"Are you sure you don't want to take my spot?"Drew looked at Dalton and nodded. "I'm sure. Dad gave us a rotation for a reason. I need to respect that. The last thing I need is for there to be friction between the two of us, because then I hear it from mom too. I only ask one thing—let me know how she looks, make sure she's doing okay."The "she" they were talking about was Charity. Today would be the first day she'd be speaking to the wife and child. Heaven Hill had made it a point to arrange protection for all involved. Tyler and Dalton were taking the first shift, and both of them had expected Drew to fight them for it."I promise." Dalton put his hand over his heart. "If anything looks out of the ordinary, you'll be the first to know. We won't fuck around; we'll call that shit in."Drew knew his friend spoke the truth. "How's Mandy?" he asked, changing the subject."She's Mandy. We fight like cats and dogs half the time just to make up." Dalton leveled his best friend wi
Charity pulled her car into the parking lot at CRISIS and let out a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. She put it in park and turned the ignition off before removing her sunglasses and taking a look around.This place held so many memories for her. Most of them she'd never told anyone about.It made her feel good to see that Heaven Hill was making a show of force. Tyler Blackfoot stood at the side door, Dalton stood at the front. There was no back door to the building for a reason. Even from where she sat in her car, she could see the updated security measures—cameras that would see everyone coming and going. No one would enter CRISIS without them knowing about it. Several cameras had also been put at the very few windows the house had.On purpose, she took her time gathering the things she would need to go in and do her first interviews with the woman and child she was here to help. Many people had helped her as a teenager; it was time for her to repay the favor.
Charity followed Meredith up the stairs and into the part of CRISIS that housed the bedrooms. It was as if she had entered a time warp. Not much had changed. The stairs still smelled the same; the paint on the wall only looked as if it had been touched up. Meredith's voice broke through the memories."They are very quiet when you first approach them, kind of like skittish, wild, animals, so be careful. If you make too much of a fuss or you move too quickly, they run. We want them to stay here for as long as possible."She appreciated the heads-up because she did not want to scare them away. Obviously they needed help, and that's what she wanted to give them, more than anything. That was her initial reason for being here. "You want to come in here with me? Sometimes a familiar face helps."Meredith nodded and lightly knocked on the door. "Maggie, Skylar, it's Meredith. I brought my friend along with me. You know, the one I've been telling you about? The one that can help you."T
Drew's leg shook, and he made a concentrated effort to stop it. He'd never been nervous in his life. Back when they had been teenagers, he'd worked to keep Charity, but once he had her, he had her. He'd let her go because he knew he'd had to. If he hadn't pushed her, she wouldn't have left and then he would have hated himself for the rest of his life. Chances were they would have hated one another sooner or later, and who knew where they would be now."You leaving?" Liam asked as he went around the kitchen, picking up the plates the family had eaten on. He did his part in the family hierarchy as he took them over to the dishwasher and started loading it.Family dinner was something neither Drew nor Mandy liked to miss. It hadn't escaped his attention that Mandy had missed, and now that she was working for Charity, Drew had to wonder what the hell had gone down—if she missed because she was doing legwork for their case, or if she was hanging out with Dalton. He hadn't been briefed o
Drew could have shouted to the moon how happy he was that Charity was in her rightful place, on the back of his bike again, but he kept it under control. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off."Where are we going?" she yelled over the wind as she tightened her arms around his waist.The tightening of her arms was just one more thing he'd missed, and he hadn't even realized he'd been missing it. As they came to a red light, he took that moment to bring his gloved hand to where hers were clasped around his waist and give them a little squeeze."Someplace we can be alone without prying eyes," he yelled back as the light changed.She held on tightly as he drove out towards the clubhouse, and she wondered why, because there was no way in hell the two of them could be alone there. Silly her, she'd assumed all they were going to do tonight was go for a ride, but it looked as if Drew wanted to talk about a few things.As he turned the bike onto Porter Pike from Louisville
He'd given her a tour of his house and his garage before they came back into the residence. Now they sat on his couch, each nursing their own beer."Are you ready to tell me why you brought me to your house?" Charity questioned as the two of them sat on the couch. "Why didn't you take me to the park or even into town to get some ice cream?""I wanted to be alone with you, and I think we already established that I've had dessert. I don't want to share you with anyone else. If I take you to the clubhouse, everyone will want to know what you've done the past few years and they'll want to catch up. I don't have the patience for that." He situated himself so that he leaned back against the arm of the couch."I'm gonna be real honest with you." He took a deep breath. "You coming back has thrown me into scramble mode. I had convinced myself you'd never be back.""I had almost convinced myself I'd never come back too, especially with it being ten years," she admitted. "It felt like the
Drew was in a foul mood. Anyone who was working today at Walker's Wheels was staying as far away from him as they could. As soon as Drew had gotten off his bike, put his motorcycle boots on pavement, and marched towards the bay doors, everyone had known this was not going to be a good day."You alright?"Drew glanced up from where he was fabricating a piece to put on the front fender of a bike, and saw Liam, worry apparent in his eyes. On days like this, sometimes even Liam wouldn't approach him; he was damn unapproachable."Last night went to shit, fast, and I'm not sure why."He also wasn't sure why he was spilling his guts to his dad. It wasn't like they weren't close, he shared a lot with Liam, they were as close as they could be, but he normally didn't bring his female problems around. Maybe it was because Liam had watched Drew go through the motions after Charity had left, maybe it was because Liam was the one who'd picked him up and tried to put him back together after e
Charity blew out a deep breath as she put her car in park. It had been years since she'd been to this parking lot, especially since she'd sat in a car waiting on a guy driving a motorcycle. She grinned to herself as she heard that motorcycle pull up and park next to her. Rolling her window down, she waved."Really?" Drew asked, a smile on his face. That smile offered the hope that maybe they could move past their argument from the night before.She shrugged. "I can't help it. I feel at home here, more at home here than I even felt at my mom's house. You have to admit I was here more often than not."Walking over to the driver's side, Drew opened her door, glancing up at the Wet Wanda's sign. "You were, and we did share some good times out here in this parking lot."It gave her hope that he was open to this, hope that he would help them overcome their awkwardness. "I figured for old time's sake we could go in."Drew was surprised as hell, but he escorted her into the building,