Shane

I stare out the small dirty window as the sun shines off that stupid windchime Candice put up outside. The gleam moves around the table we are all surrounding, and I watch with boredom as it makes its way over to where my hands rest on the hardwood.

"We need something, anything on him that will at least throw him off." I look up at Chance's determined eyes as he stands up from his seat for the millionth time.

We have been here in church for over an hour, and so far, we have absolutely nothing accomplished. It's Austin, Chance and I, and every part of me wants to just go home, sit out on my back deck and drink a beer. Anything is better than being here listening to each other go back and forth on what we can and cannot do about Alberts and our current dilemma.

"We will get something on him, but it has to be enough. He's already making our lives a living hell and we haven't even got a full name on the asshole. We have to be smart Chance."

"We are smart Austin, but right now we're like sitting fuckin' ducks. He's probably out there already planning shit."

"Certain things we can't do to a fuckin' cop. Like it or not he's got the hand on the wheel right now." I say from my seat hoping to calm Chance down.

Ever since Alberts has made his way into our part of town, Chance has been acting strange. He's more eager than anyone here to get rid of Alberts. If I didn't know any better, I would say he and Alberts go way back.

"Exactly my fuckin' point Shane. How long could it possibly take to have Torque get some intel on him."

"Apparently long. Now, I need your head in this and not your heart. I need us to be smart, not make everything worse. Candice and Shawna have already been through enough shit from the club, last thing we need is to rock the boat and make it worse. For now, we have to wait for the fucker to make the first move."

"Austin's right Chance, Alberts is smart, that much I can tell, but with enough dirt in your hands, you're bound to spill some." Both men look over at me and I curse myself for taking one of Lyla's old quotes. "What I mean is, the man is going to make a mistake. We just have to watch and be there when he does."

Chance settles and nods his head towards me. I then shift my focus back to Austin.

"So, what do we know about him?" Austin takes a deep breath and collapses into his respectable chair. As president of the Nightmare Warriors MC, it's his job to bring us together as a unit. Austin has always proved his father made the right decision in giving him the title.

"Not much Torque could get from him. Married to his high school sweetheart, two kids, one in twelve, one sixteen. Nothing out of the ordinary. His past is squeaky clean. Max and I tried to locate Timmons but since moving to Florida, we have no idea where he is."

I look over at Chance to see the look of defeat lining his features. This is killing him, and I for one want to know why.

"Alright, Candy is blowing up my phone. Something about wedding cakes or some shit. Let's end this shit and keep in touch throughout the week. If any of us get any shit from Alberts, we bring it to the table."

Chance and I nod and simultaneously head out of the room together. We reach the common room at the same time and stop in our tracks when we nearly collide with Abby. She seems frantic and has some tears blotched all over her face. Abby and I are one in the same. We grew up around the club but never knew if it were for us, or if we were just trying to make our father's happy. Abby lost her mother, Cherry, to club shit and her father Bone wasn't around for her enough. He loves her to pieces and now sees that he wasn't the only one that was suffering, but I think it was too late. Abby's damage was already done.

"You good?" Chance asks pulling her into his embrace.

Chance and Abby are made for each other. A fuckin' blind man could see that from ten miles away, but Chance is too far gone in himself to see the care she has for him. We all give him shit but he simply shrugs his shoulders and says the age difference is too much. Whereas Abby is now twenty-three, Chance is almost thirty-one. Ain't much to me, and I personally think it's more of an excuse to keep her at arm's length, but it's also not my business.

"Can't find dad. Have either of you seen him? I've been working doubles but each time I come home, he's not there. It's been at least three days."

I look over at Chance with anger bubbling from under my belt. Fuckin' Bone has been here for the last few days getting wasted every chance he gets. He normally only gets this way when the death of his ex-wife is getting to him, but it's never okay to scare your kid, no matter how old they are.

"Darlin', Bone's been here the whole time. He's been getting drunk each night." If I would have known you were lookin' for him, I would have told you where you could find him."

Abby's face converts from worry and torment, to mortification and humiliation. She never thought to look here until now, but it's honestly the most obvious place. She also never called any of us to ask. Besides being busy at work, she must have something pressing on her mind.

"Oh, God. Of course. I feel so stupid. Sorry guys." Abby says to Chance then runs out of the room before we could say more, and I catch myself starring at Chance.

I want to call him out on being so dumb. The girl would move mountains to be near him and if he doesn't see it, he's a damn fool. I want to call him on being a complete idiot for not seeing what is clearly right in front of him but that would mean I would have to take a mirror to myself.

Lyla's presence envelops around me as I think of the last time we were together. I called her terrible names, told her she was a bad mother without ever hearing her side of story, and created a rift between us. When her asshole ex came at the two of us that day, all I saw was red. I had to get out of there, and when she tried to explain it to me later, I didn't want to hear it.

