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“They’ll send you back to who?” he asked. She rolled over and pretended to go back to sleep, trying his patience.
“Okay, that’s enough,” he shouted, flicking on the overhead lights. “Wake the fuck up and talk to me, kid.”
“I’m not a fucking kid,” she shouted back at him. “I’m almost sixteen.”
Hurricane couldn’t help but bark out his laugh at her demand that she wasn’t a kid. He couldn’t even remember what it was like to be sixteen. At thirty, sixteen felt like it was a hundred years ago.
“Okay, you’re not a kid. So, you want to sit up and tell me why you’re breaking into my clubhouse to sleep every night?” he asked.
“Because I have nowhere else to sleep,” she spat. She was treating him like he was the criminal in this scenario. “Do you usually creep on young women and watch them sleep?”
“I wasn’t creeping, and I wasn’t watching you sleep, kid,” he insisted. “I own this place, you are the one breaking in and breaking the law, not me. I don’t have to answer any of your questions,” he insisted. God, he was even pointing his finger at her as he lectured her, just as his father had him.
“You don’t scare me. I’ve been through too much for that to happen,” she insisted. “So if you don’t mind leaving me alone, I’d like to get back to sleep. I have an early morning.”
“Who are you running from?” he asked, not letting her dismiss him so easily.
“My aunt,” she almost whispered. “She got guardianship of me when my parents were killed in a car crash. Are you happy now? You know my deepest, darkest secrets. Can you please just leave me alone?” He doubted that was true.
“Sorry, but I can’t do that, kid,” he said. “I’m going to need your aunt’s name so that I can call to tell her that you’re here. With any luck, she’ll pick you up and I’ll be able to get a few hours of sleep.”
“Not going to happen, Grandpa,” she said around a yawn, “but, feel free to leave and get all the sleep your heart desires.”
“Grandpa,” he shouted. The kid didn’t even flinch. She was good, but he was better—at least he hoped that was true, because if not, he’d never get rid of the teenage delinquent who still occupied the couch in his office.
Tina
Tina Hillen had been all over the tri-state area and still had no clue as to where her troublesome teenage niece was running off to. She had been spotted at school a few times, but by the time Tina got there, her niece had blown off school and was gone. She was about to give up when she overheard two guys talking in the grocery store about a teenage girl who was camped out on the sofa at his biker club. That was the last place her niece should be and the very last place that she would have looked for her. But Chasity always had a flair for the dramatic. Her father had been a biker, and maybe she was just trying to find a way to be closer to him since his death.
James was Tina’s only brother and Chasity was her only niece. Hell, she was Tina’s only living family, and losing her wasn’t an option. The problem was that she had no idea what to do with Chasity once she got her back home. Her niece would probably find a reason to run again and chasing her was becoming an issue in her daily life. Tina’s boss was going to run out of patience with her and sooner or later, he’d give her the boot—not that she wouldn’t be able to find another job as a secretary, but she actually liked her current job. She had been with the same company for almost three years now, and that was more of a commitment than she had ever made to anyone or anything in her life.
Most of her relationships fizzled out after the first few months with a guy. Most guys would become bored with her homebody persona and take off after a few weeks. Tina always thought that it was better to find out these things early in a relationship since she didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t want her. She watched her mother struggle with that truth for years, and Tina didn’t want to be anything like her mom.
Her father took off when she was just a toddler, leaving her mother to raise both her and her brother, James. Tina quickly took on the role of her little brother’s caregiver when her mother would disappear for days at a time, going on what she liked to call “dates”. It was more like her mother was hooking up with men who could help her score the drugs that were destroying her and her kids’ lives.
When her mother wasn’t high or off “dating” men, she was home with Tina and James, in their tiny two-bedroom apartment, but she wasn’t really there. She was usually sleeping off her latest high or trying to figure out her next score. But Tina learned to keep her and her brother safe. She learned how to fly under Child Protective Services radar so that she and James could stay together because that was all that mattered to her—keeping him safe. And now, she wanted to do the same for his daughter, Chasity, if her niece would just give her a chance.
Tina walked up to the two bikers, heavily covered in tattoos, and smiled up at the both of them. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but, I overheard you talking about a teenage girl sleeping in your clubhouse.”
The two big guys looked at each other as if silently communicating. “You’re incorrect,” the one guy said, “we don’t know anything about a teenage girl.”
“Of course, you don’t,” she mumbled more to herself. “Listen, I’m not trying to cause you any trouble, and I’m not accusing you of any wrongdoing. I think that girl might be my niece. She ran away two weeks ago, and I haven’t been successful in tracking her down. I’m desperate to find her.”
“Um, give us a second,” the other guy said. He pulled his friend back to the meat section and the two stood whispering like schoolgirls with each other. If she wasn’t so worried about Chasity, she might find the whole scene comical.
The second guy held up a finger, letting her know that they needed another minute, and she nodded her agreement. He pulled out a cellphone and started to talk to someone else, quickly ending the call. He whispered something to his friend again and the two made their way back to where Tina stood by the deli counter.
“We can take you to the clubhouse, but she’s not there right now. She’s only breaking in at night and she’s usually gone before dawn. We have video footage of her. You can check it out to see if it’s your niece.”
“Thank you,” she said. “If you can give me the address, I’ll find the place on my own,” she offered. There was no way that she was getting into a vehicle with two strangers.
“You can follow the two of us back to the clubhouse,” the other guy offered as if catching on to why she wanted to drive herself.
She thought for a second, wanting to make sure that she was going into this with a clear head. Tina didn’t want to end up in the trunk of some guy’s car or chained to a wall in his basement. “Okay,” she agreed, not wanting to give them time to change their minds. “I’ll follow you to your clubhouse.” For better or worse, she needed to do whatever it took to find Chasity. She owed James at least that much.
They pulled up to a brick building in town, and she parked behind the two guys in the pickup truck, leaving herself plenty of room to make a quick escape if needed.
She got out of her car as another biker met them all in the parking lot. “Hey, I’m Hurricane.” He held out his hand to her and she looked him over, trying to decide if she wanted to take it.
