Page 72 of Trick or Treat

Keegan wasn’t kidding when he said there were a lot of cars parked outside the house. Cars were parked in the drive and all along the street. It looked like a party at the clubhouse and not the home of a mom with two small children. As soon as he stepped out of the truck, he could hear the loud music coming from the house. He couldn’t believe the neighbors hadn’t called the cops before now.

He stormed across the lawn and opened the door to utter chaos. He scanned the room looking for Michelle. He didn’t see her anywhere. What he did see was some asshole doing lines on the coffee table and a woman with her top off and kneeling between some guys legs, sucking him off. Another man was so drunk, he didn’t even realize he’d tipped his beer sideway while watching the show, and it was dumping onto the floor.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jackson and some of the guys taking their phones out and taking pictures of everything going on.

Trick moved toward the kitchen. Still no Michelle. He did find more drunks and one guy had a woman bent over the kitchen table, the table his children ate breakfast at every morning, fucking her. On closer inspection, he saw that it was Michelle’s sister, Patty, getting fucked and screaming her head off. He growled and made a move like he was going to start throwing people around.

“Hold on. Before you run them all out, let’s get the kids and call the cops to bust up this little party.” Race clamped onto his shoulder. He must have read puzzlement on Trick’s face because the Sons of Redemption were known for cleaning up their own messes and not calling in the cops. “The cops will make a report. It’ll be evidence you can use in court against Michelle and you’ll get the kids.”

Trick didn’t like it, but it made sense. He nodded his head. “You’re right. I need to find the kids.” He climbed the stairs and came to an abrupt halt outside the master bedroom he used to share with Michelle. Jackson grabbed him by the shoulders from behind to keep from barreling over him. The bedroom door was wide open and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Is Michelle doing a train?” Jackson asked in disbelief.

Yep. That was exactly what he was seeing. He’d been hoping he was imagining it, but if Jackson saw it, too, it must be true.

“What the hell? This is the sort of stuff we do at the clubhouse. Why is she doing that? She hated everything about the club.” Jackson shook his head.

“Little kid, little kid, let me in.” Some guy with stringy blond hair with a beer in his hand and a cigarette dangling from his lip was knocking on Reagan’s bedroom door.

“Oh, fuck no.” Trick tore off after the guy, tackling him to the floor. He pounded his fist into the guy’s face, once, twice and would have gone for a third but was stopped when Race grabbed his arm and held on.

“Stop! Stop! He’s out!” Jackson and Race together were pulling him off the unconscious man. The guy never stood a chance. He was half Trick’s size and completely drunk off his ass. “You can’t kill him. Think about who’d be taking care of your kids.”

His chest heaving, he took a moment to calm down before he went to the door and knocked. “Keegan! It’s Dad! Open the door!”

He could barely hear the sound of Keegan running to the door over the music blaring. He had his ear to the door and heard his son throw the lock. The door was yanked open at the same time his son launched himself at his legs. Seeing the tears on his son’s face broke his heart. Fuck, he could feel him shaking against him. The kid was terrified. He pushed his son back into the room and turned the light on so he could get a better look at him. Seeing with his own eyes that he was okay, he dropped to his knees and hugged him tight.

Over Keegan’s shoulder he saw Reagan slowly leave the closet, her thumb in her mouth. Fuck. She hadn’t done that since she was a year old. He waved her over and pulled her into his other side, hugging them both tight. He was so relieved to have them in his arms, he didn’t give a fuck who saw his eyes watering. He gently pushed them back and asked, “You guys got shoes in here?”

“I do.” Reagan ran to the closet, sat down on the floor and pulled on her pink rubber boots with the pictures of princesses. Jed pulled a coat off a hanger and helped her get it on.

“Mine are in my room,” Keegan told him.

Trick looked up at Race who shook his head. Getting into Keegan’s room was a no go. Shit, he needed to get the kids out of here. He’d call Owen but he and his family were out of town for the weekend. He hated to drag Lindsey into this huge ass mess, but it couldn’t be helped. He pulled out his phone.

“Trick?”

“Are your girls still there?”

“No. They left an hour ago.”

“Are you good to drive? You didn’t drink too much?” Please, please, please be sober enough to drive. If not, he didn’t know what he would do. He could call one of the prospects to bring a car over, he supposed. The idea of a prospect being responsible for his children made him very nervous. Although, compared to their mother, the prospects would be a welcome change.

“No. I’m good to drive. What’s going on?”

“I hate to ask, but can you come to my ex’s house and pick up my kids? There’s a situation going on here that my kids need to get away from fast.” Tuck stood in the doorway blocking anyone from trying to get in the room. If a fierce look didn’t dissuade them, a huge shove got the message across. Trick wasn’t too sure Tuck wasn’t just shoving people as they walked by for the fun of it.

“I’m on my way. Give me the address.” He thanked her, hung up and sent her the address.

He waited ten minutes before he pulled the pink flowered quilt off Reagan’s bed and wrapped it around his son. “Lindsey is coming to get you.”

“You’re not coming with us?” Keegan asked. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ll be along in a little bit. Me and the brothers need to take care of this situation first.” He ruffled his hair. “I’m going to carry you down the stairs and Jackson is going to take you, Reagan. I want both of you to close your eyes and don’t open them until we’re outside? Got it?”

Both kids nodded their heads. Reagan lifted her arms to Jackson as he bent to pick her up. He pinned her face into his neck and told her to close her eyes tight. He kept his hand on the back of her head to make sure she wasn’t tempted to peek.

Trick pulled the quilt tightly around Keegan and picked him up. “Close ’em tight, Keeg. I’ll tell you when to open them again.” Keegan nodded his head in his neck.

---