Read One That Came Back Online
Authors: Lexy Timms
“Just where do you think you are going?”
“I’m doing what I should’ve done a long time ago. I’m growing up. I’ll let you know how it works out.”
The day wound through, and between him and Pepper they managed to get a lot of the work done. Luke supposed he’d have to come in tomorrow to catch up on the week’s work. The thought didn’t please him at all.
He stood from the bike he was working on when he heard the doorbell ring with the opening of the office door. Luke expected it would be a customer picking up his bike. He was wrong.
“Hey, Luke,” said Wanda.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“I hate to bother him at work, but can I talk to Tony?”
“He’s not here.”
“He left? Already?”
“He never showed, Wanda. I figured he just wanted a day off.”
“Oh,” she said, biting her lip. “We were supposed to go out last night, but he never showed.”
A sense of alarm shot through Luke. Maybe Saks would blow him off, but he wouldn’t do that to a date, especially with a girl he liked as much as Wanda. “I’m sure there’s a good reason. Tell you what. When I see him I’ll tell him you asked about him.”
“Sure, Luke.”
“And if you want, stop by in a bit and have some barbecue with us.”
Wanda shook her head. “I don’t think so, but thanks for asking me.”
“Okay. I’ll make sure he gets a hold of you when I see him.” Luke waved goodbye with a sour feeling in his stomach. If it had been the old group, Wanda would have gladly joined them, but a nice gal like Wanda didn’t want anything to do with the current group of club members. Luke couldn’t blame her. He was actually glad she was staying away.
Except now he was worried about Saks. “Hey, Pepper?”
Pepper walked into the office wiping grease from his hands with a shop rag. “What’s up?”
“Saks didn’t show for his date with Wanda last night.”
“He didn’t show for work today.” A single eyebrow rose.
“I’m going to his apartment to check things out.”
“What’s his phone number?”
“Why?”
“I can have my guys get a location where the phone is.”
“I thought you needed a court order for something like that.”
“A lot of people think a lot of things. Most of it isn’t true.”
Luke gave him Saks’ phone number. “I’ll be back within the hour.”
“You better be. This cookout is a big deal now and my people are looking forward to seeing how things turn out.”
“I know. You’ve got my number?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Just in case.”
Luke took his 2014 Iron 883 from the storage garage and grimly swung out onto the road, the Sportster’s engine rumbling between his legs. A sick feeling gripped his stomach as he rode toward Saks’ apartment. Inside, he knew he wouldn’t find Saks there and his worry levels soared. Things didn’t get any better when he reached the apartment building. In the marked parking slot for Saks’ apartment sat his bike, covered in a bike tarp.
“Fuck!” mumbled Luke. There was no way Saks went anywhere without his bike unless it was the dead of winter. For that time of year, Saks had a “beater” car, a sad collection of rust, bondo and an engine that rumbled more than his motorcycle. But that cage was parked in the back of Luke’s lot during the summer so Saks wasn’t in it either.
Luke took the stairs to his employee’s apartment and knocked on the door. He tried to peer into the window beside the door but the apartment was dark.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Luke swung in the direction of the unfamiliar voice. A man in his forties wearing overalls stood holding a paint can and some brushes.
“I’m looking for Saks, I mean, Tony. I’m his boss and he didn’t show for work today. It’s not like him.”
“Yeah, Tony usually pays his rent on this day of the month, every month like clockwork. He didn’t show either.”
“His bike’s in his parking slot. His girlfriend came by and said he didn’t show for their date last night.”
“He’s got that old car of his.”
“It’s parked behind my shop for the summer.”
The older man scratched his head. “I’m the super. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt anything if I poked my head in.” His hands went into one of the pockets of his overalls and pulled out a keychain thick with different keys. Luke stepped aside and the super opened the door.
“Hey! Tony? It’s me, Jack. Tony?”
“Do you see anything?”
“His place looks a little messy.”
“Messy? That’s not like him. Let me see.”
“I shouldn’t.”
“Look, all of this doesn’t sound like Tony.”
“All right. But don’t go inside.”
Luke poked his head inside the door. As he suspected, things were more than a little messy. Papers and dishes were strewn on the floor and furniture pushed out of place. Luke’s jaw set as he gazed at the scene. There had been a scuffle.
“Don’t you have some plumbing you need to check in here?”
“No,” the man said slowly.
Luke pulled out a fifty from his wallet. “I’d appreciate it if you check the plumbing. I’ll wait out here.”
“Put your money away. I like Tony just fine.” The super put down his paint can and shoved open the door. “Mr. Parks! It’s me, Jack. I’m just going to check your faucets.”
There was no answer, and the man walked in. It didn’t take him long to return, his face ashen white.
“He’s not there. There’s some blood on the wall in the kitchen.”
“How much blood?”
