“Have we met before? Because you don't look familiar, yet I feel like we've met before,” I said to her.
She nodded her head yes. Then she got up and reached into her back pocket and pulled out a couple pictures. She chose one and leaned forward and slid it across the table. I kept my eyes on her until she sat back down, then looked at the picture.
“Holy. Fuck,” I whispered.
I picked up the picture and studied it again, then I glanced up at her and back down to the picture. She didn't look at all like she had seven years ago when I had carried her up the side of a damn mountain. Hell, she had lost her husband and son that day and I thought we were gonna lose her too. I remember murmuring words of encouragement to her.
The guys had asked me if I needed help, but I hadn't been able to let her go. The expression on her face that day had been nothing short of looking like she was completely shattered inside. I fucking knew that look well because I had seen it often in the mirror after Beth had been killed. I remembered thinking I knew what she was feeling and that she was my responsibility to take care of. I didn't know why I felt that way, but I had.
I held the picture out to Blood; he came up and took it from me. As he looked at the picture, his head snapped up and he gazed at her then at the picture.
“I fucking knew it,” he exclaimed. “I knew I had seen her before, Prez. I just couldn't figure out where, and now I know why.”
I looked at Seer as Blood handed the picture to him. But Seer didn't even look at it. He fucking knew who she was.
“You've changed your look a little bit since we last saw you, Ava,” he said as he studied her. She smiled and tilted her head at him.
Seer handed the picture to Possum. Possum took it and studied the picture then looked back at Ava. A look of sadness crossed his face.
“Good to see you looking so well, Ava,” he said.
She smiled gently back at him.
Possum handed the picture to Viper. I knew Viper was clueless, but if the bastard had been there that day, he would have probably been like Seer and would have known who she was as soon as he saw her. I watched as he looked at the picture. He studied it for a minute, then he looked at Ava and studied her face before looking down back at the picture again. He then placed it back on my desk. I picked it back up and ran my thumb back and forth across it.
“I know you don't have a clue, Brother. But we now know who Ava is. We met her under the worst possible circumstances that anyone can ever face in their life,” I said, as I watched tears run down her face.
Viper was taking everything in. I could tell it was bothering him to see her cry. How the motherfucker was such a man's man and so fucking undone by a crying woman, I'll never know. I was compassionate, but he took it to a whole other level.
“Ava was in a crash when the car she was riding in was forced off the road. The MC saved her, but her husband and son were killed in the wreck.”
I watched the emotions going across Ava's face as I told Viper a condensed version of what happened. Tears were flowing steadily down her face now. I looked over at Viper and he had his fingers pressed to his eyes. I watched as he stiffened up and removed his hands from his face. This had brought tears to the fucker's eyes. I watched as he got up and went in front of her and knelt down.
Her eyes latched onto his as he spoke to her, “I'm terribly, terribly sorry, Ava, he said gently, then he reached toward her and pulled her in for a hug.
Damn the fucker. I should have been the one doing that. But I didn't leave my damn chair. Jesus. Christ. I was already letting her fucking down. I think a part of me was scared. For some reason, I had the feeling that once I ever had her in my arms, I would never want to let her go.
She cried for a few minutes and when she started to straighten up, Viper leaned back and gently wiped the tears off her face, then got up and went back to his chair. His face had a ravaged look on it. I knew he was thinking about how he would feel if he lost one of his Old Ladies or kids. I knew the look and the feeling well.
I cleared my throat, “Why were you hunting me, Ava? Is there something I can do for you?”
She started wringing her hands together, as if she was unsure if she should ask me whatever was on her mind. Then I saw the moment she got her nerve up, she sat up in her chair and looked me dead in the eye.
“Do y'all ever kill anyone?”
I barked out a laugh, “Are you trying to hire us to kill someone? Darlin', we aren't a hit crew.”
She looked a little deflated at my comment.
“Why don't you tell me why you asked that?”
She tensed a moment, drew a deep breath then spoke, “A few months before the accident occurred, my husband had recently passed the bar and had started a new job at a law firm. One of the partners asked him to work on a brief and have it ready by the next morning, so Brian worked late that night to get it finished. The partner, Mr. Jerik, had told Bri to put it on his desk so that he could have it first thing when he got to work.”
She paused for a moment like she was gathering her thoughts. “As Brian was leaving Mr. Jerik's office, he overheard a phone conversation that involved another one of the partners, a Mr. Miller. Bri said he wasn't intentionally trying to hear anything, but no one else was in the building and Mr. Miller's voice carried.
“Bri said he heard Mr. Miller asking about when his purchase of ten kilos of meth would be delivered. Then Bri said Mr. Miller stated that his next order would be double that. Bri said he left as quietly as he could, and he hadn't thought he was heard.
“Each of the firm’s partners had their own junior associates and Brian didn't work for Mr. Miller. But the next morning and all the rest of the week, Mr. Miller called him into his office for asinine things. He said he knew then that Mr. Miller had somehow seen him. I'd asked Bri if he could go to the police, but he said that he didn't know who he could trust. That he needed to think long and hard on it. He was telling me this on our car ride.”
