“Mom,” Ravage said, coming up behind her. “Dylan needs you.”
I watched as Ravage carefully took the knife from her hands. As Roxy stepped away from Moonshine and returned to Bullseye, I grinned. “So, Roxy’s your mom?”
Ravage smiled. “Hell man. I thought you knew. We’re all related here in some capacity, but no. Roxy isn’t my biological mother. She just raised Mandi and me after our parents died. Slaughter and Digger are brothers and cousins to Roxy and Moonshine’s sons on her side. Sypher is the youngest, and Jake is still in the Army, but he’ll be back soon enough. Kevin, who just left college, and Michael, who is finishing his graduate degree at MIT. Trout and Chipper are brothers and cousins from Moonshine’s side, along with a slew of others. This chapter is just one big family. As for Dylan, he’s related through Moonshine. His mother, Donna, was Moonshine’s sister. She died a few years back.”
“So, you’re the only one not related in any way to this chapter?” Massacre asked.
“Yep.”
“Then how’d you become V.P.?”
Ravage grinned. “That’s a story for another day.”
“Boy’s help me get Dylan to his room,” Roxy stiffly ordered madder than hell. Moonshine stayed back, not wanting to piss his woman off anymore. As several of Bullseye’s cousins lifted him, Massacre and I followed Roxy and Needle up the stairs to a specific room that was clearly labeled Dylan.
Walking in, it was like seeing a side of Bullseye none of us from the California chapter had ever seen. The walls were adorned with posters of space, various constellations, and science shit. He had an expensive-looking telescope over by the window. Stars lined his ceiling as models of the planets hung around the light fixture as if it were the sun. The room was something I didn’t expect. For all intense and purpose, the room looked like a typical teenager’s room. Not the room of a biker brother.
“Holy shit,” Massacre whispered. “Didn’t know Bullseye was into all this shit. He never said.”
“Dylan was the smartest out of all of us,” Ravage stated, helping Roxy lay his head down on a pillow. “He was going places. He wanted to be an astrophysicist or some shit like that. He wanted to work for NASA. He was awarded scholarships to Harvard, Yale, and Berkley. He was going places.”
“What happened?” Massacre asked, and I had to admit, even my curiosity was peaked.
“None of us know. One minute he was getting ready to leave for college, the next he left and joined the Marines.”
“You talk too much,” Bullseye’s raw voice muttered.
“Hey Tadpole,” Ravage smiled. “Glad to have ya back. You still owe me ten bucks, by the way.”
“Ghost?”
Moving closer to the bed, I said. “I’m here, Bullseye.”
“Saw him.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was how he said the words that bothered me, like whoever he saw was unexpected, a shock. Not a good sign. Carefully, I asked, needing to know. “Saw who?”
“Took Ari.”
No. She was just here. She was outside. I saw her. She was just there. It had to be the poison. Trembling, I whispered, “What?”
“Couldn’t stop...” he muttered, right before he passed out again.
“Bullseye!” I shouted, shaking him, trying to get him to wake the fuck up again, but it was no use.
Massacre and I both ran from the room, down the stairs, and out the back door to find the area void—no trace of Ari anywhere. Running back inside, I started shouting her name over and over again. Searching every room I could find, praying she was in one of them. As the seconds flew by and she didn’t appear, my heart started pounding harder and harder. I needed to find her. She needed to be here. I promised to keep her safe.
Massacre came running in from the kitchen, shaking his head.
I failed again.
I couldn’t stop it.
She was gone, and it was my fault.
“Don’t worry, she couldn’t have gone far,” Moonshine said as the rest of the chapter followed. “Digger, go grab your dogs. Sypher, get on that fucking computer of yours and do something. Slaughter, call, and wake up the family. Tell them we need help. As for the rest of you, start scouring the surrounding area. Anyone finds anything send a signal.”
Moonshine walked over to me as everyone scattered. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.” But they wouldn’t. I knew it. She was gone. And it was in that instant something in me broke, shift, and turned dark. I’d never felt anything like it before. I could feel the rage building deep inside me, boiling to the point of eruption.