Chapter Nine

ELIAS

Cutting Paige off without any sort of explanation like that was rude. And doing it made me feel like an asshole. But it was for her own safety. The less she knew about any of what was going on, the better. The safer she'd be. The last thing she needed was to get caught up in my bullshit. Hell, it was the last thing I needed or wanted, but at least with Paige, I could help her stay clear of the whole mess.

“Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into now?” I said, cursing under my breath.

Actually, it was more like, what had I gotten everyone else into this time. My past, while not perfect, was my past. And I wanted it to stay there. I'd worked hard to bury it and move forward from it. I wanted nothing more than to forget about Mav and the MC, to try and live a clean, legal life.

A life with my daughter. A life where I could be an example for her. Somebody she could be proud of and look up to. Was being left alone to do that too much to fucking ask?

“Daddy, what's wrong?” Harley said, standing in the hallway.

“Nothin' pumpkin,” I said. “You're supposed to be in bed. You okay?”

“I'm thirsty,” she said, wiping her eyes.

There was my whole world, standing in the hallway looking at me with sleep eyes. She was adorable in her My Little Pony nightgown, holding the stuffed T-Rex I bought for her when we'd visited the science center last year. So little, even for her age, and so fragile. As I looked at her, I feared what that life could do to her. I feared the bad things that could happen to her if I let myself get sucked back down that rabbit hole.

The last thing I needed was for her getting caught up in any of this and getting hurt because of it. I really had no idea what I'd do if she did. The only thing I knew for certain was that if my little Harley got hurt because of the MC or anybody in it, I was going to lose my mind – and somebody was going to wind up hurt. At the very least.

“I'll get you a drink of water, babygirl, but then it's back to bed, alright?”

Harley nodded and gave me a small smile, obviously still caught in the grips of sleep. I stood up just as my phone rang again though. I declined the call before even seeing who it was from. My daughter was going to come first. She would always come first. In everything.

After getting Harley some water, I let her drink it before putting her on my back and carrying her back down to her bedroom. I gently laid her down and pulled the sheets and blanket up to her chin, tucking her in good and tight. She stared up at me with eyes that were wide awake and curious about something. I could see the questions firing through her brain – though I had no idea what the questions were.

“What is it, sweetheart?” I asked.

“Why were you upset, daddy?” she asked me.

“Daddy wasn't upset,” I said gently. “Just annoyed at my phone. You know I have bad luck with technology – ”

She looked at me and the skepticism in her face was clear. Sometimes, my little girl was too smart for her own good. Precocious was one word to describe her, but with Harley it seemed to even go farther than that. Most people would probably say I was completely biased, but I didn't think so. Harley had an intelligence and a wisdom that most adults didn't seem to have. She could just cut through the bullshit and see things how they actually were.

“You sure, Daddy?”

“I'm positive,” I said. “But, thank you for being so worried about me.”

She was quiet for a few moments and I thought that would be the end of things, but then she surprised me when she asked a question I wasn't ready for.

“You didn't talk to mommy, did you?”

Her words cut straight through me – right to the core. And seeing the expression on her face, the way she looked at me – with something like hope in her eyes – it just killed me.

“No, sweetie, I haven't heard from mommy in awhile,” I said. “She's in the hospital, getting better.”

Harley nodded, adjusting her T-Rex so it was covered up next to her. “If you do talk to her, tell her I love her.”

My poor, aching heart – it felt like it might break right then and there. The way she handled it – handled herself – with such composure and assuredness, it was something uncommon in people. Let alone kids her age.

“Of course I will, baby,” I said. “But don't ever worry – I know your mommy knows you love her, and she loves you too. Now go to sleep, you have school tomorrow.”

Planting a small, soft kiss on her little forehead, I shut off the light – making sure to leave her Harley Quinn nightlight on for her – and closed the bedroom door most of the way. As soon as I was back in the living room, I checked my phone again and sighed. This time, it was Mav. At least it wasn't that asshole Jay again. I wasn't in the mood to deal with his half-assed threats and intimidation tactics.

I didn't want to, but really had no other choice, so I called him back.

“What the fuck man?” he asked me by way of a greeting.

“Sorry, my daughter woke up, had to take care of her,” I muttered. I hated owing him an explanation at all. “What's up?”

“We need to talk,” he said.

“Then talk,” I shot back. “I'm listening.”

“Not on the phone,” he said, sounding like he was explaining himself to a five year old. “We need to talk in person, Elias.”

I glanced down the hallway at my daughter's room. There was no way they were coming here, and I wasn't about to leave my daughter alone. Not in a million fucking years.

“I can't tonight, man,” I said. “You know I have my daughter – ”

“I know,” he said, the tone in his voice saying he was very clearly annoyed. “But you need to work with us, man. We need you. So you need to work that shit out.”

“I still don't know why I need to be involved in all of this,” I said. “It makes no sense. Listen man, I can give you the phone – ”

“Because shit's changed and it's more than that, man,” he said. “Which is why we need to talk. In person.”