Mother. Fuck. Her family had been intentionally killed and if we hadn't stopped to help out, they would have made sure she was dead too.
“After our car came to rest at the bottom of the mountain and right before he died, Bri told me to run and get as far away as I could and to not come back.”
She lowered her eyes for a moment, her gaze appeared to be mindlessly looking down at the floor. Then she straightened her shoulders, picked her head up and said to me, “It's been seven years. I changed my appearance and somehow managed to go on, but I still mourn their deaths. I have had to learn to live again. However, without closure, it will be hard to go on with my life until the bastard who killed my husband and my son is dead. And one way or the other, he is going to die. Even if I have to spend the rest of my life in prison for killing him myself.”
God. Damn. One way or the other, we had to help her. There was no way I could let her go to prison for killing the bastard. I glanced at Possum and he nodded at me, next I looked at Seer and he nodded as well. I glanced at Blood and received affirmation as well. I looked over to Viper and saw his jaw was clenched tight and so were his hands. I read his answer in his eyes.
I looked at Blood, “Call Church now.” He lifted his chin at me and stood up to go do it. I looked at her and asked, “Ava, you think you can go through it one more time?”
“I can go through it a million times if it means you'll help me.”
“Follow me then, darlin’,” I said as I stood up and we all made our way toward Church.
As Ava passed by me, she handed me the other picture she had been holding. I glanced down to see a picture of a man holding a little boy. Everything inside me froze up. It was like looking at Beth and Angel, just in reverse. I knew the hell that Ava had gone through and was still going through. Somehow, someway, I was going to help her find closure like I had when I made sure the motherfucker that had killed Beth met his maker, may he rot in hell for eternity.
~*~
Ava
I watched as all
the men entered the room, some carrying beers. I had obviously interrupted their party time. Every one of them glanced at me curiously. I bet they hadn't seen too many women in this room before, or ever. It seemed each man had their own personal seat and I watched inquisitively to see where the men I knew slightly sat. Seer and Blood were fairly close to the President, but Viper was further down the table. That left me intrigued as to know why he wasn’t seated closer to the President, especially since he was in the room to hear my story.
As they all settled, they got quiet waiting for their Prez, as I had heard Blood call him, speak. I still didn't know the leader's name. I don't think he intentionally kept it from me, it had gotten intense in his office pretty quick.
“Sorry to disturb your partying time, but I have a situation that I wanted to bring to you tonight,” the Prez said.
I watched as he passed the picture of me I had given him to the man next to him. “Pass it around,” I heard him tell the man who acknowledged his order. Once the man had taken the picture and studied it and looked at me, he passed it on. Then the Prez handed the man the picture of Brian and Mason, it went the same route the other picture had.
We sat quietly as the pictures made their way around the room. I watched as disbelief crossed some of the member's faces, those were the men that I knew had seen me that day. The ones with a look of puzzlement or curiosity, I knew didn't have a clue what was going on. As the men looked at the picture of Brian and Mason, several swallowed hard and looked up at me with pity on their faces. Once the pictures were back in the Prez's hand, he started.
“Our guest is Ava. Some of you have seen her before, as the picture shows, she looks different from the last time we all saw her. I know a lot of you have never seen her before in your life. But she is why I called Church. Before I have her tell you her story, I want to give those of you who don't have a clue what's going on a little background history on how we met Ava.”
He paused for a moment, took a breath then glanced at me. I nodded my head at him. He was silently asking me if I was ready to do this. I was. Maybe. I hoped I could keep the tears at bay this time, but I wasn't sure of that.
“About seven years ago, the club was out for a ride when we observed a car forcing another car off the road and down the side of a mountain. We stopped and went down to help out whoever was in the car. It was Ava, and her husband and son. Her husband and son were dead by the time we got to the car. Ava was just barely hanging on.
“We managed to get her to the top of the mountain by the time an ambulance arrived. That was the last time any of us ever saw her. Ava has come to me to ask for our help. I want you all to listen to her story. It's hard for her to get out, and it's fucking hard to hear as well. Let her finish before making any comments.”
I watched the men silently let their Prez know they understood his directive.
“Ava, the floor is yours,” he said as he nodded at me.
I took a deep breath and began, “First off, I would like to thank those of you who were there that day for saving me. Sometimes I wished you'd let me die, but the majority of the time, I'm thankful that you didn’t.” I swallowed hard. This was gonna be hard, dammit. I felt my composure slip a little and took another deep breath.
“My husband, Brian, was a junior associate in a law firm.” I continued speaking to the men seated at the table, restating what I’d told everyone earlier in the Prez’s office of what Brian said to me that day in the car before he died.
Fuck, I could use a drink. I had no more thought that, than a beer came sliding across the table from Blood. I smiled my thanks to him, then opened it up and took a long drink.
“Bri had just told me this on our ride. I asked him if he could go to the police, but he said he didn't know who he could trust. He needed to think about it.” I gulped, “The next thing I knew we were at the bottom of the mountain and my son was dead.”
I couldn't hold back my tears and a sob escaped my throat. “Bri was just barely alive and he told me to run and get away from here and not to come back.”