“Enough that it wasn’t an accident. I’m calling the police.”
“You do that. I’ll go check on some other things.”
There was only one place that Luke could think to get some answers. He hopped on his bike and headed toward the Red Bull.
He jumped off on his bike, counting the bikes at the bar and parked his by the front. He headed inside.
A band was playing at full volume in the crowded bar. Luke made his way to the bar and waited until John turned toward him.
“Hi, Luke,” said John, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “I thought tonight is your big shindig. In fact, a woman was in here a little earlier looking for you. I told her you’d be there. What you having?”
“A draft.” John’s comment about a woman looking for him was a usual thing and something he didn’t pay attention to anymore. Since he’d been hanging around with Kinney he picked up as many girls as Kinney did. “The clubhouse opening is tonight. I was hoping to see Saks there.”
“I’m sure he won’t miss it.”
“Well, that’s the thing. He didn’t show up for work today, and he missed a date with one of his favorite girls last night, so now I don’t know what to think.”
John’s face drew into a frown, but before he could say anything a patron called his name. “I’ll be right back,” the bartender said.
While Luke waited he felt a hand on his shoulder. His head snapped around to find Pez at the other end of the hand.
“What you doing here,
pendejo
? I thought you were having a big party tonight?”
“What do you know about that?”
“
Everyone
knows,
blanco
.” Pez dropped his arm from Luke’s shoulder.
Luke gauged the look on the man’s face and immediately alarm shot through his body. “Is there going to be trouble?” he asked.
Pez shrugged. “Depends on what your
hombre
, Aces, does.”
“What? What’s going on, Pez?”
“That’s some
cabron
you have there running things, blanco. He’s got the Hombres and the Rojos snapping at each other. We delivered a message to him to back off, but I don’t think he’s taking it.”
“Message? What message?”
Pez took out his cell phone and held it to Luke’s face. With horror, Luke saw Saks, his forehead streaked in crusted blood, tied to a chair.
Luke grabbed Pez by his cut.
“Where is he? He’s got nothing to do with Ace’s shit.”
Around them people stopped talking and stared. A sharp whistle pierced the air. Both Luke and Pez turned their heads to the sound.
“Take it outside, boys,” said John.
“John, man. You don’t understand.” Luke ripped the cell phone from Pez’s hand and slapped it on the bar.
John stared at the picture and then his face turned red. “Outside! Both of you! Sally, yo,” he called to the waitress. “Watch the bar.”
John marched both of the men out the back door. Pez retrieved his phone on the way. “What the fuck’s going on?”
“Ask the
pendejo
here,” shot Pez.
“I am asking you, because sure as shit, Luke had nothing to do with this.”
Pez held up his hands.
“Don’t shoot the messenger. We all, I mean, all of us in the Rojos got this picture. Hombres leadership don’t like outsiders messing in our shit.”
John poked his finger into Pez’s chest. “You go back to your leadership and tell them that they’ve taken on more shit than they can handle. Anthony here is family. Or more like,
familia.
Get that
, cabron.
Tony better be back here at the Red Bull in two hours or every single one of you are going to wish your papas never came to Connecticut.”
Pez gave John a cheeky grin. “Believe it or not, I’m on your side,
blanco
. I hate this crap. It’s bad for business. I’ll deliver your message. I’ll just take this
pendejo
with me. He’ll bring your Anthony back, or neither one of them will return. I can’t say either way.”
“Luke?”
“Yeah, I’m good with that.” He didn’t have a choice.
“Then get out of here,
cabron
. The clock’s ticking.”
Pez moved toward the parking lot, but John grabbed Luke’s arm. “Here,” he said, drawing a handgun from behind his vest in the back. “Can you shoot?”
“Yeah, but John—”
“Just take it. Get my cousin out of there or my grandmother will shoot me.”
Luke gave John a steely gaze, though he was blown away with what he just learned. “I’ll do my best.”
“I’d go myself, but I don’t have permission, and that would take a while to get everyone together. You understand?”
“I didn’t know you were connected.” Wiseguys were woven into the warp and woof of Connecticut, but Luke never imagined Rocco and his brother were part of it.
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Spade. Just know this. We won’t be fucked with.”
“Yeah, I get that.” It was all he could say. The Rojos and the Hombres stepped into a pile of shit of unimaginable proportions. Saks’ kidnapping threatened to set off a wave of violence that even the Hombres weren’t used to.
The hell of it was that no one would know. Wiseguys did their work quietly. Luke remembered when two Hartford Hispanic gangs fought for territory in a small Connecticut town. For one summer, tensions built between the gangs until one of the gang leaders was killed in a shootout. Then, magically, both gangs were gone from the town with no explanation. Only faint whispers followed with what really happened.
“Go with God, then.”
