Ridin' Dirty: An Outlaw Author Anthology (OAMC Book 1) (46 page)

It wasn’t until after Mary found out about it and confronted him, that she finally confessed that she’d had another miscarriage, and that it was the reason she’d pushed him away and put up a wall between them.

He’d been devastated, filled with remorse and regret and crushed by guilt. Not only for not being there for her and not going through it with her, but also for letting her push him away without a fight, for not forcing her to tell him what was wrong between them.

It had taken them a lot of work to rebuild what they’d lost, but they had. They’d come so far.

So how could she throw it all away?

And how could he ever live without her?

Suddenly, he felt the blood drain from his face. Oh, God. Was it possible she’d had another miscarriage? Jesus Christ, he had to find her.

He surged to his feet. “I’ve got to go look for her.”

“Yeah, but where?” Cole asked him.

“I don’t know, but I’ve got to find her.”

Cole grabbed his shoulder. “All right. We’ll find her, Dog. I promise. If we have to get everybody out lookin’—”

They were interrupted by Red Dog’s ringtone. He yanked it out of his pocket, praying it was Mary. Glancing down at the screen, he saw it was Crash.

He put him on speaker. “Yeah?”

“What the hell did you do? It’s Saturday morning, which means I should be in bed with my wife’s legs wrapped around me. Instead, I’m up making my own damn coffee, while your wife is upstairs complaining to mine about you. So again, I ask, what the hell did you do?”

Dog felt relief surge through him. “I’ll be right over. Don’t let her leave.”

He jammed his phone in his pocket and headed for his bike.

“Let’s roll, boys,” Cole ordered.

“You don’t have to come along. Think I can take it from here,” Red Dog said as he strapped on his helmet.

Cole chuckled. “And miss seeing you grovel? No way in hell.”

Red Dog rolled his eyes. “Asshole.”

“That’s what brothers are for, Dog. Always here to laugh and point when you’re getting your nose rubbed in it.”

“Fucking hell. Let’s go, then.”

The four bikes roared off down the street, headed toward Oakland.

Forty miles later, they pulled up to a brick two-story building that had once been a manufacturing company. In old peeling paint on the side were the words,
Amalgamated Machine Works
, and below it in smaller script were the words,
Machining Since 1885
.

They parked at the curb near a garage door in the side of the building.

Knowing the place was locked up like a fortress, Red Dog pulled out his phone and called Crash. “You want to raise the garage door for us?”

“That depends. Did you bring donuts?”

“No, I didn’t bring fucking donuts, asshole. Let me in.”

“Nope. Not without donuts. The good kind.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Serious as a heart attack, bro.” 

Dog pulled his phone away from his face and stared down at it. “He fucking hung up on me.”

“What’s the matter?”

“The motherfucker wants me to bring him donuts.”

That got a snicker from Wolf and a snort from Cole.

“I could go for a donut,” Green remarked, a glazed over look on his face. “The chocolate frosted kind with sprinkles.”

Their gazes all swung to him.

He refocused his eyes on them. “What? I like sprinkles. Sue me.”

Dog whipped out a twenty and shoved it at him. “Run down the street and get a fucking dozen, then get your ass back here pronto.”

“What? Me?”

“Just fucking do it.”

Ten minutes later, only when Dog assured Crash that he had chocolate frosted payment in hand, did the steel door slowly roll up deeming them entry into what the boys lovingly referred to as
The Batcave
.

Dog eyed the black ’68 Plymouth GTX parked in the ground-floor garage. Mary’s car, the one he’d bought her for her birthday a couple years back. With its 375 horse power big block, 440 cubic inch V-8 engine under the hood, it was a much sought after muscle car and seriously impressive out on the open road. Of course, what Mary loved about it was its sleek lines; shiny 14” rally wheels and its pretty black paint job.

His son, on the other hand, loved
all
those things and seriously had his heart set on assuming the keys when he turned sixteen in about fourteen months.

Gazing in the backseat, Dog noticed it was packed full.

Fucking hell.

The men loaded onto the metal freight elevator, Cole slamming the gate shut and throwing the lever that had the shaky contraption ascending slowly, the brick wall sliding past them visible through the iron bars. The old thing creaked and groaned as it slowly rose.

Red Dog glanced back to see Green had the box open and half a donut already eaten, chocolate glaze all over his face. “Seriously?”

“What?” Green asked around a mouthful. “I was hungry.”

Cole barely threw the lever into the stop position before Dog was flinging the gate open with a bang and charging out. The others followed him, stepping into Crash’s loft.

Crash had remodeled the old building into an eclectic industrial loft. The walls were brick; the ceilings were a good thirty feet high with exposed iron beams and skylights staggered between them at intervals. The floor was a polished concrete.

There was a pool table to the left, a light hanging over it, beyond that was an open kitchen with a huge granite island. Funky industrial pendant lights hung over it. Across, off to the right was a large U-shaped sectional sofa, a coffee table and a couple of overstuffed chairs grouped around a thick brightly colored area rug that gave the place some color.

Dog moved past the pool table to the granite island where Crash stood sipping on a cup of coffee.

“Where is she?” Dog barked.

Crash eyed him calmly and then asked, “You bring donuts?”

Dog reached back, snatched the box out of Green’s hands and tossed it on the island with a bang.

Crash eyed it and grinned, taking another sip of coffee.

“You gonna tell me where my Goddamn wife is?” Dog growled.

“You calm your ass down, I will.” Crash’s eyes slid to the side and Dog’s followed.

