Ro is standing at the gates of the compound as I pull up. His bike is sitting off to the side. I can see the hurt in his eyes over the situation. Pushing the shifter into park, I get out and immediately hug my uncle. I only gathered minor details on the phone with him earlier, so I’m confused why there isn’t anything going on at the moment.
“Does she know?”
“No, thank god, she wasn’t home tonight.” He looks down at the ground, kicking at the ground.
“Where is she?”
“At a friend’s house.” I nod my head as he opens the gate. I walk with him. “I guess she had prom tonight, stayed with a friend afterwards.”
“Zane.” Liv shouts as she rushes over to me, hugging me tightly. We’ve all grown up together, in this compound, next door to one another, until we left for college. Now it’s just Drew. I’m not even sure why Liv is here right now. It’s been so long since she left here.
Dad always prepared me for the day he would die. Also told me that in the MC life, it would inevitably come sooner rather than later. He just assumed that Mom would still be here. He always told us to make sure and take care of her. That if we didn’t, he would haunt us until we died. It always made me laugh. Dad always had a way about him, saying something dark, yet humorous, and making everyone uncomfortably laugh, except for him. Not that he didn’t think he was funny, he knew what he said was hilarious, but what made it funnier was him not acknowledging it.
“Where’s Liza?” I whisper to my cousin as she lets me go.
“She can’t come back yet. It’s still too fresh.”
I nod my head understanding, because right now, everything feels like it has sped up and slowed down. The wound inside of me is still surging with adrenaline that it doesn’t hurt just yet. But I know that when I let myself feel it, when I slow down enough to process what is going on, the pain will most likely consume me.
“How’s your mom?” I ask her instead, like it’s not my parents we’re all worried about.
“Not good.” She whispers, shaking her head.
Liv’s dad was the president of the MC. He died four years ago. Club business that went bad, at least that’s all I know about it. Since dad was V.P., he stepped up as Prez, and has been running the club since then, until now…
My aunt hasn’t been the same since Khan died. Then Liza’s dad wrecked his bike. He was in the ICU for days before they pulled the plug. Her mom was a wreck. Liza was barely holding it together. She ended up checked into a mental health facility a few months later after she found her mom dead, in their house, an accidental overdose. At least that’s what the death certificate says. Currently, I doubt the veracity of it. It just seems too convenient. Liv and Liza have always been inseparable, just like their moms were. They’re about 2 years older than I am.
The funny thing is, I think they may be closer than Zeke and I are, somehow. They didn’t use to be, but since my brother left town, we’ve drifted apart a bit.
The club seemed to have fallen into some ‘bad luck’, at least that’s what people were calling it. It started with the members slowly dwindling, and it seemed like within the last couple of years, one by one, the officers were dying off. Once that started, the rest were looking at the warning signs around them, tucked tail, running, going nomad, leaving for new charters, starting new charters. Dad used to try to hide it, but between seeing it wearing on him and the lack of members, I knew something more was going on.
But even with her husband dying and watching the club fall apart, Billie kept it together… roughly, but it was still together. She went to live with Liza’s grandparents because being on her own was too much. But with mom dying, I can only imagine how much of a wreck she is now. She’s the only one left.
My aunts met when they were 10 and then met my mom in college. They were always close after that and mom, well, she always was their protector.
Hell, she was everyone’s protector.
The weight sinks into my chest, and I have to lean against the car behind me.
My parents are dead.
Dad feared for himself. I realize that now. It’s why he sat me down over Christmas break and told me that if anything ever happened to him, to make sure and take care of mom. Not that she needed taking care of, but hell… they were the ultimate love story. True fucking twin flames, if you want to believe in something as cheesy as that. He also asked me to make sure everyone else was okay and that he understood putting me in that position wasn’t fair.
“Zane, you okay?” My cousin asks me, interrupting my thoughts.
“Yeah.” I nod, attempting to turn around and look for my uncle who is standing off to the side, letting us have a moment.
But I need to figure out exactly what is going on. I need to go identify the bodies, and then go get my sister. Find which funeral home to go to, and figure out what the fuck to do about it all.
“I can’t imagine.” Liv says. “I know how hard it was when Dad died. I can’t…” She trails her sentence as her eyes well up.
“Stop it.” I snap at her. “They wouldn’t want that.”
“You know what they’re saying, right?” Liv sobs and I swear to myself before I pull her into me, letting her cry into my chest. “They’re saying that the club’s karma is coming to collect.” She sighs out a shaky breath before looking up at me. “They’re saying that everything is happening because things that they did in the past.”
Maybe they have done some shitty things in the past, but karma isn’t fucking real, and they always had a reason for what they did.
“Liv.” I look at her calmly, shaking my head. “That’s not that case. Don’t fucking listen to that bullshit.”