I remember when Shawna told me that I should give Lyla a chance to explain everything. I don't know if Lyla told her our story, but Shawna and Max proved to me a few months ago that sometimes the truth isn't always so black and white. There are lies and deceit behind the simplest truths. Is that what Lyla's deal was? Did she have a reason behind her lies? Would it matter to me if she did?

I stare at Chance as he peers over at the spot Abby had just vacated. Before any of us could move, Max walks into the room and interrupts our thoughts.

"Ya'll see Abby just now?"

"Yeah, looking for Bone. Told her he was here getting' drunk like a shithole for the last three days. Didn't know she was lookin' for him." Chance answers. I can hear the anger radiating off him in vibes.

"I figured. When she ran into me outside she seemed a little out of it. Bone has been acting strange too. Took me about ten minutes to figure it out but Cherry's birthday would have been this week."

I look down with discomposure. Of course they are both hating this time. Cherry's death happened to be on her birthday. It's normal they would both be hurting right now. Abby was the youngest of us all. When we were teenagers, she was a small child trying to catch up with us. Her size and innocence only made her youth shine even more. When her mother was killed right in front of her, she changed. The young five-year-old little girl was different. No longer an innocence of the mind, she was harder, more of an adult than her own father.

I can recall a time when my mother took me over to see Bone and Abby. It had been a little over a month since Cherry had been killed and when we got there, Abby was attempting to cook for her drunken father. She was thin as a rail and the house was a dump. She had no clean clothes and the entire second floor where her room was located, was freezing. Mom called dad and had him, and Crusher come out to help sober him up while the old ladies helped Abby out by cleaning and getting her an actual meal.

I hated the MC for the trouble they brought the innocent. Dad and I got into plenty of arguments over what I thought the club was responsible for. Watching Abby try and hold it together while feeling completely alone, was something I would never want to be a part of. That feeling never changed until Austin helped morph the club into what it is today.

"Family is family boy. Sometimes mistakes are made. Deal with them, help each other, and move on." Is what he told me after I had told him and this club to fuck off. It would be a mere few years later that I would lose my own father and wear the patch myself.

"I'm going to go and check on her. Bone can't be in the right state of mind right now and I don't want him saying somethin' fuckin' stupid to Abby." Chance heads out in the same direction that Abby left from and I bring my attention back over Max.

"Heard we still got nothin' on Alberts." I nod my head in the direction of my best friend and he continues. "Austin wants us to go out in teams and maybe stalk him. It's not a thorough plan yet, and we need to be fuckin' careful, but we can go out at night and see where he goes."

"Which brothers?"

"Me, you, Chance, Miles. Figured Austin can stay here and gather some intel with Torque. We aren't normally at the clubhouse anyways and that way if Alberts has spies snoopin' around, it won't look any different."

I nod my head in agreement as Max leans against one of the corridors walls that leads out to the common room. He's right, it's a solid plan, and the four of us normally have duties that drag us away from the clubhouse. I have the books for all the legit businesses, Max has the shop and Shawna, Chance helps at the gym the club owns and Miles is taking college courses at the local community college.

"How's Shawna?" I ask thinking of the small little spitfire he calls his girl.

"Glowin' brother. She's a fuckin' beauty. You know Shawna, she's using this pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever the hell she wants, but as long as she's feeding' my boy, I don't mind."

"Sure it's a boy?" I smirk knowing damn well they are waiting to find out the sex once the little one arrives.

The thought of a pregnant woman glowing has my nerves settling in and I know I need to make my exit soon. I'm happy for my best friend, he deserves the world for all he went through with Shawna, but jealously is an ugly friend of mine in these sorts of situations.

"They say if it's a girl the woman loses her beauty. That sure as fuck ain't happening, so I think it's a boy."

"And if you're wrong."

"Got a gun, don't I?"

I chuckle and shake my head at the ease of how well Max can say things like that. For a while there, we thought we would never have the Max we all know back, but he proved that with just the right women in your corner you can overcome anything. A deep pain radiates through my body and I take that as my exit and head out to my bike, saluting Max on my way out.

Before I hop on, my phone rings from my pocket and I pull it out noticing an unknown number. Answering it I cringe when the voice of the one person in the world I would prefer never to hear from again comes up.

"Shane? Are you there?" I shake my head, pinching the bridge of nose, praying that someone is pulling a shitty joke. I glance back over at the compound hoping I can see Max laughing his ass off on the phone.

Nope. No such luck.

"The fuck you want Ronnie?"

My ex-wife has the audacity of laughing as if she assumes I am just fucking around with her and when she sobers up she shakes my world once more.

"Listen, I know you hate me, but I was hoping we could maybe talk. It's been a while and I've missed you. Should we meet somewhere, or I can meet you over at your place?"

"Are you out of your goddamn mind? How the hell did you get this number?"

"That's not important. What's important is us re-connecting and talking. It's important, and I think we both have a lot we have to talk about."

"No, we fuckin' don't. Don't call me again." I hang up and force myself not to throw my cell phone across the road.

What the hell was that about?