Saks walked up to them with a perturbed look on his face.
“Have you seen Wanda?”
“No,” said Luke.
“Hmm, we got separated. Maybe I was walking too fast for her.”
“Let’s go find her,” said Luke. “Helen, Gibs, see you later.”
The path they were walking split in two. “I’ll go up this way. Maybe she’s looking for you and got lost.”
Saks nodded and headed down the other path. Luke found himself walking over a bridge heading toward the camping grounds. Suddenly he heard a scream, and he raced toward it. A couple other club members heard it also and followed him. His boots crunched on the gravel walk as he pounded his feet to reach whoever was distressed. At one of the campsites, Luke found Aces with a struggling Wanda in his arms.
Luke ran up to him and jerked the man’s arm to face him. “Not cool, man.”
“Get your hands off me,” spit Aces. “We’re just having a little fun.”
“You were. She wasn’t.”
Aces looked at Wanda, who shrank away from him. A couple of the women from the club came up to her and stood protectively around her. Wolf Jackson, the new vice prez, and Dagger Simson, the sergeant-of-arms, came to stand behind Luke and Aces.
“Are you challenging me?” Aces glared at Luke.
“No. Just I think you had too much to drink, Aces, and apparently you misjudged her interest.”
Aces looked back and forth at the growing crowd, who had looks ranging from concern to anger.
“Fuck, whatever. I had a few.” He passed Luke, his shoulder purposely banging into Luke. “But don’t ever fucking touch me again, Spade. I won’t tolerate insubordination.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Date
LUKE PUSHED THE UNSETTLING incident at Devil’s Hopyard behind him. He only stopped for one drink at the Red Bull bar, and he didn’t finish it. By the time Aces hit the bar, he was back to his jovial self. Luke noticed, however, that Saks and Wanda didn’t stop, and the club members that did stop at the bar seemed to be more somber than usual. It was a bad note to leave off of on an otherwise successful road trip, and Luke didn’t like it. Once again, there wasn’t much he could do about it. In any case, club members, other than Aces, Wolf and Dagger, complimented him on the trip, saying they looked forward to the next one.
Luke pushed his thoughts in another direction. He had bigger fish on the fire. He drew out the phone number Emily gave him, which he kept carefully folded in his wallet. It seemed to take forever for Emily to pick up the phone. Maybe she was busy.
Just as he was about to hang up, a click came through the line, sending Luke’s heart into thumper mode.
“Hello?”
“Hey. It’s Luke.”
“Hi, Luke.”
An awkward pause filled the line.
Emily cleared her throat. “How’ve you been?”
“Good. I went out with the club on a road trip. We drove to Devil’s Hopyard. Ever been there?”
“I went once with my family when we were little.”
“It’s a beautiful place.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Just not half as beautiful as you.”