Chapter 2
brAX
All three churches were locked when I got there, even after checking several times through the night.
They were either staying somewhere else or they'd locked themselves in.
I gave up in the early hours of the morning.
The next day I took the club van to drop Davey off.
It was my turn.
The timing was perfect.
I waited outside for too long while my phone blew up with texts from Dax Marshall, the Skulls president.
I gave him a call and got,
"What the fuck?"
"Yeah, sorry, Dax. I was dropping Davey off."
"You should've told me. I could've got someone else to do the run."
"It's all good," I said. "I'll be there soon."
But I headed to the café first.
Not for a coffee or a muffin.
"Hey, Tash. Have you seen Lexi today?"
"You know her?" she asked.
"Yeah. I wanted to give her something."
"What?"
Fucking nosy woman.
"It's personal."
Damn.
I couldn't think of anything else without tripping over my words and looking like a liar.
To tell the truth, I really would've liked to give her something personal, but whether that happened...
Maybe only God knew right then.
"I'll let her know if she comes in."
She was looking at me like she still wanted to know more.
"Thanks."
I headed out the door.
I got back to the Skulls ranch a good hour later than I should've and Dax seemed pretty chill about it.
When it came to kids, there was a lot of leeway around here.
I couldn't stop thinking about Lexi all day.
I daydreamed about her on the back of my bike and the feel of her arms wrapped around me.
What was it about this woman?
Another person in need?
Yeah.
I was good at getting sucked into that.
When I swapped my bike for the van and headed to pick up Davey, I was hoping I'd see her at the school.
She was nowhere in sight.
Three guys in suits appeared to be waiting for me instead.
I knew exactly who they were.
The husbands.
"Are you Braxton?" one of them asked.
"You know I am."
"You need to watch your mouth, boy."
"Boy? You're calling me boy? Be a fucking man and take a swing at me. I'll show you who's the boy here."
He stepped back behind one of the other guys.
Fucking pussy.
"I'd be more afraid of your wives' claws than your threats. Now step aside before I embarrass you in front of all these kids."
They hurried off toward their cars.
Davey came running up to me, excited to tell me about his day.
I kept him talking until the crowd of kids and parents thinned out and there were only a few people left.
None of them were Lexi or Leo.
Damn.
Why hadn't the boy been at school today?
"Do you know a little redhead kid called Leo?" I asked Davey.
"Yeah. New guy. He started last week."
"He wasn't there today?"
Davey shook his head.
Last week.
So they were new in town and sleeping in a fucking church.
"Next time Leo comes to school, I want you to text me straight away."
"Sure. Why?"
"Him and his mom need help."
I couldn't get Lexi and Leo off my mind as I worked on a client's Harley at the Skulls ranch.
"You didn't hear a fucking word I just said."
I looked up to find Cody staring at me.
"Sorry. I was in my head."
"Who is she?"
"Who says I'm thinking about a woman?"
"Me." He grinned. "Who is she?"
I laughed.
"Some mom I met yesterday. She’s homeless and having a rough time."
"And needing saving," Cody added.
"Maybe."
I tightened a bolt and shrugged.
"She's only been in town a week or so from what I can gather. Doesn't seem to have any money. No job. Great little kid though. Leo. I gave her a ride to the school yesterday."
"The kid likes bikes?"
"Loves Harleys."
"Where'd you meet her?"
"At the café."
"So go back there and leave a message."
"I did. Guess I'll just have to wait."
Cody scratched his jaw.
"If she’s struggling, she probably needs a job."
"Doing what?"
He looked at the clubhouse.
"Post on the community board."
I laughed.
"What?"
“Cleaner needed."
Cody pointed to the main building.
"Well, it does need cleaning, doesn't it?"
"It does."
An idea started forming.
"Maybe she could clean the place and stay here for a while."
Cody laughed.
"Yeah. That would be just you, wouldn't it, bro?"
I didn't answer.
"This one special?" he asked.
I looked back at the Harley.
"I don't know."
"I fucking hope so," he said. "Ever since you and Jenny split up, you've been like a lost dog."
