“Max would never hurt Maci or me,” Anya whispered. “I came with him because I know that.”
“Okay, I will point out you knew him five years ago, but you don’t know him now. I mean, did you get a look at his friend’s leather vest? They are in a motorcycle club, you know, like SOA. For all we know, they could be drug runners who are up here and stumbled upon us,” Coco said.
“Coco,” Anya snapped. “He used to be in the military, all of them have, didn’t you see their tattoos? Geez, come on, I don’t know what’s going on, but I know Max, and he would never put us in harm’s way.”
The man named Loki came into the room and smiled big at Maci and laid down on the floor. “Hey there, pretty girl, what are you eating?”
“Donald’s,” Maci said with a chicken nugget shoved in her mouth.
“Maci, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Anya chided softly.
Her daughter turned and frowned at her. “He talked to me first.”
“That I did,” Loki said, and he looked up at Coco and Anya. “How about you and your friend go into the kitchen and talk to the boring Ox, while Maci and I watch Dora and eat our chicken nuggets.”
Anya opened her mouth to protest but Loki stared at her intently and motioned with his head, and she nodded and grabbed Coco’s hand and stood. She looked one more time at Maci and then walked into the kitchen. The large man called Ox was leaning against the counter with a pad of paper and Max had just come up from downstairs and was shutting the door. He looked up and froze when he saw her.
“Uh, that other man, Loki, told us to come in here,” she said hesitantly, and Max’s body seemed to unfreeze but his eyes, they didn’t. They looked right at her, through her, and then dismissed her.
“Right,” Max said and then motioned to the table with chairs, and he leaned against the counter as well.
Anya and Coco looked and then sat down, and waited expectantly as Max seemed to think before he spoke.
“Why don’t you tell us how you got into this mess, and then I will tell you how we did as well,” Max said smoothly.
Coco looked at her and shrugged. She trusted him, she did, and so she nodded and said, “Okay, well, you left on that deployment, and well, I…”
“Found out you were pregnant and saw some shit, yeah, we know that. I mean, today, how did you get in this shit today?” Max snapped.
Anya took a deep breath. He was angry, and he had a right to be, but dammit, so did she. “Okay, well, Celia called me, that is my handler’s name, US Marshall Celia Blanchard, anyway, she said someone was going to release my name, and I would be vulnerable, which meant Maci would be. I admit, I kinda panicked a little. She said she would send someone to get us, to get ready and not to answer the door to just anyone. But I was freaked out, and she sounded weird. Like she was trying to tell me something but not on the phone. She said, ‘Make sure you gas up your car, driving to Canada will take a while.’ Which didn’t make sense since, for one, I didn’t have a car, she knew that, because she offered it repeatedly, and second, when I first went into the program, we talked about Coco and coming up here. But she said it wasn’t allowed since it was out of the country. I knew that it wasn’t common knowledge about Coco, and so did she because she really did think about sending me up here. So, I grabbed Maci and called Coco who rented us a car, and we drove up here.”
Max nodded and looked at Coco who was holding her friend’s hand. “Okay, so why hide if it wasn’t common knowledge?”
Anya sighed. “Because it may not be common knowledge, but still it could be found. Coco and her father, they have been my family, you know that.”
“Yeah,” Max said sarcastically. “I know they were your only family.”
She closed his eyes, damn. “Max—”
“Torch, my name is Torch,” Max said.
She frowned and said, “Uh, Ma..um, why is your name Torch?”
Max just stared at her, refusing to answer her but then he said, “Okay, so you came up here?”
Anya shook her head and said, “Yes, I came up here, and told Coco and her father the whole story. I was going to call the number Celia gave to me, but then we were online. I saw the story about Celia being killed, and I knew it had been because of me. The news story said she had been killed on the same afternoon she called me. Coco and I decided we needed to disappear until we could come up with a better plan. Her father knows some people, some powerful people, and he was going to let things die down a little then reach out to them.”
