I shifted on the seat. “Kings wouldn’t have been your enemy if I hadn’t brought them to the fight.”
He snapped his gaze over to me. “We take care of each other. That’s why you prospect, to prove you’re willing to stand up with your brothers, no matter the enemy. And no matter who starts the fight, we finish it.” His tone took on a hard edge. “We don’t look for trouble, but it always seems to find us.”
Maybe I did belong with these guys. I’d been in trouble most of my life. I thought those days were behind me, but maybe I was just done fighting alone. And the half-dressed asshole next to me had jumped into the fight first.
“Leave Ryatt back in the trap house.” Cruz leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes. “The MC custom is for your sponsor to give you your road name.”
“Fuck.” Here it came. Surprisingly, I didn’t hate Rizz, at least I assumed that’s the name he’d choose since he’d been referring to me as Rizz on the reg. He could’ve called me something to put me in my place when it came to McKelle and the Hellers. Something like Second Choice, PO, or Zippy because I rode an R1.
Or at least I used to. Now I had a two hundred dollars a month payment, and no bike. I might not have much to my name, but I had a chance at something good. “I’m all in.”
All in with the Hellers with Cruz as my sponsor, and all in with McKelle with Cruz somewhere between us.
McKelle
Curled on my side in Cruz’s bed, I stared at the screen of my phone. As soon as it went black with inactivity, I touched the screen to wake it up again, the only light in the darkened room.
I toggled between text threads from Ryatt and Cruz, hoping one of them would start showing bubbles. If Cruz had found Ryatt, he would’ve let me know. Romeo and Dozer hadn’t come back either so that had to mean they were still looking for him.
A knock sounded on the door. “Yeah?”
Kiss poked her head in. “Can I come in?”
I nodded, sat up on the bed, and held Cruz’s cut in my lap. She climbed onto the bed next to me. She didn’t ask what was wrong, or why Cruz wasn’t wearing his cut, she just pulled me close.
And I broke. My body heaved as tears filled my eyes, and fear stripped me bare. I couldn’t stop the deluge of emotions from overwhelming me.
Kiss combed her fingers through my hair. “Blue wants to kill Cruz.”
Still clutching my phone in my hand, I jerked up. “Why? Has he heard something? Did they find Ryatt?” I opened my text thread. Still nothing.
“Hmm. So, we definitely jumped to the wrong conclusions.” She twisted on the bed and faced me. “Cruz isn’t here, and you’re crying in his room. We assumed he’d fucked up again.”
I wiped tears from my cheek as I shook my head. “No. We’re good.” I talked to Kiss about everything. She knew Ryatt and I had started something. I’d been at meetings with him. And I knew Ryatt talked to her. They bonded in NA. Ryatt took his responsibility as her sober sponsor seriously. However, she didn’t know anything about this situation.
My lips trembled. “It’s Ryatt. I’m scared, Kiss.” Cruz wouldn’t want me to involve Kiss because she’d talk to Blue, and he’d get involved. Ryatt would hate to be judged, especially by Hellers. Like Cruz, he had the same hunger for the patch. He needed to belong.
I’d been so stupid. It took Ryatt for me to realize just how much the MC meant to Cruz.
Anxiety coiled in my gut, wrapped around my bones, and slipped like ice through my veins. Every part of me was beyond terrified.
“You can’t say anything to Blue.”
“I won’t, but you never have to worry about Blue. He’s loyal, McKelle. He’d never betray you, not even to the Hellers.”
I knew this. Blue protected Kiss over anything and anyone. She never had to wonder if he’d be there for her. I wanted what she had. I wanted love, loyalty, and tenderness with Ryatt, but I’d never be okay without the raw, sick kind of love I had with Cruz. Right now, I just wanted Ryatt to be okay.
“Ryatt’s in trouble,” I whispered.
“What kind of trouble?”
“Promise, Kiss? Promise you won’t say anything to anyone.” I needed someone to tell me everything would be okay, that Cruz would find Ryatt, and the Kings would never know Hellers were involved.
I blinked tears from my eyes. “Washington Street Kings have a hit out on him. It’s bad. I haven’t heard from him since this morning.”
I checked the time on my phone. The MC would be thinning out. Steele and Seven would have the bar shut down. Even if Ryatt found a way here, there wouldn’t be anyone in the parking lot to let him through the security fence. Not that it would matter. He’d already be here if the Kings didn’t have him.
“Romeo, Cruz, and Dozer rode off to find him.” I ran my fingers over the patch on the back of Cruz’s cut. “Kings think Ryatt’s a narc. They’ll kill him when they find him.”
