Page 62 of Wheelie's Challenge
The phone went dead.
“You didn’t give me Sofia’s number, bitch,” Russ said out loud. “Dammit!” He slammed his fist on the table and sat there brooding. A couple of minutes later, his phone pinged with a phone number. A grin spread over his face as he tapped in the number.
“Hello?” a soft voice said.
“Sofia? Guess who.”
Several seconds passed and Russ was afraid she was going to hang up. “It’s your brother Russ. Mom gave me your number.”
“Russ? Is that really you? I can’t believe it. How are you? Where are you? What have you been doing? Are you still married? Do you have any kids? Do—”
“Enough questions. I’m doing okay. I’m working at a farm in Campo, California. I love being outdoors.” He lit another cigarette. “We don’t have any kids.”
“When did you get out of prison?”
His hand froze mid-air, the cigarette dangling from it. “I didn’t know Mom told you about me going to prison. What’d she say?”
“Not much. I don’t think she knew why you or Josh were locked up. I just spoke to her not that long ago, but you and Josh didn’t come up in the conversation. It’d been a really long time since I’d spoken to her, so we just talked about me and her. What’s your wife’s name again?”
“Kendra. She’s doing good. So what the hell are you doing in Pinewood Springs? Mom said you married a badass biker. I think she said his name was Wheelie.” He brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled.
“Tigger was my husband, but I left him a few weeks ago. I filed for divorce and it should be finalized in a couple of months. Wheelie’s my friend. He’s been helping me through all this.”
Russ could hear the love in her voice and it nauseated him. “You sound happy. Are you sure he’s just a friend?”
“Well… maybe a little more than that.” Sofia giggled.
“How does your ex feel about you dating one of his fellow bikers?” Another puff.
“I’m sure he’s super pissed, but there’s nothing he can do about it. Anyway, I think he left town. No one’s seen or heard from him. Why all the questions about him?”
“I just wanna make sure you’re safe. Mom said he was bad news and she never liked him.” He stubbed the butt in the ashtray and lit another cig.
“I’m safe. Wheelie and the other brothers watch out for me. So when are you going to make me an aunt?”
Stop the shit about the brats.“Soon. I want to be able to show your ex that you’ve got a big brother who won’t stand for any shit from him. I haven’t been around for years. It’s important that I do this.”
“Uh… okay, but you don’t have to.”
“I want to. It’s a male thing.” The smoke curled around him as Russ looked out the window to see what the latest ruckus was in the parking lot: A pimp was kicking the shit out of his whore. Russ let the dirty blinds fall back down.
“So how are you going to do that? You’re so far away.”
“Give me his number and if he starts shit up, I’ll set him straight.”
“You don’t really have to do this. I don’t think he’ll mess with me since Wheelie and the other brothers are backing me up. I mean they threw him out of the club because he beat the crap out of me so bad. I couldn’t believe that they did that.” Sofia’s voice hitched.
Just give me the fuckin’ number!“Just humor me. Chances are real high I’ll never have to talk to the sonofabitch. I wish I would’ve been there. I would’ve kicked his ass real good.”You were probably annoying him like you are me.
“I’m glad you called, Russ. It feels so good for us to be back in contact. I missed you.”
“Me too.”Give me the fuckin’ number, bitch.
“Maybe you and Kendra can come to Pinewood Springs some time. I’d love to see you and meet your wife.”
“It’s real hard for me… uh… us to get away. We’d love to have you visit us. You’ve never been to San Diego, have you?”
“No. I’d love to see the ocean.”