Someone pushed a Kleenex into my hand, and I wiped the snot off that was trying to run down my face.
“So, after I got out of the hospital, I ran and haven't been back for seven years. As you can see, I've changed my appearance. I'm nothing like the kindergarten teacher I was. But I had to come back. I want that motherfucker to pay for taking my husband and son's life.
“I asked your Prez if he could help me out. I don't know how to go about doing it, other than walking up and shooting him point blank. And if that is what it's gonna take, then I will gladly spend the rest of my life in prison. But if there is any way around that, that's what I'd like to do.” I took a long swallow of the beer and waited for their responses.
As I looked around the table, it looked like every man sitting there was pissed off. Thank God. Maybe that meant they would help me.
“Do any of you have any questions you'd like to ask Ava?” the Prez asked the group.
“What's the name of the firm and is there more than one Mr. Miller working there?” Viper asked me.
“The firm's name is Jerik, Miller and Courtway, Attorneys at Law. And, I'm not sure if there is another Mr. Miller there. I never thought to check. But I know the one that Bri heard was a senior partner there.”
Viper nodded at me.
“Have you contacted anyone in the area since you've been back?” a man seated a couple of seats away from the Prez asked.
“No. I didn't really have many friends here anyway. So, since I've been back, I've tried to make sure I didn't go to any of the places that the people I used to know hung out.”
“Does your family know what you're wanting to do?” a man down the table asked me. I was pretty sure he'd been in the military, he had that hard edge to him. I would bet anything he’d been an Army Ranger.
“There's only my mom. And although she's dating, I don't know the man and haven’t told him anything. I also haven't come right out and said what my plans were to my mom, but I think she knows that I want this fucker dead. Brian's family wasn't from here either. Brian was actually an only child and his parents have passed away in the last seven years. Mom lives in North Carolina. That's where I went when I left here.
“Bri and I met at college. He was a senior while I was just a freshman. He had put off his biology class because he said he hated anything related to science, that's where we first met. We started dating and we got married after I graduated.”
The man smiled briefly at me. These guys didn't talk much. I kinda liked that.
“Since I've been back, I've gone to the cemetery once, back in March. And I've made sure the places I've lived in are away from other houses. I'm currently living in a dump of a trailer and the closest neighbor to it is a quarter of a mile away. I've tried not to stay in one place more than a month at a time. I've done my very best to be discreet.”
I watched as nods went around the table.
“You've played it smart,” Seer said as he stated his approval of my actions.
“I've tried. Truthfully, I've been hunting you guys. I remembered the colors’ emblem but couldn't remember the rocker name of the club or where the MC was from. I didn't know what kind of MC you were, but something told me that I had to find your Prez. I don't know if I would have made it, if he hadn't talked to me the whole time he carried me out.”
I laughed a little. “I've been calling him my biker hero,” I informed the group of men as I turned to look at their Prez. I observed a surprised expression crossing his face. Chuckles from some of the guys echoed around the room.
“Any other questions, Brothers?” he asked them.
I glanced around the guys and saw that they were all shaking their heads.
“Ava, I have one last question. Would there have been anyone else that would have wanted to kill you all?”
I shook my head, “Brian had only worked there for six months and hadn't encountered any other situations of that type. Everything h
ad been going smoothly at his work. I was teaching kindergarten, and I'm pretty sure I didn't have any parents mad at me. Even from the time we dated, we kept to ourselves most of the time. He was my best friend and I was his, we pretty much spent all our time outside work together,” I said as I looked at the Prez.
He nodded at me.
“Ava, gonna ask you to go wait out at the bar. I'll be out to talk to you in a little bit.”
I swallowed hard and stood up, “Thank you all so much for hearing me out.” I said to them, then turned and walked out of the door and made my way to the bar to wait. I just prayed they decided to help me.
~*~
Mad Dog
“What do you think, Brothers?” I asked as I leaned back in my chair.
“Are we sure the person who ran her off the road even worked for this lawyer?” Ranger asked.
“You had to be there, Ranger. That vehicle deliberately forced the car Ava was in off the road. It was so obvious a blind man could have seen it,” Blood commented.
Several heads nodded in agreement, including mine.
“Yeah, Brother. Someone deliberately tried to kill all of them. That was plain as day,” I told Ranger, who lifted his chin at me. “It would have had to be someone who felt that either Brian or Ava needed to be taken out. And I agree with her, who would want to harm a kindergarten teacher? I know all we have is just her word to go on, but something in my gut is telling me that this Miller was the responsible party.”
“Well, I know I haven't been here long and I don't know this woman at all, but she deserves justice and we all know that there is no way seven years later that she could get it from the cops,” Viper said. “If I've spoken out of bounds, I apologize to you all. But if the club decides not to help her, I will personally make sure the motherfucker is a dead man.”
“I don't think you have any worries there, Brother,” Hoss spoke up. “His days are numbered. I don't think a man sitting here doesn't want to help her out.”
Every head at the table nodded in agreement to Hoss's statement.
Mad Dog (Angel’s Rebellion MC: #2) (Angel's Rebellion MC) Page 11