38. Kali
38
KALI
I tried calling Aly later that day.
Shane took off as soon as we got to this place. It was The Bonfire bar in Frisco, where I’d first been scared just to stop at. Needed to take that back because here I was, getting comfortable like this was going to be a temporary home. I shuddered at that thought, hoping it wouldn’t happen. I’d go crazy, but who knew how long Shane would be gone.
We were put in a back bedroom. Shane said to let anyone know who might ask that I was his old lady. I gave him a look, but I knew what that meant and knew it’d keep anyone off my back.
As soon as we got here, I lay down, but now I was restless.
Shane was out there.
Aly was… I had no clue. She wouldn’t take my call.
Justin. Harper. God. I held off on another shudder because they had to be okay. Had to be. If they weren’t… I couldn’t finish that thought.
And Claudia. I mean, I was more scared for the kidnappers in her case.
“Hey.”
I’d wandered outside to the street, and went down a little to sit on a bench. This place was a ghost town, or just about, and they had four prospects guarding the front door. I thought going thirty yards away would be okay. Shelly thought the same. She was coming my way. Dressed in long sleeves, she had the ends pulled down over her hands and stepped up from where the front of The Bonfire switched to the front of this store. It was a small diner, but it was closed. They had better upkeep. The benches in front of The Bonfire were nonexistent. It looked like what an old watering shed might look like in an old western movie, with low bearing shafts on top and posts out front as if in the old days they’d tie their horses to them. All that was missing was the actual watering tubs for the horses. There was none of that here. The place behind me was all windows. No awnings overlooking. No posts. Nothing. Just a couple benches and now I had company as Shelly sat down beside me.
She added, “See you got pulled in for the second round, huh?” She glanced to my phone. “You making a call? They usually try to keep that down to a minimum.”
“It’s to my friend. I think she’s on lockdown like me so I thought she might be okay. Besides,” I motioned to the bar thirty yards away. “The bad guys know about this place.”
“That’s true.” She laughed, but the sound was half empty.
I texted Aly instead.
Me: Hey, it’s Kali. I got a new phone… and now realizing you probably did too.
I hit send, knowing she wouldn’t respond back.
I started to tuck it away when it buzzed back.
Unknown: It’s Aly. We got my phone switched over this afternoon. Have you heard from Harper?
I took a breath before typing back.
Me: You should call me.
Aly: I can’t. Brandon is extra sensitive right now. He’s worried, thinking all sorts of bad things. You know.
Oh, boy. I did, and he’d been right to worry.
Me: Are you safe?
Aly: Yeah. Worried about you. Worried that I can’t get a hold of Harper. Brandon said they don’t know where Harper is or Justin. I assumed they were with you.
Me: You should really call me.
Aly: Now I’m getting scared. Just tell me. I’ll handle it.
Me: Where are you? Just tell me you’re safe.
Aly: Yeah. We’re at Brandon’s brother-in-law’s house. He’s that bounty hunter so his whole team is here, and there’s a bunch of others as well. It’s a full thing but you’re making me scared.
Things changed so fast. Aly had ‘her people’ and I was here with ‘my people.’ We were at two different places, being protected by two different groups.
Me: Do they have guns?
Aly: Um, I don’t know. There’s some HUGE guys here though. I feel safe with them. Stop stalling. Where is Harper?
“Just tell her.”
I jumped, screaming.
Shelly sat back, grimacing a tiny bit. “Sorry. I got bored and you weren’t hiding the phone. I did try not to read them, but couldn’t help myself.” She nodded to the phone. “Just tell her. She’s asking about your friend, the one that was taken right?”
I stilled. “What do you know about it?”
She shrugged, pulling the ends of her sleeves further over her hands. “Nothing much except that Crow said there was a couple attacks. Estrada tried to take you and your friend. I’m guessing that’s the friend? On the phone. He said that they took others instead. I’m also guessing that you’re meaning your friend ‘Harper.’ Am I right?”
“You always this quick with business that’s not yours?”
She flashed me a grin. “I’d like to tell you that this doesn’t happen or this isn’t a common occurrence, and while it’s not really that common, this does happen. Your man’s a Red Demon. They’re not a riding bike club. They’re the real deal. You should know whose bed you’re getting into because what Crow says, your man is now their president. Or soon-to-be their national president. You’re with Ghost and that means your whole world is going to change. The Reds aren’t small time. They’re going against a cartel for a reason.”
A cartel?!
I inhaled my gasp because I couldn’t let it out. I wouldn’t. No one could know how I was reeling on the inside. “What did you just say?”
“The Estrada Cartel.” Shelly sat further back, giving me a set look. “They’re a 1% club. You know what that means, right?”
I bristled. “I know.”
She settled down beside me. “Good. For a moment, I was getting nervous. Thinking you had no clue whose dick you’re blowing. I’d get educated real quick if that was the case.”
I gave her a look, but she wasn’t noticing it. Then my phone started ringing.
Aly calling.
Oh boy. I heaved a breath, trying to squash the nerves as I answered the call. “Hey.”
“Where is Harper? Brandon’s all grrr right now. I don’t know how to explain everyone’s relation here but some chick just showed up and said that they got reports that ‘some others’ were taken. Those were her words. Did they take Harper?” Her voice went up a notch.
I stood, and started walking. My mind was a mess, literally. My stomach was a mess. Everything was a mess. “Aly.”
