Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
MOJAVE
For the next few days, whenever I was downtown in the afternoon, Frankie showed up. The kid didn’t always approach me, but I knew when I was being followed and they weren’t that good at being subtle about it, despite trying to hide behind things whenever I looked in their direction.
I didn’t think anything of it, it was a small town and kids liked to wander, but Killian noticed one day when he joined me for our weekly meal, frowning over my shoulder as Frankie peeked around the building at me.
“You know you’re being followed?” he queried.
I gave him a flat look. He knew the answer to that.
He sighed, leaning on his elbows on the table, arms crossed. “Okay, let me try again. Why are you being followed around by a little girl?”
Frowning, I asked, “How’d you know she’s a girl?”
The name Frankie was neutral enough and with the short hair and dirty clothes, I couldn’t tell either way. It didn’t really matter. It was a bored kid following me around. And it wasn’t like it was late and she needed to be home. The sun hadn’t even fully set yet.
Killian’s exasperated expression didn’t faze me. I was used to it by now.
“Not important, man. Why is a little kid following you around?”
I shrugged. “No clue. Found her playing in an alley a few days ago, walked her home. She’s been following me around ever since.”
When she could anyway. I’d slip out of her sight when I wanted to head home.
No one knew where I lived. No one except Killian, and he’d forced the issue not long after I came home.
I either showed him my place so he knew I was safe or he’d call in the crew and they’d follow me around until I gave in.
It was easier to just let him see it. And I trusted him to keep it to himself.
He knew I liked my privacy. It made things easier on me.
“She’s not homeless, is she?” he asked, concerned.
I shook my head. “Nah. She lives a few blocks north. Lights were on when I dropped her off and there was a car in the driveway.” I also looked up who lived at that address to be sure.
Her parents were married, both worked for a living, and she was an only child.
She probably wandered because she was bored when they weren’t home.
I’d been the same way as a kid. I didn't see a problem with it.
“She’s a little young to be wandering around,” Killian pointed out. “Most kids are at home having supper right now.”
Killian was an older brother, always been overprotective.
It didn’t surprise me that he was asking so many questions.
I was honestly surprised he didn't have a kid himself at this point. He had a girlfriend, and the clubhouse was being inundated with kids recently. He probably wouldn’t be far behind the rest of them.
Since I knew he wouldn’t let it go, I twisted in my seat, beckoning Frankie to join us with a wave of my hand. She looked surprised that she was caught but came willingly enough, plopping into the chair next to mine when I pushed it out with my boot.
“Hungry?” I asked, already cutting my burger in half to share. I had plenty at home to eat and Killian was right. It was time for supper.
She dug in without question when I handed her a plate, and I raised a hand to call over the waitress to order her a soda without thinking about it. It wasn’t until I noticed Killian staring at me like I had two heads that I paused.
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?” he hissed, eyes darting to Frankie, then back to me. “I said she should be at home, not that you should feed her! What if she has allergies?”
I glanced at Frankie with a frown. “You got allergies?”
She shook her head and shrugged at the same time, shoving another big bite of food into her mouth. I gave Killian the same shrug. She looked fine to me.
Rolling his eyes, Killian gave Frankie his attention. “Where are your parents, kid?”
Again, Frankie shrugged, speaking around a mouthful of food. “Workin’.”
“Won’t they be wondering where you are right now?” he prodded.
She shook her head again. Killian shot me a questioning look, but I didn’t know what he was looking for. Her parents were working, the supper situation was handled, and I’d walk her home once we were done. What more did he want?
With a frustrated sigh, he pulled out his phone. “Please tell me you at least reported a random kid walking around unsupervised.” He gave me an expectant look and when he got only a blank stare in response, he started grumbling to himself, sending off a message to someone with a scowl.
Frankie’s eyes narrowed suspiciously and she straightened in her chair. “I don’t need supervisin’. I’m allowed to go out by myself.”
“Whether you’re allowed to or not isn’t the issue,” Killian argued. “You’re what, seven? You should be with an adult.”
“I’m seven and a half!” she snapped.
I could tell she was fixing to run and I didn’t want her walking home in the dark by herself. I pointed at her food, grumbling, “Finish eating,” while giving Killian a sour look. “Stop brother-ing everyone. She said she’s fine.”
Killian threw up his hands, exasperated. “She’s seven! She should be at home with her parents!”
If they were working like she said, then she’d be home alone.
It was safer for her to be out here with us, getting in a decent meal, than it was for her to be home all alone.
I ignored his rant, pushing the ketchup closer to her when I noticed Frankie stealing a few of my fries.
Digging into my supper, I made a mental note to look closer into Frankie’s parents.
If she was home alone a lot, then that might need some looking into.
