She was quiet as she stared at me. A police car went by the window with its siren screaming, and we both turned our heads. Johnny’s phone rang, and I listened as he talked to whoever was on the line.
“Now?” he asked.
I watched his body language. I’d gotten to know Johnny really well in the year since he’d been watching over me. He was relaxed. There was almost a smile on his face.
“Yeah, I’ll tell her. We’ll meet you there.” Johnny looked at me and his smile widened. “Okay, on our way.”
He hung up, and I waited to hear the news.
“Maureen is in labor. Her water broke in church, and King and Ravage took her to the hospital. We need to go.”
I stood up and looked at Karlyn. “Are you coming with me?” I wasn’t sure she wanted to be anywhere near me. But after a moment of silence on her end, she nodded.
“If that’s where Jackson is, I’ll go.”
I nodded, understanding that whatever chance we could have had at a friendship was gone. It was my fault. And it was the reason I had never shared my story with any of the old ladies.
Especially Beck.
They were too important to me to share my shame with. I didn’t want to lose them too. I went up to the counter, and Trudy waved me away, telling me to get to the hospital and let her know as soon as the baby was born.
I turned to walk out the door, and that was when I heard it. The same sound as a few nights back when I was talking to Jude at the bar. Trudy’s window shattered, and I froze when I saw Johnny drop to the floor.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jingles
I watched as a few of my brothers filed out of the clubhouse to protect Grace and Karlyn while they had coffee and got to know each other. I still couldn’t believe she was here. She was just a kid the last time I saw her. I’d recognized Ink when he was here with Massacre, but that was a past life. Before the club.
Before I’d found the Silver Shadows.
I was a different person then. I lived a different life. It was not long after I’d left home. I headed south and stopped in Alabama for the night. It was pure dumb luck that I’d run into Karl Ingalls Sr.
I’d met him not long before at a fundraiser my parents were involved with. He’d insisted I stay with them. That was when I met Ink and Karlyn.
Through Ink I had met Joanna.
God, she was beautiful. Only sixteen to my nineteen, but being the stupid kid that I was, I gave in to lust. I’d had no business getting involved with her. She’d ignited something in me that burned hot and fast, and when the condom broke, I stuck around long enough to make sure there were no consequences. Joanna had assured me she’d gotten her period. She wasn’t pregnant. We’d dodged a bullet.
Then I got the hell out of Dodge!
But she’d fucking lied.
Now I had a daughter out there somewhere. Karlyn believed she would be hidden too deep to find. But I would find her. I’d tear this world apart until I found my child.
Fuck, I didn’t even know where to fucking start. No, I’d start with Nav. He could find anything and anyone. And if he couldn’t, I’d call the Twisted Dragons. Calling them would be a last fucking resort, though.
“Hey, Jingles! You seen Karlyn?” Sypher asked as I walked toward church. Whenever he was here, they worked in church rather than Nav’s office.
“She’s at Trudy’s with Grace. Beck already called Johnny. They will meet us at the hospital. Let’s go.”
Sypher’s head snapped to Nav, and he said, “I’ll break into the town’s feed. You’ve got Trudy’s place.”
I watched as the two of them shut down, their heads dipped low over the keyboard as their fingers flew. It was like watching two robots programmed to work in sync. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Hang on,” Nav muttered.
“Oh shit,” Sypher breathed, his eyes wide, glued to his screen.