Lexi
I was eating more food left over from yesterday outside the café while looking over the notices on the bulletin board.
There wasn't a lot to choose from.
It seemed I wasn't the only one struggling for money these days.
Then I spotted it.
SKULLS RANCH
PART-TIME CLEANER NEEDED
I rolled my eyes.
If that wasn't a coincidence, I didn't know what was.
What was I supposed to do?
It was an opportunity.
I had to think about the bigger picture.
Leo.
Everything came back to Leo.
And money.
Here I was eating stale food so I could give him fresh food, and the small amount of savings I had left was going to run out soon.
Luck always runs out.
Although mine had been bad lately, so maybe I wouldn't have minded that changing course.
I pulled one of the tabs from the bottom of the notice and stared at it.
Then I turned to the first person who looked like they might have time to answer a question.
"Do you know where the Skulls Ranch is?"
The gruff old guy in flannel and dirty jeans pulled on his long gray beard.
"Going there in ten minutes," he said. "If you need a ride.”
I wasn't a religious person, but I'd been praying to God more than usual lately and this felt like maybe He'd finally heard me.
"Yes, please," I said.
His eyes softened.
"I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long for you."
"What?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing. Back soon."
Ten minutes later, after pacing outside the café, the old guy stepped out carrying a paper bag.
He handed it to me.
"Better than the stale shit you're eating."
I looked inside.
Fresh sandwiches.
And a blueberry muffin that was still warm.
"This is my bike," he said, pointing toward it. "And I've got a helmet that should fit."
What the fuck was going on?
I was shaking inside and it wasn't from the rumbling bike beneath me.
I had my arms around... I didn't even know his name... and I had my body pressed hard against his back because I'd take any form of comfort coming my way these days.
I wanted him to stop outside the gates so I could get off and decide whether I really wanted to go in or not, but he rolled right on through.
He kicked down the stand and put his arm back to help me off.
And the first person I saw was Brax.
My God, he was so fucking beautiful.
Big and strong.
Everything about him felt safe, and when you're a single mom running from everything and hoping for something, anything, there is nothing more important than feeling safe.
He had a big smile on his face and his steel-blue eyes were looking at me like I was someone special.
I put my hand to my mouth so he couldn't see it quivering as I held back a river of tears threatening to break free.
Before they got a chance, he was there, wrapping his big arms around me and I finally lost it.
Everyone who had been standing in the yard seemed to have vanished.
Even the old guy was walking away, giving me space to fall apart.
Brax showed me a room.
It wasn't his.
He told me he had a little cottage not far from the ranch.
I wondered why he hadn't posted a job for cleaning that rather than the clubhouse.
I guessed he was worried about my reaction.
Maybe he wanted me here at the club.
He knew I'd been sleeping rough.
My phone pinged.
I turned it face up and instantly wished I hadn't.
I couldn't hide the look on my face.
"Who is it?" Brax asked.
"Nothing."
"It's something. Tell me."
"My ex found me."
He held out his hand.
I gave him the phone and he read the message.
I know where you are, bitch.
Without saying a word, Brax held the screen up to his face and sent a video message.
"Listen, cunt. You ever call her bitch again and you'll be shitting your teeth for the next week."
He ended the recording, handed the phone back to me and said,
"Let's talk."
I told Brax some of it.
About finding Carlo in the saddle with my best friend.
About throwing him out.
About the excuses.
About the first kick that shattered the front door and any hope we'd ever part peacefully.
But that wasn't the whole story.
There were things I still wasn't ready to talk about.
Things that had led me and Leo all the way to Boston.
Things I'd tell Brax eventually.
Just not today.
We sat there for what felt like minutes, staring into each other's eyes without a word.
Lost in our own thoughts.
Yet somehow sharing the same moment.
And it felt priceless.
Leo turned up on the back of Cody's Harley wearing a helmet, fortunately, and he was buzzing with excitement.
I'd never seen him so excited.
I couldn't stop smiling.
It made my face hurt.
This was a pain I could take every day.
"Where's Davey?" I asked Brax.
"His mom's today."
"You guys get on okay? Davey's mom and you?"
