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“Yeah—I manage security for business firms and individual clients alike. I also track people down for their bail bonds.” Ace had heard about that last bit from Savage. Repo had gotten his woman out of a sticky situation and he and Cat were now relocating to his cabin in Gatlinburg from Alabama. If he was a betting man and Ace was, he’d bet that Repo had the know-how and skills to bring his baby home to him. Then, Charity and Rooster could decide to live or die—it was their call. He didn’t give a fuck either way. If they wanted to live, they’d walk away and leave him and Arabella the fuck alone. If not, Ace had no problem with killing them both for what they had done to him. Rooster was one of his oldest friends and taking his woman broke one of their codes. Hell, as far as Ace was concerned, it was the worst betrayal.
“I need you to track down my Ol’lady and daughter,” Ace ordered. Repo winced and Ace immediately knew he had heard the rumors that flew around the club about what had happened. Ace heard them too, but he didn’t give a fuck what the other club members had to say about what went down between Charity, Rooster, and him. That was no one else’s fucking business.
“How long have they been gone?” Repo asked.
“A few months now. They took off when they realized I was on to them. Listen Repo,” Ace said. He rounded the bar to stand directly in front of his prospect. “As your Prez, I have the right to ask you to do whatever the hell I want. But this goes deeper than doing me a favor. I’ll pay whatever your normal fees are—I just want my daughter back.” He knew he sounded like a fucking pussy, all but begging the new guy to help him out but, if that’s what it took, he’d do it. Ace wasn’t above a little groveling especially if it meant he’d get his daughter back. He wanted her to grow up knowing him. He didn’t know his old man and that led him down many wrong, dark paths. He wanted to give Arabella everything he never had and so much more and Repo was his only chance.
“Will you do it, Repo?” he asked. Yeah—he was asking and not telling. Ace meant what he said—he wouldn’t use his power as the Bandit’s club Prez to get Repo to agree to work for him.
Repo nodded, “Yeah,” he breathed. “But I’m going to need a lot more information. Cat can work on this one with me. She’s getting quite good at tracking people down who don’t want to be found. If they’re hiding, we’ll find them,” Repo promised.
“Thanks, man,” Ace almost whispered. He held out his hand and Repo took it, giving it a shake. “For everything.”
Trinity
Trinity walked into the little bar and worried that she was biting off more than she could chew. But she had a message to deliver, and then she’d high tail her ass back out of there and get back to the right side of the tracks. She set the car seat on the closest table and shook her achy arm. The kid weighed a ton, and she was sick and tired of lugging her around. Her sister had left her kid at her house and taken off with some guy who looked like he just got out of prison. It was just like Charity to pick the seediest, dirtiest, bad assed man to make wrong decisions with. It was who her older sister was and Trinity was always there to pick up the pieces when the shit hit the fan. She’d count Charity dropping off a baby at her place as the shit hitting the fan.
Charity was drunk out of her mind and Trinity wouldn’t put it past her sister to be high too. Her drug of choice used to be cocaine but Trinity hadn’t seen her sister in almost five years. Hell, she barely knew the woman Charity had become, and with the way she just dumped off her kid without so much as a glance back, she didn’t want to.
All her sister said was, “I need you to take her to her father. It’s the only way he’ll leave us alone.” Trinity wasn’t quite sure what her sister’s cryptic message even meant until she walked into the bar and quickly looked around. Every guy in the run-down bar was scoping her out and she suddenly worried that she was making a huge mistake. If one of the tattooed, bearded, bike-riding, jackasses looking her over was her niece’s father, maybe she was better off without him.
“Can I help you?” a tall man asked. She strained her neck to look up at him and noticed that his smile was mean, and it didn’t touch his eyes. She quickly unzipped the baby’s car carrier, revealing the sleeping infant inside. “I’m looking for this kid’s father.”
“Shit,” the man grumbled. She watched as he unbuckled Arabella from her car seat and pulled her free, not caring that it had taken her the better part of an hour to get her to sleep. “She’s mine,” he admitted. The biker wrapped his tattooed arms around the sleeping baby and cradled her to his body.
