Lucy gave me a smile as she came closer, it wasn’t her usual broad grin, though. “Hey, Op.”

“Hey, Luc.” My eyes flicked between the two of them. “What’s going on?”

It was unusual for them to visit, especially since I could count on both my hands the amount of times Connor had ever come to the clubhouse, and X-Rated girls weren’t usually permitted to be here unless there was a party and they had been invited.

“Sorry to rock up on you like this, but I saw Blizzard in town and he thought it would be a good idea for us to come have a chat with you regarding this little one,” Connor explained, pointing to the girl with dark hair who had a death grip around Lucy’s neck.

I took me a while to figure out what this had to do with us, but it clicked when she finally lifted her face and looked directly at me. “She Hayley’s kid, huh?”

Connor nodded.

I sighed. “Take her around to the playground, Lucy. Harlyn’s there with Neil. I’m sure she’d like a new friend to play with.”

“Sure.” Lucy smiled. “Shall we go make a new friend, Jay?” She placed the little girl on the ground and they held hands before disappearing behind the fence.

I tipped my head toward the clubhouse. “Let’s go talk.”

Connor followed as we walked through the main room and down the hall to my office. I shut the door behind him and took a seat behind my desk. He sat down opposite, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his knees.

“X-Rated is back up and running tonight. Should be busy,” he said casually.

We’d had to shut down the club for two nights so that police could investigate Hayley’s murder. I knew they wouldn’t find anything and they’d made us close our doors just to be assholes. But I didn’t argue. Hayley deserved more than for us to just hide her body somewhere like nothing happened. There was a little girl to think about, which I assumed was the reason for this visit.

“They find the girl some family?” I asked, not wanting to mess around.

Connor looked up at me and shook his head. “Parents are hardcore Christian. Want nothing to do with an illegitimate child. Tossed her out when she found out she was pregnant and she moved in with an old lady who used to babysit her.” He looked tired and frustrated. I knew he felt entirely responsible for the girls at X-Rated. They may belong to the club, but he was like the house mother and he protected them fiercely. “Jayla calls her Gran. She lives over in Montgomery, but she’s eighty-years-old and can’t even do a lot for herself nowadays. She can’t look after a four-year-old.”

“So what are our other options here? Obviously, there was never a dad listed and whether he even knows he has a kid out there is slim to none, and what’s a bet she never told anyone who he was.” I folded my arms and leaned back.

“For now, the police have allowed us to take care of her. She’s been staying with Lucy, Kat and Summer at the apartment downtown, and I’ve put the girls on rotating shifts so that at least one of them is home with her all the time.” He pushed off the chair and walks around it, staring at the floor. “They won’t let us keep her for long. Eventually, they’ll have to come and take her and then what? I don’t want that for her. She’s four and she just lost basically the only family that she knows.”

My mind instantly flashed back to Chelsea. It was like the past repeating itself.

“Look, let me see what I can do. Try and hold off giving her up for a while longer.”

He nodded but his head still hung low. He was feeling this loss hard. It was her association with the club that got her killed, so I’d do whatever possible to make sure that her daughter was looked after. Silence hung in the air and I knew there was something he needed to say.

“I want justice for her,” he spoke quietly, but I heard him loud and clear.

“That’s exactly what she’ll get,” I confirmed slowly, thinking we’d already gone over this.

“I wish I’d known more about her. We had shit in common.” He tried to laugh, but it was strangled. “I know the whole Christian family shit well. I grew up in one. All my friends were from Christian families.”

I began to understand his investment in Hayley’s life. He felt that connection, he realized what she had been through and the idea of trying to make your life better when people who were supposed to care about you, completely shit all over you. I stayed silent, allowing him time to continue if he wanted. I wouldn’t force him to, but sometimes we just need someone to hear our story, to validate who we are and what we’ve fought to get to where we are.

“My best friend got addicted to meth in our senior year at high school. When his parents found out, they supported him while he battled his way out of it. I was there for him. I pushed him to be better and with all that unconditional love behind him, he came out the other side.” He laughed again, but this time it was darker, full of anger and disgust. “I saw what he went through and how everyone had his back and that year, I decided to come out. I’d known I was gay since I was fucking twelve. But you know what I got in return? Shunned.”

I watched as he clenched his fists tightly, the muscles in his arms becoming defined. I could understand judgment and ridicule. Being the son of an MC President didn’t exactly make me the most popular kid on the block. Parents wouldn’t ever let their kids hang out with me. I was sneered at every day at school. But I had other kids like me at the clubhouse. I couldn’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thought.

What I also had was two loving parents who gave a shit.

Connor didn’t.

It took a moment for him to relax, but eventually he calmed down and lifted his head instead of letting it hang in defeat. He held his shoulders back and he was a different man. Not that scared, hurt teenager, I’d just seen come out of him.

“I want justice for Hayley. I might not have had people at my back when I needed it, but I’ll be fucking damned if I let any of those girls, including Jayla, go without having someone who’s there for them.”

“Hayley will get her justice, and somehow we’ll find a way so that Jayla has everything she ever needed and more. The club won’t let her down,” I promised him.

I was true to my word.

I’d find a way so that that little girl had all the love and support she ever needs.

I wasn’t sure quite how yet, but I’d find a way.

Just as I opened the door, home from my morning class, my phone began to ring. I tossed my bag on the floor and crouched down next to it, digging past my school books, attempting to follow the sound. My hand grasped it and I mentally high-fived myself as I pulled it out, briefly recognizing Deacon’s name as I hit answer.

“Hey!” I said cheerfully.

“So I know you aren’t rostered to work today, but Annabelle just rang and she’s having car issues and can’t get here and I’m desperate and I know you’ve got study to do but—”

I laughed. “When do you need me?”

“Oh thank goodness,” he said sounding thoroughly exasperated. “The sooner, the better!”

I smiled. “I’ll see what I can do. See you soon.”

“Thanks, Chelsea.”

I threw my phone on the sofa and headed for my room to find my gym gear. Rose’s door was open and she was propped up on her bed flipping through one of our assigned textbooks.

I must have caught her eye and she looked up and smiled. “Hey, you wanna study with me. I could really do with some help.”

“I wish I could. Deacon just called and he’s desperate for someone to come in, like now.”

Her face dropped immediately. “Are you sure he can’t find someone else? I mean, we have so many assignments due and they’re so big. You should really be working on them.”