“You should stay here.” He tells me almost as if he’s trying to be a dad, suddenly.
“That’s not happening.” He glares at me, and I sigh. “Dad, I’m in online school. I can do it from there if we stay for a few days and it's Ash. He’s literally been there for me through every single thing I have gone through in my life. I have to be there for him.”
“Ella, I really don’t want you seeing him like this… from the sounds of it, it’s bad.”
“Okay,” I look at him, not being able to argue. The thought of seeing Ash like that has me terrified. I’ve always looked up to him as if he was my big brother. He’s always seemed like he was invincible. “What if I watch Eliza and Liv?” I ask him, and he cocks his head to the side. “I can drive down and then I can come back up here if I need to.” I tell him before I add a little more. “I’m sure that Khan, Fury, Lucy, and Billie are all going to want to be up there. If I’m there to watch Eliza and Liv, it would probably help.”
“Okay, go pack a quick bag and don’t forget your laptop.”
My dad is Osbourne “Oz” Davis. He was the president of the Midnight Syn, Sonston’s End Chapter, for well over a decade. Story that I heard was that he became president years before I was born and only stepped down, choosing to go ‘nomad’, after he sat in prison for months and contemplated my life. When he got out, on some bullshit evidence that we are all aware Chik, the club’s lawyer, probably fabricated, we packed up and moved out here.
When dad moved us from Sonston’s End to Palm Springs, I was pissed off at him. He took me from everything I knew my whole life, but after some time I’ve slowly come around to it. I’ve made some friends, even with being in online school. And we make a few trips every couple of months out to visit with the club.
I grew up around the club my whole life. I mean fuck, our house literally sat about 500 yards from the clubhouse, although I was only allowed inside of the clubhouse when there were family events, which were next to never, but all the guys came around and checked on me when my dad was out. I guess I didn’t have a normal childhood. While the guys didn’t let violence happen in front of me, I was aware it was happening. In fact, that’s the whole reason my dad went to prison. Something about scaring the guy who had threatened me. I went to live with Uncle Dax, who also is my godfather. Dax took over the president's position when dad was arrested and that’s when Ash stepped in as VP.
But besides my dad going to prison, my childhood was pretty normal. The guys all tried to make sure of that, especially Ash. He was the one who stepped in whenever dad stayed away for too long. I’m pretty sure that my dad took advantage of that too many times, though. He knew I would be fine, so he stayed away for longer than needed.
My mother left when I was 6. No explanation, just took off and I haven’t heard from her since.
Okay, so maybe most wouldn’t consider my childhood the best, but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Veering the car from the freeway, I then trek up the long, desolate road until I see the dirt road and turn off onto it. Dad took his bike and went straight up to the hospital. While on my way out here, I called Dax.
“Ella?” He paused. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, dad and I are heading up—” he cut me off.
“I don’t think that’s a good—.” I returned the favor.
“Dax, calm down. I’m heading up to the grounds. Dad’s on his way there. I thought I could watch the girls for you guys, so…” I trailed and he chuckled into the phone.
“Thank you, Ella, that would help a lot.” He paused again. “Axe is with them right now and I’ve already gotten like 6 questions about it.” I couldn’t help but chuckle in response. “I’m not sure if you ever met Axe, but he’s there.”
Oh, I met Axe. I had a crush on him within the first 30 seconds of seeing him. He was the first and only guy who was a part of the club that I ever had a crush on, just something about his dark grey, haunted eyes I couldn’t stop thinking about.
I also may have come on strong to him at Fury’s wedding. He rejected me, but it only made me think about him more.
