“Yeah, just passing through.”
She ripped off the order slip. “I’ll get that coffee. You came at the right time. The early start customers are done, and the late breakfast grabbers haven’t come in yet. We usually get a crowd just before eleven.”
I figured I could linger on the stool for several hours before having to give it up. “Uh, do you know what time the bus heading to California comes through? The one going to Fresno?”
“Sorry, Honey, that bus only comes through twice a week. It’ll be a few days. There’s one coming through at twelve o’clock that heads up to Stateline.” She laughed. “Then you just have to cross the street and you’ll be in California. If you’re looking for work, there are always plenty of jobs in the casinos. But the rent is pretty high up there.”
“Thanks.” Daunting, all of it was so damn daunting. I cursed Dreygon for keeping me so sheltered that I had no idea how to survive in the outside world.
After not eating for three days, half a pancake filled me up but knowing it might be the last thing I ate for awhile, I forged through the stack. Tracy laughed as she saw me push in a forkful almost as if it pained me, which was a good way to describe it.
She stopped in front of me. “Honey, you look like you stopped enjoying those pancakes fifteen bites ago.”
“They’re delicious, but, yeah, I reached my limit after the first one.”
Two elderly men sat sipping coffee at a booth, but the rest of the diner had cleared out. “I guess I can take a break,” Tracy said. “The boss has been in the office all morning working on books, and the other girl didn’t show for her shift, so I’m dog tired. She patted her pocket. “But I earned some nice tips today. Helps pay for the online courses I’m taking. They might be online, but they sure are expensive. Hoping to become a dental hygienist.” She poured herself some iced tea and leaned against her side of the counter. “What about you? Got any dreams?”
Meeting not one but two amazing women in the span of several days had opened my eyes. Freedom was mine now and nothing was going to stop me from reaching my goals. “This might sound ridiculous, but I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. I feel like it’s in my bones, you know? Like that’s what I’m supposed to be, but, alas, life hasn’t gone that direction . . .yet.”
“It will. And it’s not ridiculous at all. It’s noble. Just keep at it.” She took a sip. It was obvious there was a question waiting on her lips. “Was he a husband or boyfriend?” she asked after some consideration.
I looked questioningly at her.
“The man you’re running from.”
“Neither, actually. My grandfather, believe it or not.”
“Well, that’s a new one. I had to leave because of my stepfather. Couldn’t stand to be in the same room with the man. Oddly enough, we’re friends now. He calls to check up on me more than my mom does. But grandfather, hardly ever heard of a terrible grandpa.”
“Yeah, lucky me. I got saddled with a doozy. And, believe me, he’s nothing like any other grandfather out there.”
“Then I’m glad you’re free of him.” She picked up a cloth and wiped down the counter. “Hey, I just thought of something. Can you dance?”
I laughed. “In my head, I’m an awesome dancer, but on the dance floor, two left feet, I’m afraid. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just that you’re so pretty, and they’re always hiring dancers for the casino shows.” She tapped her chin. “Let’s see what else is up by Stateline. Of course, there are always food server positions and hotel worker. There are some nice tourist attractions in Tahoe. Maybe something up there.”
“Isn’t there a horseback riding place up there?”
“Squaw Valley. I used to ride there when I was a little girl, and we vacationed at the lake. Do you like horses? Well, who doesn’t like horses? Do you know something about them?”
“I do. Self-taught but I might try it. I’m willing to muck stables if it’ll make a paycheck.”
Tracy nodded with satisfaction. “Well, there you go. Who needs those job search engines. All you need to do is sip coffee with Tracy, and your life will be sorted out.”
***
The morning passed by quickly, and just like I’d been sad to leave Maggie’s company, I was a bit sad to leave Tracy. In my mind, I’d always conjured this violent, wretched world waiting for me if I was silly enough to venture out alone. I’d had a completely false sense of things and was feeling relief at how wrong my imagination had been.
I pulled out my wallet and tried to figure out just how much I could spare for a tip when Tracy’s hand pressed over mine. “The breakfast is on me, and no need for a tip. You’ve been the brightest part of my day so far.”
