I smirked and placed my mobile into my pocket, "No she's not my girlfriend."
"But you'd like her to be?"
I sighed, "It's complicated."
"Isn't it always?"
I smiled, "Are you sure you're only sixteen?"
"Sure am!" Charity giggled as she answered.
"Fuck! That meant it was your birthday yesterday."
"It was indeed."
"And now I feel bad for not remembering sorry babe."
Charity shrugged, "It doesn't matter CJ. If anything it was a great birthday coz I got to eat loads of chocolate."
"Chocolate? Don't you get to eat it usually then?" I asked bemused.
She shook her head, "I'm not allowed."
"Is the rein kept that tight?"
"It is but hopefully you'll be able to give me hope of a better life where I can eat chocolate." Her eyes widened excitedly.
"I'm sure we can babe." I glanced at my watch, "Right we need to be making a move. Should I drop you at home?"
"Yes please, Poppy will be expecting me."
I slowly nodded but noticed that her demeanour had changed. She didn't want to go home but it was currently out of my hands.
"Give me your bag." I reached out and took her bag from her, she was reluctant but eventually let go and followed me from the hotel room. We took a slow walk through the corridor and out into the lobby and I noticed two members of the Satan's Wrath sitting in a 4x4 directly in front of the hotel.
As I exited the building Slick opened his window, "Well I hope you had an enjoyable evening."
"Worth every penny," I glanced in Charity's direction and gave her a cheeky wink to which she smiled.
"Pleased to hear it but don't forget Onyx wants payment today."
"And he'll get it, I just need to go to the bank as I don't carry that kind of cash around." I stated patting my pockets.
"Yeah we thought as much, we'll come to your work around midday to collect it."
I nodded my head, "That's fine, that will give me enough time to sort it out this morning."
"Good, well I hope you have a good day." Hustler smirked from the passenger seat of the Jeep but his smile didn't reach his eyes. He quickly turned his attention to Charity, "Get in the jeep babe Onyx wants to see you."
Charity's scared expression pulled on my heart strings and I couldn't help but wrap my arm around her waist and pull her in tight to my chest. "Trust me," I whispered earning myself a small smile.
"Come on love birds, break this up as I haven't got all day." Slick banged on the side of the Jeep as his arm hung out of the opened window.
I stood back happy that she looked reassured now that I'd spoken to her and watched as she made her way to the rear of the vehicle and open the door. That was my cue to leave, I didn't want to be making idle chit chat with the guys if I could help it. The only thing I wanted to do was to smash Hustlers fucking face in and watch him die a slow painful death and I only hoped it wouldn't take too long for me to achieve this. I nodded towards the vehicle and made my way towards my car that was parked on the other side of the car park. I noted that there was a secondary vehicle belonging to the Satan's parked on the road and knew that my every move was being watched. This would mean that laying my hands on the money would be more difficult as I would now have to go to the bank and pretend. I groaned at the thought as everything was becoming more difficult and taking me away from the real task at hand. I was now not only worried about Charity's safety but I was concerned about Keira and how she was still acting, the last thing I wanted to do was to piss her off but all this drama was distracting me from the real reason I was here. I was running out of time and I needed to remain focussed and was pleased that I could spend some time with my family albeit only for a couple of hours.
I took a steady drive to a small shopping area at the edge of town. I knew that there was a bank situated among the shops but it didn't matter which one it was as I only needed to go in there and make it look like I was withdrawing a large sum of cash. I pulled up outside and took my time gathering my thoughts and thinking of how I was going to make this look realistic. As I exited the vehicle, I noticed the car pull up further down the road and sniggered at their lack of discretion. Not that I thought that they weren't trying to conceal the fact that they were following me, they were obviously just no good at it.
I entered the bank and queued waiting for the next available cashier, this seemed like a tedious task but I knew that I needed to make this transaction seem a little realistic.
I watched as the number five flashed indicating that the cashier was available and strolled in the direction of a very attractive red haired woman. She glanced in my direction and did a double take before she smiled welcoming me.
"Good morning and what can I do for you?" she asked sucking on her pen seductively.
I smiled, "I'd like to speak to someone about a credit card."
"Oh okay Mr..."
"Jones," I answered politely.
"Will Mrs Jones be needing a card also?" she asked as she continued to suck on her pen. I smiled thinking of how amusing it would be if the ink were to come out but that just showed how my warped mind worked.
"No there's no Mrs Jones," I gave her a cheeky wink and she placed her pen onto the counter as a flush covered her cheeks.
"Well okay Mr Jones, if you'd like to take a seat over there I'll get one of my colleagues to come and speak to you."
"Thank you," I looked at her nametag attached to the blouse. "Megan, it was lovely talking to you."
I smiled and walked to where she had pointed to waiting for someone to join me.
I glanced around the bank and noticed a few of the cashiers looking in my direction and was pleased that I hadn't brought Recon along for the ride also otherwise the bank would probably have to shut. I sniggered at the thought and was pulled from my daydream as a young man approached with his hand held out.
