Wolf frowned. “Why the fuck aren’t you out looking for her?”
Once again, Ash found himself on the defensive. “She took a shit-ton full of cash from my father’s safe before she left the house so she’s not using her credit cards. I did call Hunter, and he’s looking and NYPD are looking and they’re both trying to track her cell phone. Honestly, boss, I don’t know what else to do. If I did, I’d be doing it.”
Wolf nodded. “What about her friends? She’s a teenager, right? Don’t teenage girls tell each other everything?”
“Her mother and Mackenzie...my ex...have already talked to everyone they could get in touch with and if they do know, they’re not telling.”
Wolf looked thoughtful for a minute. “You have a picture of her...a recent one?”
“Yeah.” He hoped he didn’t look as guilty as he felt about that. He’d had to ask Mack to text him one. “I sent it to Hunter. I figure the police will be looking places where a runaway kid might usually turn up...but Charlie’s not your average fifteen-year-old. Hunter’s looking in the fancy hotels in Manhattan...” Hunter was also looking in other places. He’d mentioned sex trafficking and Ash had gone off at him. He’d had to spend fifteen minutes apologizing and he felt like shit afterwards. It was just an unfathomable thought. Charlie was a kid...his little sister. If anyone put their hands on her, he’d kill them with his.
“Fuck, fifteen?” Wolf said. “I knew she was a kid, but damn, that’s young to be out there on the streets alone...” He looked like he suddenly realized his words weren’t making Ash feel any better. Clearing his throat he said, “You need to go home.”
“Seriously, boss, I don’t. I’m doing all I can from here...but there is something I have to tell you. I was going to talk to you after the meeting,” he said, with another sideways glare at Sledge. He cleared his throat and said, “The cops are likely to turn up here looking for her. Her mother hates me and wouldn’t take my word if it was handed to her by Jesus Christ himself. So, when NYPD gets in touch with FPD, they’ll be knocking on the door, unless she convinces them on her own. Hopefully they’ll just want to talk, and they won’t be showing up with a warrant.”
Wolf grumbled under his breath and picked up his phone. A few silent seconds later he said, “Meeks! Who you harassing this week?” He laughed and then said, “Hey, one of my guys has a teenage sister who went missing in New York. She’s not here, trust me, I wouldn’t be harboring no teen. But her mother might just be calling you guys and telling you a different story. All I’m asking is a heads-up before they come knocking on my door.” Wolf didn’t keep anything dangerous near what he considered the MC’s home. If they did run guns, which was rare lately, he had a warehouse way up in the hills where they stored them. But when had sixty or so guys between the ages of nineteen and sixty-five congregating in one place...some of them felons by history...there was no telling what you might find if you shook things up a bit.
Anything the cops found could and would be used against the club and Wolf knew it. The club was on lockdown as well, which meant everyone was spending a lot more time on the premises. Ash knew that Wolf’s call to Meeks was about it being easier to avoid shaking things up than it was paying the lawyers and doing without a dozen or so of your men for months while it was sorted out. “Thanks, man, I appreciate it. Yeah, I’ll have Ash send that photo over to you now. Thanks again.” He ended the call and told Ash to text Meeks the photo; he was going to circulate it even before NYPD got around to contacting them. To the room Wolf said, “Sorry about the interruption, guys.” He looked back at Ash and said, “I’m gonna leave being here up to you. If you don’t think you can handle it, or you need to be somewhere else, let me know before someone gets hurt because you’re distracted.”
Ash nodded. “I will, Boss. Thank you.” The president’s words sounded like he was only interested in the club, but his warm eyes told a different story. Wolf had a good heart and Ash knew he’d do anything to help him.
Wolf nodded at him and turned his attention back to the business at hand. “So, as far as Ogre and his crew go, we can’t find any reason they’d have a beef with us...but, Ogre does have a fucking lot of enemies. So, the next step is running down any that we might have in common...somebody that would like to see us pissed off enough at Ogre to start a war we’d all end up regretting.”
