Chapter 4
CHAPTER
FOUR
Van
I’m not a fan of the fact that I’m bringing Gage’s son into this meeting I scheduled with Rio last night, but I don’t have any other alternatives.
After our stroll down Market Square, I worked up enough courage to call their main landline and asked to see him.
It took some persuasion on my part to get them to see me, but once I mentioned Gage’s name and my relation to him, they wanted to see me posthaste.
I snicker when I recall the pause in conversation when I brought him into it, I’m sure it’s because they weren’t expecting his ex to show up in town and all but demand a sit down with the man in charge.
But I wasn’t willing to take no for an answer—not then, and not now.
There are too many blank holes in the story that I want filled.
With determination, I square my shoulders and leap out of the car before I lose what little confidence I have.
With the backpack tossed over my shoulder, I grab my boy and head into the coffee house they told me to come to for this chit-chat.
When I walk in and the bell chimes over my head, I falter.
There’s only two occupants in here and once the man sitting at the bistro table nods his head at the man behind the counter, he walks around me and heads to the door, locking it.
My internal freak out must show on my face because he holds his hands up in the air and says, “You’re safe with us. We just don’t want any interruptions.”
The woman’s eyes stay laser focused onto Gage’s car seat, but when I take a step forward, they raise and meet mine. “Hi. I’m Isla.”
“Hello,” I say back, waving my free hand at her. “Thanks for meeting with me.”
“We’re happy to,” she replies, her eyes moving back down to my arm where his carrier is still latched to it. “Who’s that you have there?”
As if Gagey knows he’s caught her attention, he begins cooing. “This is my son. I had to bring him with me because I didn’t have anyone to watch him for me. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s fine,” the man, Rio, says. “Come have a seat and tell us what you wanted to talk to us about.”
The man who locked the door, I’m not sure who he is—at least not yet because I haven’t taken the time to scan his vest to get it, scurries to the back and brings back one of those contraptions that you set car seats in, the one that looks like a luggage rack in motel rooms. “Thank you,” I say with appreciation as I lift Gage up and place his seat in it. “He likes looking at me.”
The man grunts, which I’m taking as his way of saying, “you’re welcome”, and takes a step back, heading behind Rio where he holds up the wall by leaning on it, crisscrossing his ankles in an intimidating fashion, and gives me a contemplative look.
My eyes scan up and I memorize his name so I can attach it to his face and use it if we ever cross paths in the future. BamBam, it suits him.
Isla keeps her eyes trained on Gage as Rio kicks off the discussion. “You mentioned you and Gage dated. How long has it been since you last saw him?”
“Sixteen months, three weeks, and two days ago,” I answer.
“That’s pretty specific,” he mentions. “Keeping a calendar?”
“Be nice,” Isla scolds him, smacking him in the solar plexus with the back of her hand.
“I am being nice,” he rumbles. “But it is pretty damn specific and it’s weird that she has it down to weeks and days, Issy.”
“It’s not weird,” she says in defense of me. “If the roles were reversed, I’d have it down to the hours, minutes, and seconds.”
“Sixteen, twelve, and thirty-six,” I joke, trying to sway them from using my life as a bantering tool. “But who’s counting?”
“Apparently you,” BamBam inserts, taking a jab at me.
I don’t let him get to me though, I have bigger fish to fry than him. “I have questions about Gage and what happened.”
“First, I think you need to tell us about you before we say anything,” Rio insists.
“What do you want to know?” I ask.
“Every damn thing,” he rebuts, drawing his words out. “The list would be shorter with things I don’t want to know than what I do. Start by telling us about you and Gage.”
“I’ll give you the short version because most of it’s private,” I negotiate.
“Then expect the favor returned,” he stubbornly retorts. “I’ll give what I receive. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it because it’s better than not knowing anything. Plus, I watch documentaries, I know that there are some things you can’t tell me since I’m not part of your gang.”
“Club,” he and BamBam say simultaneously.
Isla reaches out and places her hand on top of mine, whispering, “It’s offensive to refer to them as a gang. You may want to remember that.”
“I will. Thank you,” I respond.
“Now that’s out of the way, continue,” Rio demands, waving his hand through the air reminding me of a gameshow host.
“You’re being rude,” Isla murmurs out the side of her mouth. “She’s not our enemy.”
“We don’t know that,” BamBam states. I don’t like his attitude toward me whatsoever. He’s acting like I had something to do with Gage’s death. If it wasn’t childish, I’d stick my tongue out at him.
