“I’m trying to help.” Shade’s impassiveness was more than she could take.
“Calder has done nothing but help Gavin. He’s earned your help. Don’t act like you’re doing him a fucking favor!” she screamed.
Shade’s eyes shot out shards of blue ice. “Do you know why most drowning victims drown?” he asked conversationally.
She had to hiccup back the hysterics that were rising to the surface. “I don’t—”
“They panic,” he calmly answered before she could. “Take a deep breath, grab a beer, or drink a cup of coffee. Use your heads.” Shade stared around the group gathered in her living room and kitchen.
Taking him up on his suggestion, she went to the fridge, taking out a beer. Opening it, she took a drink as Shade walked to the counter to watch her.
“What’s this?”
Crazy Bitch took another drink, focusing her mind. She flipped to the first page. “I started a notebook of the clues for our treasure hunt.” She flipped another page. “This is everyone we saw during the groundbreaking and where we remembered them standing. That’s why Train called you about Devon and his mother.”
“Rider talked to Devon. He said he didn’t see anything suspicious when he went into the shelter, and he wasn’t paying attention when Calder didn’t come back. Rider’s with Mrs. Carpenter now. He’ll call me back when he’s finished.”
Crazy Bitch flipped another page. “This one, I was going to make a list of people Calder had pissed off and who wanted to hurt him.”
Shade looked at her approvingly. “Good call. Why’s it blank?”
“Because I can’t think of anyone. Calder is pretty laid-back. The only one I can think of who hates him is Candi. She got out of prison last week, and they had an argument.”
“What was the fight about?”
“It’s personal.” She might have revealed to Killyama and Train about Star, but she knew she could trust them to keep it to themselves.
“You want me to find him?” he challenged.
Calder’s privacy wasn’t worth his life. “Star is his kid. Candi was trying to blackmail Stud for money to keep from telling Calder and Star.”
“What was Stud’s reaction?”
“Stud, Sex Piston, and Calder were going to talk to Star the night he disappeared. Calder also told Candi that if she didn’t get out of town, he would spread it around town that she was the informant who got him and several of their buddies arrested.”
“Was she?”
“Calder seemed to think she was.”
“That’s pretty much what Stud said,” Shade added.
“If you knew, then why ask?”
“To make sure nothing was left out. Sometimes one little detail can be a matter of life and death. Stud is trying to find Candi. I pulled a few favors and found out who her parole officer is. He didn’t want to give out her information, but Knox found out and gave the information to Stud. The apartment she gave was her sister’s, and she hasn’t seen her since Candi moved out three months ago.”
“She’s been out that long?” Sex Piston jerked sharply in her chair at the counter.
“Yes. Her sister said she has a boyfriend, and Candi told her she was moving in with him.”
“Who’s the sucker?” T.A. asked, shoving Mason off the couch.
“Her sister didn’t know.”
“Is Stud the only one looking for Candi?”
“No, when we got Bear and Sam’s lie detector results back, I sent them to Stud. We’ve already gone to where she told her parole worker she’s working. She didn’t last a week there. No one can even remember her. They said she mainly spent the time flirting with customers.”
“That sounds like her,” Crazy Bitch remarked contemptuously.
“Stud sent a couple of the brothers to some of the places where Candi and Calder hung out when they were together. We’re hoping one of them might have seen her since she’s come back and know where she’s at now.”
Crazy Bitch had to admit, Stud and The Last Riders weren’t leaving any stone unturned.
“I’m sorry I snapped at—”
“It’s cool. I’ve been in your position. It’s not easy when you don’t know where they are and you can’t protect them.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Where’d Candi work?” Fat Louise went to her candy drawer, taking out a chocolate bar. Everyone watched as she flushed. “Sorry. Thinking about her made me want one.”
Shade’s lips curled in what Crazy Bitch thought was a smile. “Taco Hut.”
“I know why she quit.” Killyama leaned against Train tiredly.
