Page 65 of Vandal Unbound

The surgeries.

My heart thuds heavy.

Just ride, Van.

“No,” I say. “Just sit. Ten more seconds, Van. Prove you can just fucking sit.”

A light bounces off my bike mirror, and I look over my shoulder. But there’s only one beam. It’s a bike.

The light flashes on and off when it gets closer as my best friend shows me it’s him.

But I can’t talk to him yet, so I start moving before he pulls alongside me, and Havoc doesn’t try to communicate. Just silently rides to my side.

When I see the tall, stilted house surrounded by cypress trees and Spanish moss, I start to rethink my life choices for half a heartbeat, but then I remember why I’m here.

The light of a bike headlamp follows me in a moment later, and Havoc pulls up his bike alongside mine.

“You okay?” he asks once he’s killed his engine.

“I just really need yours and Knox’s help, and it couldn’t wait.” I climb off my motorcycle.

Havoc does the same. “Whatever you need.”

Which reminds me to pull out my phone and quickly send Havoc’s number to Daisy.

By the time I look up, Knox is standing at the top of the steps to his home. He’s barefoot, jeans unbuttoned, and a shotgun pointed at the two of us.

“You two got a good reason to be at my home this time of night?” he asks.

To the best of my knowledge, Knox has always had this rule in place, that no one should ride out to his house to see him without invitation. He said once someone starts coming to his house anytime they feel like it for club business, it becomes an extension of the clubhouse, and everyone starts showing up.

For a second, I wobble. Like, could this have not waited until tomorrow? “I need your help as a friend.”

“Then you better come up,” Knox says.

Havoc throws his arm over my shoulder and practically walks me up Knox’s steps to where a row of wooden chairs sit.

“Everything okay?” Maren says, stepping out onto the porch. She’s yawning as she ties the belt of a fine silk robe.

Knox pulls her to him and kisses her forehead. “Go back to bed, sweetheart.”

She sighs. “Can I get you guys anything before I do? Want me to bring the whiskey out?”

Knox looks at me and, as if guessing why I’m here, shakes his head. “We’re good. Go get in bed.”

Maren looks over at me and Havoc. “Night, boys.”

I tip my chin in her direction. Everything felt so clear when I left Daisy’s house. I was gonna get clean. But the shaking in my hands is getting worse.

And the relentless itch is so bad, I wanna hit something.

Knox looks at me for a second, then shocks the hell out of me by stepping up and pulling me into a hug. And not a slap-on-the-back,you’ll be okaykind of hug but a full one. He wraps his arms around me tightly and doesn’t let go. And then Havoc wraps his arms around the two of us.

Somewhere in the middle, between two people I trust, I close my eyes and cry like a fucking baby.

It’s not pretty.

It’s a hot mess of tears and snot and saliva that leaves me so weak, I can barely stand.