The North Star | COMPLETED ✔️

Chapter 28 ~ Like a shovel's worth of dirt

Early! Cause I Love your faces. You've been so patient. Next upload tomorrow 🤗❤️

Chapter 28

In her panic, Scarlet lost what little skill she had when it came to working a stick shift. The ride back to the shop was a series of squealing tires, bone jarring jerks, and near death experiences.

Inside my head, a new mantra played. Stay calm, stay focused, stay alive. Different scenarios for where to go, what to do, how to escape.

How to protect the others.

I held my breath as a sharp bend in the road loomed ahead and Scarlet showed no signs of slowing. Her phone rang, and without turning, she said, "Answer it for me."

I dug through her purse and grabbed it with shaking hands. "Hello."

"Jessie?" It was Zeke, and he sounded more like a General than his usual playful tone.

"What happened?" I couldn't keep the panic out of my voice. Don't let it be them. Don't let it be them.

"How far away are you?"

"We're nearing the shop now. I can see it." I eyed the yard then heaved a sigh.

No bikes. Nobody was there. It wasn't them.

"Park out back." The line went dead.

"Zeke says to park out back."

Scarlet pulled along the side of the shop and into the backyard. Bard and Zeke stood together waiting. The old man, gratefully, was seated beside the back door. I made a mental note to have a talk with him about taking off the moment I knew what was going on.

Bard started towards the car and pulled me out before Scarlet could even get it into park.

"What's wrong?" I asked as he all but dragged me towards the motor home.

"We need to get you inside, I'll explain then."

I looked over my shoulder at Zeke, and he waved me off, too urgent for my liking.

Bard's tone, combined with Zeke's grave expression, quickened my pace. Then, my panic increased when Bard rushed us inside and shut and locked the door.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Don't freak out," Bard said. He held his hands out, an action meant to calm.

It didn't work.

"Don't freak out? Don't freak out! I thought the fucking club found me! What the fuck would possess you all to..." His grim expression made me pause. "What happened?"

"Two guys came in not long after you girls left. They had the ink," Bard stayed positioned between me and the door in a way that seemed an awful lot like guarding it, and not from someone getting in. He thought I'd run.

An internal war began the minute he spoke those words. A million thoughts went off inside my head like dropping bombs. "Are you sure?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"Yes." He reached for me, and I took a step back.

"I have to go." I wanted to scream. Karma was such a bitch. Karma fucking hated me. Why today? I finally accomplished something, and I didn't even get to work my first shift.

"They weren't looking for you. They wanted tattoos. They're gone, Tequila." Bard took a step towards me.

"This was too close," I said. "What if I'd been here? Someone could have gotten hurt. This was stupid!" I clenched my teeth, balled my fists. "I have to go, Bard."