(Club Chrome MC 2) All Dogs Bite (14 page)

“Well, we like them to consider our home, their home,” he said.

Zoe smiled. “Can I get your names?” she prompted, pen ready.

“Ah, yes, of course. I’m George Almanza and this is my wife Millie.”

“Nice to meet you,” Zoe murmured as she jotted down the names. “How long have you been fostering?”

“Oh goodness…” George looked to Millie for confirmation, “Quite a while, hasn’t it, Mother? At least twenty years or so. We were never blessed with children of our own but we had so much love to give that we wanted to take in the poor misfortunate children who needed guidance and love. We pour so much love into these children that it’s hard to remember that they’re not of our flesh, isn’t that right, Millie?”

“Yes, dear,” Millie agreed, flashing a brief, efficiently polite smile. “Loving children…it’s just what we do. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Zoe nodded. “And have you always been in this house?”

“Oh yes,” George said, proud. “Right here. This is ground zero for our family. We pride ourselves on our deep roots.”

It was hard to suppress the shiver that ran right down Delainey’s spine as George inadvertently confirmed that they were the monsters Bronx had talked about, especially when they presented a completely different picture. But then monsters sometimes wore nice smiles and looked like great people, right? Delainey wasn’t terribly religious but she did remember that the Bible stated the devil had once been heaven’s brightest angel before the Fall.

“Dee, can you get a picture of George and Millie?” Zoe said to Delainey and she nearly dropped her camera. She fumbled but recovered with a bright smile to snap a few shots of the couple as they smiled brightly for the shot. Geesh, she wasn’t cut out for this undercover stuff, apparently. She looked to Zoe with an expression that said,
let’s get the hell out of here
, but Zoe ignored her and pushed forward with a few more questions. “Twenty years…that’s a lot of kids…I’m sure you see all kinds of kids come through your doors…any stand out in particular?”

“Oh goodness…so many little faces…we love them all. It’s hard to pick a favorite,” George said with a fond smile that came off as super creepy to Delainey. “How about you, Mother? Any stand out for you?”

“I couldn’t say. We’ve been blessed with an abundance of wonderful little people in this house over the years.”

“Forgive me, but you must remember a little boy by the name of Gage? According to your records from Social Services…he died. Can you shed some light on that particular case?” Delainey put it out there, watching their reaction keenly. They came for answers, they might as well go all in.

Their smiles remained fixed but their gazes narrowed as George took the lead, clasping his wife’s hand as if in comfort but it seemed to Delainey, he was restraining her. “Gage…yes, that was a tragedy. We’ve lost one child over the years but an investigation revealed we were not at fault. Lovely boy. Sweet. But troubled. Some children come to us so broken. A broken pot, no matter how well you mend it, will always be fragile.”

“What happened to him?” Zoe asked.

“As I’m sure you’ve already read in the report…it was a terrible accident,” Millie said, her eyes cold. “One we don’t like to talk about, as you can imagine. Surely your readers aren’t interested in that terrible incident.”

“I think our readers would find it uplifting to read how you overcame such a tragedy,” Zoe countered with a short smile. “Overcoming adversity and all that.”

“Yes, well, we prefer to move on. Gage, bless his little soul, is in a better place and that’s where we would like to leave it.”

George patted his wife’s hand, saying apologetically, “Mother doesn’t like to talk about Gage. She loved him so much. Probably too much. We’re supposed to remain a little detached but those little rascals worm their way into our hearts. He was such a joy to us. A playful little scamp. He loved special times with Mother and me.”

Special times. A sickly knot formed in Delainey’s gut and she nearly threw the camera at them. She looked to Zoe. “I think we have enough, right?”

Zoe snapped her notebook shut with a smile. “Yep. We have what we need.” She rose and folded her hands to her chest, hugging her notebook and Delainey knew she did it because she didn’t want to shake hands with them. “Thank you so much for your time. We’ll be in touch.”

George and Millie followed them to the door and then George said as he let them out, “Will we get an advance copy before the story runs?” he asked.

Zoe seemed to take great relish in saying, “Sorry, we don’t do that. But don’t worry, I’ve been told I’m a very good reporter. I’ll make sure you get a good story.”

George seemed pleased with that and nodded. “Thank you! We look forward to reading it.”

