Doc (The Kings of Mayhem MC Tennessee 2)

Dakota’s black van is parked next to the Harleys outside the diner. By the time we get moving, the sun is fully up, and the roads are busier. It’s a stark difference to last night when I only had the eerie silence of an empty road and the ghostly sliver of pale moonlight for company.

The minutes tick by painfully slow as we eat up the miles between Tennessee and Virginia. I watch the landscape roll past and realize how far I must have walked last night, and the thought brings on another wave of fatigue.

But I won’t fail Lily now.

I won’t rest until she’s safe.

As we get closer, I see some of the familiar landscapes. The collapsed wooden bus shelter that’s overgrown with weeds and covered in dust. The rusted wreck of an old Cadillac Eldorado which has seen better days and left for dead in a ditch off the side of the road. The ‘Slippery When Wet’ sign full of buckshot. The phone booth.

We’re close.

My heart begins to race with anticipation. While Jack and my brothers lead the way, I grip the armrest, certain my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

“It’s just up ahead and around that corner,” I tell Dakota Joe.

It’s only a matter of minutes, and the wait will be over.

Only when we arrive…

… the hotel isn’t there.

DOC

It’s gone.

Burned to the ground.

The only thing left behind is a smoldering pile of debris.

Before Dakota has a chance to pull up, I leap out of the van and stumble across the gravel driveway toward the scorched shell of the building, fear exploding in my chest when I take in the devastation left behind by a raging inferno.

Everything is gone.

Feeling destroyed, I look hopelessly around me at the ruins. Nothing is left. Everything is burned to a cinder. At the end of the driveway, the blackened ‘No Vacancy’ sign whines and squeaks as it swings in the icy breeze.

Devastated, I continue to look around me and feel all hope drain from my body.

Broken glass and charred wood crunch beneath my boots as I scour the location for any sign of Lily or a clue that might tell me what happened to her. Smoke cuts into the fresh morning air and mingles with the guilt I feel for leaving her behind.

Is she alive?

Did she get out?

The panic that she didn’t churns in my gut, and I start to pace.

“She made it out,” I whisper to myself. “She’s alive. She has to be.”

While the others look around, Jack walks over to me. “There’s no one here, brother. It’s time to get you to the hospital. You look like shit.”

“No, we have to find her, Jack. They’ve taken her somewhere, and I need to find out where.”

He takes off his sunglasses, and I can see the suspicion in his eyes. “And that could take days… you need some medical attention first.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. I’m the fucking doctor, and what I need to do is to find out where the fuck the Inferno has taken Lily.”

“The Inferno could’ve taken her anywhere. No one has been able to find their clubhouse in years because they keep goddamn moving it. They have hideouts all over Appalachia, they could’ve taken her anywhere. We need time to find her, but you need to get stronger. We’re done here. You’re going to the hospital.”

“I’m not leaving.”

His eyes narrow as he takes a step closer. I’m losing my mind over finding Lily, and he’s trying to work out why. “Who is this girl?”

I wasn’t straight with him earlier because I knew how he’d react if I told him who she was. Getting back to the hotel was more important to me than telling him the truth, so at the time, I figured it would be easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

“She’s Max Stonecypher’s daughter.”

Jack steps back. “You mean, we came looking for that psycho’s daughter?” He stabs a pointed finger at me. “You said she wasn’t one of them. You never mentioned anything about her being a fucking Inferno girl.”

“She left the Inferno years ago. Her father forced her to come back to help his wife give birth. She didn’t want to be there. Max forced her to stay just like he did with me. But you know what? If she hadn’t been there, I’d be fucking dead.”

Jack shakes his head, and I can see the annoyance on his tight face. He’s pissed because he doesn’t understand what she means to me. “You should’ve told me who she was before we came here.”

“Would you’ve come?”

“No! Because I know what a sonofabitch that psychopath is and how much he likes to fuck with people’s heads. She played you, Doc. And you fucking fell for it.”

“You weren’t there. You don’t know.”

“I know enough about Max Stonecypher to know you need to stay the fuck away from his damn daughter.”