Page 27 of Puck (The Lost Boys MC)
I shook my head softly. “I’m so fucking sorry, Lori.”
She leaned against me, as if talking about it drained her body of all its energy. “Eventually, just like I kept telling Dean, they figured out that I was using the drugs I was supposed to be selling. They threatened me and Dean. They threatened the lives of our two boys. And even though Dean stood up for me, there was a price for that.”
I held her close. “What kind of a price?”
Her voice grew shaky. “A price way too great for my own sins.”
I furrowed my brow. “Lori, what did they do?”
Her hand gripped my own as her body trembled. I wrapped my arms around her. She stuffed her head into the crook of my neck and sobbed relentlessly, as if I had just opened the vault that contained all of the emotions she stuffed down on a daily basis. I blinked back my own tears as she unleashed against me with snot dripping down my shoulder. And as I held her close, I waited for her to gather herself.
Then, I shifted so that I could take her head in my hands and gaze into her eyes.
“What happened, Lori? It’s important that you voice it. That you put it out there to process.”
Her lower lip quivered. “I can’t. I just—I’m sorry. I’m just not feeling well anymore. I think it’s the pollen or something.”
I sighed. “Lori, please. This is—”
She stood to her feet. “Yes, I think I need a little nap before my group therapy session. Want to walk me back?”
Damn it.
I knew something was wrong. I knew there was something she was afraid of that she wasn’t talking about. But I also didn’t want to push it, or her for that matter. I nodded my head before I offered Lori my arm, and together we started back toward her room.
But once I closed her room door behind me, she turned to look straight into my eyes.
“You remind me so much of Roo, you know,” she said softly.
I tilted my head. “Who’s Roo?”
She snickered. “My daughter.”
I paused. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”
She smiled softly as she looked down at her feet. “She’s strong, valiant, and is smart as a whip.”
I smiled. “Just like her mother.”
She snickered as she shook her head. “Jared’s more like Dean, though. Hot-headed. A go-getter. Nothing can get in his way if he decides it can’t affect him.”
I giggled. “Sounds like a son any mother would be proud of. Do you talk to them at all? To Roo or Jared?”
She shook her head before she turned to look out the window just above her twin-size bed. “I don’t. I don't want to bring them into this mess with me. They deserve a mother that’s sober. A mother that can be there for them. And I’m just not there yet.”
I watched as she peered over my shoulder and the look that overcame her face made me turn around. I didn’t see anyone or anything behind me, so I wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but whatever the hell she tumbled around in her mind made her face go white as a sheet.
She’s nervous, and I have to find a way to get her to open up about it.
“Lori,” I said as I took her hand, “are you sure you don’t want t—”
She pulled her hand away from mine. “I just need to lie down and rest for a bit. I didn’t sleep well last night and I’m a bit delirious.”
I peeked over my shoulder as she tucked herself into bed and tried my damnedest to figure out why the hell she had shut down on me so quickly. I turned back around and watched her pull the covers over her head so I took the liberty of turning the light off. I sat in the corner in a chair, waiting until her wood-sawing snores filled the room before I slipped out to do some investigating.
And it didn’t take me long to realize why she had grown so nervous.
Where the hell did all of these men in black suits come from?
Seventeen
Puck
I resisted the urge to follow her inside and decided that it was best to keep a lookout on the perimeter of the building while she tried to drag information out of whatever contact she had found in the rehab center. I wasn't sure how reliable memories were when it came to drug addicts detoxing and whatnot, but I didn’t have much of a choice other than to trust her.
So, I took off my leather cut, stowed it away, and then perched against my bike to watch.
I fiddled with the beds of my nails whenever someone looked in my general direction, but when I knew I wasn’t being watched, I studied those going in and coming out of Pathways. Every once in a while, I took a trip up and down the sides of the building, making sure that there were no signs of trouble. And while I figured the cartel wasn’t stupid enough to try something in such a crowded place, but this was also the Banderas Cartel.
