Page 41 of Cocky Secrets

“Now, Antonio,” Margaret warns, “He’s in love. Give him patience!”

“I’m gonna kill him!”

Celia grabs my arm as we race down, with little Jack trying to hold onto her, crying out, “Mommy, can I ride in the cop car?”

“Plenty of time for that when you’re grown,” Celia flatly replies.

Our children are of the groggy variety, “Mom,” Malakai calls down, rubbing his eyes from the second floor, looking at me from between the railing’s bars. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing we can’t handle, baby. Go back to bed.”

Kenzie pokes her head out of their bedroom door. “I’m sleepy.”

“Go back to sleep, honey. Daddy and I have this.”

“Okay,” she whispers, high-pitched voice sweet and innocent, half in dreamland.

My father calls out to Sage’s dad, “Honey Badger, he’s not going away without being heard,” and hits a button inside the foyer, flying open the electric gate we had installed five or six years ago. It was one of the rare times we’ve spent money updating this ghost of a place. Leaving the plantation in a state of decay is a personal choice The Ciphers made long ago to never forget its disgusting history. The fact that we, those who save the innocent, live here is aligned with our beliefs because we’vetaken something bad and made it good. But not too good. We’ll never slap on new paint and restore this place. If anything, we’ll sand it down to bare bones if the paint chips off enough. Let it stand as a skeleton that houses the saints who seem, to those who don’t understand us, like sinners.

The porch fills up with curiosity and anger. Dad, Mom, me, Luke, Atlas, Celia, Sean, their son Jack, Melody, Scythe, Denita, Shay, Mylar, Tonk Sr. and Carmen, all stand on the porch while Honey Badger and Margaret hurry down the front steps and up the driveway to meet their daughter’s determined suitor.

I glance to my husband. “Luke, where’s Sage?”

His gaze flicks upstairs. “Hiding out in her room so she doesn’t lose her resolve?”

“Does that sound like your sister?”

Atlas answers for him, “She said shewouldn’ttry and see him again. It was a vow.”

“Was it?” I ask, uncertain. Might be a little sarcasm there, too.

The patrol car skids to a stop, sending dust flying into splintered light of stark headlights. Bear steps out in his police uniform, tall and imposing, his face a mixture of urgency and…what…fear?

Honey Badger demands, “What kind of crazy bastard wakes up an entire household to?—”

“—Sage has been kidnapped.”

A collective gasps shoots through our club. Margaret steps back as if she’s been sucker-punched. Honey Badger freezes, unsure if he correctly heard what Bear just said.

I grab Luke’s arm as he goes rigid.

Atlas, starting to pant, speaks first. “She was with you?!”

Bear sears him with fierce eyes, voice seething, “If she were with me, no one would’ve beenableto take her.”

“Well, nobody could have taken her from here!”

Luke growls, “It’s impossible.”

Margaret cries out a pained, “Sage!” and rushes past us into the house to check her daughter’s room. I lock eyes with Melody and Carmen before they rush inside to support their friend.

Honey Badger watches the second floor window for Sage’s light to go on and shed some answers.

“We don’t have time to check if I’m telling the truth. I’m telling you, she’s been kidnapped. She’s been taken by The Spiders.”

Honey Badger’s head whips to Bear. “The Spiders!"

My father descends the steps. “I’m Jett Cocker, President of our club. We know The Spiders. We’ve…met them…a few times. The last one didn’t end well.”

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