by Khloe Wren
“Let me check.”
Speaking of Ariel, where was she? Even with Marie not here, she’d come in the past two mornings to say good morning and have a quick cuddle. While waiting for Mac, I headed down to her bedroom. My heart rate kicked up when I found it empty.
“Ariel?”
I quickly looked under the bed and in the closet, but she wasn't there. Forgetting about Mac, I ran through the house, looking in every room and calling out her name. Where the fuck was she? Skidding into the kitchen I saw the back door had been left open.
“Scout!”
The tinny voice coming from my phone had me lifting it back up to my ear.
“Ariel’s gone.”
“I’m on my way.”
Hanging up, I slipped the phone in my pocket and headed out the open doorway. Over the past couple years, a number of us had all bought homes on the same street. I knew I’d have Mac, Taz and Eagle, along with all their women, here within minutes. If Tiny wasn’t at the clubhouse, he would be here too. As I waited for them, I scoured the back yard, calling her name as I looked in every hiding spot I could think of. Where was she? And why the fuck had she run?
Or had she been taken?
Ice flowed through my veins at the thought. Ariel had already been through more than enough in her short life. If some fucker had touched my girl, I was going to end them in the slowest, most painful way possible.
I was standing at the rear of my yard, staring at the wildness that was beyond the low fence when Mac came up beside me.
“I spoke with Tiny. He visited Rumble and says that he vows there were only the two of them who came down here. I don’t think someone snatched her, prez. If they had, and left a door open, it would be the front door, not the back. And I’m pretty sure she’d put up a fight if someone tried to take her. She might be little, but she’s been hanging around with our girls long enough to pick up a few things. Nothing inside looks disturbed.”
I nodded. I’d had the same thoughts. “She ran away. Why the fuck did she run? And where would she go?” Poor kid had no one else. “Need to call the cops in. We need to start searching for her. She’s too young to be out there on her own.”
“Eagle’s already on it. They’re on their way.”
My eyes stung but I shoved the emotion aside, “I’m gonna have to tell Marie.” She may never forgive me. She gave me one fucking job to do while she was in hospital. Take care of our girl.
“Stop. You can let your guilt reign later. Right now, we need to focus on finding her.”
I nodded, knowing he was right but still unable to push it aside completely. What had happened to send her running? I followed Mac to the house where several of my brothers were now standing around waiting for my orders. But I had no idea what to say, where to start. Ariel wasn’t mine by virtue of blood, but she was my fucking daughter in my heart and soul. I’d do anything for the kid and right now I didn’t know where she was, what had sent her running. It was tearing me up, and I didn’t know what the fuck to do about it.
Ariel
Rubbing the tears from my eyes, I kept walking. I’d heard Papa on the phone, saying he’d be somewhere in twenty minutes. Just him. Not me. He didn’t say “we’d” be there, just that he would. I knew with Mommy in hospital, he was worried. Not as happy as he usually was when Mommy was home. And he was needed by his club. I wasn’t exactly sure what he did for it, but I thought he might the boss there. Everyone always asked him for orders. In some ways the club reminded me of where I lived with Momma. Although, there were more women and kids here. And the men didn’t appear to be as mean as Bruce’s men.
It always seemed like people always needed him. He didn’t have time for me. Not time to sing to me after he tucked me in, like Mommy normally did, or to stay in bed until I came to give him a cuddle. I’d tried this morning, just like I had yesterday but he’d already been sitting on the edge of the bed, talking on his phone about needing to be somewhere. I’d heard every word he’d said and not one of them was about me. He’d forgotten I was there and he needed to go in twenty minutes.
I don’t need him. I can take care of myself.
Momma had told me time and again how the only one you could ever truly count on was yourself. She’d told me I could count on her, but if she wasn’t around anymore I needed to rely on myself. I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d meant, but today Scout upset me and it was time to leave for a while.
