“Zach,” she whispered as she stared out into the empty diner.
“I know you, babe. I know your smiles, and I know your frowns. I know how you look when you’re happy, when you’re fucking pissed, and when you’re being pleasured so good, you can’t do anything but scream.” He rubbed at a line of tension that had formed between her eyes. “I know the face you make when you’re stressed. So don’t try to feed me a line of bullshit, babe, because I also know when you’re lying. And you suck at it. What’s going on?”
Toni sighed. After a few more moments of heart-pounding silence, she spoke in voice so dejected, it had him wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “Last weekend, this kid came by looking for work.”
A few months ago, Toni began a program where she employed at-risk teens in her diner. She gave them a paying job, which not only took them off the street and away from whatever trouble they were sure to get into, but she also spent time career counseling, teaching basic skills for self-sufficiency, and being a friend to these kids. When possible, she coordinated with their high school counselors and became part of the team of adults working to better the kids’ lives. After having spent her teen years strung out and dating a sadistic gang member, Toni knew first-hand how rough life could get for these kids. She’d save each and every one if she had the means.
“You give ’er a job?”
With a shake of her head, she said. “No. I couldn’t, she’s just thirteen. Her name is Lindsey. She swore she had a family, but after today, I think she’s homeless. Maybe a runaway.”
Laws in Tennessee prohibited minors under the age of fourteen from pursuing gainful employment.
Zach pressed a kiss to her temple. “So, what did you do?”
“Hmm?”
“Come on, babe. I know you. You wouldn’t have just turned her away.”
With a soft chuckle, Toni rested her head on his shoulder. “I had her take out the trash, then let her pick whatever she wanted off the menu.”
“What’d she get?”
“A double bacon cheeseburger with extra fries and a chocolate shake.”
He let out a low whistle. “That’s big eating.”
“Tell me about it. She’s just a tiny thing too. Looks like she’d blow right over if she set her hairdryer too high.” Toni frowned. “Bet she doesn’t even have a hairdryer. Anyway, she ate all that food in under ten minutes. Zach, she had to have been starving.”
Sadness gripped him. No child should have to live that way. And thirteen was still firmly a child in his mind. No matter how tough their lives were or how fast they’d been forced to grow up. They weren’t equipped to navigate the world on their own or take on adult problems.
“She been back at all?” Zach asked, playing with the ends of Toni’s shoulder-length hair.
“Every day.”
He smiled. “And every day, you give her a simple task and feed her.” God, his woman had a heart the size of the whole state of Tennessee.
She turned. “Zach, she has nothing. She’s been here seven days in a row, and I noticed she wore the same shirt four of those days. She’s dirty and rail-thin. But it’s her eyes that got me.”
“Her eyes?”
“They’re so sad. More than sad, sort of resigned. Like she’s just accepted the fact her life is shit and is plodding through each day without meaning.”
“Why do you think she’s homeless?”
“She let it slip that her parents died about six months ago,” Toni said. Then in a move very unlike her, she averted her gaze.
Zach narrowed his eyes. “And?”
“And nothing,” Toni said with a shrug.
Nice try.
With a snort, he grabbed her chin in a soft hold before turning her face to him. “And?”
Toni huffed out a sigh. “And I might have followed her when she left here today. She walked about two miles to that spot beneath the overpass where all those people with nowhere to go sleep at night. I thought about going after her, but she seems so skittish, I was afraid she’d take off running if I got too close.”
Zach ran a hand through his hair as all the many ways she could have been hurt bombarded his mind. “Jesus, Toni, do you have any idea how dangerous it is down there?” And that was before the potential addition of a new one-percenter MC. He took a breath to rein in his frustration. She was tense enough, barking at her now would just ensure a fight she didn’t seem to have the energy for.
Staring him dead in the eyes with a somber look, Toni said, “Yes, Zach. I do know how dangerous it is. Especially for a thirteen-year-old girl.”
Fuck.
So much shit went on beneath that overpass. Most of the drugs that passed through Townsend were sold from there, and more than a few drug-related murders had happened over the years. More than their fair share of assaults, and God knew how many rapes occurred yearly. That spot was yhe very last place a vulnerable teen should be hanging out. No wonder his woman was all worked up. Toni was nothing if not compassionate, and she’d probably been obsessing over the girl since the moment she left.