Page 114 of Ryder

“We’re fine, babe. But we stopped off for ice cream and got a little held up.”

There’s a long pause.

Ice cream.

It’s our family code word, and just in case she didn’t get the memo, “And before you ask, he’s fine. He’s playin’Crocodileon his watch.”

Another long pause. Crystal’s voice is slightly higher, which sends me into an instant panic. “Okay, well, drive safely. I hope you got extra ice cream. I’ll see you soon.”

“Be there soon, Sugar.”

I hang up.

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” the man sneers.

I want to laugh in his face. She knows. And if Crystal knows, the MC is about to know, too.

My son, for all of his quirks and craziness, might have just saved both our lives.

“Just tell me what you want,” I bark.

“Throw your phone out the window.”

“Fuck you.”

“Do it!”

I swallow hard, then press the window down and do as he says.

He sits back in the seat, the gun still pointed at me. “You got a GPS tracker? Don’t lie to me.”

It’s fine. He won’t even know about Ade’s watch… I hope…

“In the glovebox.”

He finds it easily, then tosses that out the window, too. “Don’t need that pesky wife of yours getting nosy when you don’t make it home tonight, do we?”

“What do you want?” I repeat through gritted teeth. “Let me drop my kid off. Do what you want to me, but not him.”

He hums an annoying tune. “You really don’t get it, do you? You owe me, and I’m here to collect.”

“Just show me who you are, stop hidin’ behind a fuckin’ mask.”

He shakes his head. “You callin’ the shots now?”

“It’d be nice to know who I pissed off.”

He contemplates for a second, then rips the mask upward, facing me.

I frown.What the….

“Pleased to see me?” He smiles. “It’s just like old times, isn’t it?”

No. It can’t be. “You’re s-supposed to be d-dead,” I stammer. “How?”

His eyes back on the road a slow grin spreads across his face. “I guess the dead have a way of sneaking up on you, don’t they, Ryder?”

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