Three Days Later
“Colt,” my mom says, entering the bay. “Do you have a way to contact Mr. Reigns or his daughter since it is her car?”
I nod. “Sure do, what’s up?”
She sighs. “His card is declined for the cars. When I call his office number, the lines are disconnected. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m sure it’s a mistake, but we gotta get paid for the work.”
This surprises me. While looking into Reigns, yes he has some serious financial problems, but nothing that would cause his credit to be impacted … yet. His credit score is high, his available credit on that card would cover the bill. Did the IRS catch on and freeze his accounts?
We have known businesses that didn’t pay taxes and end up with employees showing up for work and the doors being shut. As many people as Reigns employs, I hope that’s not the case. It’s never good for anyone to show up for work only to find out the business they worked for is bankrupt. I run over my mind all the things Wes and I found. None of it should have flagged the feds to get involved … yet. There are some filtering of funds, moving of money from one business to another that raise suspicion. But the man is far from being bankrupt to the point his phones are disconnected and cards are declined.
Pulling out my phone, I swipe the screen and call Diem.
“We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this message in error…”
I end the call as Wesson wheels over with his phone to his ear and a look of panic on his face. “Hang tight, I’ll be right there. Don’t call anyone else. Don’t move, we’re on our way,” he says before tossing his phone to me.
“What’s up?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“Emmalee says she pulled up to Diem’s house, and it’s empty. No one is home. Their phones are all shut off. But, it’s worse than that. I need to see it, and we’re gonna need the club in on shit if what she says is true.” He looks to our mom. “Tell dad to track my location and to get the club on the ready.”
Fuck! Wes is always the calm one. He thinks everything through. What did Emmalee find that he can’t even speak it? Fear hits me like a punch in the nuts. I can’t breathe. Something isn’t right.
I’m not a fan of idle chitchat, but Diem and I have spent more hours on the phone in the last three nights than I have ever spent on a phone in my life. Texting, voice calls, video calls, all of it. Every spare moment she has had not in class and I haven’t been at work, I’ve been on the phone with her.
Her favorite color is orange. Her favorite food is sushi. Diem Reigns has a guilty pleasure of binge-watching reality television reunions. She doesn’t watch the actual shows, just the end of season reunions. To her, the reunion is perfect because she doesn’t waste hours on each episode but gets a total recap of the drama.
How do I know all of this shit? Because we have talked about anything and everything. The woman likes to talk. She also dreams of one day having a pet fish. She’s never been allowed to have a pet. While she wants a dog or a cat, she thinks it’s safer to start with a fish. See, my woman likes to talk about it all. Do I care about a dog, cat, snake, spider, or a fish? No, but she wants to talk about silly things and serious things and the stupid shit in between, therefore that’s what we do.
If this relationship shit doesn’t work out with her, I’m doomed to never have a future of any kind that involves more than fucking. Because this conversation shit is hard, but with Diem it’s not. I can’t explain it. I really am working to be her friend. I even tried to watch the shit while on the phone with her once, and I couldn’t get past all the women screeching at each other. But she swears that’s the funny part. To her, watching the reunion gives her the recap of the season while only showing the good parts. The dramatic moments.
Whatever.
I see it all as a waste of time, but it’s mindless entertainment, which is how she describes it, for sure. She swears it’s a great way to unwind. I can toss back a beer, fuck her body, and we will both be relaxed without needing to watch grown women tear each other apart. She also says it’s a lesson in how a woman strong in sisterhood shouldn’t treat another woman. “Throw no shade,” she says. It’s cute, even if it’s obviously a chick thing.
Wesson wheels past me right to his van, and I follow yelling out to my mom, “Give Dad the heads up to call a sermon like right now, Mom. Tell him about Reigns’ credit card. Tell him about the phone. Tell him Wes and I are headed to Diem’s house. Tell him everything.”
“I love you, my boys,” she calls out with a sweetness to her voice she always has with us. “Be safe.” Since we both joined the Army, this is Mom. She supports us. She’s strong, and she doesn’t ever hold us back. While some mom’s would panic, she knows this is what we were called to in life. I’ll move heaven, hell, earth, and anything in between for the people I care about.
