Reign was quickly on my heels, calling over his shoulder to the probies, "Call if Maze shows up." We both got on our bikes and Reign turned toward me. "You're with them the most. How much do you trust Maze?"
"More than Renny, about the same as Duke," I said honestly as I tried to talk myself out of the uncharacteristic panic that was gripping my system.
With that, he tore off down the road and I followed behind, a lump the size of fucking Texas in my throat. The train station was a short five minute drive. We made it in three. The lot was packed and it took us a few to locate Reign's SUV. When we did, the ticket on the window said it was paid up for another couple of hours. Reign fished the spare key out of his bike, unlocking the door where we were assaulted by the smell of all the food left inside the trunk to bake in the heat for God-knew how long.
"The keys were locked inside here," Reign said, coming out of the front seat with said keys. "The fuck is going on?"
"She bought groceries then... paid for parking and left?" I asked, and even I could hear the slightest trace of worry in my tone.
"What do we know about Maze, Repo?" he asked, watching me move away from the truck to stand by my bike.
"Not much. A small work history. That was kind-of all we got."
"No record?"
"Nothing."
"No connections to any organization?"
"Fucking nothing, Reign," I snapped, immediately closing my eyes at my tone. I needed to get it together. I couldn't lose it. I couldn't talk to him like that.
"Alright, Repo," he said, his tone oddly calm. "I figured you weren't just making googly eyes at her," he said, shaking his head a little. "You guys got something going on?"
"Reign I know you said..."
"Fuck it," he said with a casual shrug. "Doesn't matter. What matters is you know her better than the rest of us. She said anything about old connections?"
"No, Reign. She's... quiet about her past."
"Shit," he said, slamming the door to the Explorer. "Now we gotta figure out if she ran because she was in trouble or ran because something is about to come down on us."
"I told her she wasn't gonna get a patch, Reign. I don't think she'd stick it out if this was some covert shit when I told her there was no chance to actually get in the ranks."
"So you think she ran because of trouble?"
"I don't know what the fuck to think," I admitted, raking a hand down my face. "She didn't act like someone in trouble."
"Yeah, but you told me yourself that she had some kind of training. And she was living behind a gate with a group of men who run guns. If there was anywhere she probably felt safe, it was in the compound."
"Yeah."
"Nothing else really makes sense at this point. This was the first time since she showed up that she went outside the compound alone. Maybe she ran into someone or saw someone, got spooked and ran. Otherwise, she'd take the fucking car, not park it in a lot, pay for parking, and take a train."
He had a good point. "Did she seem freaked when you asked her to get food?"
"No. She didn't even hesitate. I told her to get the shit you usually get, gave her cash, gave her keys, and she headed out." He was quiet as he got back on his bike. "Was she close with the other probies? Would they know more than you?"
"I dunno. They were competition, ya know? She hated Moose and Fox but seemed to get along with Duke and was friendly with Renny."
"But if they knew something they thought we should know about her past, they probably would have told us."
"Exactly. Especially Duke." Renny might too, but not until he got every single God damn detail he could. He was anal as fuck about things like that. But I guess when you had the fucked up childhood like he did, that shit made sense.
"Alright, let's get back to the compound and make sure. Doubt either would lie right to our faces to protect her when she's already gone. And gotta get one of the guys over here to deal with that mess," he said, waving a hand toward the SUV.
With that, we headed back to the compound.
Reign was as calmly in control as ever while I freaked out.
What if he was right? What if she ran? What if she had been running all along? What did that mean that she kept that kind of shit from me? Not to be a chick about it, but that was kind of screwed up that she hadn't trusted me with that. But, if I were being honest with myself, she shared very little with me. There had been little things here and there, usually after sex when we were just sitting with our own thoughts. She'd been facing away from me, watching the tree line, her back to my chest, when she admitted that her mom was locked up for some social security shit. It didn't sound much like a wound, but I hadn't been able to suss out if that was because she was trying to convince herself it didn't hurt or if it genuinely didn't.