Charlie had a dirty blue blanket around her shoulders, which was odd since it was over eighty degrees outside. Her usually pretty blonde hair was stringy, dirty, greasy, and stuck to her head. Ash parked his bike and when she saw him, she stood up and pulled the blanket tighter around her body. Her legs were bare, and Ash could see them shaking. She was wearing slippers. What the fuck happened to her? As soon as he was close enough to her, the thin little girl was in his arms and in tears. Again, he had to convince himself that it wasn’t the time to ask questions. He just put his arms around her and let her cry. He tried not to think about how bad she smelled. Body odor and vomit jockeyed for first place in the offensive odors category. She had definitely not been holed up in a five-star hotel.

Ash realized that people were staring at them, at him mostly, suspiciously. A biker with what looked like a homeless, crying teenager in his arms spelled trouble in most people’s eyes. He didn’t blame them, but he didn’t want to wait around and see if they were going to call the cops either. “We should get out of here. Let’s get you back to the club where you can take a shower and get something to eat. Okay?” Charlie nodded, and Ash put his arm around her and steered her toward his bike. When they got there, he tried to take the blanket off her but she clutched it tighter and said:

“I don’t have a shirt on.”

“What the fuck? Why? Where’s your shirt?” He’d forgotten he wasn’t asking questions, but this was his little sister, with no shirt.

“I threw up on it. It was soaked with vomit. The guy that let me use his phone gave me the blanket.”

“Who was this guy? Where is he?”

“Seriously? He was just some guy that stopped and asked if I needed help. You gonna go beat him up for helping me?”

He bit down on his bottom lip to keep from saying something else that would piss her off. Instead he took off his vest and handed it to her. “Put this on, it should keep you covered. You can’t ride holding onto that blanket.”

She took the vest and he stood with his back to her, blocking the view of her from the zoo entrance where people bustled back and forth. “Okay,” she said. He handed her his helmet then and got on the bike. He felt her slide on behind him and take hold of his t-shirt on either side. “I haven’t been on one of these since you left home,” she said. Again, his chest hurt. Every time she said “When you left home” she sounded like she wanted to cry, and he hated himself for it.

“Just hold onto me tightly and lean into the turns. It’s only a fifteen-minute ride.” She gripped his shirt tighter and he started the bike. As they drove back to the club his mind went to dark places as he wondered what had happened to Charlie over the past few days. He could feel her shaking as she clutched onto him and he had to wonder if he was in any way prepared to deal with a 15-year-old girl.

A young prospect named Ransom was at the gates as they drove up. The kid should have stopped him since they were on lockdown, but he didn’t, he just waved them through. He figured either Wolf or Sledge had given him a heads-up. Ash parked the bike in a row of other Harleys in front of the clubhouse and he felt Charlie slide off the back. With shaky hands she pulled off the helmet and then looked around like a terrified, caged animal. He got off the bike and took the helmet out of her hands. “You doing okay?”

“I don’t know. Are there a lot of people in there?”

“Maybe,” he said. “Gimme a sec.” He took out his phone and sent a text to Sledge. Seconds later his big friend appeared out the front door of the clubhouse. As soon as he saw Charlie, he opened his arms and the tiny girl practically disappeared into them. His eyes locked into Ash’s and he could see the same thoughts swimming in them that he had in his own head.

“Come on, honey,” Sledge told her, putting an arm around her so he could lead her around the side of the clubhouse. Ash followed them, and Sledge took them to his trailer out back. He went as far as the front door and told Ash, “I’ll stay in the clubhouse as long as she needs the trailer. I’m going to go have one of the girls fix her something to eat. You should be able to find everything she needs for a shower in the bathroom.” He looked at Charlie then, tipping her face up to his with his big hand. “You’re gonna be okay.” She nodded. Sledge kissed her on the forehead and then put his hand on Ash’s shoulder before he left. He didn’t say anything, but Ash could see that his friend was urging him to do the same thing he’d been urging himself...be patient. Ash smiled and nodded, and he and Charlie went inside. For a second, his sister was back. She looked around the small, messy living area and said:

“God, he’s a pig.”

Ash laughed. “Yep. You might have to scare a critter or two out of the shower before you get in.”

“Ugh!”

Ash was sitting on the couch half an hour later when Sledge returned with enough food for six people. “The girls made up a big breakfast this morning for the meeting. I’ve got syrup and butter and crap if she needs it.” He cleared a space on his small table with his big arm and set the containers down on it. “She still in the shower?”

Ash nodded and then smiled and said, “She needed a second one just from walking through this place.”

Sledge chuckled. “Fuck you, the maid quit last week.”

“Probably as soon as she saw the place, huh?”

Sledge shook his head at Ash, but he was still smiling. He went over and sat in the chair across from his friend. “Did she say anything, about how she got here or...?” Ash shook his head.

“No. I was trying not to push her too much. You think I should call Allison?”

“I’d leave that question to Charlie. I mean, yeah, eventually you’ll have to, but maybe after she’s had a chance to talk about what’s going on.”

Ash nodded. “Did I miss anything in the meeting?”

