Finding Needles (Charon MC Book 10)

by Khloe Wren

  If I could reach through the phone to slap him, I would. How dare he not take this seriously?”

  “Talk.”

  As much as I didn’t appreciate the single word command, he was at least not laughing anymore.

  “This could cost me my job, Ryan!”

  His grunt came through the phone. “Who you bullshitting, babe? You work for your old man. No way would he fire your ass.”

  “For this, he would.”

  I rubbed at the ache that formed between my breasts. No way would he let this slide. If my father found out I was done for.

  “If you ain’t going to tell me what’s going on, I’m hanging up. But seeing as you broke down and called me, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something is eating at you. I can’t help you or my mother without details.”

  Why did he have to be such an asshole right now?

  “Your mom asked my dad to come over last night to rework her Will.”

  “So, what’s the harm in that? Isn’t that routine, considering my father just passed a month ago?”

  I didn’t remember Ryan being nearly this frustrating when we were kids.

  “Would you let me continue? That wasn’t all she wanted to do. She cut you and Ashlynn out of the Will. For God’s sake, she even signed over the damn house.” I paused for a moment but he said nothing. “Did you hear me? She signed the house over to Pastor Godfrey.

  “The fucking pastor?”

  “Yes, the one who performed your dad’s service. I knew there was something off with him. I just never imagined he was a fucking con man.” I stopped to take a deep breath and to try to control my anger. “He’s only been in town about eight months. I’m not even certain he is a real preacher, but he’s got a following and your mother seems to be his biggest supporter. I can’t get involved and honestly, I don’t even know where I’d start. I don’t think she’s doing it to be malicious, either. She keeps talking about how she asked you to send Ashlynn to visit her over the summer.”

  “Fuck that. I ain’t sending her there now. Not without me. Did she sign any papers?”

  Finally he was taking me seriously. “Not yet, but she asked my father to draw them up as soon as possible.”

  “I can’t just hop on a plane. I already took Ashlynn out of school for the funeral. I need you to stall your old man with those documents while I figure out some shit here. I’ll be there by the end of the week.”

  Or maybe not. “Ryan—”

  “Bess, my life is complicated as shit. That’s the best I can do.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. I had no idea how else to make it so he’d come home to sort this out.

  “Need me to book your flight?”

  “You being nice to me, ice princess?”

  Gah, such an asshole. At least his bullshit put a stop to my waterworks that had been about to start.

  “No. You don’t strike me as a world traveler.”

  “I’m not a moron, babe. I can book a flight.”

  I was done. If he didn’t want to come home then I was just going to have to find another way to save Mrs. Perry from this asshole con man.

  “Fine.

  “Thanks for calling.”

  Yeah, sure. So far he hadn’t sounded grateful in the least. I still wasn't even sure he believed me.

  “Just make it right, Ryan. I’d hate for your mother to lose everything.”

  And clearly I couldn’t just leave it with Ryan to take care of. Looked like I was going to have to get involved after all. Especially since I couldn’t be sure Ryan would even come home to help.

  Chapter 2

  Needles

  Because being stuck in a tin can in the air for near on four hours wasn’t enough hell, I got to follow that up with being stuck in a fucking cage for an hour to get to the Charon MC’s clubhouse in Bridgewater, Texas. It was about a fifteen minute ride from there to Rocky Gully, my hometown, but I doubted I’d be heading over there today.

  After I got off the phone to Bess last night, I’d spent some time with Ashlynn before I got her settled into bed, then I’d called Ally to ask if she and Deuce could watch Ashlynn for a few days, before I headed downstairs to find Wolf. I hadn’t been looking forward to telling my president that I needed to head out of state again, and it had been even worse because Parrish had been there to bust my balls as well. At least Wolf had rung Scout, the president of the Charon MC, for me and sorted out a place for me to land. And a prospect to come collect my ass from the airport in Houston.

