Flip Trick

  “Alright, up!” one of the officers says, coming straight to me. I stand and then barge toward the house. I need to get my fucking girl.

  “Maddox!” he yells from behind me, but I don’t listen. The news crews and everything are set up now, talking into their cameras.

  I ignore him and push forward, just as an ambulance rushes past me.

  My walking speeds up to a run and I sprint toward the house. Why does this goddamn driveway have to be so long. I get to the door just as they’re wheeling her out on a gurney.

  Fuck.

  My breathing stops, my legs shake. For the first time in my life, I feel physically afraid. Ever.

  Her pink hair is now a dusty brown from the mess and the…she’s bleeding. There’s blood all over her face and her head.

  She’s not awake. Why is she not awake? I shove the medic out of my way, but an officer grabs my arms. “What’s wrong with her?” I roar, launching to her bed.

  I don’t even fight the tears that I’m about to shed, because fuck, this is Amethyst. My fucking Amethyst.

  “Sir, you need to get out of the way so we can get her to the hospital. Move the fuck out of my way.”

  I don’t move, I’m so stunned by what I’m seeing that I’m lodged in the spot, my feet sunken into the cement.

  The officer yanks me back and the ambulance takes off with sirens blaring and lights flashing. I scrub the tears off my face. My jaw clenches and I look to the house, rage erupts inside of me. Rage like I’ve never felt before.

  “No.” There are other officers there now, and my brothers, holding me back.

  The officer looks into my eyes, and it’s when I notice he’s in a suit. Detective.

  “I’m Detective Osborn, a very good friend of her dad. You need to let us do our job now.” He pulls me in and I physically have to force myself to calm down.

  It doesn’t work.

  I try again.

  It still doesn’t work. I need to break something. I need to shed blood, I need to kill whoever did that to her.

  He leans into my ear. “She’s one of our own, Maddox. Whoever did this will never see the light of day again, and then when he’s inside?” He pauses and chuckles. “We can have him be taken care of any which way you would like, for as long as you like, however you would like…”

  A smidge of serenity settles over me. He steps back and stares right at me. A silent promise. “Her old man is on his way, as we speak, with an army of his people. Do you trust me?” he asks. I take in his gentle brown eyes, olive skin. Somethin’ about him just makes me trust him.

  He’s sincere, I can feel it, so I nod.

  “Good.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Now go to the hospital and let us do our job here. You need to do yours and be there for when she wakes up.”

  One week passes.

  Two weeks…

  MADDOX

  She’s woken twice, both times she had no memory as to who I was, and even started swearing at Leila asking what the fuck she was doing here. We all stayed at the hospital on mattresses for the entire two weeks. Leila hasn’t moved. Same as me. Wolf and Talon have been doing our food runs and general shit we need, as well as driving us home to shower, but then we come straight back. Liza hasn’t left either. The hospital had moved Amethyst to a private room and asked us if we wanted beds moved in, but I declined. It would make everything feel way too permanent if they did that.

  They had to do surgery on her brain. Christopher Lyon hit her across the head. It wasn’t so much the impact of it, although that was bad, it was the timing and placing. I’ve been hit on the head so many fucking times I can’t count, why didn’t this ever happen to me? I’d take her place in a fucking heartbeat.

  “Who are you?” Fuck. The absence in her eyes will haunt me for the rest of my life.

  I run my palm over my hair just as the doors open and her dad steps in. He has aged a few years since this all went down, we all have.

  “I would say go home and get rest, but we both know what good that would be.”

  I give him a polite smile, which is more than I’ve given anyone else.

  The times I’ve spoken to Ken I’ve had to act normal. Cass and I decided not to tell her what’s going on right now. There’s no point in getting her upset. It’s been hard to pretend like everything is okay and lying to my daughter every time she asks where her best friend is. I hate it.

