by Avelyn Paige
“There’s that word again—family.” She says it like it’s the dirtiest word in the English language.
“We are a family, Shelby. There’s no going back. I won’t live my life without my daughter being a part of it. Hayden isn’t going to go back to living without a father again, and I want you to be a part of that.”
All the anger and fear drains from her and she stops, her eyes filling with hope. “After everything I’ve done, you still want us to be a family?”
“Jesus, Shelby, I’ve always fucking loved you. How can you not see that?”
“No, you can’t love me, not after I left, and not after Hayden,” she sobs.
Hayden. Yeah, that part makes it a lot harder. “Tell me about her. I want to know everything.”
Her face is still wet with tears, but one side of her mouth tips up. “She’s amazing, Wyatt. She’s beautiful and brilliant, and so fucking fearless. She loves people, and has always been the kid who make friends with everyone. Even the outcasts.”
“Sounds like you.”
She grins. “I’ve always thought she has the best of both of us.”
The best of both of us. I like that.
“Shel, I’m not gonna lie. I hate what you did and why you did it. I hate everything that resulted from all of it. But…” Reaching up, I cup my hands around her face to stop her from pacing. A beautiful face. “You’re it for me. Always have been, and always will be. I’ve spent years hating you, but at the same time, waiting for you to walk back through that door. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you walk away again.”
“How will we ever get past this, though? The hurt. The anger. There’s no way we can be together. Not after what I’ve done.”
“We have to be,” I tell her. “Because I swear to God, my heart has been in pieces since the day you left, and I didn’t even know it. Now you’re here, and it’s like every single day, even when you’re being a total asshole, you stitch another piece back together.”
Her lips twitch. “You saying I’m an asshole?”
I shrug. “Maybe some of the time.”
She grins at me for a moment, and I can’t help but think of how much I’ve missed being the one to make those lips grin like that.
“We have a lot to talk about,” she warns.
“We do. And we will. We have time.”
Her big doe eyes stare back at me, and I can’t take it anymore. This time, when we kiss, there’s no anger. There’s no tension. There’s just love.
Her lips are like the softest silk, and in that moment, it’s like no time has passed. Once again, I’m that young, headstrong, wannabe biker, and she’s that punky, spunky teenage girl with hopes of forever with the boy she loves. In that moment, our lost time is forgotten.
I kiss her deeper, reveling in the taste, sound, and feel of the woman I’ve always loved. Slowly, I walk her back, stopping when her legs hit the bed. Pulling me closer, I lower her back to the mattress, never breaking our connection.
We’re caught in the moment of tongues, hands, and hot breath. Our mouths explore places we haven’t been in years. I cup her breast, my thumb sliding back and forth across her nipple as we move. Our hips roll as one, locked together like magnets. Every touch of her hand stitches up another piece of my heart.
“I love you so fucking much,” I whisper into her ear.
“I love you,” she gasps.
“You’re not leaving me again.”
“Never.”
“You’re fucking mine, Shel.”
I feel her tighten around me. “I’ve always been yours.”
She feels so perfect. So right. So mine. “Come for me, baby.”
Her release was so close, but those words are all it takes to send her off into oblivion. I watch her face as she moans long and low, her walls clutching my cock like a vice. Her fingernails dig into my back, and I can’t hold off any longer.
I come long and hard. Starbursts go off behind my eyelids, while jolts of electric pleasure shoot up and down my spine.
Shelby lies silently in my arms as our chests heave in the aftermath. Her damp skin pressing so tightly against mine is the closest feeling to heaven I’ve ever felt. Sleeping together before had been satisfying a primal urge, but this is so much more. It’s an apologetic dance of our pasts, and a promise of something more in the future—our future.
A soft snore escapes her lips as she drifts off to sleep. I take my opportunity to slip from the bed, leaving her there to rest. As much as I’d like to sleep beside her, there’s still work to be done. Finding my boxers on the floor, I pull them up over my hips, just as a ding from my computer echoes into the room.
