Chapter 6 #2
Rose shook her head, concentrating on her search rather than their bantering.
As Oscar entertained himself by putting an overturned cup straight down into the water and then releasing the air to make fart sounds, Rose looked into Bobby Gallo.
At thirteen, he’d been in and out of foster homes since he was seven years old.
There were also two failed adoptions on his record. For two separate families!
The fuck?
Rose dug deeper, wishing she had her laptop or tablet instead of just her burner phone.
She switched over to another command, trying to run a tracer key through the laughably poor security protocols that protect the Department of Child Services.
Sure enough, there were two different families who were interested in adopting Bobby, but he was considered a perpetual runner.
One family didn’t look for him beyond a week after the third time he’d run away from them, while the other family barely had him a day before they returned him like an unwanted purchase.
“Poor kid,” Rose murmured to herself. She looked to her right where her son was obliviously innocent to the world around him. If something happened to her tomorrow, what would become of Oscar? Would he be a random child, lost in the sea of unwanted and unloved children?
Looking as to the reason he kept running away, she finally discovered a report from a social worker when he was nine that explained he kept trying to find his mom. Not exactly unusual for a child, especially one that didn’t have an everyday parental figure.
But further looking showed a very different story.
When Bobby was seven, his mom was arrested for murdering his stepdad.
Accusations went round and round that the stepdad was sexually abusing Bobby, but since no physical evidence could be found, the “theory” was dropped.
The mom went to prison, her public defender failing to prove her claim of self-defense and protecting her child.
“Let me talk to him.”
Poison and Kitty’s bickering on the other end of the line stopped at her modified voice interrupting them.
“You want to talk to the kid?” Poison clarified, clearly confused.
“Yes.”
She was already opening another end-to-end encryption chat.
“Um, hello?”
“Bobby, you don’t know me, and you have no reason to trust me, but I need you to tell me the truth. Did your mom lie at her trial?”
“How… How do you know about that?” Christ, he sounded so fucking young. Rose could hear the uncertainty and the fear in every word.
WiseWave620: What’s up?
Gl!tch.OS: Might need to hire your guys.
She switched back to the phone call.
“I know everything about your mom’s trial. The only thing I don’t know is if she lied. Did she?”
She switched back to the E2EE chat with Keys.
WiseWave620: If you even TRY to send me a penny of your money, I will… Well, I can’t threaten a woman, but I WILL be pissed. What do you need?
“No, she didn’t lie.” There was hesitation in Bobby’s voice, but also certainty.
And shame—like what his stepfather had done to him was his fault.
Or maybe it was because his mom was suffering in a prison for doing exactly what she should have done—what Rose would do—to protect her child. “She told the truth.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll make a deal with you, Bobby. If I can get your mom on the phone, will you tell my friends everything about the group you’re involved in? Where they are, where they keep the loot… everything.”
“You… You can do that? But it’s nighttime! You can’t really do that? Can you?”
“Kid, if MV says she’s going to do something, she’s going to do it,” Poison said loud enough for Rose to hear clearly. “She’s never let me down yet.” Pride filled Rose at her sister’s praise.
“Yeah! I mean, yes. Please! They haven’t let me in years!”
“Give the phone back to the woman.”
There was a bit of rustling on the other end before Poison asked, “If you promised the kid something ridiculous, like a pony ride, I quit. You can do your own dirty work from now on.”
Rose chuckled, not that Poison could hear it since she was still using the chat-to-speech feature on the phone. Oscar let out a high-pitched laugh, making Rose flinch as it pierced her ears.
“Get him fed and keep him safe. I’ll be in touch within the hour.”
Disconnecting the phone call, she switched back over to the chat with Keys.
Gl!tch.OS: You up for planning a prison break?
* * *
Five Months Later
A video call? Rose, dressed in her Sonic the Hedgehog pajamas that she’d been in for the past two-plus days, looked down at her son curled against her chest. Oscar was getting over a stomach bug, and while he was certainly doing better, the past several days had been awful.
The rental house was a mess, both of them were exhausted, and Rose couldn’t remember the last time she’d showered because she didn’t want to leave Oscar alone.
