Kansas (Ruthless Kings MC Atlantic City #2) - K.L. Savage Page 0,1

know for the last few years, my mom has been depressed.

All she does is take a dozen different pills every day, and I think it has everything to do with him. Mom knows something, and if she doesn’t, she feels it the same way I do.

“Man, that’s the eighth strike in a row. What the hell is going on with you? You never don’t swing the bat,” my best friend Nigel shouts at me from the pitcher’s mound. His arms are spread to the side, the ball in his throwing hand and the glove in the other.

I kick the dirt and swing the bat back up until it’s lying on my shoulder. “Sorry. I have a lot on my mind.” Nigel and I always come to the local baseball field every day after school to get in a little extra practice before the season starts.

“You okay?” he asks, jogging to me. His cleats kick red dust in the air, and when he stops in front of me, he has sweat dripping down his face. “What’s going on, Amos? You know you can talk to me.”

“It’s nothing new.”

“Your dad again?”

I nod, grinding my teeth back and forth. “You know I can’t remember a weekend where he stayed with us. It’s always been me and Mom. She isn’t doing great. She’s barely conscious half the time, man. I think she knows something is going on, and I want to find out what it is. I want to know where he goes on the weekends,” I say, slamming the bat against my cleat to knock off the dirt.

“You don’t think he goes to work like he says?”

I snort and squint my eyes toward the sky. “Not for a damn second. Every weekend he has a work trip? No. I don’t believe it, and you know what? My mom deserves more than what she has right now. She deserves more than sleeping her life away because she’s so damn miserable.”

Nigel’s hands fall to his hips and he spits onto the ground. “So let’s find out where he goes.”

“Really? You’d go with me?”

“Yeah, man. Let’s lay this to rest. Let’s see what the asshole is up to.”

I shake my head and grab his arm when he starts to walk away. “I can’t have you go with me. I don’t know what I’ll do to him if I find out it’s something bad.”

“I won’t let you do anything stupid,” Nigel tells me, clutching my shoulder with his hand. “Best friends, remember? Plus, I never liked your dad either.”

“I don’t know many who can see through his fake exterior. He thinks he has everyone fooled, but I know he is a damn snake, Nigel.” I wrap my hand around the bat a little tighter, wishing my dad was in front of me right now.

“Listen, you sure you want to go down this road? He is your dad.”

“I don’t care. When people are bad for you, especially family, I believe in cutting them out of your life, because toxin kills. And Mom is soaking up all his toxic bullshit. I’m done with it. I need to know.”

Nigel digs into his red duffel bag and holds up his keys. “Well, I just got my license, so how about we follow him and see where he goes?”

A wicked grin stretches my lips. “You must be the smartest person I know.”

“I get that more than you think.” He stuffs his keys in his pocket and throws his bag over his shoulder as we leave the dugout.

Everyone thinks Oklahoma is this dry piece of useless land, and I suppose the majority of it kind of is. Tulsa isn’t like that though. It’s the big city to go to. We have green grass here, and only every now and then does a tumbleweed cross the baseball field.

I like it here for the most part. It isn’t a place where everyone knows everyone, but big enough where everyone knows someone, who then eventually knows someone else. It’s a constant chain of “Oh, you know Bobby? Me too. He’s my brother’s friend’s aunt’s sister’s ex-husband.”

It’s a whole lot of bullshit and a whole lot of gossip, but it’s home.

At least, I thought it was.

Right now, it feels very temporary, like the rug is about to come out from under my feet. I’m tired of feeling that way.

“I’m going to go home, shower, and change. What time does your dad usually leave?” Nigel asks as he unlocks his bike from the fence.

Yeah, I never bother doing