Savage (The Aces MC

Chapter 8

EFFIE

I don’t know how long I slept for, but I felt someone gently nudge me, which made me move and open my eyes to see Opal leaning over me.

Everything in me relaxed when I realized it was her, she had been inventive with me and even lent me some of her pyjamas. Soft ones, ones I never would have gotten back at home.

Her face read a thousand words before and even now with her waking me up, she looked the same. Her lips tug up into a small smile when she moves up to stand straight. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry to wake you, but your uncle needs to speak to you.”

Moving up slightly, I let out a breath and gave a nod. Maybe he needs to know more, or maybe he didn’t believe me and was sending me back. That thought scared me more.

Moving my legs out of bed, I got up and Opal motioned to the door. “I’ll take you to him. He’s in his office with Tank and Knuckles.”

Hearing those two names made my insides knot. Why were they here?

Not wanting to ask Opal any questions since she probably doesn’t know much. I did as I was told and followed her out of the bedroom, straight down the stairs and to the office, which is the last door to a small hallway.

Once we were outside the door, Opal looked at me and gave me a small nod. “I’ll be in the kitchen, waiting for you. This needs to be addressed now as the club needs to act fast with everything you have given them.”

Those words didn’t settle at all inside me, not even my racing heart. My eyes move to the door and gulp.

“Effie, he believes you and not only that, we need to talk when you get up tomorrow about why you are wearing boy's clothes.”

Didn’t she work that one out?

Without looking at her, I spoke softly. “Dad never spent any money on me, only himself and my brother. I had all of Blade’s hand-me-downs or clothes I found in the lost and found at the club.”

An inhale of breath came from her, which meant she had no idea.

Not looking at her, I knew I had to go in. I knocked on the door till I heard Bear’s voice. “Come in, Effie.”

I do, he asks and pushed open the door, leaving a stunned Opal at the doorway.

Once I step inside, I notice Tank straight away who gives me a small nod who was right by the door when I step inside, which then the door closes behind me when I look to the desk where I find my uncle and Knuckles. Both have blank faces, which makes it hard for me to know if they believe me.

I step closer and sit in the seat before them while all three of them stare at me.

“Effie, I have looked over everything you have written and got,” he said, clearing his throat while I kept my eyes on him. “I—”

“Do you believe me?” I asked, cutting him off.

His mouth opens but closes, while his eyes stay on me. I think I have my answer. “Uncle Bear, everything you have read and seen is all true. I grabbed what I could from my father’s desk and even from the club.”

“How did you get the documents from the club?” Knuckles asked, which made me look at him.

“When they have their parties,” I stated, keeping my eyes locked on his. “The thing about our club is not like yours. We have club girls and hang around at our club all the time. No time is set, people can come and go as they please, unless it is church, but I don’t think my father has had one of those in the last few months.”

“Why do you think that?” Tank piped in, but I never looked over to him.

“Because my father has been doing more business with Mace than the others,” I stated. “Being sneaky and withholding everything from the others.”

No one spoke after that for a moment, before I stared at my uncle. “You better contact The Sinners, Dad and a few of the others left before I did to that shipment I placed in the book to show you. They are stealing it tonight or right now as we speak.” I had no clue if they were, it was an assumption, but I wouldn’t put it past my father if he was.

My uncle looks at me for a moment but says nothing till he picks up his phone and looks through the phone to get to what he is looking at. He presses it, then places it on loudspeaker.

On the second ring, it is picked up. “What do you want, Bear? I have issues here that need to be dealt with.”

Uncle Bear kept his eyes on me when he asked. “What issues?”

The person on the other end lets out a frustrated sigh. “Well, if you must know, our shipment of drugs has been stolen from our location where we keep them.” I can feel the tension in the air shift, but it gets worse when the next words came out of his mouth, which made it a lot worse. “Bear, the shipment it is not ours, it is for a gang we supply to five towns away. We only agreed to do this for the last five months, but this is not the first time this has happened.”

“How many times have—”

“Every shipment for four months,” he muttered, sounding annoyed and getting straight to the point. “I don’t know who the f**k is doing this, but we need it back. Last time they only took a small amount, which went undetected, but this time—more and enough to make it look like a big payout.”

My stomach dropped. It was a lot worse than I thought.

Dad was stealing from them, but what was he doing with it—selling it or was he using it again? Part of me thought both, or worse, the latter one. He liked whatever he could get his hands on back in the day.

