“I hate to admit it, but I think Elijah might be on to something,” Petey says, shaking his head.
“What do you think?” I ask Brody. He’s been awfully quiet.
“She didn’t tell your dad. She told Jesse. You said Jess showed up at the shed with someone and then left. I bet she left him out there for her men to exact some sort of revenge. That tells me at least one of them wants to see that person suffer. The question is where did she go? It’s not like Jesse to walk away. She usually likes to participate.”
The four of us are quiet for a moment because fuck, he’s right. Did she go back for someone else? “So maybe we didn’t have everyone involved in my mom and dad’s trafficking.”
“Well, I guess we better go find out what the fuck is going on,” Brody says as he heads back to his bike. The other two follow suit.
I take a deep breath because I didn’t think about asking if there was someone else she was hiding from. Grandma talked to Mom about who we had killed and who had been sent to prison. I made sure we had everyone. Did one of them slip through my fingers?
Dan and my dad are sitting on the back of Dirk’s tailgate having a beer when we pull in. Dirk steps from the cabin, nodding to them. Dan tosses him a beer as he joins them.
My friends and I get off our bikes. “What do we have here?” I ask the trio.
“Oh, Jesse hit a deer. We brought it up here to butcher, but we didn’t think it was good meat. We’re going to take it out to feed your hogs instead,” my dad says, giving me a look I haven’t seen since I was a kid. He doesn’t want me to question him on this.
I shake my head, and my hands fall to my hips. Petey walks over and peeks in the back of the truck.
“We bagged it already,” Dirk tells him. “Not much to see.”
“Looks like a bag of blood and mush, prez,” Petey says, poking the bag with his hand.
“If you fuckers don’t tell me what happened here, I’m kicking all of you out of the club. Family or not.”
The three of them shrug in unison.
Goddammit these old fuckers are stubborn.
My phone rings, and I pull it from my pocket. My heart stops for a brief moment because it says my mom is calling me. My mom is calling me!
“Hey, Mom,” I say, turning away from the group.
“Jackson?” she asks, her tone sounding defeated.
“Yeah, Mom, it’s me. What’s wrong?”
My dad steps up behind me.
“I … I don’t know where you live, so, um …” She pauses, and I can tell she’s really struggling to pull her thoughts together. “I don’t have your address, so I had my friend drop me off at the cemetery.”
My brows pull together. My mom is at the cemetery. She’s home!
“I’ll be right there,” I tell her, kicking my leg over my bike.
The phone disconnects. I try to call her back, but she doesn’t answer.
Dad steps in front of my bike, bracing his hands on the handlebars. “You’re not leaving until you tell me what she said,” he demands.
“My mom is at the cemetery,” I say, still not believing she left her cabin.
Dad’s face lights with surprise. He instantly starts looking around because he wants to come too. I can’t blame him. This is exciting, but then my eyes land on the lump of shit in the back of my uncle’s truck.
That’s why she’s there. She’s finally free.
Brody tosses his keys to my dad. “Take my bike,” he tells him.
Dad doesn’t hesitate to accept his offer, and seconds later he and I are on the road.
