Chalk by Lily J. Adams

Chapter Thirteen: Exposure

 

Chalk

 

We were holed up in another meeting with every single one of the club members in attendance. I had yet to tell the crew about the guy who showed up at my house, but now was the time to speak up.

Sarah didn’t know that her father was strapping up every day. That every time I dropped her off at school, I winced. I watched her enter the school to make sure she went straight inside. I was there at school drop-off in the afternoon too. Right when the school bell rang. I watched all corners. Checked for bikes. Left. Right. Left. Right. Nothing. I kicked myself for not getting his license plate when he’d been in my damn driveway.

It had been a long time since I’d seen everyone’s face in the same room.

“Gunner!Man, where have you been? I haven’t seen you in so long,” I greeted my old friend. Seeing the guys made me think about something else other than being paranoid.

“Man, I’ve been out of commission for a minute. I hurt my back and I’ve been keeping it low key. It’s only coming good right now,” Gunner replied, sheepish.

“Damn. How did you mess it up?”

Gunner ran a hand over his head. “Man, you don’t wanna know. I slipped off my bike moving around a corner, when it was raining the other week. Hit a slick path. Threw me right out. I skidded off the road – lucky there was no big ditch. Just threw me down the road a little bit.”

“Why didn’t we know about it?” I asked.

Gunner hunched his shoulders up. “Bones knew. I’ve been resting, ain’t nothing serious to me in the long run. You know how it is when you fall off your bike. You take your lumps then get right back on and ride.”

“I do. I feel you. I haven’t fallen off for a long time. Touch wood,” I replied.

Gunner chuckled. “And keep it that way.”

Our bookkeeper Maverick was in the room as well. He was a dark horse, and one I didn’t see regularly because he was busy working on the books.

“Hey, Mav. You good?” I called out.

Maverick grinned at me. “Doing good, keeping the lights on for us with Numbers. We’re doing fine.”

“Good to know.” I nodded at him.

Bones tapped his palm on the table to get the meeting started. “Hey. Thanks everybody for giving up your night to be here. I thought it was worth everyone being in the room for this. I know individually, but we need to get a collective consensus on things.”

“This about that snake, Rocky? The second snake?” Bear slammed his fist into his palm in anger.

Bones pointed to Bear. “Yup, you got it. The information we wanted to know has come in.”

“What info is that?” Smoke inquired as he sipped on his beer.

“We thought Rocky was a Devil Rider possibly, but come to find that he is bonafide Road Warrior, but more importantly, he is a patch. He was involved in a murder that has gone unsolved for a while now. One that Mia is working on. He was questioned by the police, but they let him go, due to lack of evidence. We found out he used to work the Biloxi streets. He’s a known street thug and dealer, which is why he was picked up by the Road Warriors in the first place. We have to be careful with this one, in terms of letting him down easy.”

“Whaddya mean about letting him down easy?” Hawk asked. “Do you mean telling him to go away politely?” He scoffed. “Like that’s gonna work. He’s just gonna keep hanging around and playing pool.”

“Ah, I don’t know, he might sense we’re onto him if we keep pummeling him with questions. Plus, Angie has just about finished with our article. She wants to expose him in the article and put him in the hot seat. So if he wants to hang around the club, he’s going to be on enemy turf with questions hanging over his head and every one of us armed.”

I grinned. “Right on. That’s too bad, he was a decent pool player too. I was getting something out of it. Him and Angie are the only competition.”

“Hey! I’ve given you a run for your money a couple of times,” Gunner said, pouting.

“You are delusional. You’re lucky I didn’t take all your money that night,” I joked as the banter started to fly between us. It was good to be back in the room with the guys even if it was a meeting about an intruder. “I do wanna mention something…” I looked around at the guys. “Be diligent. A biker I didn’t know was hanging around outside my house last week. I didn’t catch him in time to get his plates, but he was there. I don’t know which camp he was from, but there’s heat.”

Bones stepped in, “You heard him. Keep your eyes and ears to the ground. Thanks, Chalk. You haven’t seen anything else, have you?”

My fists bunched into involuntary balls thinking about the lengths I would go to if anyone hurt my little girl. “Right. I wish I did, so I could find out for sure who he was, but nothing.”

“This is bull shit. It’s gotta be that Rocky guy! He’s the closest to us enemy-wise,” Bear called out in anger.

Smoke arched his eyebrow. “Not necessarily. He leaves here right after the pool game. He doesn't hang around much unless he’s talking to one of us before the game.”

“Could be the cartel. Could be other Road Warriors. Could be Devil Riders. We’re stacking them up these days,” I pointed out.

“You got that right,” Numbers said in agreement.

“Let’s monitor it and see what comes, okay?” Bones asked in a firm tone.

Every head nodded around the table.

Bones went on, “Looks like we’ve sewed it up. Let’s go downstairs. I wanted to make it short and sweet. We’ve got it covered. Anybody else got anything before we finish up?” He looked around the table and then pointed to Hawk. “Hey Hawk, you’re up with the kids next week for the community bike program, are you still good with the dates and times?”

“Yup. Good to go.” Hawk gave him the thumbs up.

Bones looked around, waiting for anyone else to chime in.

Everyone clearly wanted to converse and catch up rather than talk about any more business.

“Great, looks like from the chatter this concludes the meeting. Let’s get out of here,” Bones said.