With a sniffle, I wiped my eyes again. I missed Momma. Before she’d died, I’d never been away from her for more than a few hours. It had been months since I’d seen her. The times she’d visit me from heaven and whisper in my ear made me feel very good. I wished she’d do it more often, but I guess she was busy up there.
Walking around another clump of trees, I was at the side of a road with houses up one side and nothing but grass and trees on the other. With a frown I looked around, trying to work out where I was as I kept walking. I wanted to go visit Momma, I just needed to remember the way.
Scout
It was about an hour after I’d noticed Ariel was missing when Keys strolled through my front door with his open laptop balanced on his palm.
“Got her.”
I stopped my pacing and turned to face him. I’d been forced to stay here with a damn cop while everyone else was out searching the woods for my girl.
“How?” I shook my head. “Scratch that, I don’t give a shit. Where? Where’s my girl?”
“Guessing she went to visit her momma. She’s at the cemetery. C’mon, I’ll drive.”
I told the cop that we’ve got it covered and I’d call it in if she wasn’t there. He wasn’t happy but knew a brick wall when he saw one, so didn’t argue as he cursed and headed to his patrol car. The moment we were in Keys’ cage, he shut his laptop and tossed it on the backseat.
“How?”
He smirked over at me. “How’d you think?”
“She doesn’t have a fucking phone or car, brother. How’d you lo-jack her?”
“Shoes, a few of her favorite toys. Also her bag, but she didn’t take that with her. I’ve tagged all sorts of her shit just in case anything ever happened.”
Keys was a paranoid bastard, but it paid off at times. “Good man. Keep that shit up.”
“Didn’t plan on stopping, prez.”
We rolled up to the cemetery and Keys parked out the front rather than going inside and giving us away.
“I think you need to handle this one on your own, Scout. I’ll stay out here and wait for you.”
He was right. Whatever had sent her running, I needed to deal with. Me. On my own, because this time Marie wasn’t here to do it for me.
“Thanks, man. I won’t be too long.” Hopefully.
Leaving the car, I headed up the path toward where we’d laid Sarah to rest last December, praying Ariel was still there. I didn’t doubt Keys had put trackers on her stuff, but she could have moved on since Keys had last checked her location.
Bridgewater Cemetery wasn’t huge, so it thankfully didn’t take long for me to spot Sarah’s tombstone and the little girl sitting in front of it. She had the dolls Sarah made for her, using both her own hair along with Ariel’s for the toys. Ariel sat stroking that last piece of her mother she had left and her lips were moving as she spoke with her momma. I couldn’t hear her words, but she was clearly totally engrossed in the conversation she was having. Guilt hit me hard, square in the chest. We hadn’t brought her back here more than a few times since the funeral. Honestly, I hadn’t realized it was something she’d want to do. But what I was watching right now proved how wrong we’d been. As soon as I got done with all this Ice Rider shit today, I’d go visit with Marie and talk to her about setting up a routine of bringing Ariel here to visit more regularly. Maybe once a week, so she could have some time with her mother.
I scrubbed my hand over my hair as I strode toward her. I was still so fresh to this whole parent thing. I didn’t have time to wrap my head around becoming a dad b
efore Ariel landed in our laps, making it a reality in an instant. Every day I did my best to nail this dad thing, but some days, like today, I felt like I was fucking drowning, failing at it. Marie seemed to be handling it all so much better than me. She took to motherhood like a duck to water, just as I knew she would. But she wasn’t here now. Nope, she was stuck in the hospital. I winced at that thought of having to tell her about this shit. She didn’t even know Ariel had gone missing. I hadn’t wanted to stress her out with it since she couldn’t do anything to help find her. I’d tell her later, after I took Ariel in to see her. She was gonna be angry I didn’t tell her as soon as I realized she was missing, but hopefully she’d understand my reasons and forgive me since she was now found and safe.
As I got closer, the gravel crunched under my shoes and Ariel lifted her head and her hazel eyes grew wide as her mouth dropped open. Before I said a word, I dropped down to sit beside her, getting down to her level.
