Craving Absolution
Page 82

I dialed Slider, growing more freaked out as time went by.
“Slider,” he answered.
“Hey, has Farrah left yet?” I asked, walking to the front door to look out at the parking lot.
“What?” he asked quietly, his tone making my stomach drop.
“Has Farrah left the club yet?” I asked again slowly as I deliberately picked my keys off the back of the couch.
“Son, she left hours ago.”
“What the fuck?” I slammed the door shut behind me as I moved toward my bike. Farrah never went anywhere for “hours” anymore. With Cecilia in cloth diapers and peeing every five seconds, Farrah would have run out of diapers early this morning if she was lucky.
“Come on in, I’ll round up the boys and meet you here. It’s probably nothin’,” he told me, sounding like he was trying to convince himself.
“On my way,” I barked, hanging up and trying to call Farrah before I started up my bike. Shit, I wished Gram wasn’t down at Aunt Lily’s for the weekend. Aunt Lily’s—why hadn’t I thought of that? My heart began to slow. Of course that was where she would have went. It made sense that she’d go to Gram after the blowup the night before.
I hung up when I got Farrah’s voice mail, then immediately dialed Gram as I sat there on my bike. She answered right away.
“Hey, Gram. Is Farrah with you?”
“No . . .” The word was drawn out in question. “Should she be?”
“She left the club this morning and never showed up at home. I thought maybe she would have come to you.” My voice wavered as panic hit once again, making my chest feel like it was going to cave in.
“What’s going on, Cody?”
“I’m not sure. We got in a fight last night, and I came home before her this morning to surprise her with flowers, but she never showed.” I tried not to let Gram hear the worry in my voice, but I’d never been able to fool her.
“I’ll head home,” she replied. “You let me know when you find her.”
“I will.”
I ended the call and slipped my phone in my pocket, then fired up my bike.
She hadn’t said if. She’d said when. I hoped to God she wasn’t wrong.
By the time I got to the club, the gates were open and waiting for me, so I didn’t even slow as I passed the prospect standing guard. I’d traced her entire route between home and the club, and hadn’t seen her car anywhere. No signs of a recent wreck either. My stomach was in knots.
Slider, Poet, Doc, Goliath, Grease, and Dragon were waiting for me in the forecourt as I pulled up.
“Hear anything?” I asked, climbing off my bike.
“Haven’t heard from Farrah, but got some info from Goliath.”
“What’s up, man?” I asked the big guy with huge fists.
“Saw your woman leavin’ this morning,” he informed me. “As she was puttin’ your baby in, Tommy and Cam walked up to the car and took off with her.”
“Took off with her?”
“Looked like they were asking her for a ride or somethin’,” he answered with a nod.
“What the hell?” I mumbled, pulling out my phone again.
I called Cam, but he didn’t answer. What the fuck was going on?
“What do you wanna do, brother?” Grease asked, pulling his hair back into a knot on the back of his head. “Wanna ride out and start lookin’?”
Just then, my phone beeped in my pocket. “It’s Cam.”
Cam: Cant talk
My hands fumbled on the keypad as I texted him back.
Casper: Where are you?
Cam: In the woods. Dad freked out. Has gun
Casper: Gotta give me more, little man.
Cam: Drove N up I-5 took exit but not sure which 1. Dad says he bought prprty here
Casper: You guys okay?
Cam: OK F feeding C. Dad scary.
Cam: Cant talk nemore
Casper: What’s going on, Cam?
Casper: Cam?
Casper: You there, bud?
“Shit, he’s not answering anymore!” I slid the phone back into my pocket before I crushed it in my hand. “Fuck! What the fuck is going on?”
“Doc, call our contact at the police department. Find out what properties Tommy owns,” Slider barked, his eyes dead in his face. Then he looked around the group. “The fuck is going on around here?”
“Has anyone noticed anything weird about Tommy lately?” Dragon asked the group.
“You’re fucking joking, right?” Grease answered, throwing his hands in the air. “The man went off the fucking rails when Trish and the kids died.”
“Been six months, brother,” Dragon replied quietly.
“Doesn’t matter. Six months or six years, that’s gonna fuck a man up.”
“Not sayin’ that it wouldn’t, just wonderin’ if anyone’s seen anything different lately,” Dragon said.
“Nothing.”
“Not more than usual.”
“Nope.”
We stood there looking at one another in confusion, and I knew we were missing something. There was some piece of the puzzle that we weren’t seeing.
Goddamn it, why would Tommy take Farrah, of all people?
And where the fuck were they?
Chapter 46
Farrah
“You know, I think this worked out good,” Tommy told me as I held Cecilia close to my chest. “Carmella was a little bit loco, ya know? Don’t think she woulda been a good mama to my boy. Too worried about making me president of the Aces.” He snorted. “Me, president.”