"Mr Jones?" he asked politely.
"Sure is," I accepted his hand and shook it.
"Please will you follow me into this room," he pointed to one of the small booths and I strolled towards it with him following eagerly behind.
As he entered he shut the door behind us, "Please take a seat. I just need to go out the back to get a couple of forms."
I nodded as he briskly walked through an archway at the back of the room giving me enough time to case the joint.
I removed my carrier bag from my pocket and rummaged for anything that would look like stacks of notes. A cabinet in the far corner caught my eye and I made my way across the room so that I could take a closer look. I pulled on the door but it was locked so I gave it a harder tug and the basic catch on the cabinet broke. I opened the doors and inside was an array of stationary that could possibly be used. I flicked through the shelves I found some note pads that would do the trick. I took several bundles and quickly placed them into my carrier bag and closed the door making it look like it was never tampered with.
I stood and grabbed the carrier bag firmly before leaving the room.
"Oh Mr Jones, do you not want to go over the information regarding the credit card deals we have on offer?"
I turned to glance over my shoulder, "Sorry mate I'm far too busy." I eagerly left the bank and strolled towards my car knowing that part of the task had been completed. As I entered my vehicle, I let out a sigh and gathered my thoughts before driving over to the construction yard.
"Well good morning Romeo!"
I rolled my eyes as I flung myself into the closest chair, "What the fuck am I doing?" I rubbed my forehead and sighed. "I couldn't just leave it alone."
"Here you go," Fallon placed a mug of tea onto the table in front of me and sat beside me.
"Thank you, I could do with this after the morning I've had already."
"Why what's up?"
"Fallon hold on a minute babe, Recon's just told you that he won a virgin in an auction and you ask him what's up like it's the most natural thing in the
world." Finn laughed uncontrollably as he slid his chair back across the floor and extended his legs to rest them onto the table. The foreman of the yard looked at Finn briefly but he raised his brows almost questioning him silently making the bloke scarper from the cabin.
I sniggered at his reaction Finn extended his arms out to his side, "Well he wasn't going to argue with me was he."
Fallon shook her head, "Stop being an arse and get on with it."
He winked and placed his hands on his lap, "Duke asked me to give you that bag, there's £8,000 in there. He also asked whether it was going to a good cause and whether he'd see it again?"
"Well I'd like to say it paid for a night of passion but it didn't." I rubbed my chin thinking of Charity and what she was possibly up to right now. I only hoped that the club didn't now make an example of her or ship her out somewhere before I had a chance to speak to Duke about the situation.
"So it really cost you £8,000 to win her in that auction?"
"No it cost me £5,000 but I'm going to offer him the other £3,000 and ask if she can stay with me for the rest of the week."
Recon let out a low whistle, "CJ you're getting involved with things mate that don't concern you."
"Yeah I know but now I've invested."
"I get that but you need to remember why you're here. You didn't want anyone else taking the lead on this operation because you said that you were focussed and up for the job and now you've had your head turned by not just one girl but two." I looked at him confused, "Don't give me all that innocent crap, I know you hold a torch for Keira."
"I fucking don't." I replied angrily.
"Pfft, whatever mate. At the end of the day I don't blame you because she's fit and to be honest I don't even think Locke would mind."
"Don't mention his name and don't talk about her like that," I stated aggressively.
"Oh has he touched a nerve?" I turned towards Finn and was surprised he was joining in.
"You're speculating and I'd rather just drop the subject please."
I saw the glances between the three of them but they listened to what I had to say and didn't push the situation any further.
"Okay changing the subject then, how did it actually go last night?" I smiled at the thought of them all trying to dig for information and that they didn't want to just come out and ask whether I shagged her or not.
"She's a good girl. She's young but her head's screwed on plus she helped us out the other day regarding the memory stick and the diary." I turned my attention to Finn, "Speaking of them, has any further information to come out of them yet?"
"Not to my knowledge but that's nothing to do with us." Finn replied.
I nodded understanding what he meant, at the end of the day it was club business and had nothing to do with my family although I had told Duke that I wanted them involved on this job.
"So the girl?" Fallon prompted me to continue talking about Charity.
"She's a brave girl and has been through a lot since she's been here but it was the fact that she got to meet Locke that has held something deep in here." I clenched my fist and pumped my chest just above my heart. "She referred to him as Locke and that totally threw me, she also described him well stating that he looked out for the girls which I know would be a 100% correct because that was the type of guy he was." I looked up at the group to see them smiling at me, they knew that Locke was very dear to my heart and that hearing positive things about him would only make me happy. I had so many missed opportunities with him because of the time he chose to spend here in the Midlands and that pissed me off because I know that if he would've informed the club about the situation then he wouldn't be dead and that will haunt me for the rest of my days. When I caught Fallon's eye again she simply raised her brows waiting for a response.
"No I didn't shag her, if that's what you're asking?"
Recon sniggered, "Of course I want to know the details, this shit only happens in dreams."
