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“Your dad is swamped with work right now. Cut him some slack, okay? Once whatever is going on with that is over, then he’ll be around more,” I say. “Adults don’t get summers off like you do, buddy. I promise your dad wants to spend time with you just like I do but we have to work so that we can provide a good life for you.”

“I…” he pauses. “I just don’t want him to leave us, I guess.”

I halt my steps and reach out grabbing his arm, stopping him.

“Your dad isn’t going to leave you or me, Ryder,” I tell him. “He’d move heaven and earth to keep us close, okay.”

His eyes drop down to the ground before he looks up at me again then shakes his head. “He was supposed to come today,” Ryder admits, with hurt in his voice.

“I’m sure there is a very important reason as to why he couldn’t make it,” I defend, hoping I’m not setting him up for a crash and burn.

Rhett told me about a threat to the club and that we needed to always have a member or prospect when we leave. He hasn’t gone into a lot of detail but from what Sutton and Raegan have spilled over wine, it has to do with the cult Sutton’s dad was involved in. Rhett and I are sitting down tonight to talk about all the details and why we have to have a shadow to leave the compound until this is all resolved.

“Good game tonight, Ryder!” one of the dads says as he and his son pass by. “We’ll get ’em at the next tournament.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ryder replies with a nod. “Later, Dawson!”

Swinging an arm around his shoulders I say, “Let’s hit the bathroom before heading home. We can stop off at that Tex-Mex place everyone’s been talking about.”

“Good, cause I’m starving.” Ryder rubs his stomach and acts like he hasn’t eaten in days.

We walk over towards the restrooms and I see a few men I don’t recognize, perched on the side of the building, wearing the same cut Rhett and the other men from the club wear. There’s been a lot of new guys in and out of the property lately so I just assume that they may have come and switched out with the two prospects who rode their bikes with us to the tournament today.

The ballpark is starting to empty out as everyone packs up and leaves since we were the last game of the evening. As we enter the toilets, something starts to weigh heavy at the bottom of my stomach as I watch Ryder go into the men’s side. I notice that all the stalls are empty on the women’s side as I enter through the second door and pull my phone out of the back pocket of my shorts, so that it doesn’t fall into the toilet bowl, and set it on top of the lip above the small trash bin. I really want to call Rhett and find out what happened today that kept him from making it to Ryder’s games. After quickly doing my business, I hurry out and over to the sink to wash my hands while tapping his name on my cell. I set the phone down for just a second to swipe the paper towel to dry my hands when an imposing figure steps into the room blocking the only exit.

The man is the one I saw outside. What’s disturbing is that he stares at me like he hates every breath I take.

“Oh, umm, I’m almost finished and can leave,” I say at the awkward intrusion.

The man, who is as tall as Rhett, closes the short distance between us and stops just a foot away from me. The abrupt movement surprises me and I step back as my lower back hits the metal handwashing station hard.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” the man speaks slowly and with a heavy accent. “If you scream, I’ll put a bullet in your son’s head then cut your throat.” The man reaches into his leather cut and pulls out a gun.

My body starts to shake and my eyes track every movement of his hand with the gun.

“We’re going on a little trip and if you or that boy gives us any problems, I’ll kill you both and dump your bodies in a ditch, yeah?” he threatens again. When I don’t speak, a searing pain rips into my skull as he snatches my ponytail and arches my head to the side, leaving my neck at a weird angle. I shriek at the sudden motion and tears well up in my eyes as the pain worsens. “Answer me, bitch.”

“Ye—Yes,” I utter. “Please don’t— don’t hurt my son.” His face is stone cold.

The feel of something metal and hard presses underneath my chin and I almost swallow my tongue. “Tell him we are going on a trip.”

“Yes, okay, yeah,” I continue to repeat.

“Go outside with my men,” he directs, then shoves me towards the bathroom door.

I start to stumble but the wall thankfully catches me.

“Please let my son go. I’ll go and do anything you want but please let him leave,” I start to plead but the man raises his arm and points the gun right at my head. He pulls the hammer back and the clicking sound bounces inside my brain.

“Last chance, bitch.”

Wasting no time, I pull the handle on the door and rush out of the room and into Ryder who is playing on his phone.

“Whoa, Mom, you okay?” He reaches up with his hand to stabilize me from my rush out of the women’s bathroom.

I grab his hand and start to yank him towards the parking lot. “Fine, we need to—” I start to say but four men all wearing Dead Road MC cuts step up out of the shadows from around the corner.

“Ready to go?” one of the men asks, his eyes narrowing on me.