Dark Secret - Avelyn Paige Page 0,23
boots crunch into the gravel. Shit. He’s not leaving.
“Hit a couple of brick walls with tracking down my daughter,” I grumble, firing several shots back to back, my rage spilling over the edge with each one. “It’s being worked out.”
“You were always a shit liar, Wyatt. The longer you keep sitting on that powder keg inside your head, the worse it’ll be when you explode. Get it out, son.”
“Hayden had been playing an online game. I found a message that leads me to believe she was meeting up with another player that day. The user was wiped from her system.”
“What’s the problem, then? Do that computer wizardry shit you do and get the guy’s information.”
“It’s not that simple. Games like this are huge, with millions of players in one online space. The only way I can get that information is by subpoenaing the developer who hosts it.”
“Go talk to another attorney. Club’s been needing to hire a new one since Gary quit practicing a few years back. We’ll pay for it.”
“We went to see one this morning who’s an old friend of Shelby’s. One who used to frequent the club back in my prospecting days.”
“The mouthy brunette?” he inquires. “Skinny little thing with no tits?”
“That’s the one. I walked right into her office without a fucking clue as to who we were meeting.”
“That girl was always a thorn in my side whenever she came to the clubhouse. She stirred up the hang-arounds and the guys,” Judge chuckles. “Hell, you damn near lost the patch vote because of her. A couple of the guys were on the fence, wondering if she’d be sticking around if we patched you.”
“Trust me, if she and Shelby weren’t a package deal back then, I’d have helped you throw her ass out.” Right into a barrel of starving piranhas. Though knowing she was a part of Shelby’s escape plan, piranhas would be too merciful.
“Did she refuse to help you?”
“She was a cold-hearted bitch about it, but she’s going to help,” I answer flatly.
“Then I guess I have to ask: what’s the problem? Seems like tracking down your daughter is progressing.”
“It’s Shelby. One second, we’re a united front. Next thing I know, I’m public enemy number one.”
“Fuck Shelby.”
I arch an eyebrow at him.
“That shit between you and her doesn’t matter, dumbass. You need to focus on finding your kid.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” I huff, tossing my arms up in the air. “But one conversation with her is like having knives driven under my fingernails. I can’t move past it.”
Judge shakes his head and looks to the ground. “Take it from an old man. Women and bitches come and go, but blood means everything. That connection means fucking everything. Not one person in the world can take that away from your kid, not even her mother.”
“You speaking from experience, Prez?”
“I had a son once. Best damn thing that could’ve ever happened to me. The second he took his first breath, it was like everything inside of me lived for him.”
“What happened?”
“He died forty-three days after he was born from SIDS.” Judge aims his gun and blows three more bottles to bits. When he’s done, he continues. “Happened when I was out on a ride with the club in my prospecting days. My ex buried him before I got back. To this day, I don’t even know where his grave is. Won’t ever know. She took his location with her to her grave a few years back.”
“Shit, man. I had no idea.”
“No one does, and it better stay that way.”
“Sure, Judge.”
Clapping his large hand on my shoulder, he squeezes it hard. “Your daughter needs you to find her, and you’re the best shot she has. All this shit with her mom, forget about it. Shove it aside. Use that anger inside of you to focus on what you need to do. That’s how you find her.”
Without another word, he releases me and walks away from the range, leaving me alone. I aim my gun, but it falls against my side.
The system failed me the second they put me into foster care after my druggie of a mom overdosed in a Wendy’s parking lot, with me in the back seat. I can’t change that, but I can change Hayden’s fate.
I can’t fail her. Not now, not ever. Failure isn’t an option.
Shelby
“Well, as I live and breathe,” Lorna cries from the front porch. “Would you look at you, girl! Come and give me a hug.”
The sounds of Lorna greeting