Long Way Home (Thunder Road, #3)(26)

It’s scaring Mom. I glance around. Neither Cyrus nor Pigpen will meet my gaze and the two grown men wearing black leather cuts shuffle their feet. Must scare them, too. Got to admit, I don’t care for the unsettling happening within me.

“The police want to talk to you and Violet,” Cyrus says.

“Okay.” No news there. Two undercover officers were with Eli at the end of the dirt road. The Terror involved them from the start. We haven’t been questioned yet, though, and I’m guessing that’s because we were bloody, bruised, and Violet has a busted knee. “But I’m asking about Violet.”

“Before they talk to you,” he continues, “I need to know—with how she’s acting. Did they...”

My skin prickles as a darkness rolls through me. I know what he’s asking. The same thing I asked Violet in the basement.

“Did they hurt Violet?” Pure menace leaks from Cyrus’s voice.

Cyrus, Pigpen and I talked not long after I was admitted. That dead period after the hospital figures out you’re not dying but still need tests. Mom left to fill out paperwork and I told them as much as I could. The play-by-play and who was involved.

They listened, grimly nodded as I gave them the down low, but I didn’t get beyond the head of the Riot showing up and explaining it was all a mistake. Mom returned and I didn’t want her involved in the details. Don’t want her sucked into any of this nightmare.

Pigpen readjusts on the wall he leans against. “We know she was hurt, but—”

“I know what you’re asking,” I cut him off. “She was alone with the Riot in the back of the car.”

“Alone,” interrupts Mom, and her voice has gone higher in pitch. “Then where were you?”

She doesn’t want the answer and I don’t want to be a witness to her reaction. Can’t imagine trunk will go over well. I was kidnapped, now I’m home. That’s all she needs to know. “I asked Violet what happened there. She said they hit her but didn’t try anything. Besides for a few minutes upstairs, she was in my sights the rest of the time.”

Pigpen’s eyes snap to mine. “They separated you at the house?”

“After the president brought us upstairs, I put Violet in a bathroom. Wanted walls between her and them while they called you. I had an eye on the hallway almost the entire time. There were maybe two minutes with her out of my sight at that point.”

Cyrus and Pigpen share a look and I shake my head. “Even with her out of my sight, I would have heard if there was a struggle. I would have heard her yell for help.”

“So Violet was talking,” Mom confirms.

“Yeah.”

“When did she stop talking?” Cyrus asks.

I run a hand through my hair and there’s a shot of pain when I hit my newly stapled gash. “Sometime after the gunshot.”

The hospital bed moves as Mom jumps to her feet. “They shot at you?”

Ah, hell.

“Who were you with when you were separated from Violet?” Pigpen asks.

Mom throws her arms out to her sides. “Did anyone else hear what he said?”

But they already know. “Skull.”

Pigpen studies me with narrowed eyes. “What did you two talk about?”

“Get out,” Mom roars as she rounds on Pigpen. “Get out now!”

Pigpen and Cyrus both look at me for approval and I nod. That one act causes Mom to mash her lips together. “He’s my son and he’s a minor. I’m the one still making the decisions here. Not him and not you!”

Cyrus raises an eyebrow. An unspoken reminder that I’m weeks away from eighteen.

Pigpen pushes off the wall. “Won’t be far.” Which means he’ll be outside the door, standing guard.

Cyrus rounds the bed and gives me a brief but strong hug. “I’ll find out about Violet and your discharge.”

“I’ll find out about discharge,” Mom snaps.

“Fine with me, but he’s coming home with us.” Cyrus leaves and my mother goes from exhausted gray to red.

“I hate that man.”

She’s never said that aloud before, but I have no doubt she’s thought it a million times throughout the years. Any other circumstances, I’d be giving Mom a hard time, but it’s been a tough day all around.

I lie back in the bed and close my eyes. “I think we should do it.”

There’s a dip on my bed as Mom sits, followed by a deep sigh. Cyrus wants Violet and me to stay at his place until the club and the police can figure out the fallout from the kidnapping.

“I’ve never been welcomed at Cyrus’s,” she says.

Not sure if it’s true or not. My earliest memories have always been a separation between Mom and the club. “He told me you could stay, too.”

“I sleep during the day and work at night. It’ll be off from everyone else.”

“I don’t want you at the condo by yourself.” I open my eyes and my heart rips at the wetness in hers.

Mom glances away and wipes her face with the back of her hand. “You’re staying with him, aren’t you?”

It’s what he and the board asked of me and I don’t know how to say no. Their logic makes sense, but I don’t want her alone either. Not until I know the Riot are no longer a problem. Until I can protect Mom on my own again, I’ll ask the club for a favor and ask them to keep it silent. To watch over my mother until I can.