Page 10 of Creed

“Would you like a drink? I have fruit punch and apple juice.” She offered.

“No thank you.”

She led me to the small living room where we both took a seat. “The children are taking a nap in my spare bedroom. I have about fifteen minutes before they wake up.”

I tilted my head. “All the children are in the same room?”

She was not amused by that question, obviously. I was overstepping again, dammit.

“I only have six today and they sleep on tiny individual cots. The one infant I have is in a baby bed. They’re fine, I assure you. I like having them in there so I can clean the kitchen after lunch without waking them up. So, what brings you back to Cold Springs? I haven’t seen you since graduation night at Steve Henry’s party.” She sat on her small recliner. I took a look around and it seemed the trailer was custom made for a person of short stature with low countertops and a step stool sat infront of the stove. I owned most of the trailers in the park, but I thought I probably didn’t own that one.

“I have taken a hiatus to visit my family, Callie and Addie. Unfortunately, I haven’t had any luck finding Callie.”

She shook her head. “I haven’t had Addie here in weeks. Usually, I’d keep Addie after school. Callie works so hard, and that loser Shane has no business being around children. I never charged Callie because Addie was a big helper, and I knew Callie couldn’t afford childcare. She would usually bring me food for the kids when she got her food stamps at the end of the month. It wasn’t much, but it helped, and I enjoyed Addie’s company.”

“You haven’t seen any of them in weeks?” That gave me no comfort at all.

She crossed her legs. “They’ve been home late at night here and there, but I haven’t actually talked to them. Shane wakes the whole park up when he drives in on that stupid bike at all hours of the night. He always has friends with him, and they look like some rough characters.”

“How was Callie the last time you saw her?” I felt sick to my stomach.

There was still no smile on her face, and she looked very serious. “She had been roughed up again. Shane has only gotten worse over the years but especially worse now that he’s hanging out with this motorcycle gang. One day, I took the kids outside to play in the small kiddie pool and Addie wore her swimsuit. She had bruises on her back. She wouldn’t tell me what happened, but I made the call to CPS. I regret it because they didn’t come until the next day and Shane was home alone. That’s when he took off with them and I haven’t talked to them since. I did see them late at night a few times but didn’t get to talk to them.”

“Their yard is trashed, so I’m presuming it gets rowdy over there at times?”

She nodded. “It has but not every night. While Callie was out working late at night, Addie would be with me and Shane would have parties. I usually don’t keep kids after six in the evening, but Callie is a friend, and I’m somewhat attached to Addie. Callie seemed to have also somewhat behaved differently with time. I could smell alcohol on her when she would come over to get Addie ready for school in the mornings. At some points Addie was with me more than she was with Callie. I’ve decided that Callie gave up and was too exhausted to fight Shane any longer and started drinking herself.”

We talked a little while longer and I left feeling worse than when I arrived. The only good thing that came out of it was maybe a new old friend. She gave me her number when I asked for it, and said maybe we could hang out sometime.

Not Your Typical Biker

Creed

Twelve hours prior

I buried my face in Dahlia’s neck as my release took me over. Her nails were still dug into the skin of my back which only intensified the orgasm. We were both hot and sticky when I kissed her cheek then rolled off her. I was still trying to catch my breath when my phone rang. Knowing it was probably important because my men knew not to contact me while I was in Louisville unless it was an emergency, I had to answer it. I reached down beside the bed and pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket, only to see it was Darren Rossi calling. I accepted the call then put it to my ear just as Dahlia laid her head on my chest.

“This better be important, I’m in Louisville.” Yes, even the Sheriff knew I wasn’t to be disturbed when I was making my monthly visit to see Dahlia.

“You’re up to no good again, I see.” He chuckled. He knew I had a paid piece of ass and wasn’t all that interested in the sexual activities back at the compound. Dahlia was paid to see me and only me until I grew bored with her and moved on to someone else. Its not like I had a hard time with women and had to pay for sex. It was because I liked my girls clean and Ididn’t share. It was one girl at a time without the heavy weight of a relationship.

“How can I help, Darren?” I was still catching my breath.

“Its just a heads up, we’re about to send out an Amber alert for a six year old girl. I’m not sure you’ll get it since you’re down there, but I’m sure your men will receive the alert on their phones.”

I quickly sat up, making Dahlia fall back into the bed. “Who?”

“Its for Adeline Doyle, she’s the daughter of Shane and Callie Doyle. My niece is in town and she’s good friends with Callie. She has filed a missing person’s report, and the last sighting of the child was yesterday afternoon in Clarity.”

I shut my eyes and shook my head. “The Devil’s Rejects again?” I knew Callie from both the bar she worked at and the restaurant in Clarity. I also knew she was married to Shane Doyle, and he recently became entangled with the Rejects.

“We believe so, and CPS has received three different reports for Addie just this week. One of them came from my niece. We are presuming they’re at the Devil’s Rejects compound, but we are sending out the Amber alert to hopefully draw Callie and Addie out. I simply wanted to inform you before the alerts reached your phones.”

Darren Rossi knew who we were and what we did at our compound. It was our jobs to find missing people, but not everyone knew of our true business. We rarely took cases in the States, because we were needed internationally. I guess I was just shocked that we would be needed in Cold Springs. Nearly everyone thought we just built custom bikes for rich people. It wouldn’t have been the first time we were called in to helpDarren on a case, but it was never for a missing child. It was usually just to keep watch on certain individuals and do some work that wasn’t exactly legal.

“What can we do to help?” I sat on the side of the bed and reached down and grabbed my boxer briefs and started to get dressed.

“Nothing for now, it was just a heads up. I think they’ve come home in the middle of the night, but we’ve missed them each time. Addie is in Kindergarten and hasn’t shown up to school, although Callie calls into work. My niece is obsessed with finding Callie and Addie, poking around town and asking everyone about them. She’s not going to stop until she finds them, and she would not have a problem showing up on the Devil’s Rejects doorstep.”

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