“Oh God. It’s really bad if that’s how you’re speaking to me. What is it? Is it Harper? Did they take him too? We didn’t find him and we were going to look for him. What is going on, Kali?! Tell me.”
“I–”
“Kali! Just tell me.”
I stopped, my head falling back. My stomach was emptying out to my feet. All my insides were being dumped. “I don’t know who took him, but someone did. I think… I think it was a cartel.”
There was absolute silence on her end.
I couldn’t bear it, waiting for her.
I knelt down, wherever I was. I had no clue. I didn’t care. I squatted as low to the ground as I could go. “I’m so sorry, Aly. This is all my fault. We came out here because of me. I went with Shane, and now, these guys–I think they tried to grab us to hurt Shane’s motorcycle club. I’m so sorry.”
“You’re saying,” her voice ground out. “You’re saying a cartel took Harper?”
I pressed my eyes closed so tight. I was holding my phone against my face, so hard that I’m surprised I didn’t crack it. “Justin too.”
“ Justin too?!”
“I think they got my sister too. And some other lady.”
“OH MY FUCKING GOD, ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF?! FOUR PEOPLE, KALI! Four people! Your boyfriend is the cause of all of this. And you’re right, if we’d not gone out here, then NONE OF THIS WOULD’VE HAPPENED!”
“Babe?” I heard from her end.
She sucked in a dramatic breath, but I could hear her crying.
That was me. That was my fault.
All of this was my fault.
“I’m so sorry, Aly. I’m so sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say, or do. “I’m so sorry. We’ll get him back. I promise.”
Her tone was chilling. “You cannot promise that. Do not even dare touch that.”
Another shiver went through me at her voice.
She hated me. I could hear it. There was pain, but there was loathing.
I’d lost my friend. And I just hoped that I hadn’t physically lost Justin and Harper too. Or Claudia. Goddamn Claudia. I’d not been letting myself think of her either. Claudia chose this life. She knew more than me so her being taken wasn’t on me, but it didn’t matter.
My heart hurt for her too.
Shane needed to find them. He did. He needed to bring them back. All of them.
Please, God. Please. Just, please.
“I’m going to share with Brandon and his family what’s going on, and then I’m going to pray that Harper and Justin are found. Because if they aren’t, Kali, then I’m coming for you because this is all your fault. Damn you.”
Every word she said was a punch to me. I felt them, blow after blow, and by the time she hung up on me, I was right there with her because damn me. This was all my fault.
“Your friend’s a bit unhinged.”
I whirled around, seeing Shelly standing behind me, a lit cigarette in her hand. She’d stood facing the street, her arm crossed over her chest, under her other arm that was holding her cigarette. She looked all casual, but she had followed me.
“I don’t need you to watch over me.”
She took a drag from her cigarette before motioning to my phone, exhaling. “I’m thinking you do if you let that ‘friend’ get in your head. She’s wrong, you know. Nothing is no one’s fault. It just happens. I heard enough to gather that you guys came out here for a reason? You force your friends to get in your car?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I started to head back, but she touched my arm, stopping me.
She gestured down the way with her head. “We’re fine down here. Also, some of the girls are going to be arriving. A bunch go to a beauty school not far from here and they will go crazy when they get a load of us being in their place. That’s what they think. I’m hoping to wave some of the guys down here and sneak in the diner behind us for some food when it opens for supper. You in? I’m betting you’re hungry.”
She was right. My stomach growled as if on command. “What do you mean girls?”
“The sweet butts. You know, the girls that sleep with anyone as long as they’re hanging out with the club.”
“There’s actually women who do that?” I knew the term, but hearing it was real was a whole different thing.
“Oh yeah.” She took another drag from her cigarette. “All sorts, but don’t worry. I’ve never heard of the infamous Ghost taking a woman.”
I was still feeling raw from Aly. “Don’t think you know him since he’s not from this charter.”
Shelly laughed, taking a drag again. “You’re right. He’s not and I don’t, but give me a break. Been around enough guys. I can tell. Your guy, he’s a good one. Solid. Loyal. Smart. He’s like my old husband, or I’d like to think so don’t take that away from me. He’s dead after all.”
And I was feeling like a heel. “I’m sorry.”
“No worries. I’m not normal. Life and death doesn’t affect me like it does with others. My husband is gone, on the other side, and I’m here, spending my days out trying to enjoy life as much as I can until I go over and join him. Don’t get me on past lives because that’s a whole other thing with me.” But she took a fourth drag, exhaling, and pointed the cigarette at me. “You know that I have friends who do believe in past lives? They think we’re just energy in these bodies, for this life. Like I have some friends who fully believe they were an Apache in another life. One is convinced she was a horse. And I got another friend who is convinced she was some goddess from Africa. You believe in that stuff?”
I… had absolutely no idea what to say to her. “Why are you telling me this?”
She glanced back to the bar, then to me. “Honestly? One, because I think it’s cool. And two, I’m stalling because the girls all arrived and are inside. Now I’m going to use your phone and give one of the guys down there a call. The owners are opening this diner up behind us in five minutes. Trust me. We want to eat at Mama’s Diner, and not at The Bonfire. They mean well, but their food is shit.”
She nabbed my phone and did as she said.
And me, I was trying not to think about Harper or Justin because if I did, I was going to fall apart.
I hit call on my phone.
He didn’t answer, but I knew he wouldn’t because he didn’t know it was me.
I texted instead.
Me: Dad. My phone got smashed. This is my new number.