Page 73 of Ride Long
Chapter 23
Sloane
The sunout in the desert was even more blistering than it was in thecity.
I sat on a rock, partly covered by the shade of a very tall and spiky cactus. Dirt and dust clung to the toes of my boots, and I lazily drew a pair of smiley faces on each toe. My arms were pinking up, which didn’t bode well. I fucking hatedsunburn.
I pushed up my sunglasses—the pair of five-dollar aviators I made Chaser buy for me out on the road. That day had been barely two months ago. What aride.
The cabin Deluca had brought us to was nothing like what I’d imagined on the way over here. Instead of a tiny, single-room shack with a rocking chair on the porch, it was almost a whole sprawling ranch setup. There was a yard where all the bikes and cars fit, a shed with a workshop inside, the cabin had two bedrooms, open kitchen, living and dining, plumbed bathroom, and the whole bit. It was all hooked up to rainwater tanks and a generator, but it worked. Problem was, water was in short supply out here, but beggars couldn’t bechoosers.
There was even a rudimentary basement carved out of the bedrock underneath the main house. From my perch, I could see the access hole in the side of the foundations. It was a small rectangle set with glass, covered with a layer ofgrit.
Down there, I knew my father sat, tied up and being questioned by Gasket. Chaser was there, too. I wanted to be, but my plans for leading Fortitude had been taken out of my hands a long timeago.
What was it about this life? Every day felt like a year. Dragging its heels to claw out maximumpain.
It was deathly quiet for a place that held half the population of Fortitude MC. All forty-eight. Twenty had descended last night, and ever since, other allies had been steadily arriving—those who’d been out on jobs, others who didn’t live at the compound, those who had families to protect. Not all could be there for the initial strike. Gasket trusted them, and by extension, so didI.
They’d brought supplies, tents, and camping gear with them, and a miniature city had formed in the yard behind the cabin. No one wanted to stay in a house where Marini was being held. Couldn’t blame them. I sat apart from it all, not knowing how to be around people. I was the cause of this, afterall.
The front door of the cabin opened, and my heart leaped into my throat. Gasket appeared, his boots thumping on the deck, and Chaser stepped out behind him. The old biker leaned against the rail, looking as tired as I felt. Chaser stood tall, but he always did. Nothing cracked the surface withhim.
They exchanged a few tense words, then went their separate ways. Chaser walked toward the tent city, but Gasket…Gasket came towardme.
His boots crunched on the rocky ground, his eyes squinting in the bright sunshine. Marini must’ve told themsomething.
“Any room on that rock, girl?” Gasket asked, towering overme.
I slid over, and he sat beside me. We hardly fit on the rock at all. My right ass cheek was hanging off the edge, and the revolver I’d refused to relinquish pressed into the small of myback.
“You smell like shit,” I said, delaying theinevitable.
“There was no remorse in him, kid,” he said, ignoring my insult. “I’msorry.”
“It’s not your fault I share DNA with apsychopath.”
He grunted and rubbed his eyes with his bigfist.
“Have youslept?”
He shook his head. “Haveyou?”
“Can’t,” Ireplied.
“That ain’t good for yourhealth.”
“What’s going to happennow?”
Gasket lowered his head, his gaze studying the dusty smiley faces I’d drawn on myboots.
“We have no choice,” he said. “If you want to talk to him before… Chaser or I will go withyou.”
I rose to my feet and went a few steps toward the nothingness of Joshua Tree National Park. Before they killed him? My stomach rolled even though I knew this was the inevitable outcome. He was still my father. He’d loved my mom once, didn’the?
“Sloane?”
I raised my gaze toward the sky, the blue endless. Out there, where the sky became dark, was a universe larger than any of us. We were insignificant and pointless. What was thepoint?