“Hey, sweet angel. Been worried about you.”
Her grip tightened on her dolls and her shoulders rolled in, as she tried to make herself smaller.
“It’s okay, Ariel. Take some deep breaths and settle down. You’re not in trouble. I’m not mad. I was worried when I couldn’t find you this morning.”
I wanted to ask her why she’d run off, but she still didn’t talk all that much to me. I understood it. That fucked up place she was raised in had been mostly men and her mother had, rightfully, taught her not to trust any of them. Instead, I nodded toward Sarah’s headstone.
“I didn’t know you wanted to come visit your momma. I would have brought you, angel. If you ever want to come here, all you gotta do is ask us. But you can’t just run off like today. Scared the hell out of me when I couldn’t find you. Got the whole club out looking for you. You have a whole lot of people who care about you now. You’re not alone anymore, Ariel. I know you’re young, and I’m probably using words you don’t understand, but I’m not sure how else to tell you.”
Hanging my head down, I rubbed my eyes. I seriously had no clue what to do or say right now. Fuck, I should have told Marie. At least then I could have had her on speaker phone or something. Hearing her move, I cracked my eyes open to see what she was up to. She was shifting and moving toward me. I stayed still, barely breathing, waiting to see what she had planned. It was rare for Ariel to come to me like this, she naturally gravitated toward women. I understood why, but it still hurt when she’d so willingly give Marie affection but not me. I loved this kid as if she were my own.
When she put her palm on my shoulder to balance herself as she moved into my lap I shifted around to give her room. When she curled up against my chest, her ear pressed up against my heart, I wrapped my arms around her, holding her little body against me.
“I’m sorry, Papa. You needed to go out so I thought I’d come here and be out of the way.”
I winced again as I heard what she wasn’t saying. She’d heard me say I needed to be somewhere and thought I’d forgotten about her. I stroked a palm over her hair, before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“You came into the bedroom this morning and heard me on the phone, didn’t you, sweetheart? I made a call after that one that I think you missed. I called Mac. Zara and Cleo were on their way over to pick you up to go visit Mommy. I hadn’t forgotten you, Ariel. I’ll never forget you. My job with the club means that sometimes I do have to drop things and go deal with sh—issues.” I was trying to not swear around her, but damn it was hard. “But I’ll never not take care of you first. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Papa. Can we go visit Mommy now? Or do you still need to go?”
Fuck me. We really needed to work on this girl’s self-esteem.
“I think going to see Mommy is a great idea. The club stuff can wait. You’re more important. And maybe later, after I come pick you up from the hospital, we can get some flowers and bring them back here for Momma? Maybe some sunflowers? Sound good?”
Marie had let her pick a flower to put on the coffin, and she’d picked the biggest sunflower the shop had.
“Oh, yes.”
I stood with her in my arms and she happily snuggled in against me, melting my heart toward her even more as I walked back toward where Keys was waiting for us.
Chapter 7
Marie
By the time Scout strolled through the door with Ariel, I was about ready to come out of my skin. They were late. Like they arrived hours later than they should have. And here he was with Ariel in his arms, hers wrapped around his neck. She never went to Scout like that unless she was really scared.
“What happened?”
Scout came over and deposited her on the bed beside me. Ariel cuddled in against me and settled down like she was ready for a nap or something. I raised an eyebrow at the still-silent Scout as he took a seat beside me, looking guilty as hell.
“Well, our little angel, here, decided to go for an adventure this morning.”
Ariel stiffened against me, her little body going unnaturally still, which set off all of my inner mom alarms.
“What kind of adventure?”
“She heard me on the phone saying I was going to the clubhouse, so she decided to go visit her momma while I did my thing.”
My mouth dropped open. Ariel went out alone? All the way to the cemetery? I glared at Scout and he mouthed at me that he’d tell me more later then nodded down to Ariel, who was still holding herself rigid against me.
“She’s worried we’re mad at her.”