  I fly to my feet and start pacing the room. I go through cycles of anger, sadness, and heartbreak. The TV is on in the background, talking about the arrests of Prospect Satan’s Angels MC member Christopher Lyons and her grandma. Grandma got let out—fucking bitch Is going to have me to deal with when Amethyst is out of this hospital and back on her feet, but Christopher is getting tried for attempted murder. Little fuck.

  I look to the bed where Amethyst lays peacefully. There are lines hooked up to her, around her nose. I asked the doctor how long she had been out for, if she had been out cold since being taken, but he said he didn’t know. They wouldn’t know the seriousness of her injury until she wakes completely.

  If she doesn’t remember me, I’ll spend the rest of my life demonstrating to her exactly why she fell in love with me. I’ll relive our most intimate moments and do it again and again and again until even just an inkling sparks inside of her head.

  “She looks so peaceful,” Jonah murmurs, brushing her hair off her head.

  I nod, but I’m unable to say anything. My mouth is dry, my hands like sandpaper from rubbing them down my jeans. “I never knew about Liza.” He pins me with his stare. “If I did, I would have raised her like she was my own.”

  I shake my head, resting my elbows on my knees. “I don’t know you very well, but I believe you.”

  “Where is she?” Jonah asks, standing tall.

  I gesture to the door. “Gone to get coffee. She hasn’t spoken much since we saved her from Gunner.”

  “Gunner Lomoas?”

  I bow my head “The very same.”

  “Interesting…” he says, putting his hands into his pockets. “He runs on the cleaner side of the law, so I’m not surprised he gave her back.”

  I didn’t have the energy to tell him he gave her back yes, because he is clean, and yes, he had a daughter once that would have been around the same age as Liza, but also he did it because he wanted my respect. Men and respect go hand-in-hand. I didn’t have the energy, nor did I really give a fuck enough to tell him. Another time. That time being when Amethyst wakes the fuck up. I’m going to beat her ass for this.

  “She’s going to remember who you are, son,” Jonah says, gripping my shoulder. I cup my hands around my mouth and look at her. “What you and her shared, isn’t something most people get to experience. Maddox, you both share something so rare that no amount of anything can erase it.”

  I don’t reply. I just swallow past the boulder set in my throat.

  The fear of not knowing if she’s going to remember is damn near crippling. What if she doesn’t want me? What if she doesn’t allow me to show her? What would I do then?

  I’d lock her in my basement and make her, that’s what.

  AMETHYST

  Brown curls wrap around this girl’s face, her blue eyes twinkling with mischief. I hold the spray can in my hand and smile at her. “What are we doing?”

  She laughs, deep dimples indenting into her cheeks. “You’re so funny, Ame! We’re spraying your halfpipe, remember? I’m doing you and Dad and you’re doing the pink and blue splatters.”

  I look back at the splatters. “Why are they neon pink and blue?”

  The little girl scrunches up her face, her little piggy buns bouncing. “Because you like fast cars, but also like dressing pretty.”

  “Huh,” I murmur, staring off in the distance. “So I’m half tomboy and half girly girl?”

  She nods. “Yup, just like me, remember?”

  I don’t remember.

  “Um,” I whisper. “What’s your name again?”

 
She rolls her eyes. “Have you been drinking vodka again?”

  I freeze. “No?”

  “I’m Kennedy Stone, my—”

  Memories invade my brain at one-hundred miles an hour.

  Maddox and me laughing, him leaving me, us finding each other. Our first kiss, stumbling onto his bed during our one-night stand, falling out his window and laughing with Leila as we ran back to the taxi, him showing me Dutch, showing me the crash site. “I love you.”

  I shoot off the bed, sucking in desperate breaths.

  “Amethyst?” Maddox flies off the seat he’s sitting on. I look to him, then to Liza who is beside him, clutching a coffee cup with worry lines etched into her face. She obviously hadn’t slept, then I stare to the ground to see the masses of mattresses scattered everywhere with blankets and pillows. Had they stayed the entire time?

  “Baby?” Maddox tests, walking to my bed slowly.

  I rub my eyes and then clutch onto the steel pole that sits on the other side of my bed. “Where’s Ken?”

