear away.

Damn.

Moving back after what Foley did, I hadn’t—no. That wasn’t true. I was going to say I hadn’t taken the time to appreciate my friends, but that wasn’t the truth. I had. I was so seriously appreciative of them that sometimes, I worried I was too appreciative. I depended on them too much. Was that fair to them? For them to deal with me, to come “bring me home,” as Harper had put it, and now this?

Oh yeah.

My throat swelled with emotion.

Life was not easy. It wasn’t easy at all, but with the right friends, it got a little less hard.

I hit call on my phone.

“Daughter! How are you? How’ve you been? The Old Gents started a YouTube channel. We’re uploading our first dance routine this weekend.”

“I–what?”

“Oh yeah. I told you about that, didn’t I? We got a name. Old Gents. It’s catchy, right? Stevie thinks it’ll bring in a bunch of the young crowd. You know. All those gals who go crazy over rich millionaires. He’s thinking ‘gents’ will come up as ‘gentlemen’ and boom. There you go. Our dance video will show up.”

Harper and Aly started laughing, and I had to clear my throat because I’d dissolve as well. “Dad.”

“Yeah? Who’s that? Who are you with?”

“Uh. I’m with Aly and Harper.”

“Oh, hey everyone! Kali, tell them hi from me. Did you do it? Say hi. I want to hear you say hi for me.”

“Dad.”

“What?”

“We’re going to California. We’re going on a road trip.”

Silence for a moment.

He cleared his throat, and got all serious. “You know, Kali. You know you don’t have to go all the way to California for your road trip. You can come here! Harper and Aly can join in on the next dance routine.”

“I’m so down for that, Mr. Michaels,” Harper yelled from the front seat.

“Who was that? Kali, which one was that? They’re down to come here and dance with your Pops?”