Family Ties (Ashby Crime Family)

“Are they?” I remembered the Bastards warning me about telling secrets. Not that I needed a warning. I wasn’t that stupid.

She shrugged as she unwrapped her burger. “Even if I wanted to tell your secrets, who would I tell?”

“Good point.”

“I know, right?” She took a big bite of her burger around a smile. “So?” She rolled her wrist, a move meant to encourage me to talk.

“I don’t know what to say, Savannah. There’s a lot of shit going on and none of it’s good.”

She nodded. “That’s the nature of the game we play, the life we live. Right?”

“Yeah, and I’ve been in it my whole life, in one way or another.”

“Poor little biker boy?” There was no venom or amusement in her voice, and I shook my head.

“You had a bad childhood?” she questioned with a look that told me she wanted to know the truth.

I chuckled. Bad childhood was not even in my thoughts. “Nah. Not really. My mom and dad were great. Still are. You?”

“Pretty normal, I guess. I used to think my dad had a regular nine to five. Well, up until my mom died. You know she’s dead, right?”

“No, I didn’t. Sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks.” Savannah looked at me and took a sip of water. “Cancer. I was just a kid. After she died, my dad and Brendan went crazy. Mom was pretty cool though.” She turned her face away and let out a long, slow breath. “Anyway, that’s enough of me. What about you?”

I sat there in silence for a few seconds and took a bite. Savannah had so much hurt and loss in her life. I could see why she was the way she was. We may have been outlaws, but I’d had a fairly good life.

“Where do I start?” I took another bite of my burger. “Okay, grade school. You’ll never believe this, but my brother and I were bullied because of the scar on Ma’s face. It started in first grade up until I learned how to fight back.”

She frowned. “Really? Kids are shits.”

I chuckled at the authority with which she spoke. “Yes, they are, and I hated it, but it made me tough. And gave me an appreciation for the effectiveness of a well-placed fist in someone’s mouth.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded, laughing at the memories that finally brought me some humor. “Oh yeah. In fifth grade they suspended me for threatening to pull Timmy Littleton’s teeth out with pliers, one by one.”

Blue eyes went wide. “Damn Charlie. That’s both gruesome and impressive. Probably pissed Jana off, though, right?”

“Grounded me for triple the time of my suspension, which was five days.”

Savannah’s eyes widened again as she sipped the milkshake and then handed it to me to share. “I knew she was a badass underneath those pastel sweaters.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her you think so. Mom’s a badass in her own right.” I probably wouldn’t tell Ma anything. She’d already asked too many questions about my ‘pretty little houseguest’.

“Raising two boys while married to a biker? I think she’s probably tougher than all of you put together.”

“Dad tells her that all the time, but he’s the one who taught us to fight. Well, he and the rest of the Bastards. Every time Jamie or I got in trouble for fighting, they all got in trouble with Ma.” I snorted a laugh.

She smiled and dunked her fries in the pile of ketchup beside her burger. “Sounds like a big, boisterous family. I envy that.”

“Even if it’s a family of bikers?”

She shrugged. “Family is family, Charlie. You’re lucky you have so much of it.” There was a lot she didn’t need to say with that one statement.

“You don’t have family anywhere else?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Ronan’s only sister died when I was a teenager. Her husband, my uncle-in-law owns a data storage company in Glitz. Probably keeps a bunch of interesting shit on those servers for anyone who cared enough to look.”

I froze, onion ring caught mid-bite as her words sank in. “Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” I was grateful for the tip, extremely grateful, but there was no such thing as free in our world.

“Because your mom is good people and eventually, helping me means they might go after her.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it.” Her lips curled into a devilish smile. “This is gonna cost you, though. Ten grand and a ride out of town, when the time is right.”

“Does that mean I don’t have to worry about you running off?”

She shrugged. “As long as you don’t give me a reason to want or need to run away, you don’t. At least not right now.”

“Okay.”

“The Black Jacks get their drugs from an American guy, some surfer-looking guy. Not a Mexican national.”

I blinked at the unexpected news. “But they call their shit Mexican Madness.”

“I know, but that’s only because the guy lives in Mexico, well he actually lives on a boat, but he’s not Mexican. I’ve seen him. Up close and ugly if you get my drift.”