“Jinx, this is my mom, Brie. She’s usually the sane one in the family.” Bekkett bent and kissed his mother’s cheek.
“Hello, Jinx. It’s lovely to meet you. Come in. Have the two of you eaten?
THE NEXT DAY...
Viking looked over at Jinx riding shotgun in his pickup. He’d been a little stunned at the easy capitulation of her going with him. He’d never been one to look a gift horse in the face and wouldn’t start with Jinx.
“I know it’s hard to tell, but did anything stand out as being gone or moved?” he asked.
She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked tired. Viking wanted to beat the fuck out of the bastard for making her feel as if her world had crumbled.
Jinx shifted in the seat so she could look at him. “My clothes didn’t appear like they’d been touched. I have like two dozen black shirts and about the same amount of black jeans. Um, I noticed the sheets I stripped off the bed the night before were gone. I meant to throw them in the washing machine, but I hadn’t gotten around to it before we’d left. It was on my to-do list when I got home. I looked for them when I was packing a bag, so that I could wash them while I got ready. They were nowhere to be found. Why would he take them?”
Viking’s fingers turned white as he held the wheel. “What kind of sick fuck wants to get up close and personal with our dirty sheets?”
“That’s the ten-million-dollar question,” she replied.
“Too bad we didn’t have a disease they could get by touching our jizz.” He grimaced.
“That is really nasty. Other than that, I didn’t see anything missing. If he took a pair of panties, I didn’t notice.”
“That pisses me off. The thought some bastard spent an hour rifling through your things disgusts me.”
“Well, if he’d hoped to find some sex toys or home videos, he’d only find the first,” she said.
His eyes narrowed. The thought of Jinx using toys on herself made his dick hard. He shifted his mind to other things, compartmentalizing to keep on track. “Keys said to ask if you can make a list of anyone you can think of who you might’ve pissed off. Even if you don’t think they’d be capable, put them on the list. Did you take a parking spot someone wanted? Put their name on the list. Did you cut in front of Molly Jane at Costco? Put her on the list.You get the idea. He said a comprehensive list will give him a place to start.”
Jinx pulled out her phone, opened up the Notes app, and stared at the glowing screen in front of her. He reached over and panted her thigh. “We have a ten-hour drive. I thought we’d break it up and stay overnight halfway between, so we don’t look like roadkill when we show up at the clubhouse. You don’t have to do it right this instant, Vakker.”
“I know, but I thought if I started, I’d have some names come to me. Honestly, I can’t think of a single person I’ve pissed off. Well, aside from the douchebags the other night at the bar. I take that back. There’s usually at least one asshole who gets mad at me at some point during the weekend. It’s literally a ritual. They always come back and buy me a drink the next day or next week. None of them is malicious. I’ve had a few bad eggs like those you met, but honestly, I can’t picture any of them as a psycho.”
“Put all their names down. We’ll check them off one by one. Trust me, Keys has a program that can find out everything, even shit they thought was hidden.”
They stopped at a small motel several hours later. He ordered pizza and breadsticks. She amazed him as she ate four slices of pie plus three pieces of the sticks, smothered in sauce. His woman kept him on his toes with her wit and sense of humor. After eating the pizza naked on the bed, he made love to her twice, then fell asleep with Jinx in his arms. When he woke with her warm weight on his arm, he’d been stunned to find he didn’t feel the crushing weight of loss and depression.
He let out a breath of relief, looking up at the ceiling, thinking of his beautiful daughter, Sarah. He’d always love and miss her. Viking placed his hand on his heart. Jinx lay over the right side of his chest, while Sarah’s memory lay beneath his left, inside where nobody could see. For the first time, he thought he could go on and live without thoughts of joining his baby girl.
“Hey,” Jinx said.
He rubbed her back, reaching his arm across his chest, holding her in his arms. “Sleep. We have a few hours before we gotta hit the road.”
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
“Yeah.” He said the word he’d answered a hundred times before when people asked how he was doing, only this time, he didn’t lie.
They got up and hit the road, driving the rest of the way down to Santa Clarita. Viking didn’t hurry, taking time to stop and see differing sights along the way with Jinx. He’d never gone on vacation with a woman before. While a ten-hour drive split over two days might not be a dream trip, he wanted to make it memorable for both of them.
Jinx smiled as they drove. Her eyes lost the tightness that had settled over them from the moment they’d realized the fire was tied to her.
“We’re almost there,” he said, reaching over to take her hand.
“I saw the signs.” She squeezed his fingers.
“They’ll love you.” He tried to reassure her. They rode into the Royal MC clubhouse. The bone-tired feeling he’d been fighting left him the moment he saw the huge iron gates with the skull and motorcycle etched in the large oval center. The crown atop the skull symbolizes the Royal MC. When the gates open, the crown went one way, theskull the other. One of their prospects manned the gatehouse. Viking wore his cut, but the prospect, being a smart man, double-checked Bekkett’s ID against the approved log. Once he cleared security, the gate opened, allowing him to continue.
“Wow, this is pretty intense. Why all the security?” Jinx asked.
Viking nodded at the homes they passed. “Our Prez and his family live here, along with the VP and his family and several other high-ranking members. We have a lot of money tied up in our club, and we’ve made some interesting friends in low places. We also have some big names inside these walls. Shit ain’t what it always seems.”
