Page 5 of Property of Riptide
“They only want a few things in life,” she states with fondness. “Food, fresh diapers, attention, and a smile. Seeing him makes me miss my grandbabies.”
“How many do you have?” I ask her as she passes me a notecard where I’ll fill in the blanks about our names, car details, and driver’s license number.
As I fill in the blanks, she answers, “Three. I was only able to have one kid before my body decided that was it. My daughter has blessed me with two grandsons and one granddaughter.Unfortunately, they had to make the decision to move away last spring because my son-in-law’s company transitioned him to one of those big, metropolis cities. Such a shame because my girl is all country; city life isn’t in her blood and she’s not adjusting well to the hustle and bustle of it.”
“I can see how moving from here to somewhere full of pollution and people would be a shock to her system,” I state as I pass the card back to her.
“That’ll be two seventy-five for the week. I just got me one of those fancy card readers if you’re using plastic.” The delight in her words has me releasing the laughter that’s been working its way up my esophagus since we first met. She’s just so joyful about the small things that it’s contagious.
“Sounds good. It’ll save my cash too,” I remark as I dig out my wallet and hand her my credit card.
As soon as the payment processes, she walks me out the front door and down a gravel path until we come to a cabin nestled between some trees. It has a front porch with a swing that I have a feeling both Gage and I will be putting some use to. He loves to be rocked to sleep and the wildlife plus the forestry background will keep me occupied until he’s given up the fight to stay awake.
As I unpack while he’s still out, I hear a knock at the front door. When I look through the peephole, nobody’s there but then I glance down and notice a porta crib on the porch. I didn’t even pay extra for one so the thoughtfulness has a tear leaking down my cheek.
Being here isn’t going to be a hardship and that makes me wonder why Gage was willing to give this all up.
Later that night, I decide to take a walk to clear my mind. Gage’s stroller is in my trunk, so after I get it out and set up, I tuck him inside and begin walking the sidewalks. This time of night, most of the shops are closed down for the evening, but I enjoy window shopping more than dealing with being shoved around by people trying to get the best buy before you do. Nine tenths of my retail therapy is done online because rudeness and I don’t mix well.
I’m drawn to an arts and crafts store, in the window is a painting of a man in an arena riding a bull, a man who resembles the man who I thought was the love of my life. In the painting, the man’s arm is tossed over his head in an arched position and the bull beneath him is bucking. Such a dangerous sport, one I never understood when it came to Gage and his obsession with winning a buckle bigger than my hand.
“I’m gonna discover all your secrets, Gage,” I warn his ghost. “You may have run from the truth, but I’m determined to find out why you threw us away.” I just hope I don’t hate him once everything has been exposed.
My first step is to get into contact with the Kings and introduce myself. Hopefully, they welcome me and don’t kick me to the curb.
CHAPTER
THREE
Riptide
With war on the horizon and the other shit that’s gone on in the last eight plus months since Gage took a bullet for Rio, we’re finally nearing the time for his send off. The Onyx Dragons have kept themselves underground for the most part.
Outside of some annoying vandalization and petty teenage pranks—like sugar in our gas tanks, we haven’t seen any evidence that they’re still in town. Unsurprisingly, we were fined by the city council for the clubhouse going boom even though that was out of our hands. It’s not like we wanted to spend the astronomical amount we did to fix it up. But with the Onyx pussies having a connection to the officials in town, I’m surprised we didn’t end up eating more bullshit than we did.
We are still riding around in no less than groups of two, more if we can pull it off, and with Gage’s sendoff happening in the next week, we’re going to split our forces so some of us stay put to watch over the club and business while the rest of us ride off to pay our last respects to a man who was like a brother to some ofus. Primarily those of us who grew up in Rio’s chapter. Indiana wasn’t raised with us, but he came in during his teenage years and had a connection to Gage that matched ours.
Nova is sticking around because his women are batshit crazy and don’t do well if he’s gone for an extended period of time. Sphinx will be staying back as well because when he came home with one less eye and traumatized from the torture they put him through, he’s suffering from a form of PTSD, and so far, with his outings that’ve taken him away from the clubhouse, he hasn’t done well in large crowds. Even with us surrounding him on all sides he’s paranoid and twitchy. He won’t talk about his experience being a captive of the Dragons, but I have a feeling it’s worse than what my imagination can conjure up.
“Riptide, I think that with things so squirrely and up in the air, only a handful should head to Rio’s,” Slayer recommends.
I glance around the table, my head swiveling from one of my brothers to the other. We’re having a last minute church meeting because there’s been conflict on who’s being left behind and who isn’t. “That’s where my train of thought was leading me, too,” I convey. “I know we all want to go and show our last respects to one of our fallen, but I have this feeling that with the majority of us out of town, it gives the Dragons the opening they need to destroy everything we have.” Gage may not have been a patched member, but once upon a time, he was an honorary one, and that means just as much to us as a man with his name stitched onto leather.
“I wouldn’t put it past them to do exactly that,” Indiana sneers, smacking his hand onto the top of the table. “They’re a gang of weaselly motherfuckers.”
“Nobody’s debating that, Indiana. We know they’re sly and will take advantage of our numbers being next to nonexistent. Right now, we need a head count of who’s going and who’s staying,” I address.
Icer crosses his arms across his chest and declares, “I’m going.” I nod my head because I know that him coming along is for more than saying goodbye since he could care less that someone he considers a traitor is gone.
“I’m going, too,” Indiana declares. “Zoey and Elodie are coming with me though and they’ll be driving the SUV. I’ve already had it detailed and looked over. The oil has been changed along with the filters and the tires have been rotated. It’s good to go and they’re already packed.”
“It’s safer if they’re with us anyway,” I add. “Who else?”
Rebel and LoneStar hold up their hands so I glance over at our secretary, Sketch, to make sure he’s marking their names down as he summarizes our meeting. When I see the pen in his hand moving ninety to nothing, I know he is so I twist my head back to the men and watch for who else raises their hands. Only two more pop theirs up and I nod my head at Scripture and Shade to let them know I saw them add their names to the pot.
“That’s seven of us leaving alongside Zoey and Elodie. It eases me knowing that there’ll be enough of you around to keep things running. Slayer will be handing out assignments so that you know who is covering our jobs while we’re away.” My eyes zone in on Icer, waiting for him to insist Letti is going to be joining us, but he keeps his eyes averted and I know better than to ask any questions about something he’s not voluntarily speaking about. “We’ll be riding out first thing in the morning, make sure you’re all out in the lot no later than seven.”
I bang the gavel but stay glued to my seat and wait to see who needs to speak with me privately. It’s something I’ve always done because not all of my men are comfortable talking about what’s going on in their life with an audience full of nosy as fuck brothers.