“I don’t know why you hate it so much.” Fat Louise bit off another bite of her candy bar. “You hate the food so bad, you should tell Mrs. Carpenter.”
“Fuck… fuck…” Crazy Bitch wanted to hug her friend. “Devon goes there a lot. She says that way, they can keep quality control of the food being served. Not only do they own Taco Hut, but they own rental houses.” She was becoming so excited she could barely get the words out. “Shade, call Rider—”
Before she could get the sentence out, Shade’s phone rang.
She frantically went to the knife block, taking the kitchen shears out. Running to the couch, she tried to cut her monitor off.
“Stop. You’ll have the police coming if you don’t. Rider’s got the address. Devon has a new tenant who hasn’t been paying her rent. Mrs. Carpenter wants her thrown out. Devon doesn’t.”
“He’s her sugar daddy.” Crazy Bitch looked wildly at Shade. “Can you get this thing off or not?”
Shade grinned. “What do you think?”
She held her ankle out. “Don’t make me ask twice.”
35
Crazy Bitch sat in the front seat of Sex Piston’s van as she followed Shade. They pulled out of her apartment parking lot, going to the address that Mrs. Carpenter had given Rider. He was going to stay with her to make sure she didn’t tip Devon off. Shade had called Razer and Cash to keep Devon from doing the same and find out if he had been the one who had kidnaped Calder.
She didn’t know how he had done it, but she was sure he had.
As they passed the street the hospital was on where Lucky was at, Crazy Bitch saw one biker accelerate to ride in front with Shade. Then Moon and five other bikers waited until Sex Piston’s van had passed to fall in line, cutting in front of Hammer and Jonas’s vehicle.
As they passed the street the Destructors’ clubhouse was on, Sex Piston slowed down to a crawl to let the Destructors get in front of them.
They watched as the Destructors accelerated their bikes, weaving among each other until the Destructors were in the lead. Viper and Shade were in front of the van, but the Destructors led the way.
“If I ever hear any of you say you saw me crying, I’ll rip your hearts out.” Crazy Bitch reached into Sex Piston glove compartment for a baby wipe, knowing she kept a package there for her makeup repairs.
“I don’t see anything. You, Train?” Killyama said from the back.
“No, I’m hunched down so no one can see me in this van.”
“What’s it worth to me to keep my mouth shut?” T.A. asked.
“You get to live.”
“Sounds fair. I don’t see a thing.”
“Fat Louise?”
“You know me; my lips are sealed.”
“Can’t we go any faster?” Crazy Bitch wanted Sex Piston to put the pedal to the metal.
“You want me to get pulled over? I’m doing sixty in a thirty-five-mile speed limit.”
“I’ll pay the ticket.”
“With what? We gave all our money to the shelter.”
“Put your emergency lights on—”
“Too late.” The blare of sirens had Sex Piston putting on her blinker to pull off when the police car whizzed past them.
“It’s Knox.” Crazy Bitch reached for another baby wipe, seeing him pull in front of the Destructors, giving them a police escort.
Without ha
ving to worry about getting a ticket anymore, Sex Piston pushed down on the gas pedal, and they flew down the two-lane highway, everyone getting out of their way.
“Damn, Killyama, you might not be the luckiest of us bitches. Diamond might be taking your place.”
“Diamond isn’t in our crew,” Sex Piston snapped.
“She gets me out of all those charges, she will be.” Crazy Bitch reached for the door handle, getting ready to jump out when they reached the house.
“We’ll talk about it when it happens.” Sex Piston cursed as everyone in front of them turned down a tree-lined street. It was a cul-de-sac, and the circle already had several motorcycles parked in front a green one-story house.
As soon as Sex Piston stopped, Crazy Bitch jumped out, running toward the door that stood wide open.
If Candi was responsible for Calder’s disappearance, she would kill the woman.
Before she could run inside, Stud came out, his face filled with mixed emotions.
