“Alright. What are they?”
Going through the burner I give him all the numbers called. There are only three.
“Jett, you know these may not lead anywhere. Where’d you get the phone?”
“We went dancing last night. A gentleman didn’t need it anymore, once the music stopped.”
He exhales. “Please use code like that from now on. I’m serious. I’m here for you. You know that. But I have a future I’m building. If we’re going to…work together…it’s gotta be discreet.”
“You got it. I appreciate it, Jus.”
“I’ll tell Jake you’re comin’ to the wedding.”
“Don’t you fuckin’ dare. Don’t tell him that shit.”
After silence, he says, “Try to make it.”
“I hear you. Say hi to Jason. Tell him I’ll call soon.”
“I’ll tell everyone you said hello,” he says with meaning.
“Asshole,” I laugh, and hang up.
Yeah, tell Dad I said hey. Let’s see how riled up he gets when he hears that.
Never got a thank you for what I did for him with Jake.
He can go to hell. Fucking hypocrite.
Nodding to Scratch through the glass, I watch him rise and tell the others to join. They amble out and squint as the sun hits them. That’s the darkest diner we’ve ever been in. Why they want you to start your day in a cave beats me.
“Now we wait,” I tell them.
Scratch nods. He’s the only one I’ve shared my family connections with. No one needs to know my dad’s in Washington and my brother’s heading there.
The only person Scratch has talked to in my family is my mom. She asked to speak to him when I was on the phone with her early on. Then she went and acted old-school telling our V.P. to watch over her boy. He didn’t let me live that down for a long time. But I think he was secretly jealous.
I come from the best family of all the Ciphers I know.
It’s not because of my problems with my father that I ride in this club. It’s because of the burning itch in my soul, the urge to fight, and for a cause. I’m not the sit in an office, kiss babies type.
Fucking shit up, that’s more my life.
I’m suited for it.
We all are.
Fuse asks, “You have some internet nerd in your back pocket?”
I smile at the idea of anyone thinking of Justin as a nerd— he and his identical twin Jason are probably the prettiest of us Cocker Brothers. “Something like that.”
Scratch squints at the sky, thinking. After a moment, he grumbles, “Saddle up. Let’s ride.”
“Where?” Tonk asks.
“Anywhere,” Honey Badger tells him, knowing there’s nothing better for us to do while we wait.
Scratch gives me a look and jerks his head away from the others. “Jett, come here.”
We walk to get some privacy.
“You got nothing out of the girl?”
“Not anything we can use.”
He smirks at my joke, but his eyes see more than I want them to. Why’d he have to remind me? For the last half hour I’d managed to forget about her.
An unfamiliar beep goes off on my phone. I frown as I read an alert from my credit card company warning me about an unusually large charge in a new city…this one. We just got here yesterday, and now someone is… What the hell?
“Motherfucker,” I whisper, stunned.
“What?”
“She stole my credit card! What the hell did she buy for almost six hundred dollars at a fuckin’ Bed Bath and Beyond?!”
Scratch makes a hissing sound and cranes over to check out what it says on my outstretched phone. “What the hell…”
“Fucking cunt stole my credit card!”
He sighs like he sees something I don’t.
“What, Scratch? What’s that face for?”
“You never call women that.”
“Well, I just did.”
“She got to you.”
“SHE DIDN’T FUCKIN’ GET TO ME.”
I head for my hog.
The other Ciphers look away quickly, except Fuse. He’s got a son from a woman who drives him crazy, Melodi. He gives me a look like he gets it. Before I have a chance to tell him to go to hell, he breaks eye contact and flips his ignition on, motor roaring to life.
Luna
“Mommy, why won’t you teach me Spanish?”
My mother lowered her voice to a whisper as she always did when he was in the house. “Because I want you to do something with your life.”
My five-year-old brain couldn’t understand how learning my mother’s native language would hinder that.
“Why would learning Spanish stop me, Mommy?”
Her eyes went sharp then with both anger and pain. She roughly grabbed my arm and whispered, “Luna! The people with power speak ENGLISH. Speaking only Spanish keeps us small. There are no jobs for girls of your skin color if you do not speak English! Do you want to be poor?! Being poor is evil, Luna. It makes bad people prey on you because you are vulnerable. You are meant for bigger things! Do you understand?”