Page 15 of Madison
“So just ’cause she wasn’t ready doesn’t mean we can’t hang out as friends or anything.”
I nod. “Honestly, the time Mads-er Madison and I hung out as friends was something I’ll always look back on and know it helped us build a solid relationship. Now, in terms of both you and Samson feelin’ that way about Shandy, you ever think of sharing her? We’ve got an example right in front of us that shows us that it can work. Wyatt and Jackson argue as much as you two do, but their relationship with Anna has stood the test of time. They’re still fucking all lovey-dovey at times.” I can tell by the look on his face the thought has never crossed his mind. I just gave him a lot of shit to think about, so I head into the clubhouse and can hear him following behind me.
We both walk into the clubhouse to see Pa, Wyatt, Jackson, Erik, and Shane sitting around with Grant, looking at something on his laptop. Grant sees us both come in. “You find out what Mads was doing here?”
I shake my head as I have a seat across from him. “Nah, she’s not answering her phone. It’s like she’s got it off or something.” A chair to the right of me creaks.
“My little one was here? You both talked to her today?” I hear the worry in Pa’s voice.
Grant tells him about running into her and the two girls from the mountain and the story she told him. “She couldn’t even look me in the eye while she told her lie. She really can’t lie for shit.”
That gets Pa to smile a little. “No, my little one has never been able to lie. Her face has always given her away.” He looks at me.
“I saw her this morning when I brought her breakfast but when I tried to call her after Grant saw her here, her phone’s goin’ tovoicemail. She might just be avoiding some calls?” I shrug my shoulders and continue, “I ain’t really that worried with those three together. If they had Kierstie, Jane, or Hanna with them, I’d be more worried.”
Shane pipes in, “I know I should defend my wife, but we all know he ain’t saying anything but the truth. She’s a pistol and not one to keep her mouth shut.”
This gets an actual laugh out of Pa and a number of the guys. “Yeah, my girl and my little one are opposites in a lot of ways.” He sighs and looks at me again. “She mention talking to me or Ma at all?”
I hate to hear the hurt in his voice, but I know my woman has to decide when’s the right time for her. “No, she hasn’t mentioned it to me. I do get the feelin’ she’s gonna talk to you and Ma before she’s ready to talk to Kierstie or any of the guys. Not that any of them have tried to contact her at all.” Pa’s eyebrows go up when I drop that little nugget of information.
I hadn’t noticed the door open. Jon, Rory, and Juan have been standing in the room and had heard what I just said. “We knew she was mad at us. We figured she’d come to us when she was ready,” Rory says.
I turn in my chair. I try to remember that not only are they my VPs and Pres but will be my brothers-in-law someday. Before I can say anything, Pa is sitting upright in his chair and staring daggers at the three of them.
“So let me get this crystal clear. You heard what she said at the reception and hurt her then by admitting you didn’t know how to talk to her. Then when she gets home from being fucking kidnapped, you don’t think she’s worth at least a text messagetelling her you love her or are there for her? Not one of you?Your own sister.Your own sister who you’ve had no problem having her babysit, run errands, and clean after you lot, but when shefinallyfinds her fucking voice, you decide to go radio silent and make her do the work in deciding to come to you? IknowI taught you better than that. You’re dads now. Think about it. If someone was treating one of your boys like that, how would you feel?”
I don’t think I could add anything to that even if I wanted to. I see all three of them thinking about what Pa just said and, of course, Juan is the first to start to speak up. “Pa, it’s not—”
Pa throws his hand up to stop Juan from continuing. “Son, I’m not the one you need to be talking to. You think on what I said. Right now, I wanna figure out how to make the fuckers who took my little one hurt. They were probably around way back when… they need to pay and pay as soon as possible.” I couldn’t agree with him more. We’re waiting on a few more guys to get here when Wyatt’s phone rings.
I don’t pay attention till I hear his voice get a little louder. “What do you mean your mom ain’t home? She was there when we left an hour ago. Said she was waitin’ for you and Daisy to show up.” He puts it on speaker and Mayson’s voice comes over the phone. “She ain’t here. Truck is gone too. Mads’s car is in the driveway but no one is home.” I start to have an uneasy feeling in my gut. Jackson’s got his phone to his ear, no doubt calling Anna. Wyatt tells Mayson to drop Daisy off at Kierstie’s and get over here.
He hangs up with Mayson just as Jackson yells out, “You’re going where?!” Wyatt hits his elbow and he puts it on speaker.
“I’m going up the mountain. I ain’t going alone and we got protection with us. We’ll be just fine.” Both Jackson and Wyatt are teetering on the edge.
Wyatt, with clenched teeth, asks one of the questions we all wanna know. “Baby, who’s with you and what the fuck do you mean you got protection with you?” I hear mumbling over the phone, other voices in the background.
“I’m driving with Christy, Madison, and my niece Mary. I took the guns out of the safe. Turns out my fucking no-good brother is one of those fuckers up there on the mountain. He can’t live to see another sunset. Ineedto make sure he doesn’t. We’ll be fine. We got this. We ain’t gonna let those bastards win. I’ll call when we head back down. Love you.”
Jackson and Wyatt both yell out “Wait!” but she’s hung up the phone. They call right back and it goes straight to voicemail. I try my girl’s phone again and it’s still off.
Jon starts giving out orders. We all run to get guns and Grant’s telling him he found the fastest route to get up the mountain and that the girls probably don’t know it. Pres thinks for a minute. “They have maybe a thirty-minute head start on us, so any shortcuts ya got are gonna be needed. I know they’ve got the element of surprise on their side, but we don’t know how many guys are up there.”
I know I don’t speak out a lot, but I think this time someone needs to say the unspoken. “We don’t but those two girls do. They also know the guys’ routines and that they won’t expect mere women to come and attack them like that. I think we need to get up there as fast as we fucking can, but I have a feelingthose four might surprise you a little.” I feel a hand on my shoulder and see it’s Jackson.
He adds to what I just said. “You’ve also got one pissed-off mama bear leading that bunch. I can only imagine what’s goin’ through her mind after finding out her fuckface of a brother is up there. He’s the worst kind of person.” He doesn’t need to elaborate for us to catch on. Seems that Ma isn’t the only one with a dark past.
We’re loading up the trucks when Mayson comes rolling in with Asher, Logan, Micah, Jameson, and Samson right behind him. Jon yells for them all to hop in one truck and follow us. Asher is the first one to speak up. “What’s the fucking rush. I thought we were just planning shit tonight?”
Wyatt comes out holding a couple extra weapons that he hands off to some of the guys who just arrived. “It was till your fucking mother, along with the two new arrivals and Mads, decided to go up the mountain and deliver some fucking karma themselves.”
You could knock Asher over with a feather as he stood there in shock. “Mom? Our mom is doing that?” Enough!
“Yeah and she’s got Mads with her. Let’s go now!” I hop in the front seat of the trucks that Rory’s driving. Wyatt yells out that he’s gonna try to find Anna’s phone location so we can follow that.
Juan hands everyone the radios we have for when some of the guys go hunting ’cause almost no one has cell service up on that mountain. Time to go deal with this shit now.