Zoe and Delainey waved and then booked it to the car. Once inside, Delainey exploded, “Holy shit! It’s them! They’re still fostering. Oh my God, we have to do something. Did you totally get a creeped out vibe from them or what? I can’t believe it. What do we do? What’s the next step?”

“I don’t know. We have to have some kind of proof that they’re still buggering kids behind closed doors. I mean, look at them. They’re the picture perfect poster child of foster parents. I mean, without solid proof, we’re just going to look like jerks for making allegations.”

“But you got the same vibe as me, right?” Delainey pressed and Zoe nodded. “Thank God. I mean, especially the wife. When she smiled all I could think of was that’s what a shark looks like right before they take a chunk out of your thigh.”

“Basically, we might be able to get the cops to take a second look at Gage’s case but if it was ruled an accident…no one’s really going to want to reopen that case.”

“But we have to try, right? I mean, if they’ve never been caught that means they’re still using their authority to abuse kids. That’s just gotta stop.”

Zoe nodded, biting her lip in thought. “You know, Jax and Hunter were in that house, too. Maybe they know something that might help.”

“Weird coincidence,” Delainey murmured, wondering if it was time to admit that she was shacking up with a Dog. She cast her gaze at her friend, weighing the pros and cons and then finally, because the stakes were high, decided to go for it. “I have to tell you something, the friend I’ve been helping out…his name is Bronx. Bronx Harris.”

Zoe frowned and then recognition hit her. She swung her shocked gaze Delainey’s way. “You don’t mean THE Bronx Harris, as in the leader of the Road Dogs MC right?”

Delainey swallowed and nodded, waiting for Zoe to freak out. When Zoe just stared, Delainey rushed to explain. “Look, he’s not the bad guy everyone thinks he is.”

“Um, he’s not vying for Man of the Year,” Zoe pointed out with a shake of her head. “C’mon, Dee…what have you gotten yourself into?”

“About the same thing you got yourself into with your guys,” Delainey shot back, a little irritated at Zoe’s hypocrisy. “Remember when you first hooked up with Jax and Hunter? It wasn’t as if they were the best candidates as boyfriend or husband material and it’s not like you didn’t stress over how it would look but that didn’t stop you from falling in love with them and having their baby, right?”

That shut her up because what could Zoe say? Humbled but still concerned, Zoe said, “You’re right, but
Bronx
…he’s a different class of bad, you know? I mean Jax and Hunter were good guys deep down and maybe Bronx is, too, but how far
down
do you have to go to find that good guy?”

“Not as far as you might think,” Delainey maintained stubbornly. “Look, you’re not going to change my mind. Maybe he is using me and I’ll get my heart broken but maybe I won’t and he’s my soulmate.”

“Soulmate?” Zoe repeated dubiously but immediately looked contrite when Delainey scowled. “Okay, maybe he is. I can’t help but worry, you know? I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“And I don’t want to miss out on something wonderful because I’m afraid,” Delainey said. “He needs me — and I need him.”

Zoe sighed with acceptance. “Okay. I trust your judgment. But if he hurts you…”

“Then I give you permission to stomp him into the ground.”

Zoe laughed and nodded. “Good plan. Now, let’s see what we can do about the Pervy Patridge foster family.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Zoe put her foot on the gas and they put 2219 Bluebell Lane in their rear view mirror — for now.

-12-

“Is that them?” Delainey asked Bronx later that night, holding the camera out to him. He took the camera with a dark look because she was still going after what he’d told her to drop and took a look at the LED display. His expression paled and she had her answer. He thrust the camera back at her as if it were diseased and nodded. Hands shaking, she turned the camera off and delivered the bad news. “They’re still fostering.”

Bronx stared, his gaze narrowing. “How do you know? How the fuck did you get their picture?”

Okay, prepare for the blow-back
. “Me and Zoe went to that address on the pretense of writing a story about them for the Courier and we tricked them into giving us the information we were looking for. It’s them. For sure. I even brought up Gage to watch their reaction.”

“And?”

“And they said it was an accident and they were cleared of any wrong-doing by the agency.”

“Fucking sick freaks,” he muttered. “The only accident was that their fucking games got out of hand.”