I rolled my eyes again at his crude comment and took a deep breath before I answered, "I want this noted that for the record I did not kiss or fuck Charity, at the end of the day she is sixteen and I'm not into fucking kids."
"I'm fucking pleased to hear it because that is wrong on so many levels," Finn stated loudly.
I glanced at Recon to see him shrug, "You're a sick man."
"What? I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to mate it was written all over your face," Recon made me laugh.
"Well I think that we've now established that CJ hasn't shagged anyone that is under the age of consent, is that correct?" Fallon was trying to resolve the situation as it could've got quite easily out of hand although I wouldn't have carried it on.
"But she wants help to get out of here and I think that's the least I can do considering the help she's given us."
Recon rolled his eyes and Fallon gave him a light tap on his arm, "What was that for?" he asked rubbing the spot she'd slapped faking injury.
"Stop being an arse, he's being nice to a girl that clearly needs help and direction in life."
"The world's going soft!" Recon folded his arms and stuck out his bottom lip pretending that he was sulking.
"No the world's a bad place and it needs people like that to make it a happier one," Fallon pointed at me as she shot him down.
I smirked at Recon and again he rolled his eyes at being told off by Fallon.
"So will she get in the way of your plans?"
I shook my head, "Not at all Finn, if anything she's given me more insight."
"Okay well that's good but if she compromises the operation CJ she needs to go."
"I know that Recon, getting revenge on the club is my priority and I mean that."
"Good because you can't lose focus now mate, it all kicks off in a couple of days."
"And I've said that I'm good to go, don't keep pushing Recon as you're starting to fuck me off." I took a sip of my tea trying to gain a little composure.
"What the fuck is going on with you?"
"Nothing I'm good but I don't want anyone thinking that I'm not prepared for this."
Fallon placed her hand on top of mine and squeezed it lightly, "No one thinks that CJ, we're just making sure you're okay."
I smiled and placed my free hand on top of hers cupping it gently, "And I am."
"So have you got any more news for me to report back or is everything going like clockwork?" Finn picked up his mug and took a sip as he assessed Recon and myself. It wasn't his place to question, in fact, it really wasn't the norm for him to know any club business but me being here was bigger than the club was. My best friend had been murdered and I wanted my family to be involved and support me through this where possible. Duke had also asked for my visitors whoever it may be to report back to the club because it was better to talk like this than over the phone as we didn't know who'd be listening.
"It all seems to be going according to plan which is worrying in itself."
"Why you say that?" Finn asked drawing his brows.
I sniggered, "In my experience, things don't usually run this smoothly."
"That's true but maybe you've just been meticulous in your planning and it's all now just paying off."
"Well it could be and I'm hoping that's the answer." I needed that to be right and I was going to continue with my plan albeit knowing that the operation was probably compromised because of Damian.
"So what is the plan? Talk me through it."
I glanced at Recon prompting him to take over as he'd sorted out most of the details. "The meet takes place at 6.00pm so we need everyone in position before that. We know that the Satan's will use the exit on Chapel Street but we'll also have Manor Road covered leaving nothing to chance. I don't want to be caught by surprise as we're only going to have one crack of the whip."
"Okay so do you need my brothers and I to help out in any way?"
"Thank you for the offer but not at the moment, we have the guys coming up so we'll be here in f
orce although we don't want to leave ourselves short back home."
"Okay well we've decided to all be up here anyway but will keep a low profile. You then have that option should you need it."
"I appreciate that Finn, thanks bruv."
He smiled, "That's what families are for."
"While we have your attention, I want to show you this." Fallon dug into her bag, pulled out a handful of files and placed them onto the table. "We've been doing some digging into the club and they are up to their eyeballs in shit and don't hide it all too well." Fallon slid the files across the table making sure that myself, Recon and Finn all had a copy. "They are into trafficking of people, drugs and weapons."
I nodded, "I know that so what's your point?"
"My point is that I've, no sorry we've put a file together on the big players such as Onyx, Hustler, Slick and Fix and as a club as a whole would have enough information to put all of them away."
"And?" I asked confused as to where she was going with this.
"So why haven't the police done it yet?" I shrugged, she'd made a good point and I couldn't give her an answer. "I just think it's a little strange that I can find out all this by doing some digging and they are all free to walk around continuing to wreck lives."
"They've been doing it for years though Twizz." I knew this for a fact as I'd seen it with my own eyes. I turned my attention to Recon, "Do you remember a couple of years back when we went to Tottenham?"
"Fucking hell that was a mad one." Recon raised his brows remembering that night as it had been one of the bloodiest fights we'd had.
"We were on a ride out and some of the brothers from the Norfolk chapter got separated from the main group and ambushed. The fight kicked off outside the fucking police station and the pigs came out and simply watched."
"What the fuck!" Finn couldn't believe what we were saying.
"Really?" Fallon asked not believing my words either.
"It's true babe, by the time we got there it had calmed down but Bugsy got stabbed up real bad and the pigs did nothing about it."
CJ (Aces MC Series Book 6) Page 11