“Nah, not really. We’re having a big to-do this weekend with Jacob’s team and a few of the Southies that are in town. I guess Gunner’s going to be a part of those fights next weekend.”

“Nice...but, I’m not sure I want Charlie here when that’s going on.”

“Yeah, maybe not. Or we just make sure those horny bastards know their dicks will be on the same barbecue pit as the rest of the wieners if they so much as look at her wrong.”

Ash laughed. “That’ll work too.” They heard the shower turn off and Sledge stood up.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said. He made it as far as the door and said, “You gonna call Mack?”

Guiltily Ash said, “I already did.” Sledge rolled his eyes.

“Guess you didn’t want my advice on that one, huh?”

Sledge’s protective streak would barely let him see straight when he was around Mack, and Ash knew it. He didn’t have to ask Sledge for his advice on “that one.” He already knew it would have been a resounding “Hell no, you don’t need that bitch.” He didn’t even have to wonder about the ass-chewing he’d get if Sledge knew he’d fucked her.

Sledge was gone for a good fifteen minutes before Charlie finally came out. She was wearing one of Sledge’s t-shirts and it came down below her knees. Her face was scrubbed clean and her hair was wet, and she smelled like his old Spice body wash...but it was a welcome change from the vomit and body odor. She handed Ash his vest and he tried not to think about what it probably smelled like as he laid it aside. “You want to eat?”

She nodded. Ash got up and found some paper plates in the tiny kitchen, and while Charlie fixed herself one, he got out the butter and syrup and “shit” that Sledge said was in the refrigerator. He sat across from her and watched her scarf down the food like she was starving. Once her plate was clean and she refused seconds he said:

“I guess we should talk now.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and said, “Did you call my mother?”

“Nope. I thought you might need a little time, but we will have to call her, eventually.”

“I want to be emancipated.”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t want to live with her anymore. I want her out of my house and off my property. I have my own money. I’ll be sixteen in a week. I don’t need her.”

Ash thought that idea was all bad. Some sixteen-year-olds might be mature enough to be granted adulthood by the state...but, he doubted that his sister was. She’d led a fairly sheltered life. She’d gone to private schools and she’d never been allowed to associate with anyone not on the same “social level” as the Bennetts, thanks to Allison. She had no idea what the real world was like. He didn’t want to piss her off yet, though, so he just acted like he hadn’t heard all of that and said, “How did you get to California?”

She straightened her shoulders and a defiant look crossed her face like she was getting ready for a fight she knew was coming. He hated to admit it, but she reminded him of himself. “I caught a ride with a friend.”

“Really? And this friend left you in a park without your things, covered in vomit...”

“No...” The defiant look slipped slightly as she said, “No, that wasn’t his fault. He got me here safely, he’s a good guy...”

“He? How old is this ‘good guy’?”

“What difference does it make?”

“It’ll make a hell of a lot of difference to the law. You know the police are looking for you. As far as they’re concerned you’re a missing person and that ‘good guy’ is a kidnapper if he’s over eighteen.”

“He’s barely eighteen and he didn’t kidnap me! This was all me. I begged him to bring me out here. He said no a lot of times before he finally gave in.”

“Really? And what finally convinced him to give in?” She must have been able to read his face because she suddenly looked shocked and said:

“Oh my God, you think I gave him sex for a ride? What the hell do you think of me? I’m not a prostitute!”

“Good, and it’s not what I think of you, Charlie; I know men.”

She snorted. “Whatever. I didn’t have sex with him. I told you, he’s a good guy. He wouldn’t even take any cash. I just paid for the gas and hotels on the way out and some food, that was it.”

“So where is the rest of your cash now? You’ve got no cell phone, no purse, no clothes...”

“When we got to Fresno last night, he took me to his cousin’s place. They were having a party...and I guess I had too much to drink or something. I’m not sure. I remember walking down the road; it was dark. His cousin was suddenly there in this red Mustang, telling me to get in and he’d give me a ride back to the house. I don’t know what happened at the house. I don’t know why I left. But his cousin kind of gave me the creeps, so I said no. I felt sick and I just wanted to be left alone...”

“Charlie, did he...?

“Will you let me finish?” she snapped. He bit down on his bottom lip again and she said, “He kept following me, slow like, telling me to get into the car. Finally, he stopped and he opened the passenger door. I freaked out, he had this look on his face...” Ash could feel his blood pressure rising as she spoke, but he kept his teeth in his lip so that he couldn’t speak. “Anyway, I tried to run but he grabbed me. He spun me around and that was what finally did it. I puked all over him. He pushed me back and called me a name and I puked again...projectile vomited...and it hit him in the side of the face. He was so pissed. I think if I hadn’t been covered in vomit he might have punched me...but he didn’t want to touch me. He said something nasty about me again and then got in the car and left. I guess we were close to the park...kind of. I walked there and by the time I got there the sun was coming up. I washed as much of the puke off me as I could and then there was that guy who let me use his phone and gave me the blanket...”

“Charlie, did you call me first?”

She looked almost guilty, and Ash was glad to see that she at least had a little bit of a conscience if not much sense. “No. I called my friend who brought me out here, but he didn’t answer.”