Chapter Nineteen
Skull
I was halfway through my second cup of coffee when Lost walked into the clubhouse. “Anchor around?”
I glanced toward the hallway. “Still in his room.”
It was early enough that most of the clubhouse was quiet. A couple of the guys were moving around, but nobody seemed in much of a hurry to start the day. After everything that had happened lately, I wasn’t complaining about a quiet morning.
“Why?” I asked.
Lost stopped on the other side of the bar. “Got a woman at the gate.”
I took another drink of coffee. “Congratulations.”
“She’s asking for Ron.”
The cup stopped halfway back to the bar. “What?”
“Said she’s looking for Ron.”
I set my coffee down. “You ask who she is?”
Lost shook his head. “Figured I’d get Anchor.”
“Leave him.” I pushed away from the bar. “I’ll go.”
Lost followed me outside, but I waved him off when we hit the parking lot.
“I got it.”
He nodded and headed back toward the clubhouse while I made my way toward the front of the property.
A woman stood on the other side of the gate next to a dark SUV.
She wasn’t what I’d expected. Not that I had any fucking clue what I’d expected.
She had her arms folded over her chest and one hip cocked slightly to the side. She didn’t look scared. Didn’t look nervous either.
If anything, she looked annoyed.
Her eyes landed on me as I approached, dropping briefly to my cut before coming back to my face.
“You looking for Ron?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She glanced behind me. “Is he here?”
I stopped on the other side of the gate. “No.”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “Do you know where he is?”
That wasn’t a question I wanted to answer through a fucking gate. “Who’s asking?”
She stared at me for a second.
“Ruby.”
“Ruby what?”
Her lips pressed together.
Clearly, she didn’t like all the questions.
Too fucking bad.
“You came onto club property asking for somebody,” I told her. “I’m gonna need more than Ruby.”
She let out a small sigh and shifted her weight.
“Ruby Palmer.”
The name hit me.
Palmer.
Ron’s last name.
I looked at her a little closer. “What’s your connection to Ron?”
Her annoyance faded slightly. “He’s my dad.”
Well, fuck. I hadn’t seen that coming.
Ruby glanced past me again. “I haven’t talked to him in years, but last week I got an envelope from him. It’s just a jumble of things I don’t understand. I tried calling the number I had for him, but it just keeps going to voicemail. I finally got some time off of work to make the drive here.”
I didn’t say anything.
Her eyes came back to mine. “Can you just tell me where he is?”
Fuck.
This morning had gone to shit fast.
I reached for the gate. “You better come inside.”
Ruby didn’t move. “Why?”
I looked at her through the bars.
Because your father helped someone terrorize us. Because he knew something about Caleb Token. Because he helped get Bernice onto this island. Because before we could get answers out of him, he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.
None of that was shit I was saying through a gate.
“Because we need to talk about your dad.”
Ruby stared at me. “What happened to him?”
I unlocked the gate. “Come inside.”
Her face went pale. “Is he dead?”
I didn’t answer fast enough.
Ruby’s arms dropped to her sides. “Oh, my God.”
“Ruby—”
“What happened?”
I opened the gate, but she didn’t move.
“What happened?” she repeated.
I looked at Ron’s daughter and then at the SUV behind her. “Bring the envelope.”
Property of Skull coming soon…