“Chickenshits,” Bruf mumbled under his breath. Ash agreed. If the fuckers had a problem with their club, or with Ogre’s, they should have just faced it head-on. This back alley, pretending to be someone else, six-on-one bullshit really pissed him off.
“Boss, how is Tex doing?” Ash asked. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even gone to see him. He suddenly felt bad about that too.
“He’s young and strong, so he’s healing fast. He’s got around-the-clock nurses watching him right now.”
“Bet he fucking loves that,” Sledge said with a chuckle. Tex’s exploits with women were notorious even though the kid was barely old enough to drink. He and his twin brother had left a string of broken hearts in Nevada and were starting on the ones in California before Tex had been attacked. Ash laughed with his brothers. It wasn’t long ago that a different woman...or two...every day appealed to him...but that had all changed in a heartbeat the first day he laid eyes on Mack at the graveyard. He knew it didn’t make any fucking sense. He was still pissed at her. He’d never trust her again. He sure as hell didn’t want to marry her...but as soon as he’d sent her home, three thousand miles away, he missed her. He’d get over it, though...again. What was he going to do...be celibate? He laughed inwardly at that; he couldn’t imagine it ever happening.
“Did Tensee get back into town?” he asked Wolf, trying to convince Wolf and himself that his mind was where it needed to be at the moment, on the club.
“Yeah, he just got out to the house an hour or so ago. Jagger’s got some stuff going on this weekend in town so he’s there too and I think Jacob and Brock are flying back down this weekend. I’ve got the prospects watching the house right now, but looking for volunteers to take a shift. If I don’t get volunteers, I’ll just assign you a shift.”
Jacob Wright had bought a house out in the country on two acres for when the guys were training at Wolf’s gym, or doing exhibition matches. Jagger, one of their fighters who was also a musician, had played at the grand opening earlier in the year and since then he’d been getting a lot of offers to play at different events in California, so he used the house when he was in town. He and his old lady had a house on an Indian reservation in Nevada somewhere. Jagger had invited Ash out once, telling him how beautiful it was out there. Ash hadn’t had a chance to visit yet, but it was on his list of things he’d like to do, whenever he got time to take a real vacation. He liked Jagger. The guy was as straightforward as they came, and Ash liked that. He’d had his fill of liars and fakes his entire life in New York. He loved his brothers and friends for a lot of reasons, but their honesty and loyalty was number one...and that was why he couldn’t ever see any kind of future with Mack. She’d proven that she couldn’t be honest or loyal the day she’d stood him up at the altar and gone to Aruba with her new boss.
“I’ll take whatever shift you have open, Boss,” Ash told Wolf. The rest of the guys in the room echoed the sentiment. The MMA fighters had become like extended family to them and they were all itching to get their hands on whoever had tried to break the young fighter.
Wolf was moving on to talk about other leads when Ash’s phone began to vibrate. He looked down at it and saw that it was a Fresno number, but one he didn’t recognize. He held it up and Wolf nodded at him, not missing a beat with what he was saying. Ash stepped outside the room, put the phone to his ear and said:
“Who is this?”
“Ash...?”
Fuck. It was Charlie, and as much as he’d been trying to convince himself and everyone else that she was probably just fine, he hadn’t really believed it. The sound of her voice caused all kinds of emotion to rip t
hrough him. He was relieved that she was alive, but she didn’t sound good. “Charlie? Where are you?”
“I’m not sure...some park. I think I’m in Fresno...”
“You think? Damn it, Charlie, how did you get here? Who are you with?”
“Don’t yell at me!”
Ash took a deep breath. He didn’t want to scare her away. “I’m sorry...I’m really sorry. Look around you, Charlie, what do you see?”
“Trees, a playground, some bathrooms...a lot of homeless people.”
“Do you see a sign, a street sign, anything?”
“What’s the name of this park?”
“Charlie, who are you talking to?”
Ash heard a man’s voice and then Charlie saying, “Thanks. It’s called Roeding Park.”
“Who is that, Charlie? Who’s with you?”
“Nobody. I borrowed his phone, that’s all. Are you going to come and get me?” She sounded like she was crying, and Ash’s chest hurt.
