Chapter 14
Curtis
“Roxanne,” Draco sang under his breath as we walked toward the clubhouse.
“Fuck’s sake.” I shook my head and shoved him away from me. “I think you missed that car more than I did.”
“I just wish I would’ve known one of the oldies had it,” he said. “I would’ve hot-wired it and taken it for a joyride.”
“I’ll take you out soon,” I promised for the tenth time. I kept putting it off, and the Chevelle had been sitting in the garage since I got it back. I still had no idea who’d had it. No one would cop to it, and Gray wasn’t talking.
“You keep sayin’ it,” Draco replied. “But I still haven’t had my ass in the passenger seat like old times.”
I understood his annoyance, but I didn’t have any excuse for him.
The truth was, I wanted Teddy with me during the first real drive, and we just hadn’t had the opportunity yet.
In a perfect world, I’d take her to an old, deserted lookout and fuck her on the hood like I’d promised.
The reality would probably be a lot less exciting.
Draco’s whining was put on pause when we ran into Uncle Leo, who wanted to talk about a project Draco had been working on at the garage.
I listened with half an ear as I watched Teddy across the yard.
She and Kara were sitting at a picnic table with my grandma and aunts, and they were all laughing and talking over each other.
I fucking loved it. I loved that she fit in with them.
That she felt comfortable around them now.
That she left me to my own devices when we came to the club because now there were people she wanted to see.
Teddy laughed, her smile wide and open, and I felt it in my chest.
“Your aunt likes her,” Uncle Leo said, jerking his head toward Teddy.
“Aunt Lily likes everyone.”
“She’s nice to everyone,” Uncle Leo corrected, smiling. “Doesn’t mean she likes ’em.”
“She just goes home and talks shit to you,” Draco said with a bark of laughter.
“Sometimes,” he replied. “She likes Teddy, though. Thinks she’s good for you.”
“She is.”
“You gonna put a ring on her finger?”
I jerked in surprise. “Eventually.”
“Better not wait,” Uncle Leo said with a small shrug. “You’re not gettin’ any younger, and that one looks like a runner.”
“She’s not a runner,” I replied flatly.
“We’ll see.” He shrugged.
I wanted to argue, but when I opened my mouth, Grandpa Dragon called my name from the clubhouse door.
I turned and walked toward him as he moved my way, meeting just a few feet from the door.
“How are things?” he asked, looking past me at Teddy.
“Good,” I replied slowly. “Why?”
His gaze came back to me, and I braced at the look in his eyes.
“Got a call from the Horsemen a couple of hours ago.”
“About what?”
“Someone’s been up there in Montana askin’ questions. Didn’t go straight to the club, went to the old ladies, the side pieces, and the hangers-on.”
“About me?”
“Who else?” he asked, like I was an idiot.
“I only worked with them on that one thing,” I replied in confusion. “Went to some parties and shit, grabbed beers with the boys once in a while, but me and Dyl lived two towns over. Haven’t seen any of them in a couple years.”
“That’s why Cage called,” he replied. “Didn’t know why anyone would be askin’ around about you, but didn’t like it. Liked it even less when one of the old ladies was cornered in the grocery store.”
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“No shit. He’s pissed.”
“I don’t blame him,” I said, reaching up to rub the tension in my neck. “He say who it was?”
“The man didn’t leave a fuckin’ business card.”
“And they didn’t get his name anyway?”
“The old lady was the last one he hit. Didn’t even know there was anyone sniffin’ around until she went home and told her man and they started askin’ around. By then, he was gone.”
“Fuck.”
“Cage said it all went down last week. Planned on callin’ before, but they were dealin’ with their own shit.”
“Fuck,” I repeated. “Granger.”
“Sure enough,” he confirmed. “You got any idea why he’d be lookin’ into you? He left any messages for Teddy lately?”
“None,” I replied. “It’s been quiet since that first week.”
“Well, he’s doin’ somethin’. I’ll call down to Sacramento and give ’em a heads-up. They were keepin’ an eye for a while, but it was so fuckin’ quiet…”
“Shit.”
“We’ll get a lock on it.”
I glanced behind me and searched the crowd for Teddy. She wasn’t sitting at the picnic table where I’d last seen her. It only took a moment for me to find her already headed my way.
“What?” she mouthed as she sped up, hurrying toward me.
I jerked back around when Grandpa Casper yelled from the doorway.
“On me. Prospects and Hawthorne boys, stay here.”
Aces in every part of the yard rose to their feet and rushed toward us while the old ladies stopped talking and looked nervously at Casper.
“Just got a call from Charlie,” Casper said, his hand gripping my shoulder. “Said she’s at Draco’s and heard sirens. When she went to the door, cops were flyin’ through the neighborhood, and there’s an ambulance at your house.”
“Teddy,” I bellowed before I realized she was standing at my elbow.
Her face was completely blank, like she wasn’t processing anything around her.
My stomach was in knots as I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward my bike.
All around me, the comforting rumble of motorcycle engines filled the air, but I barely registered the sound.
Tossing the helmet she’d left on the seat, I climbed onto my bike, already turning the key as she climbed on behind me.
Later, I’d remember the way my brother rode at my side.
I’d remember the way others blocked off the side roads so we didn’t have to stop at any stop signs or worry about traffic.
I’d recall the vision of the Aces and Eights emblems on the cuts ahead of me, leading the way back to my house because they’d never let me face anything alone.
But then, I could only curse every corner I slowed for and every mile that took years off my life. I barely felt Teddy’s hands clutching at my shirt or the way her face pressed into my back. Every part of me urged me forward, panicked and terrified about what we’d find when we got home.
There were two ambulances and at least five police cars creating a traffic jam on our street, and I didn’t even bother finding a place to park. I stopped right in the middle of the road and left my bike there as Teddy and I raced for the open front door.
“Let ’em through,” Grandpa Dragon ordered as a policeman put out his hand to stop us. “It’s their house.”
I barely registered the man’s look of surprise that some biker was ordering him around before I’d passed him. I ran up the drive and down the walkway to the door, taking the porch steps in one leap.
Stopping in the doorway, I could barely comprehend what I was seeing. My breath caught, and it felt like I was outside my body, cataloging the ruin like it was a documentary on TV and not my living room.
Teddy’s terrified moan would be a sound I heard in my dreams for the rest of my life.