"Yeah, sure. She's a good friend. Jenny."
"So why..."
I let the question hang.
"Sometimes things just don't work out," he said. "No real reason. Some people aren't made to share the same space and doing so only makes the people around them suffer."
I nodded.
"So we decided to call it. It's all good."
"Davey good with that?"
"Yeah. He's a great kid."
He smiled.
"You'd love him."
"I'm sure I would," I said, as I thought about the possibility that I could love Davey's dad too.
What the fuck?
What was I thinking?
I'd only just met him and it hadn't exactly been the best start.
But my dad used to say long races aren't won on the starting line.
Dad told me lots of things I didn't understand at the time.
As life unfolded, so did the meaning behind his stories.
Brax
“Well, this is a first," Dax said as the pastor rolled into the Skulls Ranch in a BMW.
I looked at the old guy, who had more gold hanging off him than a jewelry store, and wondered if the poor bastards eating bread and water in his congregation were the ones paying for it.
And people called us criminals.
"You," he said, pointing at me.
"Me what?"
"You're the guy who was snooping around my church in the early hours of the morning."
Dax gave me a look.
I shrugged.
"I needed to talk to God."
The pastor snorted.
"I checked the security cameras after I found something."
He reached into his jacket pocket.
For a second I thought he was about to pull out the gun.
Instead he handed me a folded piece of paper.
I frowned and opened it.
The drawing was done in crayon.
A church.
A little boy.
A woman.
The moon overhead.
At the bottom, in crooked letters, were the words:
Thank you God for looking after me and Mommy.
I stared at the drawing for a long moment.
"Leo drew that," I said.
The pastor shrugged.
"I found it where they'd been sleeping."
Something twisted in my chest.
"How long were they there?"
“The cameras show a week or so."
Jesus.
The pastor looked down at the drawing.
"I didn't know."
For the first time since he'd arrived, he didn't sound angry.
Just disappointed.
Maybe in himself.
"I run that church," he said quietly. "I preach about helping people every Sunday and a mother and child were sleeping under my roof and I didn't even know."
Nobody said anything for a moment.
Then Dax took the drawing from my hand and looked at it.
"Fuck."
It was the only word he said, but it was enough.
The pastor took the paper back carefully and folded it.
“You want it?” he said to me.
I shook my head.
"No. You keep it."
He looked surprised.
"Why?"
"Because every time you look at it, you'll remember the forgotten ones. The silent ones. The people sleeping under our noses that the world never sees.”
The pastor studied me for a second, then nodded.
"Fair enough."
Dax pointed toward the clubhouse.
"You want a coffee, Father?"
The old man smiled.
“You got beer?”
“Beer and everything from water to whiskey. The illegal shit that will blow your head off.”
We all laughed.
“Got weed too,” Cody said from behind us.
“Maybe I should head back,” the pastor said.
“Maybe you should stay,” Dax said, then we all headed toward the clubhouse.
Lexi
“Hey, Lexi,” Dax called out to me.
I spun around. “Oh, shit.”
Pastors don’t visit biker clubs for a chat. Well at least that was my thinking.
“Meet your former landlord,” Dax said.
I could feel my face burning up as I walked toward them, but the pastor held out his hand and said, “Lexi, is it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You're welcome to stay in my house... the House of the Lord... whenever you like. But I think you might have found a better place right here.”
“Oh, no I'm just cleaning,” I said.
“Yeah, she's staying here,” Dax told the pastor but his eyes were on me.
I looked at Brax.
“What the boss says goes.”
“Where?” I asked.
“That's your room you've been cleaning,” Dax said. “We’re still sorting something for Leo. I can’t have him staying in Jett’s room.”
“Jett?” I asked.
“His son,” Brax said pointing at Dax. “He’s a little devil.”
I watched in amusement as Dax turned slowly with one brow raised and they both laughed.
“Maybe he should come to church on Sunday,” the pastor said.
My room. It was still sinking in. “Oh my God,” I finally said. “Really?” I asked Dax.
“Yep. God moves in mysterious ways.” He looked at the pastor. “Don’t you think?”