“Hmm?” His eyes trailed back up to her face.
“You don’t like it?”
He could see her eyes were practically shimmering, on the verge of tears.
“I thought you’d like it.” Her voice trembled.
“I do, baby. I love it.” His eyes softened. “C’mere.”
She turned and moved to him.
He lifted her in his arms, and her legs wrapped around his waist. He moved toward the bed and paused before laying her across it. “Is it healed? Are you still sore?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine.”
He laid her back across the mattress, coming down on top of her and settling between her thighs. “I missed you, China Doll.”
Her arms and legs wrapped around him, holding him close. “I missed you, too. So much.”
CHAPTER FIVE
When the four bikes arrived at a house across town, Red Dog carried his Chinese takeout bag from Jimmy Wong’s up the steps to the door. His brothers dismounted and stood watching him ring the bell.
A moment later an old Chinese woman came to the door.
“Where’s your daughter?” Dog bit out.
She glanced past him to the bikes, and then her eyes returned to his as she snapped out in her chopped off accent, “Where my wontons? No wontons, no talk.” She started to slam the door in his face, but Red Dog grabbed it with one hand and held the takeout bag up with the other.
A big grin formed on her face. “You always my favorite.”
She made to reach for the bag, but Red Dog held it just out of her reach. “First you tell me where Mary went.”
She made another grab for the bag, and he could hear his brothers trying to suppress their laughter behind him. He continued to hold it above her head, which wasn’t hard to do since she was a tiny woman.
“Come on, Mama Wu. You want these, I need some info first.”
She put her hands on her hips. “She came. She left.”
“Where was she going?”
“She tell me nothing. She picked up the boy and left.”
“Billy was here?”
She nodded.
Dog handed over the bag, pulled his phone out and tried his son, but it went straight to voicemail.
“I think she took his phone before she hauled him outta here,” Mama Wu advised him. “What you do this time make my daughter so mad?”
“Hell if I know. You’re daughter is crazy.”
“Mary not crazy. You crazy. You find her,” she ordered shaking a finger at him, and with that she slammed the door.
“Motherfucking hell.” Red Dog sat down on the front step, not a clue where to start. He’d pinned all his hopes on the chance she’d just come home, or at the very least that her mother would know where she’d gone. But this? This he hadn’t expected. That she’d just take off…
He thought back to all the rough spots they’d had over the years, all the heartache they’d dealt with. And they had dealt with it. And they’d come out the other side. Maybe not without a few scars, but they’d made it. Or at least he’d thought they had.