Most especially, Diem Reigns.
“Love you too, Mom,” we yell in unison, never turning to see her face.
This is our mom. She never leaves us without telling us she loves us. Bikers or not, I don’t dare not tell her I love her back. And I don’t give a shit who hears me either. That woman is my world. I won’t deny her anything.
Tomorrow isn’t promised, but more than that, I know what it is to be a boy who misses his mom. I’ll never let her go a day without knowing I love her.
Because that’s what my childhood taught me. Be up front with your loved ones. Trouble in life happens far too quickly to predict when you’re going to miss an opportunity that will never come again.
I am the man I am today because of the woman who no doubt is now standing at a doorway to a garage with a phone to her ear watching her boys take off. A woman who even when she can’t see me, still thinks of me. A woman whose every breath from the moment I was conceived, she has taken for me. Her life is about her kids.
Her strength is for us. Everything she’s done in her life has been for myself and Wesson. I’ll never take her for granted.
Diem doesn’t talk about her parents much. I wonder how they can live in such a beautiful house, have so many things, but still have this disconnect amongst them. They say money can’t buy happiness, and maybe that’s the Reigns family.
Then again, maybe because we grew up poor, and even when Boomer came into the picture, my mom didn’t have a lavish lifestyle; we simply made life the best it could be by being together. That’s the gift my parents gave me.
Simple freedom to appreciate the little things.
My mind races with all the things I want to share with Diem that I haven’t yet. We’ve just begun to scratch the surface of getting to know each other. Now, she’s unable to be reached. This doesn’t sit well with me.
Wesson drives as I think of the things I want to say, the things I want to share with her. After giving her a ride the other night, I know she enjoys it. Maybe we can do a cross country trip on my Harley. I’ll take the backroads, so she can see how vast and wide the world outside of Coastal North Carolina really is. The Interstate system is nice when you have to get where you’re going, but backroads, that’s where the story of life can be found. From the homes to the fields to the shops and anything in between, every curve has a history.
Even though Emerald Isle is pretty stacked with houses on top of each other, Thomas Reigns has managed to buy himself a decent lot. I’m actually surprised he doesn’t live behind a gate, but then again there is nothing to worry about here. The Hellions don’t tolerate anyone causing problems in the Carolinas. Pulling up to her house, an eerie feeling washes over me. I get out and go straight to Emmalee, who holds a garage remote in her hand. I don’t speak as I take it from her. Wesson makes his way over, and Emmalee half collapses into his chair. He takes her weight easily while the emotions coming off of her have me more on edge than ever before.
“Where is Diem?”
“I can’t find her,” she sobs. “I went inside, and I looked everywhere.”
My heart beat races, my palms sweat as press the button to open the bay door. Fear for Diem consumes me.
“I called my dad, he wouldn’t answer. I called Diem, I called her dad. I couldn’t get anyone but you. Wes,” she chokes out, struggling to breathe as she begins to hyperventilate. “Her mom, Adrianne, is dead, Wes. She is upstairs, and she’s dead.”
With that sentence, I rush into the house quickly looking in each room. Nothing is out of place. This isn’t some break-in where they’ve ransacked shit. No, the house is pristine. There is a silence to the space that is maddening. Sure enough, the house is empty, except for the body of Adrianne Reigns. She is tied to her bed with a cut across her neck from one ear to the next. Blood saturates the bedding, and the smell of it permeates the air. I look around for something out of place. Her nightstand drawer is open, but jewelry lays inside untouched.
In fact, nothing in the house looks moved.
It’s when I go into the closet and take notice of a few things. First, an open suitcase that is half packed with women’s belongings. Then, I look up to Thomas Reigns’ safe that I see the paper. There is a note on the front written in blood.
Diem is next.
I rush around the home. Up the stairs to search for Diem’s room. My head pounds as the emotions are too much. I’ll kill them all. With my bare fucking hands, anyone who touches her is going to die.
The room is empty. Her closet as been tossed around, but no Diem.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Fuck no!