Page 15 of 12 Months of Mayhem

“Is anyone out there?” I yelled louder. Still nothing.

I threw my head back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. The crown molding was ornately carved, as was the ceiling medallion around the light fixture. The entire room screamed money.

Who the fuck do I know that has this kind of money?

There was a noise outside. It sounded like tires crunching on gravel. They seemed to stop in front of the house. That was followed by a car door opening and shutting. Someone entered the house, and I lifted my head to stare at the white-paneled door. A rustling came from down below, then footsteps on the stairs.

The knob slowly turned.

I was not prepared for who walked into the room.

“You’re awake. Good. We can get started.”

Chapter Seven

Ryian

“Where You Go I Go” — Fight The Fade

“It’s been five fucking days!” I shouted. “We need to call the police!”

“No cops,” my uncle insisted. The rest of his club members looked over from where they were congregated. They had gone into this big room in their clubhouse where they had some meeting and then came out looking all somber and pissy.

I’d only been here a handful of times when I was young and learning to ride my dirt bike. I had vague memories of my father and my uncle both being there.

“What the fuck is wrong with you people and communicating with law enforcement? Something happened to him! He wouldn’t have just left again!” I cried out. Though that frightened, insecure little part of me was terrified that he had. It didn’t matter that it didn’t make sense.

“He didn’t leave you. Someone took him. We can’t call the police,” Dallas quietly explained. My watery gaze fell to his cut and the nametape that read ‘Crypt Keeper’ on one side and ‘SAA’ on the other.

“He’s your brother, Dallas! You can’t be serious!” I was panicking, and I knew it. My face was tingling, and I was getting lightheaded. Yet I couldn’t help it. Dalton was missing, and my chest felt like my heart had been ripped out.

He set a box down on the table near me with a loud thump.

Startled, I looked down at it. It was the box of pictures and things that belonged to his parents.

“Hey, that’s Dalton’s.”

“I know. I found it when I was looking through his things for a clue as to where he might be,” Dallas explained as a muscle jumped in his jaw.

“What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Sit down,” my uncle ordered. I looked at him like he’d lost his fucking mind. He gave me a pleading stare, then added, “Please, little gator?”

I dropped to the chair as if my legs had turned to jelly. Maybe they had.

“There are some things I need to tell you that you need to brace yourself for. Okay?”

Numbly, I nodded.

“My club is made up of men who would likely be hunted if the world knew about them.”

My eyes bugged. Were they all wanted? Jesus, what had they done? I knew they were into some dark shit, but fuck.

“When you were about fifteen, do you remember I was in that really bad accident?” he asked, and again, I wordlessly nodded.

“The doctors and surgeons couldn’t believe you were still alive,” I mumbled. I’d been devastated. I was so afraid I was going to lose him, and though he’d been my uncle, he’d been more like an older brother to me.

“I survived because of Mako,” he blurted out with a glance at Mako, who had cast a sharp glance his way as if he’d heard him from across the room.

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