  They both let out a loud exhales of breath. “Holy fuck.” Maddox leaps at me, pulling me into his arms. I wince but then sink into him. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I murmur, looking up at him. “But seriously, where’s Ken?”

  Two Weeks Later

  AMETHYST

  I don’t know what happened while I was out of it, because I don’t remember not remembering, but I remember the dream I had with Ken in it. When I told Maddox about the dream, he was speechless for days. It wasn’t him who made me remember, it wasn’t the love I had for him even though that love is infinite, it was the love I had for his child. My child, too. I’ve claimed her and no one can really do anything about it.

  There’s a knock on my bedroom door, just as I’m tossing clothes into my bag. “Hey, sugar!” Leila comes in, her hair in a high ponytail and her face free of makeup. She’s gone back to brown since she’s pregnant. I don’t know, something about ammonia not being good for the baby. She’s flipped and done a complete one-eighty and I cannot be happier for her. It also has me thinking about maybe having my own child one day. Half me and half Maddox. I don’t know whether to be terrified by that or excited. But then again, Ken turned out perfect and her mom has a few screws loose, as much as I love Cass.

  “Hey! Are you all packed?”

  “Yup!” She sits down on my bed and gazes out the window. “Have you spoken with Liza?”

  I gulp. Finding out she was my sister wasn’t something easy to swallow, and I’ve not forgiven my mom for it, or even come close to forgiving her. I don’t know when I will, but it won’t be anytime soon.

  “I’ll talk with her when I’m ready.”

  “Wanna talk about this thing with your crazy fucking grandma?” Leila asks carefully.

  I shrug. “Not really, but…” I inhale and take a seat beside her, brushing my hair back. “I don’t fucking understand why she needed either of us. I mean, why? Why not just have left Liza and me with mom.”

  “Because power,” Liza murmurs from the doorway.

  I shuffle a little. “What does that mean? And you can come in…” I wave her into the room.

  Liza falters, but eventually she comes in and takes a seat on the floor in front of us. Leila tucks her feet under her butt to get comfortable, I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable listening to this story.

  “Jessica was her only daughter, and the way the Satan’s Angels work by presidency is by lineage. She tried to get pregnant after and before Jessica, but it never happened. If she didn’t have someone to take over, then she would lose her presidency once she hit fifty. The reason why she didn’t get the gavel taken from her ten years ago is because of me. Because they knew she was grooming me to take her place.”

  “What made her crazy enough to steal me then? No offense, but if she had you, then why would she start this drama?”

  “Travis,” Liza whispers, her eyes coming to me.

  I freeze. “What?” I still haven’t spoken to that little fuck-nut since the sex tape scandal. “What about Travis?”

  She shakes her head in disbelief. “He was paid to get with you, make you trust him. He was already your co-worker, it worked. I was going to tell you! I was going to tell you everything. God, Ame!” She exhales, her voice shaky. “I’ve wanted to tell you everything for so long now, but I couldn’t. I was too afraid.”

  “Afraid of her?” I ask, tilting my head, still trying to wrap my head around the Travis thing.

  Liza shakes her head. “No, afraid I’d lose you. Lose you because I didn’t tell you straight away, lose you, period.”

  “You wouldn’t have and won’t, Liza, but can you tell me more about Travis?”

  She nods and continues. “He caused the debacle for a couple reasons, I’m gathering. One was to hurt you and Maddox, which is obvious, but the other is the not-so-obvious. He did it to draw attention to Gram.” She clears her throat and straightens her shoulders. “Before I go on, I have to say right now that I can’t have kids.”

  I feel for her, I do. “I’m sorry.”

  She shakes her head. “It’s fine, I healed eventually, and it’s a story I don’t really want to go into, but my upbringing and the Satan’s Angels MC is a nasty one.”

  I swallow. “When and if you ever want to talk about it, Liza, I’m here.”

  She pauses and I watch as her eyes glass over and her bottom lip trembles. “Thank you, Ame.” Jesus, has no one ever shown her love?