RACHEL
Paperwork. So much paperwork. The one thing I hated the most about my job but couldn’t avoid. I rubbed my temples, trying to banish the oncoming headache. What I wouldn’t give for someone else to hand off the paperwork to, just for one day.
My phone rang, interrupting my internal woe. Closing my eyes didn't make the paperwork go away, but it was a nice break for a minute. I picked up the phone, answering with a quick, “Hello?”
“Ms. Clark. This is Wyatt Lawson.”
I’d been making strides with the men in the Dirty Devil’s motorcycle club, but I didn’t expect a phone call from the club president so soon.
Worry flooded me, concerned it was in regards to Zero and his cousins.
I’d just met with him recently. I hoped he hadn’t changed his mind about taking in the kids. It’d barely been a week.
“Mr. Lawson. Can I help you with something?”
“Got a conundrum for you.”
Well, that wasn’t at all what I was expecting. “What kind of conundrum?”
“One of my guys just told me he’s been being followed around by a little kid for over half a week now. Said she’s only seven and a half. I’m concerned about neglect. How do I report something like this?”
Blinking in surprise, I frowned to myself. “That is a conundrum. Does this girl have any connection to the guy she’s been following? Blood relation at all?”
“None,” Wyatt replied. “My guy brought her back home every time she caught up to him and there’s always a car in the driveway and lights on, but I don’t like the idea of a little kid wandering around town by themselves. Is there a curfew for kids that age?”
“Not one that’s enforced,” I sighed. As much as I wished it otherwise, the police in the town had no interest in interjecting themselves into other people’s parenting.
Unless they noticed a child being obviously neglected, they tended to look the other way.
“Tell you what. How about I stop by the next time she shows up for a visit? I’ll see what I can do. ”
“Sounds good,” he agreed. “I don’t want my guy getting into trouble just because a kid is following him around.”
Translation: He didn’t like how it looked for a little girl to follow around a grown man with no connection to her, even if he meant her no harm.
I understood that completely. The Dirty Devils had proven several times over to be good with kids, but with the friction between them and the police department in town, it was better to be cautious.
“I understand. I’ll look into it. Thanks for letting me know.”
I glanced through my roster of foster kids, wondering if any of them were a potential flight risk that might be causing trouble.
The only worrisome kid on my roster though was already connected to the Dirty Devils and in the care of his cousin.
There were no seven year old girls that I was aware of on the roster at all.
I got a text from Wyatt about an hour later with an address.
I looked at my watch, concerned that it was so early.
At seven years old, the child should have been in school, not following around an unfamiliar biker.
We were nearing the end of the school year, but they still had a few weeks left as far as I was aware. This really was a conundrum.
Grabbing my purse, I headed out of the office, waving to Ted on my way out.
There were only two of us handling this town and the towns in a several mile radius, so we were always busy and it wasn’t surprising that I was leaving in the middle of the day.
He waved back, his phone pressed to his ear and his pen scribbling notes.
I hoped that was an update and not another kid in need of a home.
We were running out of fosters available nearby.
With my office being downtown, I didn’t need to drive to the location Wyatt had sent me. It was only a few blocks and I preferred to walk over driving anyway.
If my ex-husband knew I was going to meet a biker after only receiving a text address and wasn’t even bringing my car as an easy escape, he’d lose his mind. Luckily for me, he was a little busy being sued by said bikers and didn’t check in as often as he had after I first filed the papers.
The address Wyatt sent me turned out to be the local park that the Dirty Devils had cleaned up.
They’d also run the fundraiser for the new park equipment, which had changed my opinion of them entirely.
Scott had been in my ear for years, insisting they were the worst scum of the whole state and not to find myself anywhere near them if I wanted to stay safe.
Turns out, they had a lot better morals than he did.
I found the biker in question, along with the little girl, sitting on the swings. The girl, with a short pixie cut and grubby clothes, wasn’t someone I was familiar with. The biker, surprisingly, was. I didn’t know all of the bikers in the Dirty Devils, but I knew this one.
“You’re… Mojave, right?”
He’d noticed me coming the moment I got out of my car, watching me like a hawk, but that didn’t surprise me.
Not knowing that man’s history. A history I was only aware of because he told me the day he showed up at my house with photo and video evidence of Scott’s crimes and a warning that ‘men like that, willing to go that far to frame someone innocent, aren’t loyal to anyone.
Especially not their families. Check his phone and keep your guard up’.
He was the reason I’d been let in the loop of what was happening with the lawsuit, since Scott had no inclination of telling me himself.
He was also the reason I found out Scott had been cheating on me.
Mojave was right. Scott wasn’t loyal to anyone except the guys on the force, and only the ones who followed him blindly to boot.
“Ms. Clark. Prez said you were comin’.”