Page 116 of Ryder

Alarm, followed by rage, boils up inside of me. “I’m not sitting here waiting for my husband and child to be murdered, or assaulted, or… or…” I can’t even finish the sentence.

“I’ll pick you up, we can all go together,” Pipes reasons. “Cash won’t be happy, but he also knows nobody can keep you down. But wait for me.”

“You’ve got two minutes,” I tell him. “Then we’re gone.”

I hang up at the same time Casey does.

“Cash said he’s sending the boys out immediately and he’ll follow behind,” she says right at the same time I blurt out, “Pipes is on his way. We’re taking your truck.”

“Who the hell would do this?” Casey rubs her temples. “Carjacking?”

“I’d say so. We need to move.”

“What about Pipes?”

“We’re closer to the I-10 than the clubhouse is. Even if the boys just left, we’re still ahead of them.”

I dash off to the bedroom.

“Where are you going?” Casey calls after me.

“I’m getting my gun.”

“Holy shit,” she cries.

Casey is no stranger to any of this; she deals with gunshot victims and assaults every single day. I’m relying on her to stay levelheaded here, not question my morality.

I hear the straight pipes of the Harley as I pull on a sweater and change into my joggers.

A few minutes later, Pipes is storming through the house, calling my name.

“She’s getting a gun,” I hear Casey say.

His voice drops. “Are you okay?”

He’s so sweet to Casey; I don’t know why she’s so mean to him.

“I’m fine. Shaken up, but Crystal’s gone off the deep end.”

“I can hear you!” I yell.

“I meant you to!” she yells back.

A few seconds later, Pipes is striding into my bedroom. The look on his face says it all; he looks ferocious. And for fun-loving Pipes who is rarely ever serious, that’s saying a lot.

“If you insist on comin’, I’m drivin’,” he says.

“Deal.” There’s no need to negotiate, because that’s taking away precious time.

Casey appears in the doorway and throws Pipes her keys and he takes off. We’re hot on his heels as we follow behind towards the truck parked in the driveway.

Now isn’t the time to break down. Now is definitely not the time to cry, or to think about my son and my husband being held hostage by this lunatic. How could this happen?

Who would want to do this?

We get to the truck and Pipes opens the back door for Casey.

“Still a gentleman under pressure,” she sasses.

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