Page 125 of Riding the Edge

“Where the fuck is Blackie?”

“I have no idea,” Anthony admits, glancing around the room. “I tried calling him but his phone goes straight to voicemail.”

“And Bas do we know what happened there?”

“Him and the girl are okay,” Nico shares. “His mother got arrested though. Needles is there with them, squaring shit away. Supposedly that’s another fucking crime scene.”

“Great,” I mutter.

“It’s also a holiday weekend,” Anthony mutters. “That’s why they’re being carted to Rikers. They won’t get in front of a judge until Monday.”

“That’s three days from now. What the fuck happened to night court?”

“The television show?” Nico questions.

Fuck my fucking life.

“Anything else I should know?” I ask, afraid of the fucking answer.

Silently, Anthony and Nico exchange a look and I stare at them expectantly, waiting for them to drop another fucking bomb. But before they have the chance to, I spot Reina, out of the corner of my eye, making her way towards me. Tearing my gaze away from my son and Anthony, I turn and meet Reina’s eyes.

With every step she takes, guilt consumes me, and it becomes hard to look at her. I can still hear her strangled voice begging me to help her husband, pleading for me to intervene before something like this happened.

I failed her.

I failed Jack.

I should’ve been more aggressive. I should’ve insisted he listen to me. Instead, I let it go. I gave him another shot and tried to bide my time because I believed Maria needed me more. As guilty as I am, I’d make the same choice and I don’t know if that makes me an honorable man or a man who threaded on his brother.

As she reaches me, I swallow the lump in my throat and force my apology.

“Reina, I’m sorry,” I say hoarsely.

Squaring her shoulders, she tucks a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and shakes her head.

“That doesn’t matter anymore, Wolf,” she says in a controlled voice. “This is where we’re at now and there’s no going back. We can only move forward and do our best to help Jack.”

Staring at her for a beat, I finally nod and turn my attention to the club attorney.

“I hear they recovered a gun. Do we know who it belongs to?”

Before he can answer, Reina, cocks her head to the side and sets me straight.

“It’s Blackie’s,” she reveals. “During the shootout, Blackie took a bullet for Jack. They got away and took him to the cabin upstate and the doctor met them up there. When I got word Jack was arrested, I called Blackie first, and he told me he dropped the gun. I tried to call someone to retrieve the gun before the cops found it but that was before I knew everyone was arrested with him.”

Everyone but me and she didn’t even bother to call me.

More guilt.

She continues to reveal what she knows, and I realize just how bad things had gotten for Jack. Never in his right mind, would he have revealed so much to his wife and he sure as fuck would never allow her to get as deeply involved as she has been. For fuck’s sake, she was trying to get rid of evidence.

The lawyer interjects, drawing my attention to him.

“Once they pull a print on that gun, they will be able to place the Knights at the scene and they’ll try Blackie for the murder of those two Mexicans,” he asserts.

“Well, then, I guess it’s a good thing we fucking pay you so well,” I growl. “Make it go away.”

“It’s not that simple, Wolf,” he mutters. “You’re forgetting they got the possession charge with the intent to sell. They also got an APB out for Blackie. Bullet or no bullet, the guy is a fugitive now. I’m good but I’m not God.”

---