Page 24 of In It for the Long Ride

“Please, stop.” Isabella hurried toward us. “Please, this is not the time. I need to speak…”

“Go on inside, Honey.” Mark dismissed his daughter-in-law with a flop of his hand. “You and Daisy go on and have a nice conversation, we’re having one out here.”

I hadn’t realized Daisy had ventured outside until Isabella blurted out, “Good, you should hear this, too, Daisy. That priest back at the church… That’s my brother’s priest.”

Everybody froze and stared at her.

“Are you sure?” Daisy broke the thick silence.

Isabella nodded, “He has been our priest since I was a girl.”

“Get everybody to the clubhouse and lock it down!” Mark barked.

“The clubhouse isn’t safe, brother,” I pointed out.

He looked at the scattering prospects and shook his head as the rumble of a dozen bikes sounded around us.

“It’s the fucking mob, Monty. There ain’t nowhere safe no more,” Mark somberly quipped, before marching to his bike.

Mak was quiet, but his chest was rising and falling in that way that told me he was racing inside.

Easy’s phone went off and we all startled.

“I thought I told you to kill that out here,” I hissed.

“It’s him.” Easy whispered, staring down at the phone.

“Goddamn it.” Mak growled.

I held out my hand, urging silence and gave Easy a nod.

He huffed and swiped his thumb across the screen. He put it on speaker and injected all the disgust he could into one little word, “What?”

We all clung to the silence, and I’m pretty sure the goosebumps were infectious when Trista’s dry, raspy tone sounded on the other end.

“Easy,” It sounded like her last breath.

I closed my eyes and focused on the tree line, placing a hand at Mak’s chest. His eyes were wide and his jaw trembled with rage as he stared at the phone his sister’s voice was coming from.

“Easy, a- are you… are you there?” Her throat sounded so fucking dry.

I knew without seeing her she had ligature marks on her neck.

“Goddamn it, don’t make her waste her air,” Mak wailed, his own voice cracking.

“I’m here, Trista. I’m here.” Easy managed. “Trista I’m coming, okay. We’re coming.”

He started choking with emotion, but she didn’t. There was a dejected somberness in that girl’s tone that resonated with one of the lost shards of my soul.

She’d given up.

I turned toward the house, but not quickly enough. I stilled when Daisy came into view, and I saw the tears streaming down her face. She had her hand parked over her mouth, and I couldn’t stop it. I shot forward and jerked her into my arms.

She quietly sobbed on my chest while Trista’s words rained like bullets on us all.

“Stop. You have to stop. Eric, please.” She gasped, making me wonder if she wasn’t hanging as she said it. “You have to forget. You have to forget about me.”

“Never. Do you hear me? Never!” Easy roared into the phone.

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