Page 42 of Puck (The Lost Boys MC)
“Mom?” I asked.
And the second she rushed to me to envelope me in a hug, I looked over at Brigid.
Who seemed rooted in shock.
“Uh, I hate to break up the party, you two, but we don’t really have time for a family reunion,” West said.
Frost hopped back onto his bike. “He’s right. We have to get out of here.”
Diego slung his leg over his bike as the fire alarms went off. “If we’re going to get out of here without being seen, we have to do it now.”
“Did you just say, ‘Mom?’” Brigid spat.
The sirens off in the distance pulled me out of my trance and I quickly dug my guest helmet out of the back compartment of my bike. I tossed it to Brigid and nodded to the back of my bike before I snapped at Diego and pointed at my mother. Helmets were exchanged and people loaded up, then one by one we revved our engines and vacated the premises of the rehab center.
Before Brigid’s voice came to life in my helmet headset. “What the hell is going on?”
I scoffed. “I could ask you the same damn thing.”
“Is that really your mother?”
I didn’t answer her question. “Just hang on until we can get back to the fucking warehouse.”
Anger took over my body as we sped back toward the overly-crowded warehouse-turned-clubhouse-turned-last-chance-at-survival. I was really growing tired of this game and wanted nothing more than to return to my old life where all I had were the guys and Ruby with my parents completely out of the picture.
Yet, as we came to a stop at a stoplight, I couldn’t help the question that charged forth. “Did you know?”
Brigid scoffed. “What? About Lori being your mother?”
My voice fell flat. “Yeah. That.”
“Do you honestly think I’d keep that from you if I knew?”
I shrugged. “Don’t know what you’d do, actually.”
“Says the guy who’s avoiding me because he’s afraid of a bit of judgment.”
I hissed at her. “It’s more than judgment and you know it.”
“Then be a fucking man and talk to me about it.”
I growled. “Not everything happens on your watch, princess.”
She punched me in my back so hard it almost robbed me of my breath. “Call me that one more time and I’ll wreck you on this thing.”
We peeled away from the stoplight and followed West as he took some back roads to get to the warehouse. And the rest of the way, I fell silent as I stewed in my silent frustration. What in the absolute hell was I going to tell Stone once we got back? That my drugged-out mother with whom I’d lost all contact with just so happened to be the goddamn contact?
I didn’t even know she had been part of the Banderas Cartel in the first fucking place!
We got back to the warehouse and I couldn’t get off my bike quickly enough. I shoved my helmet into the compartment and didn’t even bother helping Brigid off the back as I stormed for the front door. However, before I could get inside, someone gripped my arm.
Before they pulled me off to the side.
“Puck, just talk to me,” Brigid begged.
I shook my head. “Begging doesn’t look good on you. Don’t do it.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Then grow a sack and talk to me.”
I snarled at her. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Then listen, okay? You don’t even have to say anything.”
I raised my nose up at her and considered whether it was worth the effort. But before I gave her an answer, she launched into a speech that sounded rehearsed more than anything else.
“Look, I had absolutely no idea about her connection to you. If I had known—if I’d even had an inkling—I would have said something to you. You have my word that—”
I held my hand up. “I can’t do this right now.”
“Jared?” Mom called out.
I turned away from the forbidden woman and focused my sights on someone I could have gone my entire life without ever seeing again. And as she walked up to me, I noticed that she looked stronger. She sounded stronger, too.
And as I studied her face, her red eyes and puffy cheeks told me everything I needed to know.
“Please don’t cry, Mom,” I said softly.
She wrapped her arms around my waist. “Can we talk somewhere? Please? Before this gets anymore out of control?”
I peered over my shoulder at Brigid and she simply shrugged at me before making her way inside. Great. Just grand. She wanted to stick around when the world was centered around her, but not when my world was crumbling.
Maybe it’s better to leave her in the dust anyway if she’s that fucking selfish.
“Come on, Mom. There’s some seating around back,” I murmured.
I led her toward the backyard area that overlooked the trees that surrounded this place. I helped her sit before finding a chair on the other side of the table, making sure to put some distance between us. I had always been weak when it came to my mother. Ruby made sure to never let me forget that. So, with a steel gut and clenched fists, I cleared my throat.
