Page 59 of The Vows We Keep
“Fine. Next time, ask.”
“Do we get to have make-up sex now?” He places his hand around my neck.
Halo chuckles. “Wait until we’ve left, yeah?”
“We didn’t exactly argue,” I tell him.
“Felt like it. And these two clowns interrupted what I wanted to do with you when you woke up, which included—”
“Stop.” I push him away and turn to Vex. “Ignore him. You said you worked all night and hacked Felipe’s phone. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t found something. What do you know?”
“Spoilsport,” Niro grumbles and slaps my ass before he moves back to the coffee maker.
“Good luck with him,” Halo says, laughter crinkling the corner of his eyes. “You’re gonna need it.”
I want to refute what he’s saying but can’t. “Of that, I have no doubt.”
Vex leans back in his chair. “I looked at messages from five months ago, for the duration of the time they were supposed to be in Iron Outlaws territory and just before it. They made a stop at a house on the outskirts of Joplin, Missouri. Belongs to Diego Ramirez.” Vex shows me an image on his phone.
I know that face, and I reach for my own phone. “Look.” The image Niro drew of one of the people he killed matches him exactly. Mamá remembered his road name. “Lobo.”
“What?” Niro says, putting all four coffee cups on the table.
“Lobo. Means wolf. El Lobo. But Lobo for short. He was a Los Reyes nomad.”
Halo glances at Niro. “Feels like if you need a place to start looking for her father, you might want to see what he had been doing there.”
“Spoke to King this morning,” Vex said. “I wanted to come with you and see if he left behind any tech I could dig into. King said no. Wants me focused on the Righteous”—he glances up at me and corrects himself—“other shit.”
“We don’t have a chapter in Missouri,” Halo says. “But to the best of my knowledge, no one has claimed Joplin. So you should be on neutral ground to wear your cut. I’d advise caution in some areas of Missouri, but I think you’ll be fine where you are going.”
“You ready to ride, cariño?”
I was ready for a roller coaster when I set out on this trip. I knew there would be ups and downs. But this feels more like one of those slingshot rides, the ones where they crank you back and shoot you into the air attached to a piece of hopefully strong bungee.
“Yeah. Feels better than sitting around doing nothing.”
“I’ll keep looking, Cat,” Vex says. “In between the other shit I gotta do. From Felipe’s phone, I have access to the rest of the club. If I find anything, I’ll tell Niro.”
“Take my number so you can text me directly,” I say.
Vex shakes his head. “You know that’s not how it works. You become an old lady, might be different. But right now, the favor I’m doing is for my brother. Not you.”
I want to rage against that answer, even as I understand it. Plus, I don’t want to offend the man who found out more in twenty-four hours than I did in the months since my father died.
Niro’s arms slip around my waist, and he nuzzles against my neck. “It’s okay, Cat. I’ll tell you everything. You can even check my phone whenever you want to make sure I’m not hiding anything from you.”
I place my hands over his and try to force myself to believe him. Various Los Reyes MC members have told me many things that never materialized.
He squeezes me once more, then let’s go. “I’ll call Bates.”
Over the next hour, the generosity of the Iron Outlaws overwhelms me. I meet Halo’s father, Wrinkle, who brings a bundle of cash for Niro. He splits it in two and gives half to Bates, who has arrived with his bike packed up. Spark swings by with two weapons with the serial numbers etched off them. Halo, as road captain, prepares the route to avoid any obvious crossing of other clubs’ and chapters’ marked areas. It’s wise. While brothers aren’t scared of anyone, nobody wants to accidentally cause a turf war or get shot.
Vex hooks Niro and Bates up with trackers and panic alarms. And I’m surprised when he gives me one. “This is to help Niro if he loses you,” Vex says.
I fire off a message to Neva to tell her I’m on the move, that we got a lead. I don’t mention it’s Lobo. She doesn’t reply, but I don’t expect her to. It’s a long ride home, and I feel bad I’m making her do it alone.
Niro is standing by the window, glaring at something. I loop my arm through his and try to see what he’s looking at. “Who put that frown on your face?”