“So today?” Torch asked, and she grimaced.
“Right, well, Coco’s father had set up a security team to watch us, you know just in case. They followed us and would sit outside our door at night. I didn’t think about it, I was so stupid. There was a knock at the door, we had ordered room service. I looked through the peephole, but dammit when I opened the door, I didn’t look, I just saw the cart. I didn’t question it until Maci pulled off the cover to one of the plates, it was empty. Coco grabbed Maci, and I grabbed a lamp and hit him.”
Torch nodded and said, “Great, well, that will be on the news.”
Anya nodded. “I didn’t know what to do, so we grabbed Maci, and we were leaving. We only have our purses.”
Torch was silent for a minute, and then he nodded. “Okay, here is the deal. Loki, Ox, and I belong to a motorcycle club called the Furies. The only reason I am telling you this is because you are going to need to trust us. We are a true motorcycle club, that is a fact; however, we also work for the government. We do things they can’t within the confines of the law, we don’t follow that. We do what we need to do, in order to get the job done. We were asked to find you, which is why we are here. Now, we need to get you back to the States without using your passports, they are probably flagged already. The guy we caught in the elevator was from the Justice Department. We assume he was coming for you, but we don’t understand why. As far as we know, we were the only ones assigned to this.”
Anya frowned and shook her head. “Are you sure, maybe they were there…”
“Without calling or announcing themselves? I don’t think so,” Torch said. “Something else is going on here. We will find out, but we need to get somewhere secure where we control everything.”
Anya frowned. “Why not here?”
“Because the safest place we know, is our compound,” Torch said firmly.
“Compound? It sounds like a cult,” Coco said with a snort.
Torch turned his eyes to her and said, “You don’t need to come. We got it from here.”
Coco stood and smiled and shook her head. “Sorry, brother, you aren’t going anywhere with Anya and Maci without me.”
Ox glared at Coco and said, “I am with Torch; you can leave whenever you like. We got this.”
Coco turned to face the large man and didn’t flinch. “That is not how this is going to work, big man. So, listen up, I don’t scare easily, and I lost long enough without my sister and niece, and I will not allow them to be taken away again. So, you can get the fuck over yourself, because you can be a dick all you want, but I am not scared of you, or anyone. Now, I am assuming, since you work for the government in some way, you have weapons. I am a crack shot, so no worries there.”
Torch rubbed a hand down his face and said, “Stand down, Ox.”
Coco smirked and said, “Yeah, Ox, stand down.”
“And you,” Torch said, looking at Coco. “Sit down and don’t make this difficult or you will be shipped right back to the hotel with a little tip that you were the one to blame for the unconscious man in your room. It would keep you busy enough for us to slip away; you want that?”
Coco rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you are so scary.”
“Coco,” Anya said warningly.
“What? I get that this whole thing is kinda weird and stuff, but seriously, you haven’t seen Anya in five years, your daughter ever, and you’re being a dick,” Coco snapped, and Torch stood and looked at Anya coldly.
“Get a list o
f shit you need, clothes, shampoo, whatever, and have Ox text it to me. Make sure you only get shit you need, we are traveling light, so remember that. I’m going out.”
Anya looked at Max and nodded slowly. He was different, cold, she had never seen this side of him, ever. What happened to him in the last few years? She watched him as he turned and whispered something to Ox who nodded and then he walked out of the house, not looking back. Just like she had.
Max went out to the Charger and paused. Shit, he hadn’t wanted to lose his cool, but he did. Seeing Anya and hearing she went to someone else rather than him just pissed him off. This whole time his daughter had been out there, and he hadn’t known it. And Anya knew, she knew how important family was, he told her.
He hit the steering wheel hard a few times and then sucked in a breath and pulled out of the driveway. Anya was here, he couldn’t change that, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get to know his daughter. No matter what, she was his, and Anya was not going to deny his claim much longer.
