Maddox lunges for me, and this time he is able to grab the phone from my hand. “No!” I yell, but he’s already disconnected the call. My mind goes blank, and I throw punches. “You fucking asshole!”
“Calm down!” Maddox yells back at me, his fist connecting with my ribs. “Listen to me.”
I don’t. I keep hitting him as hard as I can, not caring what the fuck he has to say.
“I know where he is!”
My fist freezes in midair. “What?”
“I know where he is,” Maddox repeats. “I recognize the fucking wallpaper.”
The fucking wallpaper?
I look at him dumbfounded. “Why didn’t you lead with that? Where the fuck are they?”
“Tucker’s old man used to have a convenience store on the corner of Main and Bristol Street. It went bankrupt years ago. I used to joke it was probably the ugly ass wallpaper.”
“Shit, that’s an hour away from here… but only ten minutes from the club. Call the guys, Maddox.” I stare my friend down, urging him to pick up the fucking phone.
“Ryder…” There is a tone in his voice I haven’t heard in so many years, I can’t recall the last time it was. Uncertainty. Maddox, the president of the MC, who is always so sure of himself, hesitates. “What if Tucker was telling the truth? If there are guys against you, this will only make it worse.”
“He is fucking lying, and you know it. Maybe Buck is in on it, but that’s it. No one else would go against us.”
Maddox contemplates my words for another moment before unlocking his phone. “If I do this. If I involve the club to rescue your girl, then I need you to promise me something.”
“Promise you what?” I’m almost scared to ask.
“That this will be over after. You send her away, and that’s the very last time I see and hear about her.”
“Deal,” I say without thinking. We don’t have time for a fucking discussion. I’d agree to anything right now, no matter how much I don’t want to do it.
Maddox calls the club as we are speeding down the road. He puts the phone on speaker and explains what’s happened.
“Maddox, I swear Tucker was lying.” Trick’s voice comes through the car’s speaker. “None of us would go against you or Ryder. That fucker is trying to play you. We got your back all the way.”
I look over at Maddox, who is nodding and giving me the look that says, you’re lucky.
“Yeah, Prez,” Bear comes onto the line. “We didn’t know, and none of us would have been okay with this shit. Tucker is a dead man.”
“Buck is here now; what do you want us to do with him?” Tucker asks.
“Put his ass in the cell, and I need at least five guys to this location,” he tells him the address and gives him all the detail they need. “Get Tucker, but don’t kill him yet. We’ll do that slowly later… and don’t hurt the girl. Just keep her there until we get there. We’re on our way now.”
“Done and done,” Trick’s deep voice agrees through the speaker before the line goes dead.
Sighing in relief, I say, “I told you–”
“Shut up and tell me you understand what I’m asking you to do?” Maddox interrupts.
“Cut her loose. I got it.” I huff, annoyance lacing my voice. “It was my fucking plan all along.”
“Sure it was,” Maddox quips.
It was my plan; I just never knew if I could go through with it.
Now, I don’t have a choice.