“That is so sweet of you, and thank you for all of your advice.” Some of my gratitude was drowned out by the thrumming sound of motorcycles outside. It was a sound that was as familiar to me as birds chirping in trees, and it took me a second to pay attention to it.
I turned around and a breath stuck in my throat as Gunner’s face met me through the diner window. I spun my face away from him and nearly fell off the stool in my alarm.
“It’s all right, Honey. They’re harmless. They come in here once a week for the breakfast skillet.” She pointed to a sign above the kitchen window. “Best in Nevada. They . . . ” she stopped talking when she saw my face.
“Is there a back way out?” I grabbed up my backpack and didn’t wait to be invited through the small swinging door that led behind the counter.
She sensed my urgency. “Right past the two refrigerators. It leads into an alley. I’ll keep them busy.” I hugged her quickly and slid through the steamy kitchen. The cook glanced up and was about to say something, but I rushed out the back door before he could protest.
The alley was empty aside from a large trash bin. I heard a Gunner’s deep voice coming through the kitchen. I ran for the abandoned gas station and ducked behind one of the pumps. My heart thumped against my ribs.
Gunner and one other man, who I couldn’t recognize from the distance, stepped into the alley. Gunner walked behind the trash can and then swept the alley with his hard gaze. His attention landed on the gas station. He turned to say something to his friend. His attention momentarily diverted, I ran to the far side of the kiosk.
Every window was a mere frame of jagged edges. I swept away shards of glass from the broken pane. I shoved my backpack through the opening. Splinters covered my palms as I pulled myself inside. My shins scraped along the sharp edge of the sill, and I bit my lip in pain. Puffs of dirt rose from the cement floor as my feet landed. Thin rivers of blood trailed down the front of my legs. I fell to the floor of the kiosk, grabbed my backpack and scooted beneath a cobweb covered desk. The layer of dust was so thick it brought on a sneeze. I pressed my bloodied palm against my nose to stifle the sound. Mud colored liquid trickled down my legs as the filth from the floor mixed with my blood. I sat as still as a statue, but there was no way to quiet my pulse. It pounded in my ears.
I heard their footsteps before their deep voices echoed through the abandoned station. “Come out, come out wherever you are, Angel.” Gunner laughed dryly. “Remember when you were a little girl, you loved to play hide and seek. You and Richo, remember? You should come out. I’m not going to hurt you.” Gunner’s voice sounded even colder than usual, and the sound of it sent a shiver through me. I’d known Gunner my whole life, but with all that had transpired, I couldn’t possibly trust him. He’d refused to kill Luke, but that was to save his own skin. I wasn’t completely sure what he would do if he got hold of me.
Terror shot through me as I glanced down at the large streak of floor I’d wiped clean with my backpack and my bottom. A shadow fell across the room. My breath stuck in my chest. Ridiculously, I closed my eyes, as if somehow that would make me less visible. I waited in terror, sure that I’d been discovered. I opened my eyes just as the shadow fell away. Their footsteps retreated.
I stayed crouched beneath the desk for a ve
ry long time before working up the courage to peer out. My legs were stiff from being balled up on the floor, and the blood had dried into rust-colored streaks on my skin.
The motorcycles were still parked outside of the diner. Many heads bobbed up and down in the restaurant. The crowded lunch hour had begun. For some unexplained reason, Gunner had ended his search for me and gone inside to eat. Those must have been some amazing breakfast skillets, and I was thankful for that.
I glanced in the direction of the motel. The custodian’s cart was still at the first room, which meant the room I’d stayed in had not been cleaned yet. I’d left the door unlocked and hoped it was still open. I climbed back through the window opening taking more care not to touch the sharp glass on the way out.
I raced along the back of the motel. The narrow parking lot in the rear was empty. The manager was pushy about me sticking to my check out time, but as far as I could tell he had no one waiting for rooms.
