“And who is this bitch?” Copper asked the million dollar question.
I growled, “Reese Walker.”
Copper rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, “That doesn’t sound like Reesie Piecie.”
Suddenly, something occurred to me. “Wait a minute. I thought you were keeping an eye on her. How the fuck could you not tell me about my son?” I yelled, causing the baby to cry.
“Duke!” My Aunt Leigh, Judge’s mom, scolded when she heard us yelling and the baby crying. When did she arrive? She plucked the baby from my arms, grabbed the diaper bag from the floor, and announced, “We’ll just be down the hall so you boys can finish sorting things out.”
“I’ll let that one slide, but you watch your tone. You’re in my clubhouse and you will show me respect. Now, before you go digging a hole you can’t climb out of, I didn’t know about the baby. None of us did. We did watch her, but we couldn’t ever get close to her.”
“You couldn’t tell she was pregnant? You didn’t see the freaking baby?” I questioned. This shit was unbelievable.
“I know it sounds crazy, but we had no idea she was pregnant and we never saw the baby. She must have known we were checking up on her. She always parked in the garage and closed the door before she got out. She’s got tint on her windows, so we couldn’t see anything in the back seat,” he explained.
I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. I looked at the ground and pinched the bridge of my nose. I could feel a headache coming on. Ever since my attack, I would get severe headaches from time to time. My doctor said they were likely brought on by stress. Guess he was right.
Copper pulled his phone from his pocket. “Excuse me,” he said, before disappearing down a hallway.
“Did you talk to anybody before you left? Carbon or Phoenix?” Judge asked.
“No, and fuck Carbon. You guys may not have known, but there is no way she managed to keep that shit from Carbon,” I spat. My anger was ramping up, which meant my head was pounding harder.
“Don’t jump to conclusions. Carbon hasn’t been back to Devil Springs since he left with Reese after their family was murdered. When they came back, she went to live with their grandmother and he moved to Croftridge with Phoenix and the rest of you.”
“Bullshit. You guys have had our club up here for parties many times since then.”
“Yeah, but think back, Carbon didn’t come to a single one. He would go visit Reese and their grandmother in Reedy Fork whenever we had a party. Reese missing is probably the only thing that could get him to come back here and I have a bad feeling that we’re about to test that theory,” Judge said.
“You really think she’s missing?” I asked. I wasn’t sure that I believed that yet. Or, maybe I didn’t want to believe it.
I didn’t notice that Copper had returned until he chimed in, “I tried to call her, but her phone is going straight to voicemail. I sent Batta and Tiny to ride out to her house and see if she was there or if anything seemed out of place. I checked with her boss and she did show up at work today. Said she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but Reese did ask if she could leave an hour early.”
I dropped down to the sofa. I was exhausted and my head was not letting up. I needed to at least get off of my feet for a bit. “You’ll have to excuse me, my circuits are overloaded at the moment. What exactly are you getting at?”
“I think something happened to Reese between when she got off work and when you received the call from the daycare. Spazz, see if you can get into her phone records, maybe get a location. We need to call Carbon and Phoenix. Duke, it’s your choice. I’ll be happy to make that call for you.”
“Thanks, Copper, but I think I should be the one to call Carbon. He’s going to lose his shit, so if you could wait a few minutes and then give Phoenix a call, that would be helpful.”
“No problem. You can go in my office if you want some privacy,” he offered.
I sat down in his office and took in a deep breath. I did not want to make this call. I raised the phone to my ear and waited.
“Duke, what’s happenin’, brother?” Carbon answered.
I cleared my throat, “Carbon, man, um, I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it. I was called to Devil Springs today to pick up my son from daycare because his mother didn’t show up to get him. I think something has happened to Reese.”
I was met with a few beats of silence before he exploded. “WHAT? What the fuck, Duke? Your son? My sister? You better be fucking with me. I’m gonna kick your ass either way, but you better not be speaking the truth to me right now!!” he roared.
Well, he took that about as well as I expected. “Look, I didn’t know about him until today. So, be pissed, flip your shit, whatever. Just get your ass up here!”
He didn’t say anything. I could hear him breathing, heavily, but he remained silent. Finally, he choked out, “I can’t,” and then the line went dead.
Copper entered his office with his phone to his ear. “Yeah, he’s right here, hang on.” He handed his phone to me, “It’s Phoenix.”
“Prez,” I mumbled into the phone.
“Duke, brother, we’re heading out now and Carbon will be coming with us, willingly or not. Hang in there, brother.”
