Page 90 of Fury

“Yes, but she’s lost now, right? Oh shit, Boner...” Tania dissolved into tears.

Mumbling and muffled voices. Heated words.

I slid down to the floor. Grace, who’d had everything to live for, a husband she loved, a baby on the way, a good club as her family to protect her and keep her safe. But Grace was now destroyed. All of it gone, her whole world shattered, ripped from her. The two most important people in her life taken from her—her old man and their unborn baby. Taken by another club’s wrath, for real reasons or shits and giggles, who knew. Anything was possible on the turn of a dime.

Anything.

I knew that better than most, didn’t I?

My heart careened in my chest at the thought of losing Finger. Losing him now when we had gained so much. So much.

“Do you think she went into hiding for a reason? Are the Demon Seeds after her now?” Tania asked, her tone urgent.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out here. I need to find her. Help her. She’s in the pit now. I know what that’s like, and I gotta pull her out. She contacts you, you let me know. Promise me.”

“I promise. You too. You find her, you call me. Please.”

“I will,” said Boner.

“If she can’t even talk to me or you right now,” said Tania, “then maybe she’s just getting out to start fresh. Maybe she needs to put all of it and all of us behind her for a little while. We’re all different, Boner. Maybe that’s what she needs and we have to give it to her.”

“No.”

“Maybe it’s too hard for her to stay and be surrounded by the Jacks, by everything that was Dig. Even you. She needs to get clean if she’s going to stay alive.” Tania let out a heavy sigh.

Boner and Tania continued their conversation, resignation and sadness clinging to every word. I leaned my head against the wall, the agony and frustration in their voices scouring through me. No one was sure if Dig’s death was a random kill or club rooted. The Jacks were on alert, on the defensive, ready for anything; a dangerous, treacherous place to be.

Did all that matter to Grace? I doubted it. Either way, for whatever reason, her family was destroyed, and she’d chosen to leave her home to stay sane.

“I’m outta here,” Boner said.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I gotta get my shit together.” He sniffed in air. “You call me.”

“I will. You too.”

Pats on backs, murmuring, the door opened and shut. The chain drawn.

Tania opened the bedroom door and fell into my embrace. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

I squeezed her tightly. “You okay?”

“I don’t know. Shit, I don’t know.”

“I think you’re right. I think Grace is just doing what she needs to do. Fresh start and all.”

“I hope so.”

I whispered, “I know so.”

24

Ihad fourhours until mynext class. I planned on hitting the gym for a Tae Bo session, a quick shower after, and then back to school to get some research done in the library on post-WWI design, a revolutionary era in women’s fashion. I threw my handbag on the table and headed back to the front door to twist the lock shut.

Sipping on the last of my raspberry iced tea, I reached out toward the lock, but the door burst open, and I went flying, falling on my back in the middle of my apartment. Ice exploded from my cup, pitching on the wood floor, clattering, sliding.

“Knew it was you! I knew it!” a man’s voice hurled at me.

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