He heard his phone ding, and he knew they sent a message. Great, buying chicks’ clothes, this was what he had sunk to. Not only chicks’ clothes, but also specifically Anya’s clothes. This was something he hadn’t done, it was something he wasn’t sure he was comfortable with, but it didn’t matter. Torch was well and truly stuck. He pulled the car into a mall and looked around. Fuck, there were mini-vans here, like a shit ton of them. He was gonna lose his man card if the guys heard about this.
Sighing, he picked up his phone and looked at the screen. Fuck, that was a long list. He looked at the mall again and then looked back down to his phone. It took him a minute, maybe less and then he grabbed his phone and called in the Calvary. Georgie and Casey, they would tell him where to get this shit.
“I am not buying princess panties,” Torch growled into the phone.
Georgie chuckled in his ear, and she said, “Buddy, suck it up. Grab the princess panties.”
“I already went to Victoria Secrets,” he argued.
“Yeah, but you know damn well you asked those women who were working to try them on.” She laughed.
“Of course, it is morally imperative to know if they’re comfortable,” Torch argued.
Casey yelled in the background. “You know you liked picking those out.”
“Of course I did, I have a dick. Now, girl panties, fuck no, they’re gonna think I’m a perv. I will see my face on wanted posters by tomorrow,” Torch snapped. “It’s creepy and wrong, man, no fucking way.”
Georgie and Casey laughed loudly, and Casey said, “Torch, we have walked you through every single damn store you have gone in, helped you pick every piece of clothing. Now, we allowed the Harley t-shirts already. But, you need to get the little princess her panties.”
Torch moaned loudly and said, “They have white; I will get those.”
“NO!” both women yelled. “Do not ever get a little girl white underwear, what is wrong with you? They like pink, flowers, crowns. She’s your daughter; do you plan on treating her like a princess or a stranger. Because white does not say to a girl, ‘I am your daddy.’ It says, ‘Here kid, I don’t care what you like,’” Casey said.
“How in the fuck do underwear say anything other than wear me?” Torch asked.
Georgie said, “My brother once bought me white underwear, and I turned into a bike mechanic.”
Casey said, “My mom bought me white as well, and my nickname is Sandshrew.”
“Goddammit! This is too much pressure,” he yelled, and both women giggled, but he looked around to make sure no one was close and then reached and grabbed the pink glittery princess panties and threw them in the cart and buried them under the shampoo and shit.
“Okay, you good?” Georgie asked.
Torch growled into the phone, “Yes, go, but just know I’m calling your old men and telling them you tortured me.”
Chapter Ten
Torch finished the shopping and drove back to the house. During the time he was gone, he didn’t work a damn thing out. He was still pissed, and that was not going to change, mostly because he didn’t want it to right now. Torch drove down the street where the safe house was and looked closely at the neighbors. No one stared at him or seemed to care he was even coming back down the street, which was good.
He pulled into the drive and took a deep breath before getting out of the car and popping the trunk. He grabbed bags, there were a lot. It was possible he went a little overboard at the toy store, but who knew they had all that cool shit. Hell, when Maci got back to San Diego, she would have more, because Torch had sent Casey and Georgie on a mission. They were to get a room at his house ready to bring his daughter home.
Fling had found the perfect spot for the Furies new compound when they moved from LA. Their back property line was right against the Ops Warriors, it gave them both protection, and it also meant that the two clubs owned a two-mile stretch of the coast. Granted there was no beaches, the side of the coast was actually rock, but the view, fuck yeah, it was gorgeous. They had top of the line security, and nothing was perfect, but it was damn close. The construction on the property had been going on for a while. Tally was heading the men who were building since he owned a construction company his father left him when he passed away. All the men were vetted. Torch asked for a small Victorian house that looked just like the one his parents owned. He had a few pictures, and he also asked Tally to lay it out for him. When it was done, he felt like he had finally come home. Unfortunately, it wasn’t completely done. It still needed to be fitted out with furniture and kitchen shit. That was where the girls came in. He called them and told them to get busy. They took the challenge, but God knows what he was going to get when he got back. The good thing, neither of the girls were that ‘girly’ so he could be safe and not end up with pink fucking carpet in his living room.