  I glanced over to the man sitting behind the wheel. He’d introduced himself as Blade. Man looked more like a mobster than a fucking biker, even wearing a cut. He’d been silent for most of the trip, which had been a nice change of pace after the bullshit I copped when I got a ride from Nico to the airport in New York. But as we hit the outskirts of Bridgewater, the silence got a little too thick for my comfort.

  “How long you been prospecting?”

  “One day officially, but my association with the club goes back years.”

  Damn, they sent a newbie to get me. One that sounded like a damn mobster.

  “Can’t say I’ve ever seen a brother wearing a dress shirt under their colors outside of a wedding.”

  He shrugged with a smirk. “Old habits. I’m sure by next summer I’ll be wearing t-shirts like the rest of you.”

  Yeah, nice, short answers that told me absolutely nothing.

  “You sound more like a mobster than a biker. Might wanna work on that.”

  He barked out a laugh as he turned through the gates of the clubhouse.

  “The club knows exactly where I came from. I was L.A. mob until a few weeks ago. But I’m done with that life now, burned all those bridges.”

  I barely tracked his words as I took in the building before me. Two stories high, it was a huge structure. It put Big Nose Kate’s to shame as far as being a clubhouse, that’s for damn sure.

  “Nice place.”

  “It gets the job done. Upstairs are the bedrooms, downstairs is where all the other shit is located—kitchen, bar, offices, whore room...”

  Grabbing my bag, I slung it over my shoulder and moved to follow him toward the entrance, getting a nod from the prospect guarding it.

  “Scout and the others are waiting for you in his office. I’ll take you there after I show you to a room so you can dump your shit.”

  I followed the man through an open room with several small tables with chairs and couches along with what looked like a well-stocked bar, then up some stairs to the second level. About halfway down he stopped and shoved open a door.

  “Here you go. Dump your shit and grab the key out of the doorknob. You can come back later and settle in. The club’s officers are waiting right now.”

  “Officers?”

  I tossed my bag onto the bed, shut the door and grabbed the key after checking the door locked.

  “Yeah, you know Scout’s the president, then there’s Mac, the new VP, Arrow, the secretary, Keys, the treasurer, and Nitro, the SAA. They’re all waiting to hear what you have to say.”

  I heard the question in his tone but ignored it. Prospects didn’t get told shit about club business. This shit with Godfrey didn’t come under that classification yet, but hopefully it would soon. Because I had no clue how to deal with this fucker on my own. Well, aside from going in and shooting the prick in the head. That would take care of it all right, but that would likely end with me in jail and Ashlynn would be the one who suffered the most. No way would I allow that. I might be a bastard and not the best dad in the world, but I wouldn’t leave my kid without any parents if I could avoid it.

  “Lead the way.”

  With a nod, he did just that. Two minutes later I found myself in a rather crowded office. It was a good thing I didn’t fucking scare easily, because none of these men looked real happy about me being there.

  “Excellent, you’re here. Let’s move this to the meeting room. More space in there, and we can speak freely.”

>   That had me raising an eyebrow. I thought the Charon crew was tight.

  “You have issues with that normally?”

  “Not usually, but it pays to always play it safe. And I like to avoid giving Keys heart failure when I can.”

  “What the fuck ever, brother. You joke, but who’s the one that comes to the rescue every time someone goes missing? Yeah, that’s right. Me.”

  Damn, these boys were as bad as the Knights. Keys and Scout continued their griping as we made our way through the building. I followed their lead when we got to their meeting room, dumping my phone and keys into a locker before entering the main room. They had things set up a little different than how the Knights had it. There was still a large table, but it was up in the front of the room with a heap of chairs in rows facing it.

  The others grabbed chairs at the table and I wasn’t real sure where they wanted me to fucking sit. In the chairs down here, like I was in court or some shit?

  “Drag another chair up to the table, man. Then start talking. Wolf couldn’t tell me much as to why you needed our help. After what happened up north, we’re more than happy to repay the favor, but we won’t be rushing into anything blind.”

