Page 16 of Being Lost

“It’s warmer than I’m used to,” she says, smiling. “I’m looking forward to the winter as it won’t be as cold as it is in Colorado.” Then her face falls. “If I’m still here then.”

“Have you been getting out much? Seeing the sights?”

She sighs and sits down. After waving me to a seat opposite, she takes a sip of her wine. “Not really. My time’s been taken up with moving in, setting up the house, making sure Dan’s okay, and of course, working. Dan and I have tried to get out from time to time, but I think we’re both wary of going out in public.”

Their sense of security won’t improve now they know Alder knows they’re in this city.

“Dan’s fully healed now?” I recall her son had taken a nasty beating, stabbed too.

“Physically he’s fine.”

“Mentally?”

“He’s twenty-two, Lost. He’s already made mistakes. He’d idolised his dad, then when his eyes were opened, realised what he was. I think he hates himself for staying so long and doing what his dad asked of him. Then, of course, the way it ended, when his dad condoned the way he was treated, and knowing he wouldn’t have blinked an eye if Dan had died? It’s hard for someone his age to get his head around.”

“Your ex is dead.” It’s a statement, not a question.

She nods. “Don’t expect me to feel any grief for him.”

I don’t. Phil Foster was as evil a man as ever lived. Demon had shared the details with me. Phil had been running a small human trafficking ring when he died. He’d kept women as prisoners in his basement, waiting to be sold. When he’d kidnapped Beth, his own daughter, he was going to sell her as well. The Satan’s Devils MC Colorado chapter had been responsible for taking him out.

“So, to answer your question, I haven’t really gotten to know the area yet. Now Dan’s working, it’s a bit lonely sightseeing on your own.”

I hear the sound of the front door being opened, properly this time, with a key not a credit card.

“That you, Dan?”

“Who else would it be?” comes the returning shout. “Mom, there’s a—” He stops abruptly as his eyes land on me. “Oh fuck.”

I cock an eyebrow.

“There’s a car parked outside our house.” He completes his original statement. A muscle in his face ticks as he asks with deliberate casualness, “Who are you?”

Standing, I hold out my hand. “The name’s Lost. I’m a friend.”

“Ain’t got no fucking friends in California,” he responds, looking down at my outstretched fingers as if my hand was a poisonous snake. “Mom, do you know him? How did you meet?”

Patsy goes to talk, but I wave her down. “Dan,” I snap, bringing his attention back to me. “I ride with the Satan’s Devils’ San Diego Chapter.”

“The Satan’s Devils?” The name gives him pause, in fact, he barely seems to breathe.

I nod, and go to explain, but I’m not given the chance.

“No one should know we’re here, it’s too risky.” His hands are clenched, and his muscles on his forearm are bunched. He looks like he’s getting ready to run, just deciding whether to punch me first before he does.

“I appreciate that. I wouldn’t have come if I hadn’t had a need.”

He’s tall, fairly well built, but his muscles are baby ones compared to mine. I might be old, but I’m fast, and experienced. I recognise the expression in his eyes. It’s fear. While he stays tense, I relax my posture and point to the seat on the couch beside his mom.

“Why don’t you sit, and I’ll explain why I’ve come.”

Baulking at my suggestion, he shakes his head. “I want to know now why you’re here, and what you know about us, and whether we need to leave?”

It’s clear to see he’s hanging onto the hope that I only know him as Dan, and his mom by her new surname—Forster, instead of Foster. I dispel him of that immediately, the questions I want answered can’t be done on the basis of lies.

“Your mom moved with you, Connor.” He stiffens even more at the use of his real name, so I don’t hesitate in continuing. “You left your sister behind. A sister who’s older but who very much cares for your mom, and, your mom cares for her.”

Connor spares a glance at his mother. “Is this because of you, Mom? Perhaps you should have stayed in Colorado.”

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