Wrench

6 - Homeless shelter

Wrench

I’m a little early to meet Elie. Call me eager, but I’ve been counting the minutes since she asked me out tonight. I had no idea a woman making me wait for se.x would have me longing to see her all the time.

It’s funny when I think about it. This is how it must feel for women when I don’t return their calls. This must be why they follow me around until I tell them to get lost. It would serve me right if Elie did the same thing to me.

I see her approaching the shelter, coming towards me with a smile on her face.

Yeah, she isn’t telling me to get lost any time soon.

“Hi!”

I smile and pull away from the wall I was leaning against. “Evening, beautiful.”

“I’m so glad you’re joining me.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

Elie smiles at me, and I have to admit, her smile is beautiful. I stare at her momentarily, lost in her beauty, before shaking my head of the fuzz.

“Shall we go inside?”

Elie nods, and I open the door for her like a gentleman.

The shelter is nothing special; it is just an old community center that had been empty for years. Shepard purchased the lease and gave the place to Teagan Mulligan.

Teagan is a sweet woman, a bit hippy-dippy, but a woman with a kind heart. She was over the moon when the club presented her with this old building for her charity work.

It had been Stryker’s dream to snag this building and have someone run it to help the homeless and those less fortunate than himself. People who just needed a little help getting back into work after finally finding somewhere to live or had been struggling for a while.

When Shepard told us what he’d done, Stryker couldn’t contain his happiness. To be honest, none of us had seen him smile that much before. Well, other than every time he looks at Coral.

As a band of brothers, we helped get the place set up the way Teagan had envisioned, and the club has been on hand for whatever Teagan needs ever since.

“Wrench!” I chuckle as Teagan comes rushing around her counter towards me. “It’s so good to see you!” I let her hug me, only hugging her half-heartedly in return. “Your mother was in earlier today,” Teagan tells me as she pulls away from me.

“She was?” My mom doesn’t usually stop by the homeless shelter on a Thursday.

“Yes. To drop off some clothes. Oh!” I chuckle as she turns to Elie, whom herself is looking between the two of us. I should have told her I’m in and out of this place often. “It’s so nice to see you again, Elie!”

“It’s nice to see you again too. You didn’t tell me you knew this place, Wrench.”

“Oh, Wrench and his family are well known to us all. The Snakes Henchmen are the reason this place exists.”

“Oh, come now, Teagan,” I smile. “This place is open because of you.”

“Nonsense. If you guys hadn’t bought the lease, we wouldn’t be here doing what we’re doing. Come. I’ll show you around, Elie. Wrench, are you staying?”

I nod my head and chuckle. Teagan has completely dismissed the fact that Elie walked in with me.

Elie leans in as we follow Teagan into the main room. “Is she always like this?”

“Always. You get used to it.”

“You might have mentioned that everyone in this town knows you.”

I’m trying not to laugh at the expression on Elie’s face. She’s a little peeved that I didn’t tell her. “This place is special to my family. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Teagan tells us to follow her. She wants to show Elie around the building. It doesn’t take long, and Teagan is soon leading us into the main room. Every table is filled with people eating the warm food Teagan and her volunteers provide. The club plows a lot of money into the place. We want to ensure people have everything they need while they are here. We also get donations from Draven Vidal every now and again. Not to mention, Teagan holds fundraisers every six months. Every little helps, and all that.

“You’ve arrived for dinner service.”

“Do you have enough food to feed this many people each day?”

Teagan smiles at Elie. “We manage to fix decent meals for everyone who comes through those doors. With the donations we receive and local stores giving us food, it all helps to keep the place open.”

“How many times a day do you serve food?”

“Well, Elie, we’re open twenty-four-seven, so three times a day.”

“And you regularly have this many mouths to feed?” Elie looks around the room at the people; I know she wishes she could help.

I’ve never seen this many people at the shelter. It looks like the club needs to up its efforts to help these people. A bowl of beef stew probably seems like steak and eggs to these poor people right now.

The young mother and three children in the left corner of the room catch my eye. They look like they’ve seen better days. By that, I mean the mother seems beaten down by life. The children look to be between the ages of two and seven.

“They came in a couple of hours ago,” Teagan tells me. “Marcia’s husband left her for someone else, and she lost her job and home. She’d been living out of her car, but it was towed away this morning. She’d only parked for a moment to run into the pharmacy in town to get medicine for her little boy. She’d managed to beg for money to help with his cough.”

As if on cue, the youngest boy coughs harshly. I look at Elie; she has tears in her eyes. Teagan continues to tell us how Marcia and her children ended up this way. After Marcia’s husband left her, he refused to pay child support, and everything went downhill after that.

