Page 26 of Brave as It

Fuck, this isn’t good. The caller ID was Tripp’s phone, why is Tank on his phone? Did something happen to our president? This day is the worst ever and it’s just beginning.

“She’s got my kid,” Karma states through gritted teeth barely keeping it together. “Busted and I are headed down. Couldn’t geta flight fast enough local, headed to Wilmington to jump on one. We’ll be to Florida in three hours. Won’t make church. Tried to reach Tripp. Didn’t get an answer.”

“Yo,” Tank says not directly into the phone, “Tripp,” he pauses, “Karma and Busted are out of pocket. Anna took Hollis.” I can hear something being thrown and hitting a wall or table. There is shuffling of the phone.

“Get your son, get in touch. Dia and Maritza are missing,” Tripp says, and my blood runs cold. If Maritza is missing could this be tied to Anna taking Hollis?

“What do you mean, Dia and Maritza are missing?” Karma requests clarification. His face is white as a ghost and set in stone.

“Don’t fuckin’ know much. Maritza crashed at Dia’s last night. BW got a text from Dia around two this morning asking him to get Skye from her place and take her home with him until she came back. No information on where she was going, when she would be back. He got there; shit isn’t in place. Dia is very particular, and BW says nothing is tossed around, but it’s not neat and tidy as she normally is. It seems like she left in a rush. Maritza was gone too. Neither of them is answering calls from anyone. Location is turned off.”

“Did you force track their phones?” Karma wonders the same thing I was about to ask myself.

“Shut off. The watch BW gave his sister that also has a tracking device is on her dresser. She knows better than to leave without it on.”

What in the actual fuck! To our knowledge Dia hasn’t figured out the watch tracks her, but it’s engraved, and she typically doesn’t go anywhere without it. BW and Dia have a super close relationship and she treasures everything from her big brother.

Karma lets out a frustrated sigh, “Busted can drop me at the airport in Wilmington. I can get Hollis on my own, he’ll be back to help find the girls.”

“Hell no,” I tell him because I don’t want him facing his psycho ex alone. Regardless of the need to find Dia and Maritza, Hollis matters too.

“No,” Tripp orders. “Busted stays on you. I’ll get some boys in another charter rounded up to take your back. You know how Anna is. You can’t do this shit alone. She’s liable to say or do anything. Shit goes down and she doesn’t make it easy to get Hollis, you will have Hellions at your back, Karma. That is non-negotiable.”

“God dammit,” Karma yells letting out his frustration. “Ruby been looped in? Maritza doesn’t just take off. She’s too level-headed and responsible.”

Dia can be a wild child. Like the time she was working with Karsci, BW’s woman, behind his back to stage her own death. BW walked in on Karsci holding a knife to his little sister’s throat. He lost his shit and Dia was pissed he came rushing in.

Maritza doesn’t take risks like that. She truly is calm tempered and thinks everything through. She’s always been like the big sister not only to her own siblings but to me and Colt too. Growing up, she was the one watching the time to make sure we didn’t stay out playing too late. Maritza never wanted to get in trouble.

“I’m here,” Ruby states. “Go get your boy so when I find my daughter, I don’t have bad news to give her. She loves Hollis like her own.”

He isn’t wrong. Maritza has always watched Hollis for Karma. If it is his visitation, Hollis is with Maritza while he works. More than that, she makes his lunch, helps him with his homework, and even takes him to the dentist. Hollis prefers Maritza to take him to the doctors or dentists because he saysshe distracts him. There isn’t a single thing for school, or a game Maritza has missed for that kid. Maritza’s love and bond with Hollis is genuine.

I don’t know much about Anna other than she’s an epic bitch. Every which way she can play games with Karma using Hollis, she has done it. She isn’t motherly. I don’t understand it. Karma gives her a schedule of every baseball game, school function, and the broad is hit or miss. If she thinks she can get something from Karma she shows up, otherwise she’s ghost.

“Fuck, Ruby.” Karma’s voice is pained.

“Calm down, brother. Keep your head about you. Gotta get your son. That’s your priority. I’ll find my daughter.”

Ruben “Ruby” Castillo is a long-standing Hellion. While not an original, he’s been in the club longer than I’ve been alive. When my mom and Boomer got together, we lived next door to Ruby and his wife, Jenna. I spent my summers and afternoons playing with Maritza, her sister, and her brother. We waited at the bus stop together for school and never had a birthday without sharing cake with their family for any of us. If anyone is like a second set of siblings to Kick and myself, it’s the Castillo’s. Sure, we’re all adults now. We don’t fight like we used to. It doesn’t change that Maritza is like a sister to me.

Her relationship with Karma is more complicated. They aren’t romantic, but she’s a staple in the man beside me and his son’s life.

As for Dia Crews, she istheHellions daughter. Everyone loves her and not because her parents are Tripp and Doll Crews. Dia is Dia. She is a bottle of sunshine with a splash of sass inside. Loyalty is in her veins so deep she has always and will always take a brother’s back. She’s a tiny tornado. If any of us have issues with a female and Dia gets wind, she doesn’t hesitate to get in a broad’s face. She’s fierce, kind, and absolutely someonewho encourages and uplifts every single person she comes in contact with.

On the flip side of that, she doesn’t discriminate. If she thinks a brother is treating a broad wrong, she’s the one to call him out on his bullshit. She’s tough as balls that one.

After my accident, my parents were right at my side as expected. Dia, though, she was a teenager, still in high school. There wasn’t a day she didn’t come by the hospital or the rehabilitation facility to see me. She would grab my wrist, check my pulse, and look to the ceiling.“Whew, Busted, strong heart, thank God. See Busted, you got such heart, God said he can still do big things without legs.”Even when I was semi-conscious, I could hear her telling me how strong she thought I was. I might not have seen it in myself back then, or even now, but she sees it. Right now, whatever is going on, I need Dia to be strong the way I know her to be.

Dia sees the damn best in everyone. She’s not afraid to tell you. The level of vulnerability she gives to everyone around her. There isn’t a second of any day around her where you question whether you matter. She lives out loud the theme that you can’t say I love you too much.

Where did they go? What the fuck is going on? There is a heaviness in my gut simply thinking about them being in danger. I feel torn. I know Karma needs me and the club will take care of getting to Dia and Maritza. Still, though, those two are family for me and I want to help them too. I have all these questions and I feel twisted inside on where to be, what to do.

“Get Hollis, Karma. I’ll be in touch about Maritza and Dia. You keep us posted on your situation,” Ruby says remaining calm.

Ruby is steady like that. He says he’s learned with age that reacting without thought makes more problems than slowingdown to assess what is really going on. He has the experience behind him to live those words.

“Call Link and get them in on it,” Ruby instructs, “Hellions marker on Tripp’s order.”

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