“Look, man,” I said. “It's late and I don't have – ”

Mav sighed dramatically, letting me hear loud and clear, just how pissed he was. “Fine. It can wait until tomorrow while your kid is at school,” he said. “But no bullshit, man. We need to have a face to face. No excuses.”

“Fine,” I said. “Name the time and place, I'll be there.”

Shit changed? And now, he needed more than just a simple text from Amy's old phone? What in the hell was up with that? I suddenly had a very bad feeling about all of this and a knot in my stomach that was constricting tight.

“Listen,” I said before hanging up. “I don't want to get dragged into any bullshit. I don't need it in my life and I certanly don't need it in my daughter's life. I'm done with the MC and that whole world, man. You let me go, Mav. I'm a father now and my daughter comes first.”

“Yeah, I know,” Mav said. “You keep telling me that. But even you should know, you're never out of this life. Not completely.”

The line went dead in my hand. He'd hung up. In his mind, he'd cut me some slack by giving me until tomorrow, but there was no pushing it with Mav. I could call him back, but I guarantee he wouldn't answer. He'd said his part and had put me on notice. Now, to hear the rest of what they were expecting me to do for them, I was going to have to meet him in person.

Honestly, I didn't like the sound of that one little bit – but what choice did I have? All I could do was to keep playing the game for now and try to find some way out of it all before I was done. I needed to find something, some piece of leverage I could use to get them out of my life once and for all.

Until then though, what choice did I have but to play the gam by their rules?

ooo000ooo

“Good morning, Harley!” a familiar voice said the moment we stepped from my car and I cringed.

“Good morning, Miss Cleary!” Harley said. “I didn't know it was your day to be on bus duty!”

I smiled politely and tried to pretend that everything was normal, but Miss Cleary – Paige – wasn't having any of it.

“Oh, Mrs. McPherson is out sick today, so they asked if I'd mind stepping in for her,” she said, standing – purposely, it seemed – in the way of the doors that led into the school. “And how are you this morning?”

“I'm good,” Harley said.

“And you?” she said, finally smiling back at me.

“I'm good too,” I said, “Just running late for work, so if you don't mind – ”

She put her hand up to stop me from walking by, her expression stern, serious. “If you don't mind, I really need to speak with you.”

“I do mind, actually,” I said, giving her a weak smile as I ran a hand through my hair. “The whole work thing? I mean it, I'm late. I've got clients – ”

“People get tattoos at seven thirty in the morning?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Some do, yes,” I said. “Now if you'll excuse me.”

She finally – and reluctantly – stepped aside, but as we walked inside. But as we made our way down the corridor, I heard her voice calling to me.

“Well then, I guess I'll just have to catch you later,” she said. “And I will.”

Her voice sounded a little annoyed – and perhaps, even a little scared. Not that I could blame her. She wanted answers. Hell, she deserved answers. But I didn't have them to give her. Why anyone would be going through her house was beyond me. It was disturbing, sure. But I didn't have any direct evidence saying it was the MC involved in that. For all I knew, it was some stupid kids in her building screwing with her.

Deep down though, there was something in me telling me that I knew the real answer. Knew who was behind it. I just didn't know why.

“Yeah, maybe,” I muttered to myself.

I made sure to leave out the back door of the school, going out of my way to walk around the entire building just to avoid Paige's classroom just to get to my car. Truthfully, I didn't have to be at work until later. But the less time she spent with me, the better. It was safer for her that way. I knew she had questions, probably lots of them, but I couldn't give her the answers. Which was why it was probaby better to avoid her from now on.

I didn't want to, but if I didn't show, there was going to be hell to pay. So, I drove over to the MC's clubhouse, even though it was way too fucking early for anyone to be up over there. Most of those assholes would be sleeping off last night's hangover and wouldn't be up for hours yet.

But I knew Mav would be up and waiting for me. I told him I'd be over as soon as I dropped my daughter off at school. He seemed fine with that. Or at least, as fine as he could be given that I'd made him wait for our face to face.

I got out of the car and fought back the feeling of trepidation that was washing over me. But the feeling that something bad was going to happen persisted. Not that they were going to do something to me, but that they were going to ask me to do something unthinkable. Which meant that I'd have to say no and then they might do something to me. But I had my daughter to think about. My life wasn't my own anymore and they were going to have to deal with it.

Stepping into the old clubhouse brought back so many memories. Not all bad ones either. This was where I'd met Amy after all. She'd been hanging out with some other girls, drinking and flirting with the bikers. She was one of those types – a biker groupie who was looking to find herself an old man. Someone to take care of her, to spoil her, to treat her to a life of partying and drugs. In her eyes, that was the epitome of the good life.

And at one time, that's the route I was taking too. At one time, our idea of the good life were pretty much in sync. Life was a big party and we were both enjoying the hell out of it.

The difference between us though – well, one of many as it turned out – was that I grew the fuck up once Harley was born. She never did. Even with a little girl, Amy wanted to keep living the party life. Wanted to keep drinking, doing drugs, and pissing her life away.