“Have you spoken to Shepard about this?” Prez will find a way to help Marcia. Nova is also a great one for helping women like Marcia. I’m sure that between those two and the rest of the club, we can help get this woman back on her feet.

“I spoke to him about an hour ago. I needed to make sure Marcia knew she could stay here with her children. I didn’t want her to think she had to leave and sleep on the street with those babies, and that is what she feared.”

If I know Teagan, she would have done anything to keep them here where they’re safe.

“Marcia told me earlier that she thought it would be best to give up her children. I felt so sorry for her. All she’s done is try to protect them. She told me that she’d explained everything to her ex-husband. She thought he’d take the children until she got back on her feet. He refused and allowed those poor kids to live in a damn car.”

Asshole! I hate men like that. If this were my mother in Marcia’s situation, my father would make damn sure his kids and his ex-wife were safe. I can’t, in all honesty, imagine my parents in this position.

“Luckily, I had clothes out back to fit all four of them. I had Jill go out and buy underwear and diapers with donation money. The youngest can’t help himself when he needs the potty. As soon as Jill returned, I sent Marcia and her children to the bathroom to shower and change. They were gone over an hour. They came through here ten minutes before you arrived. As you can see, they’re eating for the first time today. Not that Marcia has eaten in days because she gives to her children what she can get her hands on.”

“Will they be safe tonight?”

Teagan nods in Elie’s direction. “The largest of the six private rooms I showed you upstairs is where they’ll be sleeping tonight.”

“How long will they be able to stay here?”

“For as long as it takes for us to help find them somewhere more permanent, Elie. We never force anyone to leave until they have somewhere safe to go.”

I touch Elie’s arm, and she turns to face me. “My club works closely with Teagan and her team to help these people. We’ll do everything we can for Marcia and her children.”

Elie nods with a slight smile.

“Come, let me introduce you.”

“Oh, no,” Elie shakes her head at Teagan. “Maybe later.”

“She won’t bite.” Teagan laughs.

I take Elie’s hand in mine and wink. I then lead her over to the little family that seems to have touched Elie’s heart.

“Marcia?” The pretty young woman looks up with a smile. “I’d like to introduce you to Elie and Wrench. Elie is volunteering this evening, and Wrench belongs to the club I was telling you about.”

“Oh,” Marcia smiles wider while she wipes her hands on a napkin. She gets out of her seat and offers her hand to me, then to Elie. We both shake her hand and say hello. “It’s nice to meet you both. Teagan has told me a lot about your club, Wrench. Can they really help us?”

I smile. She’s a hopeful woman, one who wants help to support and protect her children. I can see just by looking at her that she would do anything in return for that help. Not that Shepard would ever ask Marcia for anything. He does this shi.t out of the goodness of his cold heart.

“If you want it, we can help you.”

Marcia’s eyes close in relief. Poor woman, I can’t imagine how difficult, not to mention scary, this all has been for her.

“Hi!”

I smile and watch Elie crouch beside the smallest child. “Hello, little one. What’s your name?”

“Cason.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Cason. My name is Elie.” The little boy giggles as Elie strokes his face. “Is this your brother and sister?”

“My name is Carly,” I’m guessing the little girl is the middle child. “And that’s Aaron.” The elder child waves with a slight smile.

“It’s so very nice to meet you all.”

I nod for Teagan to follow me. “Can you keep an eye on Elie for a moment? I’m just going to call Shepard and update him on the girl and her kids. I want to get things moving quickly for her.”

“Of course. Thank you, Wrench.”

“My pleasure.” I make my way outside and call Shepard. I give him a quick rundown of what I’ve learned this evening.

“I’ve spoken to Nova; she’s working on a few things. Your Mom and Lynette are gathering what they can for when we find an appropriate property for the girl.” Shepard tells me.

“You need help on that front?”

“Stryker’s on it.” Figures. “There’s a lot to work out, Wrench. It’s not just as simple as finding them a home and filling it. There’s figuring out what the woman is capable of doing on the job front. Then we need to help her find work that she’ll enjoy.”

“I know, Boss. School for the kids, childcare if Marcia needs it, a car, money, and provisions until she gets her first paycheck. Plus, they will need counseling to help with all they have been through.”

“Exactly.”

I run a hand through my hair. The Snakes have helped many people get back on their feet over the years, and it’s never as simple as people believe it will be. However, this isn’t just one person we’re talking about; it’s a family of four.

“Go enjoy the rest of the night with your new lady friend, and leave this to me.”

“Boss,” I smirk.

Hawk and Roman have big fuckin.g mouths. I should have known they’d go blabbing like kids to everyone about Elie.

Weirdly, I’m not pissed about it, though.