Page 59 of Infected By Virus

“Not yet, but she’d probably just be asleep already.”

“Wore her out, did ya?” Squatch teased, but Virus didn’t play along. He was too busy worrying about Rae and kicking his own ass for forgetting he’d waved Santa off earlier.

Virus leaped from the cab of the truck before he came to a complete stop. He didn’t bother with goodbyes. No time.

“You want me to call Prez?” Squatch shouted through the open window.

“Not yet but stand by.”

The last thing he wanted to do was put the club on alert twice in the same day, but his gut was screaming at him.

“Pick up, damn it,” he cursed to himself as he hit redial yet again and got no answer.

Tossing the useless phone to the seat next to him, he accelerated. Hating himself more than anyone could possibly imagine. How could he have forgotten she’d been threatened just hours prior? He was supposed to get all the details on that too. Just another failure he’d have to live with.

“FUCK!” He slammed his fists against the steering wheel. “Why do I still continue to fuck up when it comes to Rae?”

He had his shit together, he really did. After they’d split, it was like a crash course in maturity for him. Virus turned his life around. Got a great job that springboarded him to join the Bastards. Decent apartment, paid-off transportation, in relatively good health. Everything but a successful relationship.

But the minute Rae walked back into his life, it was like his brain walked out.

Silently vowing to do better, he throws the truck in park and sprinted up the porch.

“Rae, sweetheart, open up.” He knocked, but no answer. Maybe she was still in the tub. He jostled the handle, not expecting to find it unlocked, but the door opened.

Rushing in, he called her name. “Sunny, babe, answer me,” he begged desperately as he opened every door in the house.

No Rae. He grabbed his phone and called his prez. Waiting for him to answer, he looked around for any clue as to what happened. His gut told him the answer, but he fought the realization.

“You got her?” His prez’s greeting shocked him until he realized Squatch had put out the alert.

“No. Door was unlocked but nothing out of …” The last word didn’t come as he stepped back onto the porch and saw Dean and Sam looking up at him from the dirt of the dead plant by the door.

“What is it, Virus?”

“Rae’s phone is in the planter by the door.” He noted one corner of it dug into the dirt like it was casually dropped in.

There were ambient sounds of the clubhouse coming through the phone. He felt guilty that his Prez was there and not at home with his ol’ lady. Another failure on his part. Just one more thing he’d have to make up for when this was all over.

“Sorry, Prez—” He didn’t get the inadequate apology out.

“No more apologies, brother. You’ve been doing that since the day I met you. We’re family. When are you going to accept that family doesn’t need a million thank-yous and apologies?”

Zombie wasn’t wrong. Virus was more than grateful to his club for everything, and he did feel the need to apologize constantly.

“What about Teach and Home? They still have eyes on Barker?”

“Teach is sitting on his place, no activity. His car is still there. Home is following a hunch. Saw a man in a hoodie get into another car and had a gut feeling.”

Home had good instincts, so Virus thought there might be something to it, but they needed to check his place.

“I’ll meet Teach and we’ll get a look inside. I’ll check in after that. In the meantime, get Outlaw to pick Harmon’s brain on where Barker would go besides his place.”

“Will do. I’ll try Home again and see where he’s at.”

They ended the call and Virus raced to the address they’d found earlier for Barker. He parked a block away and jogged up to where Teach sat on his bike. Teach saw him coming in his mirror and stood.

“Ready?”

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