“Who the fuck are you?” he rudely asked. “And why the fuck do you have my kid.” Yeah, her sister wasn’t ever big on dating guys with manners. Trinity wondered if Charity had made the choices she did to purely piss off their great aunt, or if she was happy with them. She was pretty sure her sister’s piss-poor excuses for boyfriends had everything to do with their aunt, even after she was generous enough to take both Trinity and her sister in. She and her sister had taken very different paths in life. Her sister looked for every excuse to blame their aunt for all her failures and Trinity looked past their shitty childhood and made something of herself. She went to college, earned her degree, and worked for a local law firm. She and Charity were like night and day and there would be no changing that.
“I’m Trinity—Charity’s younger sister. I take it you’re Ace?” she asked. It was just about all her sister gave her to go on. Charity handed her the car seat with the screeching kid in it, her diaper bag, and told her the kid’s name, and the father’s name. That was about it and then Charity was gone.
“My sister dropped off Bella today and asked me to deliver her to you. She said something about you not coming after her if she gave you what you wanted. I’m assuming that’s her?” she asked nodding to the baby who had once again settled and fallen back to sleep in her father’s arms.
“Damn straight. I’ve had men out looking for her,” he looked down at his daughter and smiled. “Her name is Arabella,” he corrected.
“Sorry?” she asked, trying to keep up with the change of topic.
“You called her Bella and that’s not her name,” he said.
“Yeah, well—I’m the kid’s aunt and I’d say that earns me the right to call her all kinds of cute little nicknames.” Trinity reached out and rubbed Arabella’s fuzzy little head. She had to admit—the kid was pretty damn cute but the last thing she needed was to get involved in her niece's life. That would be a giant fucking mistake.
“I take it you and your sister aren’t close?” he asked.
His comment felt like a physical assault more than just a comment. “Why would you assume that?” Trinity spat.
Ace chuckled, “Because Charity was my Ol’lady for almost five years and she never mentioned you.” Figured. Her sister wouldn’t have mentioned Trinity’s existence because that would have meant that she gave a fuck about her sister. Charity didn’t care about anyone else but herself. That fact was evident when she so easily walked away from her kid.
“Right,” she said, clearing her throat. “Well, it seems you have it all worked out then and she seems to be in good hands.” She again nodded to her sleeping niece and smiled. Were all babies that peaceful when they slept? “I’ll just be on my way then,” she said. Trinity picked up her purse from the table and pulled the diaper bag free from her shoulder, handing it over to Ace. He took it and slipped it up his shoulder.
“Thanks,” he said. “For everything. You have no idea what having her back here with me means to me. I owe you, Trinity.”
She nodded, “No need to pay me back, Ace she said. Listen, I know my sister can be hard to live with and I have no idea what happened between the two of you but I know Charity usually means well. I’m sure she returned Bella here for good reason and if that’s the case, you must be a pretty decent guy.”
“I appreciate that, Trinity,” Ace said.
“She just ate an hour ago and my phone number is in the diaper bag—just in case you need me, Ace. I’d love updates about her.” Trinity barked out her laugh and it sounded mean. “Up until yesterday, I had no idea my niece even existed. The little bug grows on you I guess. Take care of her.” She turned to leave the seedy, little bar because standing in that place for even one more minute would have her changing her mind about leaving Arabella. But what choice did she have? Trinity had a life to get back to and with any luck, a case to win. Her client was depending on her, and she’d never let one down yet.
* * *
Trinity spent the next week tied up in endless meetings and had her nose stuck in more legal briefs than she cared to admit. It was her job to kick ass in the courtroom, but all she could seem to do lately was think of the baby she dropped off at a biker bar, just a week earlier. What kind of fool left a baby in a bar surrounded by men who looked like the criminals that her firm would have her representing? Actually, the criminals that her firm took on were of a higher grade than the thugs who filled that bar—and it had a casino attached to boot. All she could envision was her sweet little niece growing up and becoming a showgirl for the disgusting clientele she was sure frequented such a place. It took every ounce of willpower not to drive back across town and demand Arabella back from her supposed father.