“Does she know where Calder is?” She wanted to brush past him to drag the answer out of Candi herself, but Stud gripped her forearms, holding her in place.
“He’s inside. He told us to get the fuck out.”
“He’s alive?” She fell against his chest, sobbing in relief, despite Stud’s bleak expression.
“Yes.”
When she would have jerked away from Stud, he jerked her back.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? He told us to get the fuck out.”
Crazy Bitch remembered when Calder had told her, when she felt the crazy coming over her, to push the red button to stop herself. Mentally, she had to do it several times to keep herself from hurting Stud.
“Stud, I’m going in there to talk to him. You’ll have to fucking kill me to stop me. Let. Me. Go!”
Sex Piston placed her hand on Stud’s arm. “Let her. Whatever is in there, she needs to see for herself. We’ll go with her.”
“It isn’t pretty,” Stud warned, his face contorted in sorrow.
“Let her go.” Sex Piston’s voice wobbled at her demand.
When Crazy Bitch felt him release her, she didn’t hesitate. Going inside, she searched the room for Calder, passing over Candi and the others in the room. None of them were Calder.
Her eyes flew back to Candi, who was sitting on a chair with a slinky grey robe knotted at her waist. She was obviously naked, with her titties barely covered and unconcerned that most of her thighs were showing as she smoked a cigarette.
Candi leaned forward, tapping her cigarette in an ashtray on her coffee table. “Welcome. The more, the merrier,” she said waspishly, making a pretense of adjusting the top half of her robe when Crazy Bitch gave her an insulting glare.
“Where is he?”
Candi waved her hand with the cigarette in the direction of a doorway to her left. “In my bedroom. Next time, call before you come over. Calder and I are back together. We’d like time alone right now. Calder would have called Stud in a few days. We’ve… been busy.”
“I bet you have.” Crazy Bitch scornfully crossed the room, going to the bedroom. Hearing her friends’ footsteps behind her gave her the courage to enter the room.
Not expecting the room to be dark, she had to blink to adjust her eyes. She wrinkled her nose when the stagnant smell of sweat and sex hit her nose.
“Where’s the light?” She reached for the wall when she heard Stud tell her it was by her shoulder.
The harsh light had her wanting to turn it off again. Calder was lying on a bed so tumbled the fitted sheet had come off the corners. He jerked when the light came on, his arm protectively hiding his eyes.
“Turn the lights off.” His thick voice indicated he was half-asleep, high, or both. “Go… away.”
She moved closer to the bed, seeing he was naked, not even bothering to cover himself when she tried to touch his shoulder.
“Leave… me,” he slurred. “Go.”
“I’m not going anywhere. What about you and me? What about Star?”
He reached out, jerking on her T-shirt. “More… I need… more. Where is… she?”
“Let’s go,” Sex Piston said to Crazy Bitch. “Don’t do this to yourself. Stud and the others can bring him to the clubhouse.”
“Not going…” He started fighting her touch. “I need her. Where is she?”
“I’m here, Calder!” Candi yelled from the other room. “Bastards won’t let me come in.”
Crazy Bitch twisted away when Sex Piston tried to get her to leave. Sitting down on the bed next to him, every memory of her mother played out, taunting her to leave. She hadn’t lived through years of living with her mother’s addictions to put up with a future filled with the same.
Calder looked as if all the life had been drained out of him, and all that was left was the empty shell of the man she loved with all her heart. She thought of the times she had lost the battle with her craziness, and he had taken it, giving her love pats only when he had been afraid she would get hurt.
In everyone’s life, you had to make decisions that would affect your life. Every choice she had made with men, she had failed. Was she just going to sit there and make another one? Give him another chance that she would never give anyone else?
Her eyes welled with tears. Looking at her friends and how they were in their lives, she wanted that for herself. Every woman did. If they didn’t, they were lying to themselves. No one enjoyed being alone, or being with someone who wasn’t that special one.
She turned back to Calder, who couldn’t look at her and smelled like another woman. That was when she realized her choice had already been made.