Luke got to his bike and rolled it toward Pez, who was on his phone speaking rapidly in Spanish. Luke couldn’t hear the words but he saw the look on Pez’s face. The Bridgeport Rojos looked worried.
“He’s at the Westfield Rojos clubhouse. You know where that is?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
“They don’t want to give him up.”
“Well, that’s too bad, isn’t it?”
“I hope you have some game,
pendejo
.”
“I don’t see where I have a choice.”
She had no idea how Luke would take the news. A part of her hoped that he’d be happy, but she had to be realistic. Emily and her child would be a responsibility that he did not want.
That was too bad.
Every time except the last two they made love, he was careful. There was even that one time in his apartment that he pulled out before he came, and then declared he’d always take care of her. Well, that went out the window when things got too hot for either one of them to think clearly.
She had no idea which time created their child, either that frantic love making before Gibs was shot, or that time in the funeral home, but neither one of them took measures to prevent a pregnancy. That was on both of them. Luke would just have to step up for his part.
If he didn’t want her, she’d live with that. It tore her heart to shreds when she thought of it, but she couldn’t make him want her. However, she wasn’t going to let him ignore his child. The baby deserved more than that.
The next place she didn’t want to go to, but it was necessary. If there was any place that Luke would be after a road trip, it was the Red Bull. She’d never been there, and never expected she would, though she, like every other person who travelled the main drag, would drive right past it.
Her stomach quivered as she stepped out of her car. Time felt like it slowed as she put one foot in front of the other. The door loomed in front of her but she could not bring herself to grab the handle.
“You’re overreacting,” she told herself. “It’s just a bar.”
But the problem was that it wasn’t just any bar, but the place where Luke hung out. People would know him there and they didn’t know her. She had no idea what type of reception she could expect.
The door swung open suddenly, and she jumped back, startled.
“Sorry,” said a leather-clad biker. A woman hung off his arm.
“It’s okay,” said Emily. Screwing up her courage she walked inside. People milled about or sat at booths that lined the walls. In the center was the bar. She walked toward it feeling like she walked as carefully as she would on broken glass. Deciding to sit at the bar, she took an empty stool. A thin, dark-haired man moved quickly from one end of the bar to the other, pouring drinks and handing them off. For some reason, he reminded her of Saks.
“What will you have, miss?”
“A ginger ale.”
His eyebrows rose. “Not a drinker.”
“Not now.”
“Then you waiting on someone?”
“Yeah, I guess you can say that. Has Luke Wade been in tonight?”
The bartender smiled. “Luke? Well, I don’t expect him tonight. He’s got a shindig going over at his shop. They are opening a new clubhouse he built there.”
“Oh,” said Emily. “I guess I’m in the wrong place then.”
“I wouldn’t say that. If you hung around, a looker like you wouldn’t be lonely long.”
Emily smiled faintly. “Thanks. But I have to go.”
“Well, come back any time.”
“Thanks.” She walked out of the bar more disappointed than ever. There was so much about Luke’s life she didn’t know anything about. That bartender acted like women asked about Luke all the time, and they probably did. And why wouldn’t they. Luke was a handsome man and any woman would want him. She got in her car and sat inside, fighting the tears in her eyes. It’s only been three months, but he seemed to have moved on just fine.
Why couldn’t she?
She loved him that was why. She’d never been able to move on, not since high school and definitely not now. She hugged her stomach. In her mind she cradled in her arms the reminder of how much she loved Luke. If this child was all she could have of Luke, then that would have to be enough. She knew then that giving this child up was not an option. She was keeping him… or her.
Maybe one day she’d find a way to move on.
But not until after she confronted the bastard who broke her heart.
Her stomach rumbled, and she started to feel sick because she hadn’t eaten. Reluctantly, she pulled over to a fast food restaurant and went through the drive-thru for a burger and a soda. Parking in the parking lot she took a bite of her burger and immediately lost her appetite.
“What’s wrong, kid,” she said, patting her stomach, “don’t like hamburgers?”
Her mother had told her and her sister how when she was pregnant what she wanted to eat was different for each child. With Emily she craved fatty foods but with Angela all she wanted was salads.
“Well, you’ll have to put up with it. I don’t have time or money to get something else. That’s something you’ll have to get used to, kid. We’ll never be a rich family."
Emily’s stomach settled as the first sips of her Coke and bites of her burger went down. Gradually she felt better. She could see she’d have to be more careful in her diet from now on. She hadn’t seen Luke in three months so she had to be almost through her first trimester. She was going to need to see a doctor and get an OB. She’d have to figure everything out. She could do it on her own, she’d be fine.
Feeling stronger and better than she had in a long time, she started the car.
The last few miles to Luke’s shop seemed to take forever. She turned on the radio and the song playing reminded her of her relationship with Luke. The words spoke of a love confused by a lack of communication. It pleaded for the other person to say something so the singer didn’t have to guess what was going on. It struck Emily that she was guilty of this. She failed all her life to say or do what she really wanted.