  I wave my hand. “Keep going.”

  She clears her throat. “When my grams found out that I couldn’t have children to carry on the legacy, she was appalled. I was basically damaged goods, but she never outwardly said that. She always made me feel loved and wanted. When I told her about my infertility, She seemed sad, but I thought she was just sad for me, as the person who damaged me got 86’d around the time it happened.

  I was wrong. So very wrong. She immediately concocted a plan to get you with someone, anyone. She watched your show and saw the connection you and Travis obviously already had and enforced it more, got in his head a lot. They jumped him, then threatened his life, then made a deal with him. He started taking your pills and replacing them to hurry the process. Then when he almost lost you to Maddox at the wedding, she threatened him again. It was shit luck that you got pregnant, but when he told Gram, she was ecstatic. Gram noticed the shift in me, how I was defending you a lot, coming to your defense when they’d talk about you. I tried to do things to stop it, but they started cutting me out of the discussions, so I didn’t know anything. To be honest, now that I look back, I see it, where and how she started pushing away from me. She was losing me, but in her mind, I was already lost the second I got raped.”

  I pause, shooting off the bed and taking a seat with her on the floor. She snuffs her nose and shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to say that.”

  “It’s ok!” I wipe her tears from her cheeks.

  Leila comes down to the other side of her. “Liza, we’re family. We care about you as much as we do our own blood. Ok?”

  I roll my eyes. “She is my blood, Lei.”

  Leila glares at me. “Wasn’t talking to you.”

  I chuckle.

  Liza giggles. She’s used to mine and Leila’s strange friendship.

  Liza continues. “So, when you lost the baby and dumped Travis, I guess it all went downhill. She figured to get you another way.” She looks at me. “I don’t know what she had planned for you, Ame, but that house, my dad’s house is only used for brutal things that they don’t want to take back to the clubhouse. I don’t know, but if you ask me, I’d say she had plans to keep you there. Travis’s sex tape thing was a cheap way to break you and Maddox up, to separate you long enough to take you, I’m guessing. They just didn’t know that nothing can really come between you two.”

  The information settles in my head like a carnival of psycho clowns. Up and down and round and round…

  I exhale.
“Well, at least it all makes sense now.”

  Liza nods. “If Maddox finds out about Travis…”

  I shake my head and Leila bursts out. “No!”

  We all look at each other and agree. “Maddox can never know.”

  We’re all seated in Maddox’s jet, waiting for take-off when he comes to sit beside me. Everyone is here except my mom and Elliot.

  Talon and Liza, Wolf and Leila, Cass, Kennedy and Cass’s new boyfriend. My family, basically.

  Maddox’s hand finds mine and he intertwines our fingers together. “You okay?”

  I smile, snuggling into him. “Yes.”

  It isn’t all a lie, I was okay, I just wasn’t sure what to do about my mom.

  AMETHYST

  Aspen was filled with a lot of laughs, a lot of alcohol, and in mine and Maddox’s case, a lot of sex. My mom calls my phone for the hundredth time, so I slide it unlocked to answer. “What, Mom?”

  “Hey honey, you answered. Listen, your father and I are on our way to your house, are you home?”

  “What?” I sit up on the sofa, look to Kennedy and then make my way into the kitchen. Maddox isn’t here tonight, he had to go to Vegas and Cass is on vacation in Australia with Aaron. We do have around five bodyguards all at the property though. Maddox still isn’t set on Gram, and I don’t think he ever will be. I’m not sure what he is planning to do, but I really hope he doesn’t do anything stupid. The last thing we need is a beef with a motorcycle club.

  “Fine, but what do you want to talk about, Mom? I know everything.”

  She sighs. “I know sweetheart, but it’s something important and I really need you to understand.”

  “Okay.” I give up. How long can I really be mad at her. I’ll hear her out, but I really hope she has something new to give me.

  I’m not even back in the sitting room when my front door opens and bodyguard number one who was outside the door pops his head in. “A couple old folks here, one is saying she’s your mother?”