“How did you get here?” she asked him.
“Don’t… know. Drove awhile. Sleepy…”
His words didn’t make sense, but she hadn’t expected them to.
Standing up, she walked toward the door.
“Need her. Need…”
Sex Piston, Stud, Killyama, and Train took one glance at her face and backed away as she passed. As she walked into the other room, Shade, Viper, Moon, and Dozer did the same, leaving the path to Candi open.
“Stud, call a fucking ambulance,” Crazy Bitch told him.
“If he goes to the hospital, they’ll know he broke parole for doing drugs.”
“Call them. We have a good lawyer.”
Crazy Bitch didn’t miss the frightened look that came across Candi’s face when she mentioned calling an ambulance.
“How can you care ab—”
Candi’s voice broke off when Crazy Bitch grabbed her by the throat.
“You two-bit fucking cunt, I will fucking strangle you to death with my bare hands if you don’t tell me what you’ve done to him!”
None of the men or women tried to stop her as she waited until Candi started to turn blue before loosening her grip.
“I ha-haven’t done anything,” she gasped out. “I saw him at the ceremon—”
Crazy Bitch tightened her grip again, this time waiting until the slut’s eyes nearly rolled backward before loosening it again.
“Dev… hit him… and brought him to me.”
Crazy Bitch heartlessly tightened her grip again. “What did you give him?” She gave her enough air to answer.
“Whatever is in the bottom drawer of my nightstand,” she sobbed. “I stole them from Dev and his mother.”
Crazy Bitch itched to snap her fucking neck. “If you ever come near him again, I’ll kill you. You won’t be the first fucker’s blood I’ve spilt.” Candi tried to nod, but couldn’t. “I don’t give a frog’s fart that you fucked his brains out. I don’t care that he smells like your nasty cunt. I don’t care that he called out your name when he came. That man is mine. And if his dick rots off or he loses every hair on his head, he’ll still be fucking mine.” She shook Candi so hard her head banged against the back of her chair.
Letting her go, she gave Knox a warning glare. “Don’t let her move.”
Seeing him place himself next to Candi
, who was holding her throat and crying, Crazy Bitch walked back toward the bedroom.
“Move!” she yelled, sending her friends and the brothers moving out of her way.
Calder had rolled onto his stomach, giving everyone in the room an eyeful of his ass.
She went around the bed to pull out the drawer. “Get me a bag!” she snapped.
When Stud left and returned a minute later with a plastic bag, she threw at least ten different prescription bottles into the sack.
She was about to tie it closed when she noticed one with a brand she recognized. That bitch had to use a seventy-year-old’s medication to get a hard-on out of Calder.
She wanted to go back into the other room and shove the whole bottle of pills down the bitch’s throat, bottle and all.
Mentally, she pushed that red button in her mind again. Tying the bag closed, she tossed it to Stud. “Give that to the ambulance drivers.”
She went to the other side of the bed where Calder was facing, hearing the ambulance sirens grow louder. Kissing his cheek, she rubbed hers against his. “I’m going home to put my monitor back on, and then I’ll be at the hospital in a few. I love you, hot thang.”
“Crazy Bitch, you need to hide until we can sneak you out,” Shade said from the doorway.
She stood up, trying to find a place to hide. Assuming a door in the room was a closet, she started toward it.
“I… need… her.”
She had almost reached the door when she heard his whimper.
“An-Anna…”
She turned back toward him.
“A-Anna-Ka… Need… her.”
“Breathe, breathe…” she told herself as tears slipped from her eyes, uncaring who saw.
“Crazy Bitch,” Shade warned.
“I’m not leaving him.” She sat down on the bed, taking Calder’s hand. “I’m here, hot thang, I’m here.” She lovingly covered his ass.
“I… need… you.”
“Baby, you’ve always needed me, and I’ve always needed you. You told me you’d catch me if I fall remember? Well now I’m here ready to catch you.”