I circled around the back of the building and peered around the corner. No one was in sight. I crept to my old room. It was still unlocked. I raced into the bathroom and nearly gasped when I glanced in the warped mirror. It looked as if I’d just crawled out of a fox hole instead of a gas station kiosk. Thanks to the unexpected sneeze, even my face was streaked with the gross blood and dirt combination. Using the odd smelling towel, I cleaned the blood from my legs, hands and face.
I walked to the window and gently lifted the drapes. The sun was nearly straight above, which meant it was near noon. I could see only a sliver of the diner parking lot from the motel window, but the chrome of the Harleys still gleamed in the midday light. I didn’t dare stay any longer in the room or I would have to pay for it. I walked back to the end of the long corridor and stepped around the corner, out of view of the sidewalk and most especially the diner.
The whole thing had been rather strange. Gunner had always been a blowhard, and, in many ways, a fool, but he had enough evil in him to be ruthless. He’d left the compound to drum up support for his takeover of the club, and from the seven or eight bikes that had pulled up with him, he might have been having success with that. It was hard to know what he would have done with me if he’d caught me.
I had no idea if I was valuable enough to Dreygon anymore to be worth any territory or membership. That thought depressed me. He’d been an unconventional, and not always enjoyable, grandfather, but he’d always seemed to care deeply about me. It was hard coming to grips with the cruel reality that that was no longer the case. The last few days at the compound had proven that. It was entirely possible that Dreygon was glad to be rid of me.
I was completely on my own, and as freeing as that thought was, loneliness weighed down on me like a pallet of bricks.
The distinctive whirring engine of a bus sounded in the distance. I was only several hundred yards from the bench. Two women sat on it with their rolling luggage propped next to them, so I could only assume the bus would stop. I could easily cover the distance and slide on board before anyone saw me.
The bus came over the horizon and plowed along the road like a silver fiberglass dragon. The doors released a loud sigh as they slid open. I raced across the motel parking lot. I peeked quickly in the direction of the diner. The Bedlam guys were still inside eating.
The bus was about three quarters full, mostly people with small duffle bags and backpacks, seemingly on their way to a long weekend in Tahoe. Two young soldiers dressed in fatigues smiled at me as I scooted down the aisle. I dropped into the last seat and slid down low. For the first time since meeting Gunner’s glare through the diner window, I relaxed. My neck ached from holding my shoulders rigid.
Somehow, I’d made it. I almost felt foolish for running from the diner like a frightened rabbit when Gunner obviously didn’t really care that I was there. Maybe I was truly free of the club now. I found it hard to believe that I’d cleaved my ties that easily, but with the connection between Dreygon and me shattered permanently, it seemed that I was no longer relevant in the MC world. That thought brightened my spirits. I was penniless, homeless and completely alone, but I’d never felt so in charge of my own future.
The doors to the bus sucked together, and the driver put the bus in gear. I closed my eyes. The tension of the past hour had given me a headache, but now that I was safe, I could rest the pain away. The collection of voices and vibration of the bus relaxed me more, and I hardly noticed when the doors puffed open again. With my eyes closed, I felt the bus shift as another rider stepped on. It seemed as if all casual conversation stopped instantly.
“Don’t want any trouble,” the bus driver kept his voice low.
I scooted up and peered over the seat. Gunner walked casually, almost as if he moved in slow motion, down the center aisle. Every head turned as he passed as if a tiny string on his cut pulled their chins around to look at him as he drifted by. Gunner was a big, menacing looking man. His skull was covered with tattoos, and he kept his white blond hair just short enough to give the black ink beneath an eerie yellow glow. His fists looked as if they could kill a man with one punch. And inside the city bus, which was filled with enthusiastic weekenders, he looked especially scary.
I sat up and clenched my teeth together as he sat down next to me. He smelled of sweat and tobacco and bacon. I’d sat next to the man at a table thousands of time, but now as his shoulder pressed against mine, I felt sick with fear.
One of the soldiers turned around. He looked at me with concern.
“Can I help you?” Gunner asked rudely.
The soldier didn’t flinch. “Just wondering if the lady would be more comfortable sitting up here.”
