“Yeah, you do that. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of making the next appointment. I’ll take care of making sure you know what to get, take, whatever. I’ll even buy it for you. How’s that sound?”
Steph lowered her head and exited the room.
The second she was out of sight, Josie felt a terrible guilt weigh down on her. She shut her eyes and put a hand to her mouth.
Did Steph deserve that? Yeah. Did she deserve it right then? No.
Josie took care of checking out at the desk, making the next appointment, and getting all the papers with information from the doctor.
She left the office building and walked to the parking lot to her car.
She expected to find Steph waiting in the passenger seat, either crying or scrolling aimlessly through her phone.
Instead, the car was empty.
There was a note stuck under one of the wiper blades.
Josie slid the note out and quickly knew it was Steph’s handwriting.
And it said two words.
I’m sorry.
* * *
Josie didn’t knowwhere else to go.
She pulled into the lot of Back Down Devil MC with her heart racing and the feeling that she was going to throw up. Steph was gone. And she wasn’t answering her phone. She couldn’t think of anything else to do. Going to the police would have been useless because Steph wasn’t actually missing. She voluntarily walked away. Somewhere. Josie thought she could find her. How far could Steph have really walked in the few minutes it took Josie to check out at the doctors?
Which left her wondering something else.
What if she knew who the father was? What if she called for a ride? What if she’s already on her way to another state? To start a new life?
By the time Josie parked the car, she was the one in tears. Attacking Steph had been stupid and now Josie was the one suffering for it.
She walked through the lot, hugging herself, the walk so familiar. How many times in her life had she walked across that same spot with tears in her eyes? Looking for the comfort of Reese’s strong arms?
From the corner of her eye, she saw two guys approaching her. Their leather cuts were all-black with a small logo of the MC on it. That meant they were prospects.
“Hey, can we help you?” one of them asked.
“Get Reese,” she said. “Now.”
“We can’t do that,” the other one said. “That’s not how it works.”
Josie stopped and looked at them. “You’re fucking low life prospects who don’t know a thing about this life. I’ve been in this life since I was thirteen years old. My father tried to take down the MC and lost his life. I’ve known Reese since I was thirteen. Do you really want to fucking tell me how this works? Because if you don’t get Reese, I’ll just walk into the clubhouse and tell him you refused to help me.”
The two prospects looked at each other and nodded.
One broke away and hurried toward the clubhouse.
The other stood there. “So, what’s your name?”
“Don’t talk to me, prospect,” Josie said.
She couldn’t believe how vicious she’d become lately. Ever since she started talking to Reese again…
No. That’s nothing. It’s life. It’s everything happening in life.