Page 72 of Motorycle Daddies

“What about my promise?” Trap asks. “I told her I was coming back. She’s expecting me, and her face and kiss told me she wants me to come back. She needs what I’m offering.”

“I was there. I know what was said and how she reacted. Believe me, if I thought she was awake and calmed down I’d be right behind you. Maybe she changed her mind because we took so long handling business. Maybe she’s just tired and fell asleep. She’s been so pale lately. Let her rest. She’s not going anywhere,” I tell him.

He sighs with frustration. I get it. I want to be in her bed tonight too. But it’s not happening unless she issues the invitation.

Sleep doesn’t come easily. The need to be with Meredith is all-consuming. I toss and turn until my body overrules my mind and I finally fall into a fitful sleep.

I wake up in a room that’s pitch-black. My watch says it’s only three a.m. It’s a long time until sunrise. I turn over and try to fall back asleep, but I can’t.

Something feels wrong. It’s not me. I’m fine. Yet I can’t shake the weirdness of what I feel. It’s too quiet, or trouble’s brewing.

I get up and grab some clothes. It’s time to check on everyone else. If nothing is wrong with me then it has to be someone I care about—otherwise, my instincts wouldn’t be screaming at me so loudly.

The one who matters most is Meredith, so it’s her room I head for first. After all, I didn’t get a chance to say goodnight. I hate the fact that after she was upset I didn’t even bother to check on her. If she’s sick or hurt I only have myself to blame.

I’m horrified to see that her bed is empty but messy. The closet is open, and the room sets off bad vibes inside me. Prickles of uneasiness run up my spine. I can’t ignore them.

“Grizzly, you asshole,” I say out loud to myself. “She’s just with Trap or Dart, and you’re fucking jealous. Calm your ass down and see if you’re right before you go off the deep end and lose your damn mind.”

I pound on Dart’s door. He shouts back, “Stop that shit! I’m trying to sleep in here!”

I rip the door open, and he leaps from the bed as naked as the day he was born. He doesn’t try to hide his obvious arousal. His dreams must be awfully good.

“What the fuck, Grizzly?!”

“Meredith isn’t in her room. Have you seen her?” I ask with alarm now that I see Dart is alone.

“Do you see her in my bed? Have you lost your mind?” he asks. “If you’re that panicked, check with Trap. He was chomping at the bit because you wouldn’t let him disturb her earlier. Maybe she went to him because she really did want to be with him.”

He must see that his words don’t ease anything in me because he begins to get dressed. He follows me down the hallway, skipping on one foot while he tries to yank a boot onto the other one.

Trap doesn’t hear the pounding. He’s too heavy a sleeper. But if Meredith is in his room she should be calling out to us. She’s not. I burst through the door and shove Trap out of the bed and onto the floor where he startles awake screaming filthy curses.

“Meredith seems to be missing,” Dart explains before I can continue with my breakdown. “Grizzly thinks something bad is up. Now that I see you’re alone I think he might be right.”

“Then we find her,” Trap agrees.

We check the bathrooms, the kitchen, and her room again just to be sure. She’s nowhere, and both Addy’s and Harlow’s rooms are in darkness. No light leaks out from the bottom of their doors.

“It’s time to get the bikes and look for clues outside. I don’t like this at all. If she’s run from us then we have to find out why. But I don’t think she has. I’ve got a gut feeling something I’m not going to like went down tonight, and she needs us,” I tell them.

They follow without speaking. My gut feelings are usually spot on, so they trust what I’m saying.

I stare at the ground as I walk, hoping to see footprints that will lead me to Meredith. But what I notice are tire tracks. The tread doesn’t match our bikes. The weird feeling I started out with grows to immense fear.

“Someone was here. Take a look,” I order the others.

At that same moment, Trap lets out a cry that sends shock waves up my spine.

“Meredith! Grizzly, hurry!”

I shoot past Dart, who’s already running. I fall to my knees where Trap is holding Meredith in his arms. She’s knocked out. There’s blood on her head, the side and back both. Bruises are turning deep purple on her arms and neck. Her nails are torn and ragged, covered in blood.

The scream of anger and agony that comes from down deep inside me scares the birds out of the trees. Lights come on in the clubhouse. Dart trips over a rock when he jumps backward. Trap never lets go of Meredith.

The scream continues until I hear Trap speak. It brings me back to sanity, along with the rushing feet that are coming our way.

“Meredith, wake up,” Trap begs as I check her pulse.

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