Chairs moved and all of us headed downstairs then caught up for the next hour before I went home.

Teresa was on the couch as normal and laughing at something on the screen.

Sarah must have been asleep.

“She’s asleep already?” I asked, surprised.

“Yup. Must have been me wearing her out with Monopoly.” Teresa grinned.

“Must have.”

“Did you eat?” I asked.

“Yup, I ate already. Sit down. Tell me what’s going on in your life. Have you and Lucy resolved things?” She readily pried into my private life.

I plonked down next to my sister on the couch. “We are doing good. She’s the one for me, Teresa. We got too wrapped up in all the things that weren’t working for us. Now, we’re taking it as it comes, but so far, so good.”

Teresa loved Lucy, so at this she slapped a hand over her mouth in shock. “Little brother! I’m soooo happy to hear this. She is my fave and you know Mom and Dad love her. I thought for a minute, you might go for that reporter lady. She seems like a heartbreaker. I know you’re tough and stuff, but I didn’t think she would be right for you.”

“No. I’m not with Angie. I wish people would stop with it. Even the guys at the club mentioned it just now. We are working together. Keyword – working. I don’t wanna be with her.”

“I know. You just said that. Let’s watch the show, grumpy pants. I can still kick you in the butt you know.”

“No Teresa, you just can’t.” I locked her in a light headlock, and we sat watching the show on TV for the next little while.

“How are you doing? You rarely talk about anything you’re up to.” I asked, realizing I hadn’t in a while.

Her expression changed slightly and she seemed uptight. “I’m…okay, everything’s pretty good, you know.”

Her fidgeting made me frown. The last few times I asked about her life, she stalled. I didn’t exactly know what was going on, but I figured she would tell me when she was ready. We were too close for her not to. “Okay, sis. If something’s up, you can talk to me, you know.”

“I do, thanks bro. It’s all good,” she said cheerfully.

When it was time for her to leave, I hugged her tightly, wanting her to know how much I loved her.

 

 

Saturday arrived and a muggy heat blanketed Holbeck as I got the last of Sarah’s things ready for her mother. “You got everything you need? Got Mr. Bear?” I patted my chest a couple of times and peeked out the windows. No bikes in sight. A few of the neighbors’ cars pulled off and that was it. My gun was firmly tucked in its holster.

“Yeah. I got Mr. Bear. Quick! Let’s go now, I want to see Mom’s apartment.”

She was so eager to go and see her, and so was I if I was being truthful. She had her pink jeweled backpack stuffed full of crap she wanted to share with her mom. She was such a cute kid.

We reached the car and I found myself checking my rear view, side and the front mirrors several times for tails. None in sight.

Damnit, this was no way to live.

Lucy’s red brick apartment looked different from other Mississippi apartments; there were only two floors. I rang the doorbell.

She opened the door, looking like radiance itself. Opening her arms wide, Sarah ran in. She swayed back and forth while kissing Sarah’s head. “Hello baby!So good to see you. I’m so happy,” she gushed. To me she said, “Hi, come in, Chalk.”

A little less enthusiastic, but I understood. I followed in behind Sarah, who’d already run in. I scanned the place for security measures that I could install. No cameras, and you could walk straight to her front door. I gulped down my fears, attempting to keep my frantic eyes from moving around her place too much.

My attention snapped back to Lucy. I grabbed two of her fingers, linking them into mine briefly to let her know I’d been thinking of her. “Hi, you look beautiful,” I greeted.

Her hair was held up with a clasp. She wore a long drapey shawl with denim shorts, showing off her slender legs and bare feet. An effortless beauty.

“Thank you.” She smiled at me.

“Mom! I want a tour. Tour time. Tour time,” Sarah hollered.

I smirked and shrugged at her. Good. Would give me time to look the place over.

“Hey, she’s excited.” Lucy pointed me to the coffee machine. She’d done well for herself. Her apartment felt warm, decorated with purple and maroon tones. With plenty of house plants, it felt spacious and cozy all at the same time. For the next twenty minutes, she was held up with Sarah’s questions and nosiness.

I ran through a detailed security check. Alarm system needed. Check. Windows. All the screen covers were on with no holes. Check. Locks. Pretty solid. Check.

Noises on the outside of the door. Footsteps.

My heartrate climbed. I listened with my ear to the door and heard the laughter of two women in the hallway. I was becoming a paranoid mess. I waited around until Sarah settled down, and we talked, drinking our coffees.

“Think you might want to get an alarm system? Just for safety’s sake. You know, you’re a single woman living in this place.” I kept my tone casual.

Lucy seemed confused by my random comment. “Ah, I mean I guess. What makes you think I need it?”

I couldn’t stop rubbing my hair nervously. “Nothing so much. Just think it might be a good idea.”

Lucy still gave me a look of confusion. “Okay, I can look into it. I know everyone in the building. There’s not many of us, and there’s good lighting at night.”

I’d already made up my mind that I was going to get her an alarm. I wasn’t game enough to kiss her in front of Sarah. I knew that might cause some confusion too early on, so I kept my lips to myself, but the pull was there.

When I got home, I felt an emptiness and unfortunately… fear. It was just too silent and I found it hard to cope with. No pitter-patter of stomping, loud feet running down the hall, no child-like laughter. No water running. No yelling. As much as I wanted to have some time to myself, now I had it…I didn’t fucking want it. I longed for the wholeness of our family.