16

Dolly

I was still on the floor when there was a knock on the door before it slowly opened. Looking up, I saw Brick standing there. His gaze searched the room before it dropped to me. The pity in his eyes was a little more than I could take right now.

“Come on, Dolly. We got to head to the club. It’s getting bad out there, and it’s just gonna get worse. Don’t make this hard, darlin’.”

I didn’t move. “Why can’t I stay here?”

He walked inside the room and knelt down in front of me. “Because the hurricane is a big one. We have a secure place at the club, a generator, and plenty of food. I’ve been told to get you there even if I have to carry you out, kicking and screaming. And I really don’t want to do that.”

Sighing, I knew this was a battle I wasn’t going to win. The longer Brick had to stay here and convince me, the more danger he was going to be put in when he finally left.

I nodded. “Okay. Let me go pack a bag.”

He smiled then and held out a hand for me to take. I let him help me up, then excused myself to go get my things. I wasn’t sure how long we would be stuck there. It could be a week or more if it was a Category 4. Electricity would be out everywhere. I couldn’t just leave Jeremy here. I knew Mrs. Mildred would be taken care of, and I had been planning on going to see if I could convince Harold to come sleep in my apartment.

Once I was in my room, I grabbed all the essentials and several outfits. Folding them neatly, I worked at a quick pace because I wanted time to help Jeremy and Harold before we went to the club. Grabbing my cell phone off the dresser, I saw where I’d missed a call from Momma and two texts from Pepper.

Get your ass to the club. NOW!

And…

I swear to God, if you are not at the club when I get finished prepping the bar for the storm, I am going to be furious.

I typed back.

Headed there now.

Then, I tucked it in my pocket without calling Mom back. She would be worried, but I didn’t have time to reassure her I was going to be safe. I needed to think up a good lie to tell her too.

Brick was standing in the living room with his arms crossed over his chest, staring out the window at the rain and winds that were already here. He glanced back at me. “Ready?”

“I need to check on Jeremy and Harold before we go,” I told him.

“Already handled. Jeremy and his dad are gone. They went to a friend of his dad’s. Harold is at the Baptist church shelter.”

I frowned. “How do you know?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Because Micah handled things before he left. He knew you’d want them safe.”

I just nodded. What else could I say? He was the most confusing man I had ever known. I wanted to hate him for not wanting me, yet he made it impossible by stepping in when I needed him and handling things for me. Dang him!

“Let’s go,” Brick said as he walked over to me and took my overnight bag.

I followed him out the door and down to the parking lot.

He stopped at the covering. “You stay here and wait with the bag. I’ll go get the truck and pull it up so you don’t get wet.”

I didn’t argue. “Thank you,” I said as he took off running into the sideways rain.

My phone began to ring again, and I pulled it from my pocket, expecting to see my mom. Instead, it was a blocked call. I stared at it for a moment more, then hit Decline before shoving it back into my pocket. The only person that could be was Canyon.

Did he think I was slow too? Who else would call me from a blocked number?

Brick pulled his red truck up as close as he could get it and jumped out to run around and help me inside. Once he had my bag and me safely inside, he went back to the driver’s side and climbed in. He was soaking wet, and I felt bad about that, but I was also not the one making him do this. Micah was.

“Do you mind getting the towel out of the backseat and handing it to me?” Brick asked.

I unbuckled and turned around to find a beach-sized towel folded up beside where he had put my overnight bag. Grabbing it, I handed it to him, then sat back down and reached for my seat belt again. Brick dried off his arms and face, then ran the towel over his hair before laying it down and finally driving out of the parking lot.

We hadn’t gotten far when my phone rang again. Pulling it from my pocket, I saw my mom’s name and figured I’d better do this now and get it over with. Hopefully, I could manufacture up a lie that she believed.

“Hey, Momma,” I said, mentally preparing for what I would say to her.

“Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” she asked. “There is a hurricane about to hit Miami. You’d better be in your car, almost back to Stuart by now. Men from the church came and boarded up the windows, and I got gas for the generator, along with plenty of bread and milk.”

She finally stopped long enough to take a breath, and I took it as my cue to start lying.

“Sorry, Momma. I was busy getting myself to safety. I’m not headed home. I just got off work an hour ago. I don’t have time to drive there now. The weather here is already deteriorating.” My word of the day from my app. I didn’t have time to enjoy getting to use it though. I had to finish this before we got to the club. “I’m with Pepper. We are safe and sound. Ready to ride this storm out.”

“It’s a Cat 4. You don’t need to be in Miami. You need to be here in Stuart with me,” she said, her voice going high-pitched, the way it did when she was anxious.

“I can’t help it, Momma. There is no time to get there. But Pepper’s family has a safe place with all that we need to make it through the storm. I am fine. I promise you.”

“Please stay inside and don’t leave. Call me and update me. Let me know you’re okay,” she pleaded.

I hated the fear I heard in her voice, but it was time she stopped worrying over me all the time. I was grown now, and she had to let me be an adult. Feeling guilty every time I didn’t do what she wanted me to do was my toxic trait.

“I will, Momma. You stay safe, too, and I’ll check with you soon. Right now, I need to keep my phone charged though.” Okay, that was a bad lie, but I had no other way to get off this call.

“All right. I’m praying. The good Lord will be right there with you.”

I seriously doubted the Lord was gonna be anywhere near The Judgment MC compound. “I know, Momma.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Finally able to end the call, I placed the phone in my lap, relieved that was done. It had been far less dramatic than I had expected. Maybe she was getting better at letting me go.

“You handled her well,” Brick said with a smile in his voice.

“Yeah, I’m getting good at lying these days.”

He chuckled then. “Sometimes, it’s best that our mommas don’t know the details. No need in worrying them more than they already do.”

I nodded. That I could agree with.

We pulled up to the gate, and it opened moments after I said goodbye to my momma. The parking lot was packed with trucks, SUVs and even some boats.

“Who all is here?” I asked, not seeing a bike anywhere.

“Judgment,” he replied. “And their families.”

“But there aren’t any bikes.”

“Those are all stored in the shed out back. No one wants their ride getting trashed,” he said, pulling up close to the door. “You run on inside. I’ll bring your things.”

I started to get out when the door to the club opened and Tex came running out. I watched him as he came straight for me.

“Come on, Dolly,” he called out, reaching for me.

I let him help me down, but he picked me up instead and rushed back inside.

I was on my feet in the dark hallway so fast that I had barely gotten wet at all. “Thanks,” I said, wiping the little rain that had dampened my arms off with my hands.

“You’re welcome.”

“Is Pepper here yet?” I asked hopefully.

He shook his head. “No. She is at her bar, boarded in with Anson and Country. It got too bad for them to start this way, and they decided to wait it out there.”

Not what I wanted to hear. If I had known that, I would have asked to go to her bar. I’d rather be there than here. Anywhere Micah was not.