HARDCORE: Storm MC(161)

He focused on me again. “I thought it was funny she was going to get some heroin.”



My stomach clenched. “She was using again?”



“That’s the thing, man. Like I said, she wasn’t on it anymore. For a long time, even. I was proud of her. I wanted to stop, too…”



I rolled my eyes. He was doing a great job of it. “Do you know where she went?”



“She said something about…meetin’ with…crow…”



“No.” I shook him. “Do you mean The Scarecrow?” My eyes searched his face, hoping I only heard him wrong.



“Yeah, man. Scarecrow. She was gonna meet with him. He had the stuff for her.



“Oh shit.” I let go of Bobby, panicked. She met with the deadliest, most dangerous drug dealer in town the night before my daughter showed up at my doorstep. It didn’t sound good at all.”



“And you haven’t seen her since?”



“No, man.”



“Not even that night? Not even once? Please, think hard about it.”



“I’m thinking hard, man. And I’m telling you, I ain’t seen her since then.” He shrugged, falling forward a little at a time. I left him there, getting up, going to the front door. I thanked Metal Face again before I left, then turned back. “Listen, if you see Rae in here, can you call me?” I wrote down my cell number. He promised to give me a call.



I texted the guys to tell them I talked to Bobby and gave them the basic rundown. As soon as I mentioned The Scarecrow, all of them lost their shit the way I had. They knew, like I did, that he wasn’t somebody to fuck around with. What the hell was Rae doing with him, then? Especially when she was supposed to be clean.



Wasn’t there anybody else she could have gone to? I thought it over when I got on my bike. There had to be something deeper going on. Something else was missing, some piece of the puzzle. No way she went from being clean one day to walking on the wild side the next day. If she was in trouble with The Scarecrow, no way I could help her. He was into some deep shit, and the stories I heard about him made even my skin crawl.



I remembered what Bobby said about Gigi. Rae always made sure she wasn’t around when people were shooting up at the house. Why would Rae let people do that in front of her when she wasn’t using anymore? Was she dealing? Maybe she was a go-between for The Scarecrow? Even if she wasn’t using, she might have been making money from it. Fuck. And she had my daughter in that house with her?



I couldn’t jump to conclusions. She might have relapsed. Maybe she took a taste on Sunday and decided she needed more. I knew it was just that easy—I had seen my mother go through it enough times to know too well.



I went back to the clubhouse, wanting to talk things over with the guys and maybe ask Gigi a couple of questions if she was still awake. I imagined she had kicked the shit out of most of the club at poker by then. I grinned thinking about it. Maybe there was something to be said for genetics after all. She played cards just like her old man.





Chapter Seven



Jamie





I hated leaving Gigi alone for even a little while, but there was no way I could spend a weekend in the clubhouse without clothes and toiletries. I didn’t think Lance would be keen on me taking Gigi with me—he might have seen it as a ploy to kidnap her, or he might even have sent one of his goons with me to be sure nothing funny went on. I could just imagine one of the members of the MC riding up to my gated community on the back of a motorcycle, leather vest and everything. I might get kicked out.



So I went through the packing process as quickly as possible, taking clothes and a toothbrush, a bathrobe, a towel—not that I didn’t trust the girls to do laundry, but I felt better using my own than one that had been used by God only knew who in the club. I thought twice and took an extra towel for Gigi.



Then, I hurried back. I told myself there was no reason to hurry—they’d taken good care of her all week. I didn’t like to admit it, but it was true. She even looked happy, and they all adored her.



When I arrived, there was something big happening in the lounge. I looked around, scanning the room for Gigi. She was nowhere to be found. Erica stood at the edge of the crowd, laughing over whatever was happening in the center. I stood beside her, then went up on my toes to get a look over the shoulders of the men in front of me. I wasn’t wearing mile-high shoes the way Erica was.



I gasped when I saw Gigi sitting at the coffee table, playing what looked like poker with three of the club members. I opened my mouth to say something, but Erica stopped me before I got a chance.