Page 13 of Shadow

Ignoring him, I asked, “How are my nieces?”

“Becca and Sarah are doing well. Ari’s pregnant again.”

I smiled. “Hoping for a boy this time?”

“Nope. I like my Powdered-Puff Girls.”

I knew he was waiting for me to ask about the club. Part of me wanted to know what was going on. I cared about the brothers there, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask the question.

I knew I wasn’t ever going back.

I couldn’t.

The past wouldn’t let me.

Every terrible memory I had was because of that club. From Dad’s death to Malachi, to the current shit going on. The Golden Skulls motorcycle club was deteriorating fast and unless someone did something about it, the club would be nothing more than a memory.

Looking around the greenhouse, I spotted Faith as she shoveled more compost into the soil, a smile on her face. She still amazed me with how peaceful she seemed. I kept waiting for the mask to fall, but it never did. My sister was genuinely content.

“Zeke,” Hope said, walking up behind me.

Turning to face her, she added, “I need to make a run into Lawton. I have a delivery to make. Feel like driving me?”

“Sure,” I said, before returning to my brother. “Gotta go, Balthazar. A brother’s job is never done.”

“Go see Kansas, Zeke. I mean it.” With that, he hung up the phone.

Pocketing Charity’s phone, I asked, “Faith, you need anything while we’re gone?”

“Nope. You two have fun.”

The trip was a quiet one. Flat farmland for miles to see was comforting. No distractions, just miles and miles of road ahead.

A biker’s dream.

Sitting behind the wheel of Faith’s old pickup truck, I leaned against the door, one hand on the wheel as Hope quietly listened to her favorite radio station. The voice of an angel was speaking again. I tried to tune her voice out, but the soothing nature kept drawing me back and before I even realized it, I was listening to her.

“The soul often cries out, needing something more. A feeling of isolation will wash over you, as a yearning for something takes hold. Until you inspect what is affecting your life and make the corrections to fix it, that feeling will never go away. To find balance in life, you must feed your soul.”

While I didn’t understand a damn thing she was saying, I noticed that a part of me felt at ease listening to her voice. I didn’t know this woman. Never met her, but her voice had a calming nature over me. Almost as if her voice alone quelled the demons in my head. I’d never felt so relaxed and at ease with myself or my surroundings before.

It was a strange feeling.

However, that feeling didn’t last when I saw the sign for Lawton up ahead. Being this close to the place that changed everything in my life had me tensing up. I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“You okay, Zeke?”

“Yeah,” I muttered, sitting up straighter.

Fuck, why did I agree to come here?

“Where are we going?”

“I have a delivery for Kali. She’s the woman I told you I met at the farmer’s market.”

Shit.

“Are you meeting her at her house?” I silently prayed.

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