“What he said,” Rio adds, flicking his thumb over his shoulder and aiming it at his friend.
“I’m not,” I quickly interject. “I need to be able to look my son in the eyes and tell him about his dad when he gets old enough to ask about him.”
Isla gasps, cupping her hands over her mouth. “I knew it,” she cries, real tears falling down her cheeks. “He’s Gage’s boy.”
“He is,” I confirm.
“Fuck,” Rio hisses. But it’s the muscular man stationed behind him like a guard who catches my attention.
His entire body stiffens as he glares at me.
I swear I hear the word ‘traitor’ escape his lips but considering he said it so low that it was basically inarticulate, I decide to ignore his slight against Gage.
The Gage I knew would never betray anyone that way. It wasn’t in him to do that—not even after he withdrew from me and walked away.
In the end, I could see something was weighing him down, he was relentless and restless, but he’d never step over that proverbial line. I have to believe that with my whole heart and soul or all the good memories I have with him would be tossed down the drain like table scraps.
Isla shoots him a dirty look before turning back toward me and asking, “Did Gage know he had a son?”
“I messaged him and told him. It was marked as read but he never came back or called,” I return.
“He wasn’t acting right during the end of our relationship.
He was cagey, always on the phone and pulling a disappearing act.
He’d be gone for days at a time, and when he’d come back, he kept his eyes over his shoulder.
I knew something was bothering him, but he wouldn’t open up and tell me what it was.
He had a personality change, but we were expecting a baby so I didn’t push.
I wanted him to stick around. If not for me, then for Gagey. ”
“Gagey?” Rio snorts, giving me a disbelieving look. “I can’t in good conscience call him that. It’ll de-man him.”
“That’s not important, Rio,” Isla says, rolling her eyes.
“It is!” Rio protests. “He has balls doesn’t he?”
“He absolutely does,” I say, aghast. “What does that have to do with what we’re talking about?”
“It doesn’t. We’re getting off topic,” Isla berates.
“Well, I’m gonna call him, little G,” Rio says, smacking his lips. “Gage would have my head if I called his son ‘Gagey’. This will be my last stand on his behalf.” The way he says ‘Gagey’ has my eyes widening in offense. It sounds so derogatory that I want to reach out and thwack him myself.
“That was tacky,” I refute. “I’ve called him that since the first time I held him in my arms.”
“Another check mark on his con list,” BamBam snorts. “The list just keeps growing.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“Club business,” Rio cites. “Now, I’ve had enough of this shit. Tell us why you’re here, Van.”
“I already told you. I’m here for answers, Rio,” I remind him.
“That’s it, just answers?” he asks.
“That’s all I want. What else would I be here for?” I inquire.
“Money,” BamBam states. “Which there is none of if that’s what you’re after.”
“I’m not. I have a job, we skate by and don’t need anything other than what I can provide.
” Inhaling, I pluck a toy from my backpack and hand it to Gagey since he’s starting to get fussy.
As I do this, I tell them about how I met Gage three years ago.
I go through our relationship, giving them the cliff notes version, progressing through him leaving, my pregnancy, and reading about him passing in the paper.
When I get to the part about me showing up here to find out the truth, the room is so quiet I have to check to see if they’re still listening.
Rio clears his throat and says, “There are some things I can tell you, Van. But you need to come back to the clubhouse with us for that conversation. I can’t take any chances of someone overhearing us.”
“Will you tell me everything?” I question.
“As much as I can, that’s the best I can do,” he supplies. “We have a crew coming in from East Texas, can you give us a few days to get them settled before we have this talk?”
“If there’s no other choice, then I’ll have to,” I submit.
“In the meantime, I’d like to get to know you and Gage’s son. Is that alright?” Isla asks.
“Yeah. That’ll be fine. Would you like to come back to the cabin and have lunch with us?” I ask, handing her an olive branch.
“I’d love to if you could give me a ride back to the ranch afterward,” she answers.
“It’d be no trouble, Isla. Rio, it was nice to meet you and I’m looking forward to seeing you again.
” I hold out my hand and shake his. I ignore the giant in the background because he’s so damn rude that I don’t want to acknowledge him.
I don’t know if it’s me he has issues with or the man who fathered my son.
Either way, he needs a lesson in manners because if it’s not me who spit in his cereal, then he shouldn’t treat me as the one who offended him.