I easily filled in what he didn’t say. She was worried we were going to send her away now. This poor girl had some serious abandonment issues.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m not mad at you. The thought of you out walking around town on your own scares the hell out of me. I’m certainly glad you’re okay. But next time you feel like going to visit your momma, you need to ask us to take you, okay? You’re too little to be out on your own. We love you, Ariel, and we want you to be safe.”
Her little head nodded against me as she snuggled in closer, moving a hand to rest over my belly, which her brother dutifully nudged. Tears stung my eyes at the connection they had already. I wrapped my arm around her so I could stroke her back with my hand as I turned my attention back to my man, who was going to be hearing about it later that he didn’t tell me the moment he realized Ariel had gone missing. Guilt that I wasn’t there to either stop it from happening, or deal with the outcome rose up and clogged my throat. I cleared it and pushed the thoughts aside. There’d be time later, when I was alone, to work through my feelings.
“So, you’ve had a busy morning, then?”
He stroked his hands through his hair with a groan.
“Phone started ringing at six. I got a whole lotta sh—stuff down the clubhouse to deal with.”
He never told me club business unless I needed to know for my own safety. I knew that was how it worked so I didn’t push for more information. Honestly, I didn’t want to know most of the time. But none of that changed the fact I hated seeing him so stressed out.
“You sleeping okay?”
He looked up and held my gaze. “I sleep like shit without you beside me, babe. You know that.”
As much as I didn’t like that he wasn’t getting enough rest, my heart warmed that he couldn’t fully relax without me.
“Yeah, I don’t sleep so well without you, either. I love you.”
He stood and leaned over me. I tilted my face up and he took my mouth with his for a deep kiss.
“Love you so much. Can’t wait to have you back home, where you belong.”
“You and me both.” He had no idea how much I truly hated being stuck in here, unable to do anything. “So, I gather if you got early morning phone calls you need to run off and deal with something?”
With a grimace he sat back down and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Yeah, unfortunately I do. But it shouldn’t take too long, then I’ll be back.”
Obviously, I wa
sn’t the only one feeling guilt over what happened this morning. I knew Scout doubted himself as a father. He was an awesome dad to Ariel, but he couldn’t see it in himself. Her running away from him this morning would have gutted him, and clearly, he didn’t want to leave either one of us today. But he had responsibilities outside of me and Ariel that he needed to go deal with. I knew that going in with Scout, that there would be times he’d have to go deal with club business when we’d both prefer him stay with me. But we’d both feel better after he went and dealt with whatever shit it was that brought on the attack in my cafe.
I reached my hand out to grab his. “Scout, I understand you have responsibilities with the club, and that what happened in my cafe would have stirred up trouble. You need to go do what you have to so when our boy comes into this world, we’re not looking over our shoulders, waiting for these bastards to come back for us.”
He nodded slowly and his gaze settled on Ariel.
“We’ll be fine, babe. Ariel and I will do some more handwriting practice, and maybe some drawing.”
Her head popped up. “You’ll read to me?”
I stroked my fingers down her cheek. “Of course, baby girl.”
In the cult, Ariel hadn’t had a chance to do any schooling at all. Thankfully she was still young, so wasn’t too far behind, but we wanted her to fit in with the other kids when she started in September. So I spent some time with her every day, doing little things like learning how to write her name and numbers. I was trying to make it fun for her, and since she was so starved for affection, she’d loved every moment of it so far.
Scout stood and lifted the bag he’d brought with them onto the bed so we could reach it without any trouble.
“Here’s all your things, Ariel. I’ll leave you to it. I’ll try to get back as soon as I can and we’ll go shopping later for some flowers for your Momma, okay?”
Oh, that melted my heart in a second. My man was so beautiful. I knew he must be feeling so guilty, and I was too. We hadn’t taken Ariel back to her mother’s grave many times. Clearly, we needed to change that. No matter how difficult it was for us to be reminded of how badly we’d both failed Sarah in the past, Ariel’s need to stay connected to her mother was more important.