“Yeah, honey, I’m coming. I’m not far from there. There’s a zoo there. Go wait by the front entrance, it will be safer than wandering around the park.” Ash had about a million questions, but now was not the time. As hard as it was to convince himself of that, he knew he needed to keep his mouth shut, and he resolved to do that, for now.
“Okay.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen or twenty minutes. Wait at the main entrance of the zoo, okay?”
“I said okay. I’m not deaf.” God, she made it hard. He ended the call and on his way to his bike he called Mack.
“Charlie just called me. She’s here in Fresno.”
“Oh, thank God! Is she okay?”
“I’m on my way to get her. She sounds shaken up, and as usual, everything I say pisses her off.”
“Just remember she’s just a kid, Ash.”
“Thanks, Mack, I do know how old she is.”
“I’m sorry. I was just trying to help.”
Ash sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. She just frustrates me.”
“Should I call Allison?”
“No! Not yet. Let me talk to her first, please.”
“Okay. Keep me posted?”
“Yeah, gotta go.” He ended the call before she could say anything else. On the one hand he never wanted to see her again and on the other, she was the first person he wanted to reach out to. It was like being two different people sometimes lately and he hated it.
He got on his bike and sent a text to Sledge, asking him to tell Wolf what was going on. He put on his helmet then and within fifteen minutes he was turning off Belmont Avenue into the entrance of the park. His stomach was in knots as he made his way toward the zoo. He kept telling himself that she was alive, and that was all that mattered. He scanned the front entrance of the zoo as he approached it. There were several families standing near the front gates and what looked like a homeless woman sitting wrapped up in a blanket underneath a tree just to the right of them. As he got closer, the knot in his stomach moved up into his throat and threatened to choke him. The “homeless woman” was his little sister.
12
Charlie had a dirty blue blanket around her shoulders, which was odd since it was over eighty degrees outside. Her usually pretty blonde hair was stringy, dirty, greasy, and stuck to her head. Ash parked his bike and when she saw him, she stood up and pulled the blanket tighter around her body. Her legs were bare, and Ash could see them shaking. She was wearing slippers. What the fuck happened to her? As soon as he was close enough to her, the thin little girl was in his arms and in tears. Again, he had to convince himself that it wasn’t the time to ask questions. He just put his arms around her and let her cry. He tried not to think about how bad she smelled. Body odor and vomit jockeyed for first place in the offensive odors category. She had definitely not been holed up in a five-star hotel.
Ash realized that people were staring at them, at him mostly, suspiciously. A biker with what looked like a homeless, crying teenager in his arms spelled trouble in most people’s eyes. He didn’t blame them, but he didn’t want to wait around and see if they were going to call the cops either. “We should get out of here. Let’s get you back to the club where you can take a shower and get something to eat. Okay?” Charlie nodded, and Ash put his arm around her and steered her toward his bike. When they got there, he tried to take the blanket off her but she clutched it tighter and said:
“I don’t have a shirt on.”
“What the fuck? Why? Where’s your shirt?” He’d forgotten he wasn’t asking questions, but this was his little sister, with no shirt.
“I threw up on it. It was soaked with vomit. The guy that let me use his phone gave me the blanket.”
“Who was this guy? Where is he?”
“Seriously? He was just some guy that stopped and asked if I needed help. You gonna go beat him up for helping me?”
He bit down on his bottom lip to keep from saying something else that would piss her off. Instead he took off his vest and handed it to her. “Put this on, it should keep you covered. You can’t ride holding onto that blanket.”
She took the vest and he stood with his back to her, blocking the view of her from the zoo entrance where people bustled back and forth. “Okay,” she said. He handed her his helmet then and got on the bike. He felt her slide on behind him and take hold of his t-shirt on either side. “I haven’t been on one of these since you left home,” she said. Again, his chest hurt. Every time she said “When you left home” she sounded like she wanted to cry, and he hated himself for it.