  I gave Scout a nod as I grabbed a chair from the front row and dumped it next to where Arrow sat. He and Mac had been part of the crew Scout had sent up to New York a while back. The Charons had an issue with a club up in Boston, that turned out to be having an issue with the cartel that was fucking with the Knights. In the end, we all benefited from that alliance and friendships were forged that I hoped like fuck would benefit me now.

  After taking a seat, I rubbed a palm over the back of my neck while I wondered where the fuck I should start explaining this mess.

  “I was born and raised in Rocky Gully. Heard of it?”

  Everyone except for Mac nodded. Arrow turned toward the man. “It’s a town about fifteen minutes east of here. Not as big as Bridgewater, but close.”

  “I left town a long time ago, and not with my parents’ blessing. I hadn’t been home in nineteen fucking years when I was summoned back last month for my old man’s funeral. Everything was about as normal as it ever was, as far as I saw. Ma spoiled the hell outta my daughter, while she made it clear she still disapproved of every decision I’d ever made in my life. I didn’t stay long. Ashlynn had to get back to school and I had clients waiting.” And who the fuck wanted to stay somewhere when they were clearly not wanted. “Then last night I got a call from an old friend who still lives in town. She told me my mother was in trouble and I should get my ass down here to sort it out. Bess, this friend, works for her old man, a lawyer. Told me she’d been in a meeting between her father and my mother the night before. It seems my dear old ma is working on cutting me and my kid outta her Will.”

  A few curses came from the others and Scout frowned my way.

  “Some friend you have there. Broke a pretty big rule to tell you that. You sure you can trust her? That she’s not making shit up to get you back in town for some reason? And did she tell you who’d taken your place as your mother’s benefactor?”

  My chest ached a little at the thought of Bess. Guess I wasn’t as fucking heartless as I’d thought. I’d been such a fucking asshole to her last month, yet she’d still risked everything for me. And she had. She worked for her old man, who was an old-school lawyer. I wanted to believe he wouldn’t fire her if he found out she broke rules to tell me about Ma, but deep down, I knew he would. He’d fire her and possibly disown her. Half the reason I’d left town all those years ago was to protect Bess from me. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt that girl.

  “Bess and I grew up together. I’d trust that woman with my life. She told me Ma asked her dad to draw up paperwork to sign over her house and to change her Will so everything goes to some fucking pastor. Bess tells me he’s only been in town about eight months, and in that time has amassed quite the following. I met Pastor Godfrey just before the funeral last month. Didn’t get a read on him because I wasn’t on the lookout for fucking threats at the time.”

  Nope, I’d been reliving what it had been like to be between Bess’ sexy thighs, and trying to work out why the fuck she’d switched to being an ice princess the moment she was done with me.

  If I could kick my own ass, I would. Maybe if I’d been paying the least bit of attention I would have picked up something. Maybe if I’d been less of an asshole to my mother, she would have said something.

  “So you’ve come down here to what? Take this fucker out? Talk your mom into not changing things? What’s the end goal here?”

  I shrugged a shoulder as I rubbed a palm over my buzz-cut hair. “I only got the call last night. I haven’t had the time to plan anything other than getting myself down here. I was kinda hoping one of you might have an idea on what we do here. End of the day? I want this fucker in the ground. If my ma is falling for his shit, what’s the bet she’s not his first victim?”

  Scout nodded. “And if we don’t put a stop to him, she won’t be his last. Give Keys tonight to look into this guy online, gather some intel. Then tomorrow first thing, we’ll take a small team over there to see what we can find out. Guessing you don’t want to talk to your ma about this shit, but you might want to think about it. She could be our best source of information on this fucker. If you want, when we head over there tomorrow we can pull her out? Bring her here while we sort out what this bastard’s about.”

  Taking a deep breath, I gave my short hair another scrub before I responded.