“She’s just fine where she is.” Gunner waved his hand for the guy to turn around, but he didn’t. I feared that Gunner might start a fight on the bus, and I didn’t want to be responsible for the soldier getting hurt, or anyone else for that matter.
“I’m fine, Sir,” I forced the waver from my tone. “Thank you so much for the offer.”
“She’s fine.” Gunner was always big on having the last word.
Reluctantly, the soldier turned toward the front of the bus.
The bus pulled away from the curb. Just seconds before, it seemed I was on my way to a new life, completely free of my chains. Now, the giant black hole that was the Bedlam MC had sucked me back in again.
Gunner relaxed back as if he was settling in for the long ride. There was no way the man was leaving his motorcycle here in Carson City. Club members would rather leave their legs behind than their bikes.
“So, little Angel, what the hell have you been up to?” he asked in that tone that had always made me want to smack him. “I heard you’d gone missing from the compound. They offed that cocky narc of yours, and since there was no one else to fuck, you left. Poor old Jericho. I hear he’s having a hard time of it.”
“What do you want with me, Gunner? I’m trying to get as far away from the club as possible and then here you are, like a fucking piece of gum stuck to the bottom of my shoe.”
“Still the charming little beauty that everyone always admired. But I guess you and the old man have had somewhat of a falling out, eh? Couldn’t have happened at a better time. His time is coming to an end, and now I have you in my possession, which is as good as slapping that president’s patch on my cut.”
I laughed. “The joke is on you. Dreygon could care less about me. If you’re thinking of bartering with him, trading my life for his territory, you just got screwed. I’m not worth a square of grass to him anymore. He’ll just laugh it off.”
He looked down at me. “You stupid, little girl. You have no idea, do you?”
“What are you talking about?”
He shook his head. “Not for me to explain. Let’s just say that you might not be worth much in a trade, but as a piece of blackmail evidence, you are prime real estate.”
“You’re high. You aren’t making any sense at all.”
“Maybe not to you, but your grandfather will understand me p
erfectly. And the club is as good as mine.” He leaned into the aisle. “Yo, driver. Pull over. We just passed our stop.”
The man’s angry eyes reflected off his rearview mirror, but he pulled to the curb and stopped the bus. He was, no doubt, more than anxious to be rid of his terrifying passenger.
Gunner pinched my elbow hard.
“I’m not going with you.”
He leaned close to my ear. “Yes, Sweetheart, you are, and peacefully.” The cold barrel of a gun pushed beneath the hem of my shirt and pressed hard into my back. “Otherwise, Johnny-do-gooder, up there, is going to try to save the damsel, and I’m going to have to hurt him.” The asshole knew me too well. He knew I’d rather go with him than risk someone else getting hurt. Gunner stood up in the aisle and waited for me to slide out. This time rather than stare with wide mouths, the passengers looked straight ahead or down to avoid seeing anything. Only the young soldier had the guts to look Gunner in the eye. I shook my head at the guy to let him know not to do anything. I blew him a quick kiss as a thank you and walked to the front of the bus. The bus driver was an older man, but he looked tough. He glared hard at Gunner in the mirror as we reached the steps.
Gunner kept the gun well hidden beneath my shirt as we left the bus and headed back down the road toward the diner. Several hundred feet before the restaurant, I let my backpack slide down to my hand. It landed in my fingers with a thud. The textbook was at least five pounds, and it seemed heavy enough. I swung the backpack at Gunner. It smacked him hard on the side of his head, and as he recovered, I ran. I had no idea where to go, but my long legs had always made me a fast runner. There was a wall of motorcycles directly ahead so I took a sharp turn and ran alongside the side of the diner. Gunner’s curses and loud footsteps followed.
I made it to the back alley before Gunner’s massive body slammed into me. I flew a good five feet forward before landing and sliding over the hot rough asphalt. The skin on my knees and chin was ground off on the rough surface. Gunner’s two hundred pound plus body came down on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. Tears streamed from my eyes as I struggled to catch my breath.