Thank God for delivery services. Rose had run out of certain essentials days ago.
Oscar was cocooned into a large blanket, half-heartedly sucking on a popsicle.
A barf bucket was strategically positioned at the edge of her desk—just in case.
It had been almost twenty hours since he’d last puked, her poor baby, and his fever finally broke that morning.
For Rose, this was the first time in days that she was able to get on her computer.
Keys had been incredible, taking over working with the Non Cras without question as to why.
Rose didn’t know if he’d assumed she was sick or maybe thought she was taking a spontaneous vacation.
Either way, he’d worked seamlessly with Poison, as well as keeping up his responsibilities for his own club and security business.
The summer had flown by, and somehow they were approaching the holidays again.
Where the year had gone, Rose had no idea.
The discovery that Griffin Shaw had not killed Melanie had been a shock to everyone, though Rose doubted it brought any real comfort to Jenna and Steel to learn their daughter had been killed by a random act of fate, rather than by Steel’s enemy.
The Via Daemonia had gone through a lot of changes in the past nine months, with Ghost voted in as their new president and the Duncan family deciding to leave Mount Grove.
Rose kept an eye on them in their travels, as she was sure Keys also did. While he didn’t say it out loud, Rose knew that Keys was hurt by Steel’s decision to leave. She understood the desire to escape, though—probably more than anyone else. The drive to leave the pain and memories behind.
To distract himself, Keys threw himself into his work.
Rose helped where she could, but between her own work and Oscar, she wasn’t as available as she’d been the year before.
Keys never pushed her, which she appreciated more than he knew.
He now had all three Riley brothers working for him in Mount Grove, and his security tech was starting to turn a lot of curious heads.
Rose and Keys’ relationship never crossed the friend-zone line.
They might bicker, argue, and even curse each other, but neither ever broached the subject of a date or something more between them, since that embarrassing bachelor auction nearly a year ago.
Keys was without a doubt the best friend she’d ever had, and their daily talks were second only to her time with Oscar.
But that wall, the line in the sand that they’d drawn between them, did not stop the desire, the longing, and the want from creeping in.
There were times when Keys left hints, small openings that she could cross if she chose to…
Rose didn’t dare. How could she bring her mess, her world, to his doorstep?
Because he wouldn’t be satisfied with a cyber relationship—and frankly, neither would she. They both deserved better, which meant ignoring those hints or chalking them up to her reading too much into Keys’ messages.
It couldn’t happen. Her one and only purpose for the rest of her life was to be the best mom to Oscar that she could be. Even if it meant she remained alone and without a partner.
Rose had gone online with the intention of checking on Poison, but she should have known that Keys would see her activity. No one else would notice, but Keys and Rose’s work was so entwined now that he would pick up on things others would miss. Just as she would.
Gl!tch.OS: Why?
They’ve never video called before. Should she be suspicious that he wanted to now?
WiseWave620: I’ve been worried about you, Rose. It’s been a few days.
Rose stared at her name on the screen. Other than that one phone call they’d had following Melanie’s funeral, their communication was strictly script.
They were basically pen pals with security protocols.
Keys was the only person who called her ‘Rose’, which was odd since it was her legal name given to her at birth.
As nice as it was that he didn’t shy away from writing her name, she missed hearing him say it.
But her eyes flicked to Oscar’s and her dull reflection in the screen. Beyond that she had Oscar finally settled, she was a mess, a complete and total mess.
Gl!tch.OS: Can you give me an hour or so? I need to shower.
WiseWave620: I have Church soon.
Fuck. Rose knew that meant a club meeting and not a religious church. They were mandatory, especially for Keys as an officer.
Gl!tch.OS: It’ll just have to wait until later.
Oscar wasn’t sick often, but when he was, he clung to her like a koala. And as much as Rose loved the idea of extra hugs, she hated when they came at the expense of his health.
WiseWave620: Please, Rose. I don’t care where you are or who is with you. I just need to know you’re okay.
Rose stared at her screen, wondering where he thought she was and who was with her. But she couldn’t video him right now. Putting aside that she looked like shit, she had Oscar on her lap.
Gl!tch.OS: I’m sorry. I can’t.