Chapter 2
CHAPTER
TWO
LINDY
Everyone stared at me as I walked through the Flames courtyard and into the clubhouse. Stared at me in that same way again. Pity mixed with a jigger of anger, a cold cocktail that slithered through my veins as I followed Catch, chin high as if we’d come off a battlefield and had survived heavy losses. But my heart dragged down through my chest like a lead weight.
Catch motioned for me to sit on one of the sofas in the lounge while he disappeared behind a wall to where the President’s office was located.
I went over to the bar where some of the girls were cleaning up. “Hey, is there any coffee? If not, I can make it myself.”
“Sure thing,” said the blonde who looked much younger than me. “Got a fresh pot. How do you take it?”
“I got it, thanks.”
She passed me the mug with coffee and I inhaled the life-giving smell. Frowning at the packets of cheap powdered creamer they always had here, I gulped the stiff black brew.
Minty came up alongside me and poured himself a cup.
“Hi, Minty. Can I get you anything?” the blonde asked with a stewardess smile.
“Get lost,” he muttered, and she took off. “Lindy, you okay?”
“What the hell’s going on, Minty? Was he kidnapped? Or maybe he was in an accident and we don’t know. Are they calling hospitals?”
“They’re looking.” He shot me a glance, his jaw tightening as his hand tightly gripped his coffee mug.
My back straightened. “What are you thinking? You know something?”
“Thinking it’s not a coincidence that Pick went off the grid in our old territory.”
He meant Broken Blades territory. My stomach dropped, my teeth gnashing at my lip.
Keeping his gaze on his coffee cup, Minty inched closer to me. “They’re gonna ask you what you know. You don’t know nothing, Lind. You don’t remember shit. You were a kid back then anyhow. Anything said between you and your dad is personal stuff.”
I took another sip of coffee, its hot, ashy bitterness filled my mouth and slid down my throat. “Is there something specific you don’t want me telling them?”
He knocked back a gulp of coffee like it was tequila. “Don’t give them anything you don’t have to.”
“But, Minty?—”
“Lindy?” My name boomed through the space, and my breath cut. Drac, the VP, stood with his hands on his waist, filling the archway that led to the main offices. He motioned for me to come over. Setting my mug down, I sucked in a deep breath and walked over to him. His huge hand landed on my shoulder. “Glad you’re okay and you’re here.”
“Thanks. Me too.”
“Finger wants to see you.” He steered me into the President’s large office, my heart pounding in my chest. I’d never been in here before, let alone for an audience with the President. Finger sat at his desk, body tense, irritation etched across his scarred face. Catch was slumped in a chair.
“Have a seat, Lindy,” growled Finger’s voice. It used to make me jump and shiver, that scoured voice of his, rough and scratchy from some battle injury in his early days in the club. Now I was used to it. I took the seat next to Catch. Drac leaned against a wall by the desk.
I told them about my morning, Renee, Dad’s text. “Then I fell asleep on the couch watching TV. Next thing I know Catch and the guys are waking me up. I tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail.”
“Call him now.”
I took out my phone and hit Dad’s name. Again, voicemail. I shook my head.
“Describe this woman you found in your house,” said Finger.
I described Renee.
“That don’t sound like any chick I saw last night when we were at the bar,” said Drac. “I saw him with all the usual girls, drinking, playing pool, but none of them was her.”
“Were you with him the whole night?” I asked.
“Nah, I cut out early.”
“Go on, Lindy.” Finger raised his chin.
“When I got home, she was going through the fridge and didn’t seem to be in any rush. Seemed like a typical morning-after situation. She wasn’t ripping through the drawers looking for something to steal.”
“Did she have a car or…”
“She said she didn’t have a car and needed to call a cab or a friend or something, but I didn’t want to hear it and I kicked her out.”
“We’ll work on tracking this woman down. In the meantime, you’re staying here.”
“Here at the club?”
“Need to keep you safe until we know what we’re dealing with, and then?—”
“And then?”
“Got to wait and see.”
