Page 3 of Panther’s Magpie (Mountain River MC #1)

CHAPTER

TWO

MAGGIE

N ibbling on the side of my thumb, I pace back and forth. Every fourth turn, I glance up at the clock. Twenty minutes have gone by since men filtered into this place and into a room. One of the men looked at me sympathetically before shutting the door. Blowing out a breath, I try to calm myself.

Anxiety and I have always been friends and over the years, I’ve learned how to deal with it in my own way, but tonight everything I know has gone out the window.

All it took was Aspen fucking up once again to make me regress.

I wince when the taste of copper fills my mouth.

Pulling my hand away from my mouth, I see that I made myself bleed and, at the same time, fucked up my polish.

Shit, Aspen’s going to be so mad at me when she sees I’ve fucked up my nails.

Then again, she will probably be mad at me for a completely different reason. She told me to leave, and for once I listened. I left her in the lion’s den and unable to defend herself. I left her just like so many other people in her life.

God, she must hate me.

My throat burns as I swallow down the bile that creeps up my throat. The last thing I need to do right now is make myself sick. I’m sure that would send Calloway right over the edge.

Before I can think about him anymore, the door swings open. I turn so fast, I stumble.

“You okay?” one of the men asks as he approaches.

“I’m fine. What’s going on?” I ask as others filter out of the room behind him.

“Follow me,” the man says.

Without giving it a second thought, I listen to him. For the second time tonight, I saddle up to a bar and take a seat.

“You thirsty? Want water, soda, or, hell, a stiff drink?”

“Water, if you have it,” I tell him quietly.

He nods and grabs a bottle from behind the counter before sliding it to me.

“Thank you.”

When the cool water hits my throat, I have to stop myself from chugging the entire bottle. I didn’t realize how parched I was.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but where is Calloway? I need to know what’s going on,” I tell the stranger.

The man smiles. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Eagle, and I’m Panther’s, or Calloway as you probably know him, right-hand man. When in here, I recommend you refer to him as Panther.”

I frown. What’s up with the animal names? Why would Calloway want to be called Panther when he has a perfectly good name? It doesn’t matter.

“Okay, fine, Panther. Where is he?”

“Right now he is making a call to the president of the club you girls got tangled up in. He’s going to see if they will willingly hand her over or if we have to declare war.”

War?

Seriously?

What does that even mean?

I run my hands through my hair and pull, trying to ground myself in the present.

“What do you mean by war? Why haven’t we just called the authorities? I mean, the bartender at that bar told me not to go to the ones locally, but surely we can call in the state, right?”

He smiles at me sympathetically. “That’s not how it works in our world. Just know that we have this under control. We will get Aspen back and keep both of you safe.”

“I don’t need to be kept safe. I’m not the one who was kidnapped. Just tell me what the plan is, please. I just want my friend back.”

“Maggie, can I call you Maggie?”

I should be concerned that he knows my name even though I didn’t give it to him, but I’m not.

I nod as I go back to town, chewing on the corner of my torn thumb.

“We have a plan, but I can’t tell you. You just need to trust us to take care of you and her.”

“I don’t care about myself. Only her. She’s my family,” I tell him quietly.

How do I even begin to describe to this man how I’m feeling? He doesn’t know me or even Aspen. He doesn’t know what we’ve been through, our stories. The only one who does is Calloway, and the last thing he wants to do right now is see me. He blames me.

It fucking stings that he blames me. He’s known Aspen just as long as I have.

He knows that as kids it was always her getting into the fights and causing trouble.

I was just the one who was stupid enough to follow.

He should know that it was her idea to stop and that I couldn’t stop her from doing what she did.

Could I have tried harder to stop her? Could I have ignored her request to pull over? Could I have dragged her out of there when I first felt like we were in trouble? Yes, I could have done all of that, but who knows what could have happened then.

“When was the last time you slept?” Eagle asks, bringing my attention back to him.

“I don’t know, this morning? I woke up at six and turned in a paper as soon as I could at seven. Then we pretty much got on the road immediately.”

“You live in California, right? That couldn’t have been a short drive.”

“Fifteen and a half hours. We go to school in Bakersfield.”

He whistles under his breath. “You guys were making some killer time. Even with your little bar stop.”

I shrug, unsure how to respond.

Outside of gas, we didn’t stop. We packed enough snacks to get us through. Up until the bar, Aspen had no desire to stop either. She just wanted to get home to Calloway. Or excuse me, Panther.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” he finally asks.

I look at him again. He does look vaguely familiar, but I can’t say why, so I shake my head.

“I met you once when you were ten. When we came to school to look for that hair clip,” he tells me.

“You’re one of Cal…Panther’s friends,” I say, thinking back to that day.

I can’t say which one he is, but if he says I know him, I trust him.

“Yep, so when I say we will get her back, I mean it. I’ve known Panther a long time. He won’t let Aspen get hurt. He loves her. Let me get you set up in one of the bunk rooms,” he says as he walks out from behind the bar.

I shake my head. “No, that’s okay. I really don’t want to inconvenience you. I’ll be fine until Aspen is home.”

He shakes his head and presses his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look dead on your feet, and you won’t do Aspen any good if you’re tired.”

Reluctantly, I nod and follow him down the hall.

He’s not wrong.

Aspen will need me when she gets back. She always does.

Eagle leads me into a room and flips on the light. I have to blink several times from being blinded by the light. Looking around the room, I’m impressed. It’s clean and looks like it’s well cared for. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

“Do you need anything?” Eagle asks.

I shake my head. “No, I’m good. You’ll let me know when you know something?”

He offers me a soft smile. “I will. Now get some rest.”

