Page 4 of Tangled Threats on the Nomad Highway
Scar was the reason for their deaths. Hemight not have pulled a trigger or slashed across their throats,but if he had just left Einstein and his family alone, nothingwould have happened.
After the funerals, Einstein had asked Retroone thing:“Any news?”The answer had been a slow headshake,nothing more or less than he’d expected. Scar had always beennotorious for beating the odds, and the fact he hadn’t been presentwhen the Bama Bastards, along with four other MCs, had engineeredEinstein’s rescue meant he’d had foreknowledge they werecoming.
Salt water dripped off Einstein’s nose, andhe clenched his jaw until the creaking of his teeth echoed insidehis skull. Head down, Einstein stared at the chair cushiondarkening from his streaming tears. Fingers like pinchers latchedonto the outside of his legs in a search for enough physical painto push past this, not finding it. Trying to retain any semblanceof control, he was losing the fight to get through a series ofwracking sobs that threatened to tear him in half.Right in themiddle of the fucking clubhouse.
A hand landed on his shoulder, and heshrugged it off violently, not able to stand the touch.It’sbetter if I’m alone.At least then, there wouldn’t be anyone toblindside him like this.
“Brother. Jesus, man.” Retro’s voice wasclose, right in his ear, and he was tempted, so fucking tempted, tohaul off and slug the man. Elbows to his knees, he folded in onhimself, yanking on his hair in a painful cadence of repetitivemovement.
“Brought me here for this, Jerry? I can’tfucking do this. God, I hate you right now.” Low and rough, hisvoice scratched across the air separating them. “You couldn’t dothis at my fuckin’ house?”
“No, I couldn’t, man. The man I chased outof that wrecked house this morning wasn’t ready to hear anything todo with the tragedy that had split his heart in two. That mancouldn’t have stood to listen to me about anything.” Retro’s handrested on his shoulder again, fingers digging into the leather,holding on against Einstein’s repeated shrugs. “The man in front ofme can handle it. I’ve got faith, brother. I got news and wanted togive it here, where you’ve got nothing but support. Every goddamnedman in this room, in this club, only wants good for you. The best.That’s what we can offer. You can and you will, man.”
Fighting through the tears, swallowing onlyabout half of the sobs twisting their way up his throat, heremained in his hunched position. And Retro stayed with him,unmoving, crouched next to the chair, hand on Einstein’s shoulder,mouth next to his ear as he continued the litany of encouragementand chiding, alternating by turns as Einstein worked through thewreckage of his emotions.Of my life.He clenched hisfingers in the fabric of his jeans, clamping hard enough eachfinger warped the fabric, seams stretched to the max as individualthreads popped and snapped.
Something poked his ribs and he jerkedsideways, deflecting hand flying up to slip inside his vest,straightening as he stroked over the toothbrush in the interiorpocket. He moved it to a better position and rolled his backupright, his chin the last thing to lift as he sniffed and choked.I hear ya, baby.Lauren had been a fan of pinching his side,sometimes leaving bruises if he hadn’t wanted to listen to her.Like she’s here.
“What do you know?” Voice cracking on thefinal word, Einstein cleared his throat and reached for his beer,not surprised to find it warm. He grimaced and left it sitting onthe table, glancing around as he reclaimed his seat. Mudd’sexpression was bland, showing neither annoyance nor sympathy, andEinstein nodded his thanks. Between Mudd’s easy acceptance, and therealization no one was crowded close and staring, Einstein’s nextbreath pushed out more steadily in a question, “That bastard raisehis head somewhere?”
“We got word of a guy who saw him. I’mtracing it now.” Retro lifted a finger, and a few seconds later,the same prospect who’d served them earlier was there withreplacement bottles, gathering up the nearly full ones withoutcomment. “Only problem is we got a second sighting that would puthim in two places on the same weekend. El Paso and Philly aren’twithin waving distance of each other, which means one of these isbullshit.”
“Home turf and that of the Silent Deaths?”Einstein sniffed and cleared his throat, pushing away the lastvestiges of the grief that had nearly overwhelmed him. Everpresent, but in this headspace it was manageable. He shook his headbefore he took a long swallow of the cold beer. “Given how thingssit, neither is a healthy choice for Scar.”
“True words,” Mudd interjected. “We don’treally believe either of them, which leaves us wondering where theman might really be headed. We are getting traces on that, too,best we can.”
“If he’s throwing down fake trails…”Einstein shook his head, surprised at how fuzzy his brain felt.Fucking exhausted.“Any thoughts on what that mightmean?”
“Means he knows we’re payin’ good money forany lookie-loo reports of his ass, and he’s just trying to givehimself more time while costing us moola.” Retro sipped his beer.“The question is for what reasons?”
“Stay out ahead of retribution?” Einsteintipped up the bottle, surprised at the enjoyment he was gettingfrom this quiet back-and-forth with his friends. “Has he runthrough all his landing spots yet?”