I march over to the desk and click the mouse. A chat request box blinks on the toolbar from Blox World. I select it, and literally feel my heart stop as I read the message.
HayDay911: H needs your help. Can we meet?
I shake as I type out my response.
GamerGirl13: Yes. When?
HayDay911: Today. I’ll come to you.
I start to answer the user back, but they log off.
I think we may have just found that fucking haystack needle after all.
Shelby
“You can’t keep me prisoner in here, Wyatt.”
He sighs, his head falling back in frustration. “Jesus Christ, woman. I’m not keeping you prisoner. I’m keeping you safe until I know what this asshole wants.”
I glare at his retreating back with my arms crossed, looking like a petulant child, but I don’t care. I want to know who this HayDay911 is. I want to know what he knows about Hayden.
A shout from outside wafts through the window, and I forget all about Wyatt as I turn and run to look. At first, all I see is a wall of men. It seems like every single member of the club is there, forming a barricade between whoever’s standing out front and the clubhouse.
I see Judge and Wyatt through the spaces between them, talking to someone, but I can’t see who.
And then, the men part, each of them turning toward the clubhouse, but waiting for Wyatt to pass. And beside him is the kid who’d had Hayden’s phone.
Oh, hell no. I’m not hiding in here like some china doll, knowing this kid could lead me to my daughter.
I whip open the door to Wyatt’s room and hurry toward the common area, getting there just as Wyatt places a cold bottle of water on the table in front of him.
“Goddamnit, Shelby,” Wyatt snaps when he sees me.
A couple of the guys chuckle, but I pay them no mind. Instead, I focus on the kid. “Where’s my daughter?”
He looks up at me, and that’s when I notice his face. Somebody beat him up real good. His lip is split in three different places, his left eye is swollen shut entirely, and his face has more purple on it than normal flesh tone.
“I don’t know,” he answers, his voice raw and hoarse. He has bruises around his throat, like he’d been choked as well.
“Shelby,” Wyatt urges. “Just come and sit. Let him talk.”
I don’t want to come and sit. I want this kid to tell me where my daughter is. I want to hit him myself for luring her away from me. But for once, I take Wyatt’s advice and sit across the table from the kid.
“Talk,” Judge orders, dropping down at the table with us, a beer clutched in his hand.
“The last time I saw her, Hayden was okay,” the kid informs us. “But my uncle saw you. He saw you questioning me, and he saw that I had Hayden’s phone. I was supposed to get rid of it, along with her backpack.”
“Who’s your uncle?” That question comes from GP.
“Randall McDade.”
All the men around the room start talking at once, angry questions coming from every corner. It scares me, so it’s not a shock when the kid shrinks back in his chair.
On instinct, I reach out and place my hand on his. “Please,” I whisper. “Hayden is my daughter. I know you’re scared, but focus on me now, okay?”
He nods.
“Where is Hayden?”<
br />
“I don’t know. Once my uncle saw me with you,” he says, looking to Wyatt, “he was really angry. He took me out back and punished me.”
“By punishing you, do you mean he beat the shit out of you?” Judge asks, his nostrils flaring in anger.
He nods. “He knew I’d kept that phone, and said I was a traitor. He said…” A sob rips from his throat, and like a tidal wave of emotion, he breaks down. “Please,” he cries. “He has my sister. He said the only way he will keep the men away is if I bring him more girls. I never meant to hurt Hayden. I just wanted to keep my sister safe.”
I frown at Wyatt, confused.
Luckily, Judge seems to get it. “So you’re saying your uncle has your sister? That he promised to keep her out of danger as long as you keep bringing him girls?”
The kid nods.
“And when he saw you with the phone and Hash over there, he figured you for a traitor?”
The kid nods again. “He punished me. I was unconscious in the alley behind the store until the nighttime. And when I went home, my house was on fire.”