Emily knew instinctively why she’d done this. If she tried to say what she felt, or what she wanted, she got shut down immediately by her parents. Maybe it was, as her mom said, a misguided effort to protect her. But it was wrong, an injustice she felt from her earliest years. What were they afraid of? That she’d turn out like a father she never knew?
She sighed. She was going to stop blaming others and start moving forward on her own.
She wouldn’t let what happened to her happen to her child. She’d love everything about him or her, good and bad. She’d love the child enough for two parents, if she had to.
She spied the sign for Luke’s shop and turned into the parking lot. Looking around, she saw some people walking toward the back of the building. Emily parked her car and followed them.
People seemed gathered to the left of the building. Long-haired bikers with beards in leather cuts and jackets leaned against a Quonset hut with paper plates of food in hand. Women sat at picnic tables set to the left. Emily looked around but did not see Luke.
She didn’t see Saks either, which she thought was strange. Finally, she noticed a man who was with Luke at Gibs’ funeral. He tended the fire pit, cutting off pieces from the pig spit-roasted there. Emily grabbed a paper plate and waited in line until she got to the pit.
He looked at her with surprise. “Emily? What’re you doing here?”
“I’m looking for Luke.”
“He’s not here.”
“But I was told—"
The man took the plate from her hand roughly and leaned toward her.
“You NEED to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Luke doesn’t want you here,” the man hissed. “Now leave, before I make you.”
“I need to speak to Luke,” said Emily angrily. “I’m not leaving—”
“What’s going on here?” asked a rough voice behind her. He stepped around so Emily could see him.
“An uninvited guest, Aces.”
The large man’s eyes traveled over her body licentiously. She didn’t like the looks of him with his scraggily hair and beard. The patches on his leather vest looked nasty too.
“I don’t know, Pepper. She looks pretty inviting to me.”
“I think I’ll leave now,” Emily said, feeling a prickling sensation at the back of her neck. She understood what Pepper was trying to warn her about a moment earlier. Aces was trouble. A bigger, badder version of Evan.
“Don’t go. I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Aces,” said Pepper in a desperate voice, “Luke won’t like it. He used to go with her.”
“Well, the operative words are ‘used to’ aren’t they, Pepper?”
“Listen,” said Emily, hating the fear trembling inside of her. “I just need to talk to Luke. I’ll come by the shop later.” She tried to move past Aces.
He grabbed her arm roughly. “I say, you’re staying.”
She wrenched her arm out of his grasp just as the sound of Harleys rumbled into the parking lot. Everyone turned to the sound. Ten Hispanic men and bikes streamed through the gate.
“Fuck!” called Aces. “Rojos! Everyone, get into the clubhouse.”
Pepper grabbed Emily’s hand and ran with her to the clubhouse. He pulled a chair out for her to sit on. The room was dark, lit only by blue neon spots that washed the curved walls. More light came from the bar, lit overhead by a row of modern black track lights that shown into the mirrored wall. Glass shelves where hung across the front of the mirror that held various bottles of liquor. Further into the room were three pool tables and a huge painting of the Hades’ Spawn club patch. Only, it was different from what Emily saw before.
Pepper looked out the door. Two other men crowded next to him with guns in their hands.
“What’s going on, Pepper?”
“Aces is talking to them.”
“Fuck you!” called Aces and the men on bikes drew their guns. He turned and ran into the building, breathing hard. “Shut the fucking door!”
“What’s going on, Aces?” said Pepper.
“Fucking Rojos! That’s Waterbury and Westfield out there. They’ve got Saks, and they say they’ll kill him if we don’t back off.”
“Fuck them!” said one of the other men. "What do we care? He left the club."
“My sentiments, Dagger,” said the other guy holding a gun. “But we can’t let them disrespect the club, and right now that's what they are doing.”
“We won’t,” said Aces grimly. “Ladies, get to the back of the club behind the pool tables, and whatever you do, keep your heads down. You, you, you, and you,” Aces said, pointing to some other bikers as the women moved to the back of the clubhouse. “Go out the back, circle around and cover the flanks. Dagger and Flint,” he said, pointing to two others, get to the roof and give us some cover. We’re going to give these fuckers a lesson they’ll never forget.”
Aces stopped and looked at Emily. “What are you waiting for, sweetheart? Bullets are going to start flying any minute. You don’t want to be in the fucking line of fire. Get your pretty ass over by the pool tables!”
Emily winced as he spoke to her. She knew she was in shock. It felt like being rocketed back to Gibs’ house only months before. She couldn’t move.
Pepper ran over and pulled her to her feet, pushing her toward the other women. “Keep your head down, Emily. This isn’t a joke.”