“Just hold onto me tightly and lean into the turns. It’s only a fifteen-minute ride.” She gripped his shirt tighter and he started the bike. As they drove back to the club his mind went to dark places as he wondered what had happened to Charlie over the past few days. He could feel her shaking as she clutched onto him and he had to wonder if he was in any way prepared to deal with a 15-year-old girl.
A young prospect named Ransom was at the gates as they drove up. The kid should have stopped him since they were on lockdown, but he didn’t, he just waved them through. He figured either Wolf or Sledge had given him a heads-up. Ash parked the bike in a row of other Harleys in front of the clubhouse and he felt Charlie slide off the back. With shaky hands she pulled off the helmet and then looked around like a terrified, caged animal. He got off the bike and took the helmet out of her hands. “You doing okay?”
“I don’t know. Are there a lot of people in there?”
“Maybe,” he said. “Gimme a sec.” He took out his phone and sent a text to Sledge. Seconds later his big friend appeared out the front door of the clubhouse. As soon as he saw Charlie, he opened his arms and the tiny girl practically disappeared into them. His eyes locked into Ash’s and he could see the same thoughts swimming in them that he had in his own head.
“Come on, honey,” Sledge told her, putting an arm around her so he could lead her around the side of the clubhouse. Ash followed them, and Sledge took them to his trailer out back. He went as far as the front door and told Ash, “I’ll stay in the clubhouse as long as she needs the trailer. I’m going to go have one of the girls fix her something to eat. You should be able to find everything she needs for a shower in the bathroom.” He looked at Charlie then, tipping her face up to his with his big hand. “You’re gonna be okay.” She nodded. Sledge kissed her on the forehead and then put his hand on Ash’s shoulder before he left. He didn’t say anything, but Ash could see that his friend was urging him to do the same thing he’d been urging himself...be patient. Ash smiled and nodded, and he and Charlie went inside. For a second, his sister was back. She looked around the small, messy living area and said:
“God, he’s a pig.”
Ash laughed. “Yep. You might have to scare a critter or two out of the shower before you get in.”
“Ugh!”
* * *
Ash was sitting on the couch half an hour later when Sledge returned with enough food for six people. “The girls made up a big breakfast
this morning for the meeting. I’ve got syrup and butter and crap if she needs it.” He cleared a space on his small table with his big arm and set the containers down on it. “She still in the shower?”
Ash nodded and then smiled and said, “She needed a second one just from walking through this place.”
Sledge chuckled. “Fuck you, the maid quit last week.”
“Probably as soon as she saw the place, huh?”
Sledge shook his head at Ash, but he was still smiling. He went over and sat in the chair across from his friend. “Did she say anything, about how she got here or...?” Ash shook his head.
“No. I was trying not to push her too much. You think I should call Allison?”
“I’d leave that question to Charlie. I mean, yeah, eventually you’ll have to, but maybe after she’s had a chance to talk about what’s going on.”
Ash nodded. “Did I miss anything in the meeting?”
“Nah, not really. We’re having a big to-do this weekend with Jacob’s team and a few of the Southies that are in town. I guess Gunner’s going to be a part of those fights next weekend.”
“Nice...but, I’m not sure I want Charlie here when that’s going on.”
“Yeah, maybe not. Or we just make sure those horny bastards know their dicks will be on the same barbecue pit as the rest of the wieners if they so much as look at her wrong.”
Ash laughed. “That’ll work too.” They heard the shower turn off and Sledge stood up.
“I’ll leave you to it,” he said. He made it as far as the door and said, “You gonna call Mack?”
Guiltily Ash said, “I already did.” Sledge rolled his eyes.
“Guess you didn’t want my advice on that one, huh?”
Sledge’s protective streak would barely let him see straight when he was around Mack, and Ash knew it. He didn’t have to ask Sledge for his advice on “that one.” He already knew it would have been a resounding “Hell no, you don’t need that bitch.” He didn’t even have to wonder about the ass-chewing he’d get if Sledge knew he’d fucked her.
ASH: Westside Skulls Motorcycle Club: (Westside Skulls MC Romance Book 4) Page 8