I blow out a breath when the bedroom door shuts behind him. Hesitantly, I walk over to the bed and lie down. As soon as my head hits the pillow, the tears start to fall.

God, Aspen, please, please be okay.

PANTHER

“Are you okay?” Meek asks.

When I glare at him, he raises his hands.

“Okay, stupid question. I know you’re not. I just meant, are you ready to talk about this?”

“Tell me what you know about them,” I say, blowing out a deep breath.

“Ragged Anarchy was created back in ’95. They are currently under their third president since their inception.”

“That’s…”

Meek nods. “Unusual, yeah. Their presidents have a nasty habit of ending up dead. The current president is the grandson of the founder.”

“What else?”

“They are not the club you want to tangle with, that’s for fucking sure. There’s no proof, but there are rumors that they are mixed up in illegal gambling and cleaning money for the cartel.”

“Jesus Christ,” I hiss as I rub my hands over my face.

You really fucking stepped in it this time, Aspen, didn’t you?

She and Maggie.

For a split second, guilt hits me for the way I spoke to Maggie. I’ve known her almost as long as I’ve known Aspen. Well, that’s not true. I only met her a few times, but I didn’t know they were still in contact. She was the good girl who only found herself in trouble if my sister led her to it.

She left her, though. Just fucking left her.

I shake my head.

“Not the skin game?” I ask as my stomach rolls with dread.

Meek winces. “Not that I know of, but they honestly could be with the company they keep.”

“Do they have any weak links? Any ideas where they could have her?”

“After your call, I doubt they will have her at the clubhouse. It would be too obvious. I’m running through the list of known members and checking property records. So far I know of ten properties we might need to hit. It will take time, though,” he warns.

“And weak links?”

He looks at his computer. “Everyone who is a patched-in member seems to be loyal. None of the guys are married either, so we can’t prod an old lady for shit. The bar, though, might be our best option. Some of the employees aren’t club affiliated.”

“Maggie said a bartender helped her escape. He tried to warn them,” I remind him.

Meek nods. “We might be able to use that to our advantage.”

“I fucking hope so.”

Guilt and worry eat away at me. If I hadn’t been pushing her away, Aspen would have kept her ass in California where she was safe, but because I was putting space between us, she acted out.

If you can even call trying to come home acting out.

It’s as much my fault as it is Maggie’s that she stepped into the bar tonight. I unknowingly led her right into the arms of a monster. Quite literally.

“Why is his road name Monster?”

Meek cringes. “I honestly would rather not tell you.”

“I need to know what my sister is dealing with, Meek.”

“He’s been known to beat those he’s angry with until they straddle the line of life and death. Exes and enemies alike. He likes to leave them black and blue. One report said that he choked her and then gave her CPR until she started breathing once again.”

“Report?” I ask as I clear my throat, trying to choke back the bile.

“She was an ex-girlfriend. After he resuscitated her and left, she called the police and pressed charges.”

“Did he serve time?”

Meek shakes his head. “No, she never made it to the hearing, and so the charges were dropped.”

I close my eyes.

Motherfucker.

“Let me guess, she was never seen again.”

“Correct.”

The sick son of a bitch killed his ex to try and cover his tracks, and Aspen is in his possession.

I love my sister, but she doesn’t know when to stop. She always runs her mouth and has a thing for getting into trouble. It might not matter how quickly we get to her, knowing her luck, she’s already in a shallow grave somewhere.

“I should have asked to speak to her,” I murmur to myself.

“You didn’t know. Hell, we didn’t know. We knew they were assholes we didn’t want to tangle with, but we had no reason to really dig until now.”

“What do we do?” I whisper.

It’s a vulnerable moment for me. I should be the one giving orders, but instead I’m seeking guidance.

“I recommend that we roll some guys out now. Ones they have never seen. Tell them to do some surveillance without their cuts. Try and see what they find. Then once we have an idea of where she is, we go in and rescue her.”

The idea is sound even though I hate the idea of her being there any longer. Still, it needs to be done in order for her to come home safely.

“Okay,” I say as I stand.

Meek follows me out of the chapel and everyone turns toward us.

“What’s the plan?” Hawk asks.

I stare off into space, and Meek relays all the information he has. Some of the guys volunteer to go.

“You good, brother?” Eagle asks as he places his hand on my shoulder.

I blink and look around the clubhouse, only to see that it’s cleared out once again. “Where did everyone go?”

He gives me a sympathetic look, “Everyone bounced to either go back to bed for a few hours or to pack for the road.”

I run my hand over my face and nod. “Yeah, that makes sense. I should go pack.”

Eagle squeezes my shoulder. “The only thing you are going to do is get back into bed and catch a little more sleep. You aren’t going anywhere, you know that. If they catch you, that means her life is more at risk than it currently is.”

“I fucking hate that you’re right.”

“Of course you do. Now do you want me to walk you home, or are you staying here with Maggie?”

I scan the room, looking for her. “Where is she? She didn’t leave, did she?”

“I thought you didn’t care?” Eagle shakes his head. “Nah, I took her to the bunk room. I peeked in about fifteen minutes ago. She finally cried herself to sleep.”

For some reason the thought of her crying herself to sleep makes my chest feel tight.

“You okay?” Eagle asks.

I follow his eyes and look down and see that I was rubbing my chest, right over my heart.

“No, and I won’t be until my sister is home,” I tell him bluntly.

“Then come on, let’s get you in bed. Like I told Maggie, neither of you will be of any use to Aspen if you’re dead on your feet.”

I follow him down the hall to the room I keep in the clubhouse, and only one thought rolls through my mind.

What if we are already too late? What then?