Then we’re on old asphalt, crumbling on the edges, and coursing alongside the forest.
This is the long way around before returning to the highway and solitary. I reach in my pocket and shove an earbud in to ring Two-Shit.
He picks up immediately. “Something’s up,” he says like he knows.
“Nearly got run off the road. Dropping a pin to my location.” I punch Google Maps and send it to him.
“Got it. We’ll be at the end of that road for backup. Just keep trucking.”
We ride along the empty stretch in the woods. Marietta holds me tightly. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but we can’t talk easily over the roar. I reach down and squeeze her arm.
My ears rush with the adrenaline of the near miss. That was the Kin, no doubt, and somehow, they knew who we were and where we would be.
Fuck those meth heads.
They will not get Marietta.
Maybe I’ll be collecting dead bodies after all.
CHAPTER 33
MARIETTA
I’ve never been so terrified in my life.
My relief is incredible when we get to the highway again and are met by all four Wild Hair who were at the college.
We ride in formation back to the club rather than the bar. I’m not surprised. This was a big deal. Nobody is safe.
When we pull up, I spot Adam on the roof. He stares at me from his position, gun in hand.
I can feel his concern pouring down. He cares. He doesn’t know what’s happened to Merrick. Or with me. Everyone assumes I’m still as I always was, the virgin mouse.
Merrick staying at the club has been attributed to the patrols. And I’m so busy working in the kitchen and hallways that nobody realizes I’m sleeping in Merrick’s room.
But Carol comes back today, and she might notice what Betz and Celia haven’t. Or maybe not, with the new baby.
It’s probably time to say something.
Merrick heads inside, turning to make sure I follow. I hurry to catch up. Betz looks up from a magazine as we enter the living room. “What’s got everyone so serious?” She sits up.
“I’ll make drinks,” I say, heading to the kitchen.
But Iron Jack meets us in the hall. “I want the mouse with us,” he says. “All club members not on patrol need to come.”
I walk alongside Merrick as Two-Shit and Fancy pound on doors, announcing the emergency meeting.
Betz and Celia rush to the kitchen to put something together. It’s weird watching them do all the work after weeks of it falling on me.
Merrick takes his spot in the corner.
Iron Jack sits at one end, watching people filter in. “Chain, take Stoney’s spot. As sergeant-at-arms, you will fill the role of vice president on the decisions we make today. Two-Shit, as enforcer, go ahead and take on the arms duty. Outfit everybody.”
There’s a rumbling at this pronouncement as if it’s not usual.
I wish I could take notes for my thesis. I’ll have to commit it all to memory. I can’t believe I’m here.
I’m not sure where to go, so I stand against the back wall. For the first time, I realize this room has no windows. There’s a door to the hall and a door behind Iron Jack, and that’s it. I wonder what the other door is. It can’t be to the outside. There’s no matching entrance on the exterior wall. It must be some sort of closet.