“Is anyone calling hospitals in case he got into an accident or something?”
“We’re on it. Nothing yet,” said Catch.
“Is there someone who’s been after Dad? I know you’re not going to tell me, but has he been involved in something that put him specifically in danger? He’s only a foot soldier–”
“What do you mean by that?” Drac crossed his arms.
“That he’s not an officer. So why would he be targeted, kidnapped, or taken down unless whoever’s out there is going to start tipping Flames one after the other, starting at the bottom rung of the long ladder.”
“Maybe they’re tipping former Blades.” Finger’s eyes narrowed over me. “Can you think of any reason why?”
My spine tingled, and my heart thudded in my chest. “You guys could answer that better than me.”
“You were with the Broken Blades for a long time, Lindy. Nothing comes to mind?”
“One thing. The Blades’ only enemies were the Flames of Hell, and look how that turned out.”
Drac blew out a long breath and Catch shot me a sharp look. A warning. Finger leaned forward on his desk like a banker about to tell me he would deny me my request for a loan. “Only one Blade went unaccounted for. One.”
I squirmed in the hard wood chair. “Raptor?”
“What do you know about him?”
“I can’t say I remember him much. In the last few years of the Blades, he was never around. Always out on mysterious runs on his own.”
“Your Dad mention him at all lately?”
“He’d mentioned that Raptor was involved with that Jacks mess after it happened a few months ago, but that was it. He doesn’t bring up club stuff with me. We haven’t talked too much lately anyhow.” I swallowed hard, regret shooting pricks over my skin like a sharp needle. “He works a lot, I work a lot.”
“You don’t even talk about memories of the old days?” asked Finger.
He was fishing.
My back straightened. “My father isn’t the nostalgic type. Especially since my mom got sick. He’s all about getting on with things without a fuss, getting the job that needs to get done, done.”
“And Pick always gets the job done,” muttered Catch, his lips twisting. He was worried.
“What are we doing to find him?” I asked, forcing my voice to sound brighter, positive as I steered the conversation away from “the old days.”
Finger drew up in his heavy chair. “We’re working on it.” Something in his tone was dull and dismissive.
“You are? Or it doesn’t matter because he’s a former Blade.”
“Lindy!” Catch barked.
Unruffled, Finger tilted his head. “Pick is a Flame, and all my brothers matter to me. Each and every one of them.” His stern, raw voice barreled through my chest like a power drill.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m tired, I’m freaking out…he could be dead somewhere, alone…”
“We’re on this, Lindy,” said Finger. “In the meantime, you’re going to stay here, where we can keep you safe.”
“What makes you think I’m in danger?”
“I like to cover all my bases. In this instance, you are one of those bases.”
One of them? Who else? Minty? They didn’t trust us and they wanted to keep an eye on us—on me. Could Dad possibly be involved in something crooked?
“I get it,” I replied. “No one’s been in touch to say they have him and want a ransom? Or made any threats?”
“Nope. Nothing. It’s like he disappeared into thin air.”
I slumped against the chair, my jaw going slack.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you,” Finger said. “You’re not a kid anymore.”
“No, I’m not. And I appreciate it, Finger. I do.” I sat up. “How about this—why don’t we put me out there.”
“Out there where? And why the hell would we do that?”
“Maybe whoever it is would try to contact me? That’s what we want, isn’t it? For whoever it is to make some kind of move?”
Catch smirked. “That was my idea, but?—”
“And you got shot down for good reason,” said Drac. “Honey, come on.”
“Why not? What else do we have right now?” I said.
All the men took in a collective breath.
Catch leaned into me. “You sure, Lind?”
“I want my dad back, and I want to do something to help. Anything.”
Catch crossed his long outstretched legs, a deep grin on his face.
I diverted my gaze back to Finger. He was the one I had to convince. “Please let me help. Like you said, I’m not a kid anymore.” No one said a word. They only stared at me. “Geez, I didn’t say I’d go undercover as a hooker or something.”
“Say what?” exclaimed Drac, his eyes wide and white. The freaked out dad.