Uncle Bear looked at me, something registering on my face must have let him know what I was thinking, since his eyes were darkened. “Cobra, I have to call you back. I may know who has done it but I need you to look at your CTV footage around the shipment. See if anyone was hanging around the area, before, watching or—”

“Who the f**k is it?” Cobra shouted, which made me tense and jump at his tone.

My uncle got him off speaker and then handed his phone to Knuckles, who took it and started to talk to Cobra and then walked past me to get out of the office. I could hear Cobra’s shouting but not what was being said.

Once Knuckles was gone, I heard movement and saw Tank walk past till he was standing behind my uncle. His face set hard, like he believed what he heard.

Looking between them, I let out a shaky breath. “Cobra may find Silver on the CCTV. Dad mentioned him when I overheard him talk with Mace earlier.”

Uncle Bear looked at Tank, who gave him a nod and then walked out of the office. Probably to tell Knuckles and Cobra what I had told them.

When the door closed, Uncle Bear let out a breath. “Effie, why didn’t you tell me it was this bad?” he asked, making me look at my hands that were in my lap. “You could have told me things were bad when I saw you last year.”

Well, he did read all the diary then, but before I could wrap my head around it, he spoke. “I only told Tank and Knuckles about the shipments,” he said, making me look up at him. “They don’t know about what you have been through.”

I swallowed, even though there was nothing there to swallow.

A lone tear escaped, which made my uncle move from his seat and come around toward me till he knelt at my side, taking my hand in his which made me shake slightly. “What you wrote broke my heart, sweet girl.” I couldn’t look at him when he spoke, but he moved his hand and placed it under my chin, making me move to look at him. His eyes softened. “I love you, sweetheart. And I know there is more to what you wrote. Stories that would probably get me arrested when I see your father with what I want to do with him.”

That made me let out a sob.

Uncle Bear looks at me and gives me a smile. “I am going to show Tank the rest.” That part made me want to protest, but uncle Bear shook his head. “The man is easy to talk to about things like this and to get everything out in the open would be a good way for you to let go.”

I said nothing, while I stared at him till I needed to know. “What happens to me now?” I asked, but my mouth got away from me. “I don’t want to go back. Please don’t make me, you do I will run, and I will make sure no one will ever find me ever again.”

That made my uncle straighten up, but his eyes went sad, like he hated those words coming from my mouth. His hand in mine squeezed tightly. “You are not going anywhere and, as far as I am concerned, you are staying here with me and Opal for a long time. No going back.”

I felt somewhat relieve flood through me, but there was one question I needed to know.

“What happens now to them, the club, to dad and Blade?”

That question sits for a moment till my uncle moves up and stands. His eyes are set hard, like he knows what needs to happen, but telling me may not be the case, but I was wrong till he spoke.

“That, my dear sweet girl, will be something I am going to talk to my brothers about now at the emergency church I am holding, and we will be making it quick since I now know they have already done what you said they would—steal.”

Keeping my eyes on him, he gave me a nod before letting the hardness he was holding onto go slightly. “Opal is in the kitchen and has made hot chocolate. Go to her, she will be watching you for the time being. She will even take you shopping too.”

That made me give him a small smile. Hot chocolate, yum but shopping. I have never been, not with anyone, so that could be interesting or horrible at the same time.

Uncle Bear smiles. “Don’t look so worried, it will be good for you.”

I smile and go to get out of the chair when he speaks again. “Effie, when you are ready you will have to tell me more and not only that, you will also get to decide what happens to you next. Not your father or brother—that will be your decision alone, no one else’s.”

Nodding to what he said and even liking the idea, I got up and moved toward him and he stood up. Leaning up on my toes, I press a kiss to his cheek while he smiles. “Thank you.”

“There is no need to thank me,” he said, smiling. “You’re family.”

Liking that, I nod but move away to head to the door when he speaks again. “Effie, once you have had some hot chocolate. You can head back to bed and wake up to a new day.”

Looking at my uncle, I smiled. A smile I probably have never had on my lips for a long time and not the fake one I do on most occasions.

Heading out of the office, I notice Tank and Knuckles leaning on the wall opposite the door. They give me a nod and then walk back inside.

Stepping away and heading to the kitchen, there is a part of me that is happy I am here and now safe, but the other part—the part with my family and club comes to mind—I wonder what the hell my uncle will plan. More than not, I wonder if he will help the club, my father and brother, or will there be a club anymore. Only time will tell.