He stood near the pool table, arms crossed, watching me the way he did when he knew I was about to do something I wouldn’t talk about later.
“You riding?”he asked.
“Yeah.”
He nodded once.“I’ll come.”
I didn’t argue.Didn’t thank him either.Kingston didn’t need thanks.He was already pulling his own keys out of his pocket.
Outside, the air was sharp and hot.I swung my leg over my bike and kicked it to life; the engine rumbled under me, familiar.
Kingston pulled up beside me with his bike idling low.“You got a plan?”he asked.
I shook my head.“No.”
“Destination?”
“Also no.”I just needed to get out of the clubhouse.I needed to feel like I was doing something other than waiting.
He exhaled slowly, like he was letting something go.“Alright then.”
We took off.
The road blurred under my tires as the town stretched out around us.Familiar streets suddenly felt wrong.I scanned everything without consciously trying to.Parked trucks, dark alleys, empty lots, anything that looked even slightly out of place.
Nothing.
My mind kept circling the same useless thoughts.
Where would you take someone if you didn’t want to be found?
Clove wasn’t careless.She wasn’t stupid.She didn’t wander off alone without telling someone where she was going.If she was gone, it wasn’t because she made a mistake.
Someone had taken her.
My jaw tightened.
We rode until the town lights thinned out, then farther, until the buildings gave way to open stretches of road and tree lines that swallowed sound.Kingston rode a little behind me now, giving me space without saying anything.
I appreciated that.
The wind tore at my face, but it helped.It kept my head clear.Kept the anger pressed down where it belonged.
Because anger was loud.
And loud got sloppy.
I didn’t need sloppy.I needed her back.
I didn’t say that out loud, not to Kingston, not to myself.
Clove belonged safe.That was all.
I wasn’t going down the hole of what else it meant.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled over so fast Kingston barely had time to react.Gravel crunched under my boots as I kicked the stand down and yanked the phone out.