hit the fresh air, I had no idea where to go. Sledge and the guys thought I was withholding something about where Gunner might be, but I had no idea where to even begin to look.
The only place I wanted to be was where I had last been with him.
I walked aimlessly until I got here.
Gunner and I were on the way over to the clubhouse for a Book Club night. I had stopped at the gas station to get a six-pack of whatever looked good, when out of nowhere, a dark van or SUV stopped next to my car.
I glanced over and my eyes connected with a person wearing a black mask. A scream ripped from my mouth and I barely moved before the gunshots ripped through the air and into my body. I remembered Gunner screaming, the back door of my car opening, then, he was gone.
Tears blurred my eyes. I was supposed to keep him safe. Duchess was gone and now I was the last person he had in this world.
I couldn’t even keep him safe.
“Queenie.”
I looked up. “You found me.” My voice cracked and I couldn’t even hide it.
Sledge sat down next to me. “Petra.”
Oh. Damn her. “I guess hoes before bros isn’t alive and well.”
“Not when we don’t know if you’re alive and well.”
I bent my legs and tucked my feet close to my butt. I rested my chin on my knees and sighed. “Or Gunner,” I whispered. I didn’t want to say it. I hated that I even thought about it.
“He’s okay.”
I swiveled my head to look up at Sledge. “We don’t know that.”
“I feel it.”
“Feel what?” I whispered.
“I feel him. He’s still alive.”
I felt it, too. At least, I thought I felt that. It might also have been absolute terror. Terror at the thought that I couldn’t keep a baby safe. “Then why can’t we find him?”
“We’re looking, Queenie. The police are looking. Hell, I’m pretty sure the whole fucking city is looking for him.”
“Doubtful.” I wiped the tears from my face.
“Have you watched the news or anything?” he asked.
There hadn’t been a TV in my room and I was passed out a good bit of the time. “Not my priority right now.”
Sledge shook his head and pulled out his phone. “I think you might need to take a look at a couple of things.” He swiped a few times on his phone and then handed it to me. “That’s a donation page Petra put together. Whatever is being raised is going towards a reward for help in finding Gunner.”
My jaw dropped at the alarmingly large number. “Is that…there can’t be ten thousand dollars.”
Sledge leaned in and looked at the phone. “There isn’t. It’s eleven thousand.”
My eyes dropped down to the phone. In the five seconds I had looked up, the reward money had crossed the elven thousand mark.
Sledge grabbed the phone. “That’s not it.” He swiped again and handed it back to me. “Hit play.”
I hit the triangular play button.
“Do you have any clue who could have done this?”
It was footage of a press conference with a police officer standing in front of a bunch of reporters.
“As of right now, we don’t have any leads. We’re doing everything we can to figure out who wanted to harm Ms. Row and her child.”
A reporter raised their hand. “What is Ms. Row’s condition?”
“She’s stable.”
“Is she going to make it?” the reporter continued
“All I can say right now is that she is stable.”
“Does the boy have any other family?” someone from the back of the crowd called out.
“Right now, the only family we know the boy has is Ms. Row.” The police officer looked behind him. “Though she does have a large, uh, group of,” he cleared his throat, “friends that are…”
The camera panned to where the officer was looking. Quinn stepped forward. “Family.”
Tears clouded my eyes and I pressed my hand to my mouth.
Sledge grabbed the phone from me. “There’s more, but I think you get the point. You’re not in this alone. We’re all looking for Gunner and he’s going to come home safe.”
I sniffled and tried to get my emotions under control. “And here I thought you were going to be all pissy biker about leaving without you.”
Sledge grunted. “Well, I’m not happy about it, but the drive over here gave me a beat to calm down.” He set the phone on the curb between us. “Pretty sure you’re going through enough shit without me yelling at you about not being safe.”
A