CHAPTER SIX #2
“Yeah, he showed me one time, and I might know where his phone is. I can show you.” I start to stand up, but Logan stops me again.
“Can you tell me where, and I’ll go in and look.
I don’t want you going back in there.” Part of me wants to argue and show them all how strong I can be, but then I think about all that blood…
I look between Asher and Logan and tell Logan where to look.
Max, please be okay. The gods wouldn’t take you away from me when I just got you. Please be okay.
Jon
We’ve torn Max’s office apart and found the file Christy mentioned and his cell phone, but nothing leads to anything solid. Juan and Samson are pulling his cell phone records since the last call he received was from an unknown blocked number and lasted less than a minute.
Jeremiah and Mayson are on their way to the clubhouse, where we’re going to regroup. They’re his closest friends, and fuck, maybe they know something we're missing.
All I know is that my baby brother is smarter than almost anyone else I know, and none of us know what the fuck he could have gotten himself into. It’s not a needle in a haystack. It’s like finding a corner in a fucking circle. I’d call in some favors, but where the hell do we start looking?
Within twenty minutes, everyone is back at the clubhouse. I tried to get Ma to stay at the house with Anna, Christy, and my sisters, but she was having none of that. I may be the president, but having heard the tone of Ma’s voice on the phone, I knew there was no way she wasn’t going to be here.
I go straight to Juan and Samson’s office, needing to know if they’ve found anything.
I walk through the office door and look at the two, both typing away furiously.
“Do we have anything at all? Even a fucking breadcrumb?” Samson grumbles out, “Fuck no. I can see he sent out four texts this morning, and there were five incoming. It was another fucking unknown number, but all the texts were deleted. What the fuck was he up to?”
I look over at Juan and back to Samson. “Just keep looking because we have fuck all to go on.” I leave their office. Ben walks up to me in the hallway, and I can tell he’s got something on his mind.
“When we were going through everything in that office, you realize the one file we didn’t fucking find?
” I shake my head because fuck if I know where he’s going with this.
“That file with the fucking papers that Erik brought off the mountain.” Oh shit!
Ben drops a bomb of a reminder, and I reach for my phone to make a call.
“We also have never gotten confirmation that either Taz or Brander were eliminated. If they got wind that Max was the one who held the shit that Taz thinks is his…”
He doesn’t have to finish the sentence. I start dialing my phone as I’m walking down the hallway. I yell out to the main room as I walk through on the way to my office, “Church! Five minutes!”
I walk into my office and close the door. After the third or fourth ring, a voice comes over the phone. “Jon! Brother, what’s goin’ on? Need me to come back up for another visit and take more of your money in another round of hold ‘em?”
I shake my head, even though he can’t see it. “Nah, it’s something fuckin serious, Riff. Your pres around?” His voice changes immediately. “Yeah, let me go to his office. What’s goin’ on?” I don’t mince words because time is of the essence.
“Max is missing. There’s a missing file, a fucking big pool of blood in his office, and no trace of him.” I hear Riff mumble out something like, “Shit!” There’s a rustling on the phone before another voice comes over. “Jon. Maine here. Riff just caught me up real quick. What can we do to assist?”
“Have you had confirmation that Taz or that psycho Brander are dead, or do we have any idea of their whereabouts?” Maine tells me what I expected—that they’ve not heard hide nor hair of either of the whackos.
He does suggest a good idea. “Why don’t I send over a couple of guys to check that property they tried to take over?
We’ve been watching it from afar, but not twenty-four seven.
We can at least eliminate it from your list of possibilities. ”
We talk through a couple more ideas and end with Riff promising to keep in touch and call me back as soon as they check things out. Time to head into church and try to make a plan with no fucking information. Max, where the fuck are you?
Christy
It’s been almost a day since Max disappeared.
I can’t sleep, so I get a cup of coffee and step outside the clubhouse for some air.
The sun is just starting to come up. I remember Mama always said that this was the most peaceful time of the day.
She would always try to get up in time to watch it.
Now, as an adult, I realize that those few minutes were probably the only time she ever had any peace, let alone time for herself.
I walk over to the picnic tables and step up to sit on the furthest one, to watch the sun over the trees.
I don’t know if what I do is considered praying, but I put my thoughts out to the universe.
Please let Max be okay. He’s not just my boyfriend.
He’s become one of my best friends and my favorite person.
When we’re together, life is brighter. He makes me laugh and has me smiling more.
I know I went off on him about hiding us because I don’t want to be a secret, but the one thing he’s always done even when he’s made me mad, is that he has made me feel smart.
I don’t know a lot of things, and my education could be considered minimal on a good day, but he’s never, ever made me feel like less because of it.
I’m taken out of my thoughts by someone sitting next to me.
I look over, and I’m surprised to see Max’s dad, Pa, sitting next to me.
He’s got a cup of coffee as well, taking a sip as I wait for him to speak first, still trying to absorb the stillness of the morning, hoping it will calm my heart, even if just the tiniest bit.
“You know, when I first noticed that you and Max were interested in each other, I had to admit I was a little apprehensive.” That has me turning my head back toward Pa so quickly, I’m surprised that I didn’t give myself whiplash.
He holds up his hand, so I let him continue, hoping he has a point or that he changed his opinion of me.
“It didn’t have anything to do with who you are as a person.
It had to do with my boy Max. Since he was a toddler, he’s always been about saving people.
He saved kids from bullies in high school.
His first two moves after becoming a lawyer were to get his brother and Mike out of prison.
I’m pretty damn sure he went into criminal defense just to save those who society deemed unsaveable.
” He pauses to take a sip of his coffee.
“My concern was that he was unconsciously seeing you as another person he needed to save. I was wrong. After overhearing the heated discussion between the two of you last family day, I think the opposite, actually.” Huh?
I must show my confusion on my face, because he gives me a small smile.
“He and I had a conversation a while back about making sure he balanced work and the rest of life. I’m pretty sure you had a lot to do with that.
I also heard how you gave it to him when he got stuck seeing you in secret.
My boy…” I see he gets choked up for a moment, which tells me how worried he is.
“He gets so focused and sometimes forgets everything else. He needs a woman who is strong enough to call him out when he needs to be. With the way you so perfectly articulated what you needed, I truly believe you’re the right woman for him. ”
For the first time in hours, I speak and say what keeps replaying in my mind.
“But where is he? Is he hurt? Is he being hurt? Is he—” Pa interrupts me.
“Shhh. Don’t speak that out into the air, child.
I know bad things happen to good people all the time, but we must have faith that the gods will see us through and bring Max home to us.
We must have hope. The gods have a way of making things work out and not giving us more than we can handle. ”
I feel the tears start to fall. “That’s not been my experience in life. It’s been more if one good thing happens, then life likes to throw me ten shitty things to remind me how unworthy of good I am.”
A voice coming from closer to the clubhouse speaks up.
“That might have been true up on that fucking mountain, but I’m pretty sure in the last year or so, your luck has changed.
” I look up, and Asher is standing in front of us.
He looks at me and sits at the table across from us. “You know I’m right.”
I nod. “Yeah, but…” Asher shakes his head to stop me from talking.
Pa speaks up. “You ever tell her about what you went through when Logan was shot?” Asher shakes his head.
Pa stands up and walks over to Asher, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m thinking that might be a good story for her to hear.
I’m gonna head in and see if the boys in the computer room have found anything. ”