Chapter 82: The Drawing Of Conclusions

Road Side Rest Stop, Open Highway, Outskirts...

The roar of bike engines had been steady as Brick Kenneally and the remaining members of The Howler M.C. met at a rest stop between towns as they filled up on gas and a few snacks before they managed to reach their newly acquired destination. It was a sweltering day, and the sun beat down on them as if it had an agenda. Brick found a moment or two alone while his crew geared up and hydrated. His thoughts returned to Layla and the time he'd spent with her. She saved his life, something he never would have expected when he first met her in the back of Earl's Diner, there was no fear, no hesitation, and a measure of protectiveness he had not seen nor felt since he'd left home.

For a moment, he wondered how she'd react to finding out that not everything about him had been as it seemed. As close as they had gotten in the past few weeks, he had not even remotely approached the subject to inform her that his reason for being highly allergic to silver bullets, had been due to the beast blood that had been running through his veins ever since the night of his birth. He recalled the softness of her touch against his searing flesh that day and the ample amount of concern behind her lovely blue eyes when she looked upon him through heavy tears. He could feel her sadness almost as if it had been his own, his world focused intently on her and the swirling emotions that passed between them.

Never in his life did he ever imagine in his wild days that he'd ever even wish to settle down let alone to a mortal younger woman who had been in the dark about his true nature. He had been shaken from his thoughts by the arrival of Rooster who had tossed him an ice-cold can of beer as he headed back toward his motorcycle.

"Got a lot of grand to cover before it gets dark," said Gunther heading toward his bike as well.

"Should be alright, long as we keep to the back roads and away from the town until further notice," said Brick popping the top on his beer and taking a long gulp before turning his attention to the other members of the crew who had not gone ahead with Goldie and Taz. "Keep ya wits about ya we got an asshole that likes to shoot silver bullets on our ass."

"Silver bullets?" asked Gearhead with an arched brow.

"Yep," replied Brick turning up the rest of his beer and downing the remainder before smashing the can and tossing it about before heading toward the edge of the road.

"Who the fuck carries silver bullets in this day and age?" asked Doc with a puzzled expression filed across his rugged face.

"Someone that doesn't fuck around apparently," remarked Brick once more recalling his unfortunate near-death experience for a few moments.

"Shit," remarked Rooster with an expression of disbelief filed across his rugged aged face. "This son of a bitch most definitely doesn't want to be found out."

"Too bad they were stupid enough to leave us a blood trail to follow," replied Brick with a flicker of determination behind his grey eyes.

Gunther nodded knowing all too well that with the blood spilled in the wake of mere suggestion, it had no longer become a cold case so to speak.

"Mind tellin' us what you did learn from Charlie Mack before he bit the bullet?" asked Rooster with an arched brow.

"The son of a bitch was indeed with Layla's mother during his time running about like a damn fool, my guess is they had the girl with them the whole damn time, Charlie Mack had indicated that she was used to getting his brother to pony up a bunch of cash for her sake," explained Brick as best he could through gritted teeth as he recalled the shooting from that fateful afternoon at the old man's place.

"Shit, that means there's a chance he kept the girl alive," said Gunther. "Possibly to use in further schemes and whatnot."

"It is most definitely lookin' that way," replied Brick in agreement. "Otherwise why bother shootin' Charlie Mack for talkin' bout a cold case?"

"Especially when the son of a bitch was practically scot-free," said Gunther shaking his head. "Girl's got to be alive, would make sense to want to keep her from finding out what he'd done, especially if she was still in the dark about being kidnapped, shit she was about six when it happened could be sixteen or fifteen as of now for all we know."

"My thoughts exactly," remarked Brick as he took a look up at the sky, noting the setting sun on the horizon. "We'd better hit the road boys, we're losing daylight."

The other crew members nodded and hopped onto their bikes following Brick's lead as he sped down the winding highway in a bid to get closer to the rendezvous point where Goldie had sent word she'd been with the other boys and her newest lead.

The roar of the engines echoed as they winded a long pass. The weather had still held up for the most part, and been good for a ride in any case but Brick's mind had been divided between his worrying over his crew and what Layla had been up to. Most of what he'd been hearing had not been good, and quite frankly there was a missing piece of this seemingly never-ending puzzle that had not sat well with him despite his attempts to leave it for last, he had not liked the look of her father and figured he'd known a lot more of his late wife's exploits then he let on.

Whether he might have been trying to protect Layla from the truth about her mother or whether he'd been in hiding from whoever it was that his wife had crawled into bed with, Brick had begun to believe that there was something off about Jarrett Quinn more so than usual and to bail on his daughter after being confronted with the possible truth of his wife aiding and abetting a kidnapper.

Brick had hoped to ease the blow when he had to inform Layla of his true concerns surrounding the situation with her parents. It wouldn't be an easy thing for her to have to come to terms with but both of her parents had been keeping things from her, of that much Brick was sure of.