“We need to shut these people down,” Delainey urged, going to Bronx and grabbing his hands in hers, showing him that she would be with him every step of the way. “They’re bad. I get what you say about them looking the part of the nice, upstanding couple but that woman gave me the freaking creeps. Her smile reminded me of a shark. And that guy? Ick. I can’t even imagine.”

“Yeah, they’re a pair to draw to,” he said darkly, his gaze tracking something in his memory. “She was the sadist; he was the pedophile. Together they made a fucked up team.”

“What I don’t understand is how they haven’t been caught yet. I mean, someone must’ve talked by now.”

He shook his head. “You have to understand, they picked their victims well. Not every kid was selected for their
special time
.”

She shuddered. “He actually used that phrase. Made me sick to my stomach.”

“They carefully selected kids that no one would believe, kids with no advocate. Victims that they could manipulate easily. And, I don’t know for sure but they had to have had someone on the inside at social services turning a blind eye to anything that seemed out of the ordinary.”

“That makes sense,” Delainey agreed but frowned at the enormity of the realization. “That’s some pretty deep corruption and even harder to prove.”

“Welcome to my world. Why do you think I never thought to tell anyone? I knew no one would listen and with my luck, I’d end up back in that fun house of terrors for more of Georgie’s
special times
. Fuck that. You couldn’t pay me to talk if that were the case.”

She understood. “So what do we do? We can’t just sit on our thumbs and wait for another kid to end up like Gage.”

“Maybe they’ve tamed their freak show,” Bronx said but even he didn’t believe it. He shook his head, frustrated and looking a little green. “Fuck. I don’t know. I wish you hadn’t stirred this shit up again.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, understanding that he wasn’t actually mad at her but at the situation and feeling so helpless.

“I’m not some advocate. I’m a street thug. I’ve definitely never been the hero in anyone’s story and I don’t intend to start now.”

She ignored his harsh words and cuddled up to his chest. He folded his arms around her tightly and she felt him shaking even though he was trying to hide it. That place had done some damage. “You’re the hero in my story,” she disagreed, holding him as tightly as she was able. “We’ll find a way to make them pay for all the bad things they’ve done.”

“I don’t see how,” he retorted grimly. “They’re untouchable. In twenty years, no one has been able to make them pay. How are we supposed to make it happen?”

How indeed. Delainey pulled away, a wild thought coming to her. “So, Zoe shared with me a weird coincidence…”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Well, I don’t think I mentioned this but my best friend is in a polyamorous relationship with two guys you might know…”At Bronx’s narrowed stare, she continued in a rush, saying, “Zoe is, um, with Jax Traeger and Hunter Ericksen, and as you probably already know—“

“Fuck me,” Bronx interjected under his breath as he practically spit out, “the leaders of The Kings.”

“Yes. The very same. But before you get all growly and territorial because The Kings and The Dogs don’t play well together, you have something in common…”

“Yeah, our mutual dislike for one another,” he finished with a scowl.

“More than that and this is where the coincidence comes in. Apparently, Jax and Hunter were in that house same as you. Do you remember them from that time in your life?”

Bronx hesitated, trying to remember but came up empty. “They must’ve come after me. Did they say anything about their time there?”

“Um, well, not to me, but they might’ve to Zoe. Maybe if we combine forces…we can shut these perverts down.” She held his gaze, knowing this was a big thing to ask but the stakes were high enough, right? “Bronx…? Can’t you put aside your differences for a short while for a common goal?”

She could tell he wasn’t sure. Maybe she was asking too much. She didn’t know what water was beneath that bridge between them but in all honesty, if she hoped to have Bronx in her life at all, she had to hope that they could mend fences because she wasn’t going to give up her best friend simply because their guys couldn’t get along. She stepped closer and looped her arms around his neck to plead as sweetly as she was able. “Please?”

He was wavering, she could feel it. But he was also pissed off about it, too. Well, he’d just have to find a way to get past it.

***

Being a serial foster kid, bouncing from one house to another, you start to recognize the usual suspects as well as the signs of someone who’s used to shifting from one place to another without batting an eye. Bronx knew Jax and Hunter — would you believe at one time they’d been friends? — and their association went all the way to junior high. They’d had a lot in common — shitty childhoods had a way of bonding people — and for awhile they’d been thick as thieves until that one summer night when everything had gone to hell.