And why did I just agree to trust him?
But what choice do I have?
If my sister is in danger, I will do anything to prevent it. Anything.
* * *
Chance
Only the most rotten luck of the kind I’ve been plagued with these last couple of months could put me and Veronica in the path of Gazz tonight. But there’s no use dwelling on that now. This thing with the Riders didn’t start tonight, it started months ago and it’s getting fixed soon. What I need to focus on is this current fallout from it.
I walked after Veronica after she left the living room to make sure she’s not standing at the door trying to listen in on the conversation I must have now. I can hear the shower running, steam escaping into the hall through the crack under the bathroom door, bringing with it an intensified smell of her perfume that this apartment already reeks of.
The white linen on her white metal bed looks untouched, brand new, like something out of a magazine, but that’s where the comparison ends. The rest of her bedroom is a total mess, and it looks like half the contents of her floor to ceiling closet—also white—were recently dumped on the floor beside it.
All this white. It doesn’t seem like that’s her true color. Maybe blue, that mix between light and dark blue like the ocean. Or purple like the sunset. But not all this white. I’ve seen motel rooms that look more like a home than this bedroom, or this whole apartment actually.
But that kind of thinking is neither here nor there right now.
I have to make this call and I can’t decidewhoto call. Cross is most likely up. But does he need me coming directly to him with this? And do I need him to know I fucked up again right this minute?
I close the door of Veronica’s bedroom and retreat back to the kitchen, dialing my father’s number as I go. He answers on the second ring.
“What is it, Chance?” he asks and sounds concerned and tired. He hasn’t been sleeping much either.
“I have a situation,” I say.
“Are you safe?” he asks breathlessly, interrupting me from continuing. The raw worry in his voice makes my stomach twist into a painful knot and anger rise in my chest. I’m not a little kid anymore. I haven’t been for a long time and I don’t appreciate both my parents treating me like one lately.
I take a deep breath and quickly tell him what happened tonight.
“Gazz tried to kill you?” he asks, sounding both very angry and like he can’t quite believe it. “And that woman?”
“He didn’t even hesitate. Just started shooting.”
“Where are you now?” he asks.
“With Veronica… the woman… at her apartment. She’s in danger now too. Actually, her whole family might be. Especially her sister.”
He groans and sighs at the same time. “It was stupid of you to go into their territory like that.”
“It would’ve been stupider to let her go alone,” I counter even though I do agree. But I also know I’m right.
“Alright, watch over her for now,” he says. “I’m sending a couple of guys to help you out.”
At least he said they’re coming to help me out and not watch over me, which is what he actually means. Growing up I was under constant surveillance, all of us children were, just in case because the MC has so many enemies. And it’s been a bitch living that down and becoming one of the brothers with men who used to make sure I got to and from school safely.
In the background I can hear him getting dressed, the leather of his cut whispering like a gust of wind as it rubs over the mic of his phone.
“I’m taking her to be with her sister,” I tell him. “I’ll text you the address.”
“Good,” he says. “And I don’t have to tell you to keep this on the down-low, do I?”
“You don’t.”
“And Chance,” he says in a quieter, more drawn out voice. I’m thinking he’s going to tell me I’ve disappointed him. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. I don’t need to hear it. I don’t want to hear it. But it’s a fact.
“Be careful,” he finally says.