“Do you think your uncle set that fire?” Judge asks.
“Yes. He must have moved the girls. I don’t know where they are, and my sister…”
“Okay,” Judge says, trying to soothe the crying boy. “Your name’s Kevin, right?”
He nods.
“Kevin. Go back, and tell me the story from the beginning.”
For the next twenty minutes, we all sit silent, listening as Kevin reveals a story that no child should ever have to tell. His mother had passed away four years ago, and his father had walked out when his sister was born. That meant their only living relative was their uncle, Randall.
His sister was only eight years old then, and Kevin himself had been twelve. Randall hadn’t even given them time to grieve. He’d already had two young girls in his basement, and each night at eight o’clock, men would come and pay him to spend time with those girls.
He was going to put Kevin’s sister, Natalie, in the basement with them. He was going to sell her.
“I begged him not to do it,” Kevin asserts. “I told him I’d do anything, and that’s when we made the deal. I could come and go as I pleased, and he would keep Natalie away from those men as long as I brought him another girl every few months. I thought I could find a way to escape, but he’s always watching. He keeps Natalie close, and he lets those men see her, but never touch her.”
This time, he looks at me, his one good eye as red as blood. “I’m sorry about your daughter. I never wanted any of this, but I didn’t know what else to do. And now they’re gone, and I don’t know where any of them are, and I …” Sobs cut off his words. As both a mother, and as a human being, I can’t let this go on.
I stand from my chair and approach him, wrapping my arms around him. “Shh,” I soothe, pressing him tight to my chest. “You’re safe now, and these are the good guys. They’re going to help you save your sister and Hayden.”
The only sound in the room is my soft whispers of encouragement, and the sobs of a broken boy. The men allow us that time, each of them likely itching to get their hands on that bastard Randall. I know that’s what I’m feeling, even though I’m trying to keep it together.
Finally, Kevin sniffs and pulls away, offering me a weak smile, pulling at the cuts on his lips. “Thank you.”
I smile back, giving him one last squeeze of reassurance before I let him go.
Wiping his eyes, he sits up straight and meets Wyatt’s gaze. “I saw the patch on your jacket and knew you could help me. My uncle was there, though. He was right behind us, listening to everything.”
“The other man in the shop,” Wyatt mutters.
“You’ve got to help them,” Kevin pleads. “Uncle Randall’s losing it, and now that he’s burned down his own house, I don’t know what he’ll do. I’m afraid he’s going to do something worse to the girls.”
Judge clamps his hand down on Kevin’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry, bud. We’re gonna end that motherfucker.”
Hashtag
“How do you want to play this, Judge?”
He leans back against his chair and nods toward me. “Hash is lead on this. His kid, his game plan.”
Twat Knot and Stone Face shoot him a look, and it takes me aback. Judge has never handed over control to someone like this. It’s an honor, and terrifying, all at the same time, the burden being squarely on my shoulders to guarantee Hayden and my brothers return home.
“Well?” Karma asks. “How we doing this?”
“We follow the kid. He’s our ace in the hole.”
“You mean that kid who lured your daughter out for his uncle’s trafficking ring? Yeah, that sounds solid,” GP sneers.
“I’m with him,” Karma interjects. “You can’t trust him. This could all be a sick and twisted fucking game of cat and mouse.”
“I never said I trust him, but he came to me for help. He’s desperate, and I think we can use that to our advantage. He has no place to go. If we can get him on board, we’ll get him to reach out to his uncle. He gets us his location, we get Hayden.”
“What happens if the uncle ghosts us? You got nothing but a kid who knows where our clubhouse is located. He puts us all at risk. You need to get rid of him.”
I shoot a hard glare at Stone. His negative Nancy bullshit from the moment Shelby came back is wearing thin. I don’t know what it is about my situation that’s bringing out the asshole in him, but I’m about two seconds away from punching his fucking lights out.
