“It was smart to put a tracker in that chick’s boot,” Shaft says.
Skull sent him down to pick me up after Katie left me stranded. The fucker’s blathering on and on in my ear now as I drive one of the club’s trucks down the interstate.
“Her name’s Katie,” I snarl, not bothering to take my eyes off the road.
I’ve been driving nonstop, which would be good, except so is Katie. Even with her leg, she’s pushed through Kentucky, and in another twenty minutes or so, she’ll have driven all the way across the state of Tennessee. When I see her again, I’m going to blister her ass. It will be so fucking red she won’t sit down for weeks. She has to be miserable.
Jesus with a hangover, why wasn’t I more careful? I should not have put Skull on speakerphone. What the fuck must she be thinking? Oh, that’s easy. She’s thinking that I’m an asshole and a moron, and she’s damn right.
“Torch, brother. Look. Her car’s stopped.”
My attention goes back to the phone I have mounted on the dash. Fuck, it has. Good. Only problem is, it’s stopped in fucking Mississippi. I knew she was a few hours in front of me, but I didn’t realize she’d be even more than that. I step on the gas, hoping I can get there before it’s too late. At best, it will be three hours before I get to her, and that’s only if I peg the speedometer to get there.
My cell phone rings, making my track go blank. Even though it’s a matter of pulling it back up, it’s annoying as hell.
“What?” I roar, needing this conversation done.
I know it’s just a blue dot on the screen, but when I see it, I feel closer to Katie and not quite so out of control. That’s the major thing right now because I feel completely out of control.
“It’s me,” says Skull. “There’s shit going on. I’m flying into Mississippi. I’ll be there about the time you are. I got information back from our mole inside the Chrome Saints.”
My heart stalls. Fuck. “What the fuck’s going on and why Mississippi? That’s where Katie is.”
“I know, and apparently the Chrome Saints do, too.”
“What? How?”
“They have a low jack planted on the jeep.”
“Motherfucker! I saw them around it at the diner and I didn’t even think to check. Fuck, I’m an idiot!”
“Too late, now. We need to hurry. They’ve been trailing it. They followed your girl into a store where she bought a phone. Unless I miss my guess, she’s off to meet Beth.”
“Motherfucking craptastic load of shit! I’m about two and a half hours out. I’ll intercept her.”
“The fuck you will! You’ll not stop her from going to Beth and Gabby, and that’s a fucking order.”
“Boss, I can get there and protect Katie and—”
“And nothing! As mad as she is at you, she’d never tell you where Beth is, and I can’t risk losing her again.”
“I can’t let something happen to Katie!”
“We’ll have enough men there. Nothing will happen, Torch. Just don’t fuck it up. I think a lot of you, but you try to come between me and my family and I will fuck you up.”
The phone goes dead.
Motherfucker.
*
I drive the next three hours in silence. I drive as fast as humanly possible and I ignore every fucking thing that Shaft says. Not that he’s said much. Ever since he asked me to stop two hours back so he could use the bathroom and I told him to hang his dick out the window and let it fly, he shut the fuck up.
I don’t breathe normally until I’m staring at the exit for the rest area. I pull into it slowly, hanging back and trying to find Katie’s jeep. As soon as I spot it, I park as far away as possible. Shaft jumps out at the same time I do.
“Where the hell are you going?” I ask.
“To the bathroom,” he answers, “and fuck you very much, asshole.”
I let him go. I’m glad he’s leaving. I walk towards Katie’s jeep, and that’s when I see a motherfucker casing it out. I’m going to make sure she pays for worrying my ass. Anyone knows not to hang out at a motherfucking rest stop. I expect her to jump out of the jeep and confront the motherfucker. When she doesn’t, I get worried. I see that the asshole’s holding something, and then notice light reflect off of the silver blade in his hand. Now, I’m beyond worried. I inch up by the back of the jeep. I look inside and, from this angle, it’s hard to tell, but it looks like she’s sleeping. She needs to be punished for a fucking month.