“And then some.” Mudd shifted in his seat.“Past few months it’s been a cat-and-mouse game with him.”
“Yeah,” Retro agreed. “He pops up his headand we take a whack at him. Then the man disappears for a couple ofdays or weeks until we catch wind of some other lead. Few leads asspecific as these two recent ones, though, even if only one of thesumbitches can be right.”
“Who do you have chasing the reports?” Heloved that he didn’t have to question whether the club wascommitted to finding and wreaking chaos and destruction on theasshole who had cost Einstein so much. Even for the weeks andmonths he’d been sidelined by his own grief, it never crossed hismind to wonder if the search continued—because he knew it would.“Anything I can do, Retro?”
“Buzzkill’s routed through Texas right now.He should rock up at the SDMC clubhouse tomorrow. We’re doing anuninvited, unannounced visit.” Retro grinned, the expressionlacking any humor. “So to speak.”
“And the Philly rumor?” He glanced around,looking for faces he recognized. Einstein was shocked to see threemen he didn’t know. One of them turned to face away, and instead ofa probation bar across the top of his shoulders, the man had a fullpatch, only lacking the location rocker at the bottom. Einsteinkept his surprised gaze on the man, who stood and chatted easilywith Marlin.
“Nugget headed out this morning. About thetime I rolled into your driveway.” Retro’s tone pulled Einstein’sattention back to him. “And you don’t know him any more than youknow Dadwarc over there. Or Throttle. Or Wings. Changes happen,man.” His tone was conciliatory but firm. “Things don’t stop foranything or anyone.”
“In eight months you patched four newmembers? They rounded through their prospect period and made it topatched member in that time? What the hell?” Einstein knew his tonewas abrasive, even recognized he was too loud.Don’t give ashit.“Who’s the new probie, then? When’s he patchin’ in?Tomorrow?”
“Alex is in month three of his scrub period,so don’t give him too much shit. He’s doin’ well, given thesituation under which he raised his hand.” Retro stared at him, notshowing any frustration or anger at Einstein’s questioning. “Nuggetis a patchover, and there’s been a few of those in the region. Wepicked him up from a Michigan club, but he’s got close ties to theRebel Wayfarers, good ones, which is never a bad thing. Throttle isover by Crazy Mike, mostly because he’s just as much of a numbnutas Mike ever thought to be. Nugget, Throttle, Dadwarc, and Wingsare members, but can’t vote yet. I took a page out of the CoBosbook with how they dealt with Po’Boy. They’ve got too much time andenergy already spent in the life to prospect with grace, but forpolitical reasons, they’re also not yet enough of a known quantityto give them a voice.” Now Retro’s voice held a tiny edge of anger,but Einstein didn’t know if it was the act of him questioning or ifthe need for answers was reminding Retro that Einstein hadn’t beenhere to take part in any of the decisions. “I’m not stupid,Einstein, as much as you might think so.”
Shit.He stared at the beer bottle inhis hands, thumbnail raking up one edge of the label before hesmoothed it down.Now if I can just smooth this aseasily.
“I know you’re not stupid. I didn’t mean toimply anything like that, bossman. Just took me by surprise.” Hechanced a glance at Retro’s face, finding only patience there.“Shit. I wasn’t thinking. Tied up like I was for as long as I was?Gone deep down into my own shit. Shouldn’t be a shocker that thingschange. I just need to learn to shut my trap until I wrap my headaround it all.”
“Brother, if you can’t talk to us, thenwe’ve got problems.” Mudd shrugged and winked at Einstein as heswung his gaze from Retro’s carefully controlled face. “I for oneam real glad to see your ugly mug in the house again. We’ve fuckin’missed you, man.”
“I missed you too.” Einstein leaned back ashe realized the truth of that statement. Deep in the throes ofgrief, he might not have recognized the feeling. Now, removed atleast slightly from the events, he realized losing his wife andchild might have started his tip into the unstable field ofagony—but losing the club at the same time had only added to it ingreat shovelfuls of pain. Didn’t matter he’d done it to himself.Pushing his brothers away had been a mistake. “I’ve beenstruggling. Didn’t even know how much.” Blinking fast, he willedthe heat at the back of his eyes away as best he could, clearinghis throat painfully. “Feels really good to be home.”
“And we’re happy to have you.” Retro leanedforwards, elbows on his knees as he stared at Einstein over thetips of his steepled fingers. “Gonna need you to listen to me for aminute. Just listen before you react. Seeing you like I got totoday, I really don’t think you’ll do well if you go back to thathouse right now. I’ve taken the liberty of having a few of yourthings transferred to my old suite upstairs. School just started upagain, so it’ll be a rare day me and Trina have the luxury of anight away from the kiddos. Much rather use the space than have itstay empty.”
Retro gestured towards the stairs, andEinstein cut a glance in that direction, then back to Retro’s face,studying his features. With an expression turned calm anddetermined, Retro radiated patience mixed with a little bit ofstubbornness, and Einstein knew any arguing would be futile.
