The Road Back (The Unknowns Motorcycle Club Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    By the time his mom had managed to pry herself away from the bed, it was too late. His father had been motionless, blood caking the lower half of his face. When his mother pulled him away, Alex saw the dead glaze in his father’s eyes. It was a dead stare that would follow him into every single fight he would ever be in over the course of his life.
     
    Through a series of events Alex still did not understand; neither he nor his mother were charged with the death of his father. He always assumed his mom had made some sort of story about an accident. Honestly, he didn’t care. She died five years later when she had been driving home drunk from the bar she frequented in the hopes of finding a miserable replacement for her husband.
     
    These thoughts looped through his head as the doctor threaded the cut along the top of his stomach. If you could only see me now, dad… you miserable asshole.
     
    All told, his time at the hospital had taken six and a half hours of his time. When he was cleared to leave (with several packages of gauge to place over the stitches when it needed swapping out), he walked through the waiting room and was surprised to see Karla sitting among those waiting.
     
    “Karla,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
     
    “Jameson asked me to stay. He’s on the road right now with some of the Unknowns, headed for Chicago. He wanted me to stay behind for a while after he heard you had been admitted.”
     
    “You didn’t have to do that,” he said.
     
    “I know. But he insisted. And he wanted me to give you these.”
     
    She held out a set of keys. The keychain on it was unmistakable. They were the keys to Jameson’s bike.
     
    “What is he driving?”
     
    “Someone else’s bike. He says this is for you until you finish your business. But he expects to have it back in one piece.”
     
    Hesitantly, Alex reached out and took the keys. “How are you getting to Chicago?” He asked.
     
    “I’m flying. Truth be told, I’ve just about had it with all of this motorcycle bullshit.”
     
    “Yeah,” Alex said. “I’m just about there, too.”
     
    She nodded and then handed him a large plastic bag. “Your things are in here. I told the docs that I was with you. It’s your jacket, another shirt I got from the dollar store down the street, and your cell phone—which, by the way, has been blowing up for the last two hours or so.”
     
    Alex took the bag, still in disbelief that Jameson had gone to such lengths to help him. Jameson never let anyone drive his bike. It was overwhelming and a little difficult to see Jameson making such a gesture despite the fact that Alex had, on occasion viewed Jameson as a father figure of sorts.
     
    “Is there anything I can do for you?” Alex asked.
     
    “Yes, actually,” Karla said. “You can make sure you end this nasty business with Marco O’Brien. I’ve never seen Jameson so worried. But that stays between you and I. Got it?”
     
    “Yeah, I understand.”
     
    “How are you feeling?” She asked.
     
    “A little sore,” he said, holding up his left hand and showing her the splint. The stitches are itching. Other than that, I’m good. You?”
     
    She shrugged. “I’m fine. Well, look. Jameson booked me a room at a motel down the road. Care to give me a lift?”
     
    “Of course,” Alex said.
     
    They walked out together, and when they entered the parking garage, Alex’s defenses instantly went up. Karla led him to the far end of the garage where, she told him, one of the Unknowns had been tasked with parking the bike after retrieving it from the restaurant’s parking lot. Thinking of the events in the parking lot where he had found Jameson on the pavement, it was hard for Alex to realize that it had only been two nights ago. It felt like a lifetime… both physically and emotionally.
     
    Alex and Karla boarded the bike, and when Alex kicked it into life, he couldn’t help but smile. Jameson cared for his bike better