“Fuck you, man. That kid is no more a threat to us than he is to anyone else.”
Stone’s body tenses the second my mouth closes. Yeah, big man. Get pissed. It’ll make the fight more fun. It’s been a long time coming.
“The kid is our trump card, asshole. He knows how his uncle works, and how to get in touch with him. All we need is a location, and only he can get that for us.”
Stone Face glares at me. The air in the room around us is so brittle, I think if I reach out and swipe at him, he’ll snap into pieces. And if he doesn’t, then I’ll kick his ass. I start to shove away from the table, but Judge looks over at me. It doesn’t take a mind reader to see what his face is trying to convey to me in silence. Check the emotional bullshit and lead.
“Look, I know this is my problem, but this kid is our only way. Without him, Hayden will likely be moved across the border in a matter of days, if she isn’t on her way there already. I made Shelby a promise to bring her home, and I’m going to fucking do it, even if I have to do it on my own.”
Each man sitting around the table looks to each other before returning their stares to me.
“How will you get him in contact with the uncle?”
“He has a couple of numbers for him. He calls, gets the uncle to agree to take him back into the fold, and then we follow.”
“What’s to say he’ll take the kid back?”
“The kid is his bait for the girls, the linchpin of his entire business. No kid, no girls. With the kid’s sister still in play, he’ll think he’s coming back for her. It’ll work.”
Stone starts to argue yet again, but I stop him short. “He’ll call on a burner phone. He makes the call in front of all of us, on speaker.”
“Do it,” Judge commands without any further argument. I push away from the table and stalk out the door to find Kevin sitting near Shelby on one of the leather couches in the center of the common room. His eyes grow wide when he spots me, and moves closer to Shelby.
“Come with me, big man. You’ve got a call to make.”
Kevin trembles as he stands up. I feel for him, I do. He’s lived a shit life, and has been put through the ringer—if his story checks out—but he’s the reason his uncle has my daughter. Had he not brought her into his mess, she’d be safe with her mom back in Beckettville, and I’d still be in the dark. It’s a double-edged sword of fucked-up.
Kevin walks ahead of me into the room, and I motion for him to
sit down in an open chair. Burnt closes the door behind us. Retrieving the burner phone from my pocket, I hand it to him. His face pales.
“Call him, on speaker. Tell him you want to come back.”
He quivers, nervously looking to the men sitting around him. “But I don’t.”
“You want to help Hayden, right?” The kid nods his head slowly. “We have to find out where they are. You convince him, get us a location, and we’ll do the rest.”
His hand shakes when he takes the phone away from me. Looking up at me one more time, he begins to dial. The phone starts to ring and I reach down, pressing the speakerphone button. It rings six times before someone finally picks up.
“What?” the gruff voice answers.
“Uncle Randall?” his voice wavers. “It’s me, Kevin.”
“The fuck do you want, you little shit?”
“I want to come home.” He begins to cry, adding to the effect of our plot. The uncle doesn’t know that his tears aren’t for him, but for the forcible lies spewing from his mouth.
“Why the hell would I want to take you back, boy? Your little stunt nearly cost me everything, after all the shit I’ve done for you and your ungrateful sister. When you had no place to go, I took you in.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” he cries harder. “I really screwed up. I won’t do it again. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Please, let me come home.”
The other end of the line grows quiet. Was Kevin convincing enough to make this work? Everything depends on his uncle believing his story. He just needs to take the damn bait.
“I’ll tell you what, Kevin. I’m feeling a little generous today. I’ll make you a deal.”
“O–Okay…” he stammers. “What do I have to do?”
“Bring me another girl. Your little gamer girl is going to fetch me a pretty penny when I sell her, but I’m going to need another one to replace her. You get me a girl, you can come home.”
My jaw clenches at his mention of Hayden. He’s going to pay for even thinking about her when I get my hands on him. The beating he gave his nephew will pale in comparison for what I have in mind for him.