“Fucking hell, this girl!” Catch let out a piercing laugh, clapping his hands together. “Who’s been watching too many cop shows from the 80s?”
“Me and Dad. They’re our favorites.” Grinning, I held onto Finger’s grim stare through Drac and Catch’s laughter and rumblings. “I’ll stay here at the club, so it’s not obvious, but I keep working at the diner, while you all are in the background, looking out, looking for a sign.”
Catch clapped his hands together. “Prez, I could?—”
“No.” Wincing, Finger leaned back in his chair, his gaze shooting to a wall. Silence prevailed. The President was thinking.
I took in a tight breath as we waited. Catch lifted his chin at me, like he approved.
“There’s a better way,” said Finger, his voice now low.
“There is? What way?” I asked.
“You live with me and my old lady. ‘Course I need to clear it with her first.”
I blinked, my pulse stuttering. “With you and Lenore?”
“I need to clear it with her first, but yeah.”
“With you and Lenore in Meager ?”
His formidable brow scrunched. “That’s where we live.”
No. No. No. No. No.
Not Meager, South Dakota.
Not Meager, not ever. EVER.
My brain flipped, my stomach heaved. Meager meant one thing.
One person.
The one person in this world I never wanted to lay eyes on again.
“Oh, man, that’s good. That is so good…” murmured Catch. “Lindy lives under the protection of the Prez. Makes total sense. Young sad girl on her own, blah, blah, blah.”
“And it’s Jacks territory. We’ll have them on her too.” Grinning, Drac chewed more fiercely on the toothpick between his teeth.
“Exactly,” said Finger.
My heart thudded heavily in my chest, dragging me down with it.
Drac, Catch, and Finger talked, discussed, planned, their words bouncing off the walls, off me but only the words Meager, South Dakota drummed in my head like the drums of war. The very mention of that town sent icy prickles around my neck, squeezing like a hangman’s rope.
“Great, huh, Lind?” Catch beamed at me.
“Great,” I replied with a quick grin. I could handle it. I’d do anything for Dad. Dad was all I had left in this shitty world.
Is that the only reason?
My legs pressed together. I knew I’d see Wes again one day. I guess that one day was now.
“Lindy?” Finger’s gruff voice knocked me free of my dark musings.
I wiped my messy hair back from my face. “Yes?”
“I already got a man on Lenore every day in Meager at her store. We’ll add more men to watch both of you along with the Jacks.”
“Will I be working at Lenore’s store?”
“That would make sense. This girl she had there part-time quit and she’s been looking for someone. But like I said, got to clear it with her first.”
“Of course. Let her know I’ve got experience dealing with customers, working a cash register, organizing product, doing inventory.”
“I’ll tell her. I’m sure being in Meager and working with her would be more appetizing to you than sitting around here all day every day.”
“Sure would—no offense.” I shot him a grin so he knew I was pleased. And I was. Not having to work at that diner anymore would be amazing, and not having to be stuck here at the Flames clubhouse which was a barricaded bastion of alpha maleness gone wild would be a huge relief.
I liked Lenore a lot. She’d known my mom, of course. She and Drac’s old lady, Krystal, would visit Mom regularly when things got bad, and they’d both been there for me when Mom had died. Lenore owned a lingerie store in Meager, a far cry from the diner. But living with Lenore and Finger? The President of the Flames? That might take some getting used to.
Living with anyone outside of Dad felt strange to me. I liked my routine, and being on my own, doing my own thing without answering to anybody, and, most importantly, having my privacy. I was an only child after all. But this idea was miles better than being stuck here at the MC drowning in testosterone and at best doing nothing but cleaning up after the men.
I took in the faces drilling into me. They were concerned, but they were also counting on me. Like I was counting on them.
My lips tipped up into a smile. “Sounds good, gentlemen. Thank you, Finger.”
“You good, sweetheart?” Drac slung an arm around my shoulders.
“For now. Thanks for asking, Drac.”
“Everyone out,” growled Finger. “Got to call my old lady.”