  “I told Bess to take her time prepping those documents, so I think Ma’s safe to stay put for now. If this fucker’s done some kind of brainwashing deal on her, she won’t go quietly. She’s kinda got a mouth on her once she gets rolling.” I paused to sigh as I thought about all my mother had been through lately. Including all I’d added to her plate. Fuck, I’d been a such a shitty son to the woman. She deserved better, just like Ashlynn deserved a better father. Pity I was all the pair of them had. “She’s suffered enough. If we can get this dealt with without actually involving her that would great.”

  Mac chuckled darkly. “We could always just send Eagle and Taz over there, snipe the bastard and be done with it.”

  Scout rubbed at the bridge of his nose as he mumbled. “Fucking Marines...” He turned to glare at Mac. “Stand down, brother. No sniping anyone until we have proof they’re evil and a plan to dispose of the body.” He looked back to me. “The three of them were in the USMC together, and some days he seems to forget he’s not still their gunnery sergeant.”

  With a grin, Mac just shrugged at his president.

  Scout sighed. “Right, let’s be serious. Needles, go head upstairs, get settled in. Keys will do his thing and find out what he can. We’ll meet back here at nine tomorrow to go over it. Since it’s a Sunday and we had a big barbecue yesterday, things won’t get too crazy tonight. You’re welcome to come down and hang out with the brothers, find a club whore, relax with a drink... however you want to spend your night. You’re welcome to wear your colors in our house. Just follow the rules, which are nice and simple—no picking fights, no disrespecting a Charon, the whores stay in their room till ten. You’re welcome to head in there before then. But we don’t tolerate them out and around the clubhouse while there’s a chance any of the kiddos are around. They know the rules, so don’t let them try to play dumb with you. You good with that?”

  “Sounds good. I’m not here to stir up trouble or chase pussy, and I appreciate your help with sorting this shit out.”

  “Rocky Gully ain't so far from us. I have no problem extending our reach out that way.”

  With that, we were done and I headed back up to my assigned room. I’d slept like shit last night. I should just grab a shower and crash but I was feeling restless. I pulled my phone out, grinning as I looked at the photo of Ashlynn’s wide smile as she spun in one of the prissy fucking dresses my mother had bought for her that was my screen saver. I was a lucky son of a bitch to have such a
good kid. I needed to do better by her. Just like I needed to do better by Ma.

  Waking up my phone, I flipped through my contacts till I found Ally’s. She and her old man, Deuce, were looking after Ashlynn for me while I was on this trip. I wanted to talk to my girl before she went to bed. I hit dial and waited for Ally to pick up, but grinned when it was my girl who answered.

  “Daddy! How was the plane? Did they give you Cheez Its?”

  I laughed. Kids could be so damn random.

  “Hey, sweetheart. The flight was fine, and yeah, they gave me Cheez Its.”

  I sat back on the bed and let my little girl distract me from all this shit with tales of her day at school and what she and Ally did afterward. Later, I’d catch that shower and head downstairs to be social for a few hours before I allowed myself to crash.

  I hoped like fuck Keys found something useful for me tonight. My gut feeling on this whole situation was that I didn’t have long to get it fixed.

  Elizabeth

  I still hadn’t heard from Ryan when Monday morning rolled around so once I got into work, I started doing a little snooping into Godfrey’s bullshit. I’d just typed the name of his church into the search bar when the front door opened. Pausing before I hit enter, I glanced up and froze. What the hell? Was the man psychic or something? Quickly shutting down the browser, I turned to smile at the sleezebag. Because this was work and I had to be nice to everyone here.

  “Morning, Pastor Godfrey, what can I help you with today?”

  His smile was wide and he walked like all was right in his world. It really was a struggle to not verbally lash out at him that he shouldn’t be wearing the white collar he was sporting so proudly.

  “I understand you have some documents for me to sign in regards to Mrs. Barbara Perry.”

  In stunned shock, all I could do was blink a few times. Was he for real? Dad had seen Barbara Friday night, after hours, and it wasn’t quite nine am Monday morning now. And he expected the documents to be done already?

  “Ah, I’m sorry, Pastor Godfrey, but they’re not ready yet. We’ll be in contact with you when they are, if indeed you are required to sign anything.”