Billy, Dog’s son, sat on the sectional, his back slumped against the backrest, and Crash’s three year old daughter bouncing on his lap, her fists held in both his hands. He was laughing at her.

Dog’s eyes took in his son, realizing just how grown up he was getting. His lanky frame was already starting to show signs of his father’s long legs, tall height and broad shoulders. He’d inherited his mother’s dark silky hair that now was beginning to grow past his collar. He wore it tucked behind his ears, and Dog knew it was because he wanted to grow it out. He also had his mother’s vivid green eyes.

He was fourteen now, that age when a boy started to become a man, an age when he needed his father more than ever. And Dog had no intention of letting him down. He would keep this family together no matter what the cost.

“You need to calm down before you talk to her. Take a breath. Your son is watching, bro.”

Dog ran a hand down his face and blew out a breath.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.”

Green picked up a glass pitcher from the island and sniffed it. “Mmm. Mimosas.” Then he moved to the cabinet to take down a glass.

“Help yourself, why don’t ya?” Crash offered sarcastically.

“Thanks, don’t mind if I do,” Green replied, already pouring one. He took a big chug from his glass and grinned. “Breakfast of champions.”

Crash shook his head at Green and looked back at Dog. He held up a set of car keys. “Your boy was smart. Wouldn’t let her drive. She wanted to go to Albuquerque. What the fuck’s in Albuquerque, Dog?”

“Fuck if I know.”

“Billy drove here instead. She was pissed. Tried to get the keys from him. I took them and put a stop to that. She’s up on the roof. Shannon is talking to her.”

Dog took the keys. “Thanks.”

He moved to stand next to his son. As he crossed the space, he vowed silently to himself that he would keep this family together no matter what the cost. It was a promise he sealed with a hand to his son’s shoulder and a kiss to the top of his head. Yeah, he was a big bad biker, but he loved his son and wasn’t afraid to show it.

Billy looked up. “She’s pissed, Dad.”

Dog nodded. “I know.”

“You gonna fix it?”

“I’m gonna fix it.”

“Promise?”

“You got my word, Son.”

“I do not want to live with Grandma Wu. I mean I love her and all, but…”

“I know, Son. That’s not gonna happen.”

“You sure? Cause it’s lookin’ that way.”

“How’d you end up here?” Dog asked, wanting to hear his son’s version.

“She’d left me over there last night, so she could go out. She showed up early this morning and woke me up. Gram and Gramps weren’t even up yet. Dragged me outside, had the car already loaded with shit and everything.”

Dog frowned. “Where the hell was she going?”

Billy shook his head. “I could tell she’d been drinking, so I took the keys from her. She threatened to leave if I didn’t give them back. Said she’d just start walking. I didn’t know what to do, so I got behind the wheel. Told her I’d drive her wherever she wanted to go if she’d just get in the passenger seat and stop trying to grab the keys. She finally did, and we got up on the interstate.”

“You don’t even have your permit yet,” Dog reminded him of something he knew the boy didn’t need reminding of.

“I know how to drive, Dad.”

“And where the hell did she want to go?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure if she even knew. She told me to drive to Albuquerque.”

“Albuquerque? What the hell’s in Albuquerque?”

Billy shrugged again. “Hell…” he glanced at the Crash’s daughter. “I mean, heck if I know. I think it was the first thing that popped in her head. I drove her here instead. Boy was she pissed about that.” He shook his head. “Figured Crash could help me settle her down until you showed back up. I didn’t know what else to do, Dad.”

“You did good, Son. You did the smart thing.” He patted his shoulder. “Did she seem sad to you?”

Billy frowned. “No. Just pissed. Why?”

Dog shook his head. “Never mind, just trying to figure out what this is about.”

“You gonna fix this? ‘Cause now she’s pissed at
both
of us.”

“Don’t worry, Son. I got this.” They stared at each other. “You okay here for a minute?”

Billy, already wise beyond his years, lifted his chin toward the door to the rooftop, a slight grin pulling at his mouth. “Gonna take more than a minute, Dad, and we both know it.”

Dog swiveled his head, following the direction of his son’s gaze, and then he grinned back. “True.”

Billy’s eyes returned to the child bouncing on his belly.

“She likes you, huh?” Dog asked, squatting down and nodding toward Crash’s child.

Billy lifted her up in the air over his head, and she squealed. “She’s my best girl, aren’t you, punkin’?”

When he dropped her back down, she pleaded in her baby voice, “Do it again. Do it again.”

He tossed her up again to a fit of giggles.

Dog rubbed the top of his son’s head and rose to his feet, his knees cracking. “Be back in a second.”

“Yeah, sure. A second.” Neither of them believed
that
lie. They exchanged a smile, and Dog moved off toward the stairs that led to the roof.

As Dog walked out onto the rooftop that overlooked the city and the Bay Bridge in the distance, Mary twisted to look from her seat on one of a pair of Adirondack chairs. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”

Dog strolled over to her. “How do you think?”

“My mother?”

Dog grinned down at her. “Told you before, she likes me better than you.”

“How could she know where I was?
I
didn’t even know I was coming here.” Her eyes narrowed. “Did our son call you?”

“Nope. Guess again.”

“Crash. He ratted me out?”

“You think he wouldn’t?”

She rolled her eyes and glared over at Shannon, who sat in the chair next to her, as if it were her fault.

“Babe, don’t be giving her the evil eye. None of this is her fault.”

“That’s right. It’s yours. Now, get out. I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

Red Dog looked over at Shannon. “Can you give me a minute with my ol’ lady?”

She stood to leave. “Of course.”

Mary grabbed her arm. “Don’t you dare leave.”