Chapter Eleven
Zag
“Where are you going?”
I grabbed my wallet and shoved it into my back pocket. “Out.”
“Riley,” mom called. “I don’t think you should be going out.”
I put my sunglasses on top of my head and walked out the back door.
I had been out of the hospital for twenty-four hours, and I was going crazy.
I was still pretty sore, but any thought of me having internal injuries was gone. I just needed to heal, and that was just going to take time.
Time I didn’t have.
“I’ll be fine, mom.” I needed to get out of the house.
It had been six years since I had lived at home, and I fully remembered why I had moved out in the first place.
I loved my mom to death, but she also drove me insane.
I threw my leg over my bike and slid my sunglasses over my eyes.
“Riley!” mom called from the back door.
“What?”
She sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “Where are you going?”
“Just for a ride.”
She looked back into the house. “Why don’t you take your dad or brother with you?” she suggested.
I shook my head and cranked up my bike. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to the clubhouse.”
“Take your dad with you.”
I kicked up the kickstand and shook my head.
My dad appeared behind my mom. “What are you doing?” he called over the roar of my bike.
I revved the engine.
Mom turned and looked up at him. She said something, and he stepped around her.
Son of a bitch.
I roared out of the driveway but knew that my dad was going to be about thirty seconds behind me.
Not what I wanted at all.
I was headed to the clubhouse and was hopeful that Luna would be there. Or even Greta, but I knew that was going to be a longshot. With Luna being a prospect for the club, she was around the clubhouse quite a bit. Greta did tend to hang out with Luna, but she wasn’t technically any part of the club.
I needed to talk to either Ransom or Bear about trying to find Tess. The way to get to them was through Luna and Greta.
I had been in the hospital for five days. As soon as I got out of the hospital yesterday, I had gone to Miltonville General to find Tess.
I was shocked when they told me she had been discharged the first day that Frost and Indy had gone to talk to her. They, of course, couldn’t tell me anything else about her since I wasn’t family, and they seemed on edge about anyone asking about Tess.
Frost has said she didn’t want any visitors but that she was still in the hospital when he had talked to me.
I pulled up to a stoplight and glanced in my rear-view mirror.
There was my dad.
With Malcom still out there, no one was allowed to be on their own.
But with me, Malcom thought I was dead. He wouldn’t be looking for me. I knew that wouldn’t last forever, but I figured I had a few days to be a ghost before he got wind that Tess and I weren’t dead.
That was why I needed to find Tess.
Dad pulled up next to me and shouted, “What are you doing?”
I glanced over at him. “I need to find Tess.”
Dad eyed me closely. “Something happen in that basement you need to tell me about?”
Not anything he was thinking. I felt a responsibility to protect Tess. Everything Malcom had done and was doing could be traced back to me. “She’s in as much danger as any of us are.” The light turned green, and I took off.
Dad followed closely behind and followed me to the clubhouse.
Hero walked out of the clubhouse and folded his arms over his chest. “I didn’t expect you back on your bike this soon.”
I was still pretty sore, but that didn’t matter. I needed to get ahead of Malcom, and I wasn’t going to be able to do that by laying around in bed.
Dad pulled up next to me with a scowl on his face. “You got a fire under your ass or something?” he growled.
I kicked down the kickstand on my bike and got off. “I got shit I need to do. You’re the one who decided to chase after me.”
Hero reached out to me and slapped his hand against mine. “You look pretty good for getting blown up six days ago.”
I had scratches and cuts on my arms and face, but those were already starting to heal. In a week, no one would be able to know what happened to me unless I told them.
He pulled me into a half hug and slapped me on the back. “Thanks, brother,” I mumbled.
“Deadman walking,” Pie chuckled. He leaned against the open front door and smiled wide. “It’s damn good to see you out of that hospital bed.”
“He may be out of the hospital bed, but that doesn’t mean he should be running all over town,” dad growled.
“Oh hell, Demon,” Hero laughed. “We all know you would be up and around doing the same shit he is if you had been blown up.”
“Well, if you were his age.” Pie smirked. “I think in your old age now; you probably wouldn’t bounce back as quick.”
Dad raised his middle finger at Pie. “I’m in my fifties, not my fucking nineties. You only hope you are in as good of shape as me when you’re my age.”
“Late fifties,” Hero muttered.
“And I can still beat the shit out of all of you,” Dad boasted.
King moved behind Pie in the doorway. “Who’s beating the shit out of who?”
“Demon is threatening violence against us because he’s not young,” Pie explained.
Dad got off his bike and glowered at Pie. “Don’t you have something else to be fucking doing?”
Pie smiled wide. “I got a Chevelle. I’m waiting on the first coat of paint to dry.”
“Then you can start on the Firebird that got dropped off this morning. Meg told the guy it would be done in a week.” He nodded across the parking lot.
We all turned and looked at the 1969 Firebird.
“Bro,” Frost drawled. “You seriously think we are going to be done in a week with that?”
The car had very noticeable rust along the wheel wells, no hood, peeling paint, and a busted windshield.
“Not if you stand here wagging your jaw all day.” King pushed Pie out of the doorway. “You can start prepping while the Chevelle dries.”
Pie threw his hands up in the air. “Come on, man! You need to tell Meg that she needs to give us more time to get these cars done. That car needs hundreds of hours of work.”
“Then you better get to work,” King drawled.
“Don’t you work here, too?” Pie asked King.