She came out with a shotgun when I pulled up, obviously worried about unwelcome visitors. When she spotted me, she didn’t lower the gun. Her blonde hair was in curlers all over her head and she was in a plush pink bathrobe, her lips painted in a matching tone. At least one thing never changed.
I hopped out of the car, raising my hands above my head with a crooked smile.
“It’s me, Mom.”
Mom nodded, her eyes narrowing. Apparently, I was one of the unwelcome visitors she wanted to intimidate with her shotgun. “What are you doing here?”
The suspicion in her voice made me wonder if she knew about how I’d killed Earl, but there was no way word could have gotten out. Nobody knew except for Vitiello’s men, and I doubted they would tell anyone my mother knew. Vitiello had said he hadn’t allowed word to get out anyway. And whatever I thought of Vitiello, one thing was certain, he was in absolute control over his men.
“Are you going to shoot me, Mom?”
My arms still raised over my head, I walked closer.
She lowered the gun a few inches but still aimed it at my chest.
“What happened to you?” Mom asked, eyeing my naked, cut and bruised upper body.
“This and that,” I said, not ready to divulge more information with her pointing a gun at me.
She nodded toward the truck. “Isn’t that Cody’s?”
“Yep. But he won’t need it anymore.”
Mom nodded and smiled bitterly. “He dead?”
“Yep.” I slowly lowered my hands. Mom eyed me warily but didn’t shoot. I didn’t doubt that she could shoot someone if provoked. “I grabbed his dogs from the junkyard.”
“Not just the dogs, I bet,” she said quietly. “He kept a stash of cash over there. You know how he could never keep his mouth shut when he was drunk.”
“He had a big mouth on him.” I gave her a wry smile. “Will you put the gun away?”
Mom shook her head. “Not yet. Word on the street has it that you’re working for the Italians now.”
“I’m not working for anyone, Mom. You know how badly I take orders.”
She motioned to the truck. “You should have shot the dogs. Don’t you have enough problems?”
I wasn’t sure how much she knew, but considering her reluctance to lower the gun, too much. “Earl’s dead.”
She nodded solemnly. “I know. He and a few men were caught by the Italians. Nobody survives the wingtips.”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t sure if I’d expected tears or at least more sadness on Mom’s part because of Earl’s death but considering how he cheated on her constantly and was barely home, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Word has it that you were captured as well.”
I sighed, walking up the steps to the porch until I was right in front of Mom with the barrel almost touching my chest. “What else have you heard?”
“That you are a traitor. Gray told me you betrayed their whereabouts.”
My relief over this confirmation that Gray had indeed gotten away alive almost knocked me over. “I did—” I didn’t get further when Mom’s palm hit my cheek.
“If something had happened to Gray that day, I’d never forgiven you.”
“I know, which was why I made sure he could save his sorry ass.”
“He told me.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know. He left yesterday. Only dropped some money off and told me not to worry about him and that he’d make me proud.”
“Fuck. What the hell does that mean?”
Mom searched my eyes. “Why are you alive, Maddox, if you aren’t working with the Italians? They didn’t kill you. Gray said you made the Vitiello girl your woman.”
My woman.
I liked the sound of it. “She means a lot to me.”
“More than that if she’s worth becoming a traitor for. You lived for the club. Is one woman enough to make you forget what happened to your father?”
“I didn’t forget, but I’m sick of living in the past. Marcella makes me want to think about the future.”
“What kind of future? What do you want to do without the club? You don’t know any other life.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
She laughed darkly but at least she finally aimed the barrel at the floor. “If you work with the Italians, every biker will want your head. They’ll probably want it anyway once word gets around that it was you who killed him.”
I tensed. “What are you talking about?”
Mom slapped me again. I saw it coming but didn’t try to defend myself. She had every right to be angry at me. “Don’t lie to my face, Maddox. I’m not stupid. The info comes from the Italians. Or are you telling me they’re spreading rumors to destroy your reputation?”
I looked away from Mom. Who had spread the truth? Only very few people that I knew of had been in the Famiglia prison. Luca, Amo, Matteo, Growl, and Marcella.
If one of them spread that I’d killed my uncle, that could only serve the purpose to make the other Tartarus chapters in the country and the Nomads of our chapter seek revenge on me. Someone had pretty much put a bounty on my head. They wanted me dead. Question was who.
On the first glance, Luca seemed unlikely since he could have me killed easily while I was his captive—but not without making Marcella resent him. Making the other bikers hunt me gave him an easy way to have me killed without getting his hands dirty and Marcella wouldn’t blame him. “Do you know who’s spreading the rumors?”
“Gray didn’t tell me.”
“Gray is the one who told you?”
“Did you kill your uncle, Maddox? That’s all I want to know.”
“You know how Earl could be, Mom. He was obsessed with revenge, even more than me. If we turn into monsters to kill a monster, we are as bad as him. Did Gray tell you what he did to Marcella?”
Mom nodded. “He’s become more radical over the years. But you should have handled it in the club. You could have challenged him for the spot as president.”
“I would have never been voted president. The more progressive, liberal members have all become Nomads over the years. The men who remained in the club were absolutely loyal to Earl. And even if I’d won, he would have never accepted the vote. The club was his whole life. Nothing else mattered.”
“I know,” Mom said bitterly. Her eyes searched my face. “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know if you are the same boy I raised.”
“I am, Mom. I had to make a choice just like Earl made his choice when he tried to kill me with his dogs. But I’m sorry you are alone.”
Mom laughed. “Oh Maddox, you know Earl hasn’t been around in almost a year. But without the club, I can’t pay bills. The ten grand Gray left me won’t last forever.” She put on a rubber glove as she always did when she smoked to prevent her fingers from becoming yellow. Considering she smoked about forty cigarettes a day, that was probably a good idea.
I jogged back to the truck and grabbed thirty grand from the suitcase. She watched me with a healthy dose of suspicion and didn’t look mollified even as I handed it to her. “This should get you through the year. I’ll send you money once I start earning again.”
She finally put the shotgun down. “You really going to work for the mob?”
“I won’t work for them, but I might work with them for now. I’m just so mad about this girl… I can’t…”