I supposed that was what I got for dating someone I'd met at a biker club. Somebody with as many red flags as Amy had waving above her head.

When I walked in, the bar was mostly empty. The only people I saw were a guy who was passed out on one of the tables and a girl who was passed out on the floor next to him – missing her top, of course. Her breasts were exposed for the world to see as if she couldn't care less who saw them. Probably didn't. Yeah, I'd run with a real classy bunch back in the day.

I walked through the bar and saw no sign of Mav – which irritated me. He'd been so insistent about meeting that the fact he wasn't there waiting grated on me. I had half a mind to turn around and leave, but figured there was one more place I needed to check.

I stepped out back and saw someone working in the shop. From where I was, it looked to be Jay, but I heard Mav's voice coming from the building as well, so I knew they were both out there. The knot in my stomach tightened and I had to force myself to walk across the yard to the shop where they were.

“Nah, I didn't see shit – ” Jay said, stopping when I walked up. “Oh hey, look who decided to drop by. Didn't think you could let yourself be seen here with us biker types though – ”

“I invited him,” Mav said.

“He comin' back to the club?” Jay asked, raising an eyebrow at Mav.

Before Mav could answer, I said, “No way in hell.”

“Good,” Jay snapped. “We don't need anybody who can't be loyal to the MC anyway.”

Jay went back to work on his bike without another word as Mav motioned for me to follow him back into the bar. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes before turning and following him back across the yard.

“So what's going on?” I asked, as Mav sat down with a beer for us both.

I looked at the bottle – it was way too early in the morning for beer. Or at least, it was way too early for me now. Once upon a time, it wouldn't have even crossed my mind to have a beer after rolling out of bed. But, things hand changed. I'd changed.

“You know the plan we had? Well it's shot,” Mav said, taking a long pull from his bottle. “It all went to sideways in a hurry. I guess Amy reached out to Carl somehow and he knows she doesn't use that phone of hers you got anymore. Knows that's not her number.”

Relieved, I shrugged it off. “That sucks,” I said. “Sorry to hear that, man.”

That was a lie. I was happy the plan had fallen through since it let me off the hook. My part in their little melodrama was over since I couldn't help them with anything after all.

“That's exactly why we needed to talk, man,” Mav said, scratching his beard. “We still need to get rid of Carl, by any means necessary. He's a huge problem and he's only getting worse. I know that he's not going to work with us, but you, on the other hand – ”

“No,” I said before he even finished his sentence. “I can't have anything to do with someone like that. I'm on the verge of a custody dispute with my Amy's parents about my daughter. If I'm even suspected of handling drugs, let alone arrested for it, I'm going to lose, man. And if I lose, my daughter will be taken away from me. I can't have that. I won't.”

Mav looked at me and I knew him well enough to know that he was simmering with anger. He'd always done a good job of stuffing it down and not melting down on people, but below the surface, he was a raging inferno. Mav's anger was a quiet anger – which, in my mind, made it all the more volatile and dangerous.

“What if I told you that your daughter will be taken away if you don't help us?” he asked.

“Are you threatening me?”

My mouth went dry and my blood pressure went through the roof. I wanted to reach out and choke the fucking life out of him for dropping a veiled threat like that on me. But I managed to rein myself in – just barely.

Mav shrugged. “It's not a threat, man. But let's just say – Amy's parents might have a stake in all this too. They want Carl out of their daughter's life, once and for all, because they blame her for the relapse. And they're afraid once she gets out, she'll run straight back to him. So if we can get rid of him, maybe there's some wiggle room to negotiate custody terms for your kid too.”

“Amy's parents are in on this?” I asked. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Suddenly, I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Pack Harley up and get as far away as humanly possible. Because nothing involving Amy's parents would ever work out in my favor. They had money, they had the right people in their back pocket, and now even Mav was working for them. I couldn't escape them. They were like a goddamn octopus with all of those tendrils wrapping me up tight.

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. A dark rage bubbled up within me and I wanted to destroy something. Or somebody.

Mav shrugged. “They're not really in on this whole deal,” he said. “But let's just say, we all have a shared interest in taking out the trash.”

I wanted to beat Mav to a bloody pulp and knew that in my current state, I could do just that. I'd never been one to back down from a fight and I was as tough as they came. If I'd wanted to, I could have killed Mav with my bare hands then and there.

But Harley's face flashed through my mind and I had to throttle myself back. I needed to maintain my cool. My composure. Killing a piece of shit like Mav would earn me the same time in prison as killing a banker. I couldn't kill anybody. I needed to maintain myself for Harley's sake.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and did my best to clear my head.

“I can't help you,” I finally said. “I really can't, Mav. I left the MC for a reason. And that reason is my little girl. And if I do something like you're suggesting, it's going to jam me up like a motherfucker. You have to understand where I'm coming from, man.”

“I do understand,” he said. “And that's why I know you'll do it. You don't really have a choice, Elias. Not if you want to keep your little girl. And helping us is the only way that's gonna happen.”