As he neared the back door with his arms laden down with bags, he heard his daughter laugh. Torch closed his eyes and let the sound flow over him. He missed this, everything, when she took her first step, said her first word, smiled her first smile. Fuck, he missed it all. Torch tapped down the anger he was feeling right now, and stepped up to the back door and opened it. When he walked in, Torch took in the packages and dropped them on the floor. He saw the bags of groceries were already apparently put away, and everyone was in the living room.
“Ready?” Ox yelled.
And Maci yelled back, “Ready!”
“Okay, remember what I said, go for the knees,” Ox said clearly, and Torch frowned and went to the doorway and looked in the room. Anya and her friend we on the couch, feet pulled up off the floor and tucked under them, but they were leaning into each other with grins on their faces. Ox was in the corner of the room opposite looking at his daughter and Loki as they circled each other. Loki growling and his hands raised, looking like one of those WWE Wrestlers.
“Come on, Maci, he’s weak, you got this,” Ox said seriously, and Maci got a funny look on her face and growled like Loki was. Then she ran and grabbed Loki, who yelled fake like and orchestrated a fall that would have won him an Oscar.
“Ugh, I’m down,” Loki said, and proceeded to attempt to get free from Maci’s grip, he failed. Maci crawled up and then jumped on his chest.
“One...two...three...pinned!” she yelled, and everyone clapped.
Torch smiled at his daughter, and when she saw him, she yelled, “Max! I beated Loki! Did you see? I beated him!”
Max smiled down at her and nodded. “Yeah, Maci, I saw it, you took him down really good!”
“That is ‘cause Loki said I was a ‘bad ass biker baby,’” Maci said.
And all the adults yelled, “NO!”
“Honey,” Loki said softly. “Remember we talked about not repeating everything adults say.”
“Yeah, but Ox says you are not an adult.” Maci laughed.
“I wasn’t lying,” Ox said, and Torch rolled his eyes.
“Maci, why don’t you come with me and check out the
stuff I bought.”
The little girl turned back and said, “Stuff? You gots stuff? What kinds of stuff? ‘Cause Mommy only buys stuff when says her Auntie Martha is coming. I don’t get it, ‘cause Auntie Martha doesn’t show up, but that is when she buys stuff.”
She walked to Max and took his hand, and he sucked in a breath as she pulled him toward the kitchen. He could feel the connection with his daughter. He never believed it when others said they could feel the connection with their kid. Fuck, he wanted to savor the moment. He looked up and saw all the others staring at him intently. Anya was the one who met his eyes first, and he saw the tears in them. Torch felt his face harden, she had kept this from him. Turning, he walked with Maci into the kitchen to show her what he bought her.
“Where in the hell are they?” the Senator yelled at the military man over the phone. “Now a man from the Justice Department is in the hospital with a concussion, his partner is missing. They were asking questions, namely, why would a woman and child who were in danger hurt the men who were sent to save them. The injured man was saying he wasn’t given a safe word to provide to her, he was saying that his orders, which mind you no one had a record of, were even close to what they were supposed to be. They turned this over to someone else, another team, did you know about this? What the fuck are you going to do to clean up this mess? We are on the verge of being discovered.”
The First Shirt growled, “I am taking care of it personally. I took emergency family leave and will have everything under control by tonight.”
“How can you say that?” the Senator yelled.
“Because I know who they sent after her, it will not be a problem,” the First Shirt said firmly.
“Really? Not a problem? You are telling me there is not a problem?” the Senator said, knowing he was spitting but there was nothing he could do.
Scorched (Furies MC Book 3) Page 7