Overdosed: Fury's Storm MC Read Online Free Page B

least.
     
    “So, then what? Nothing from her for all these years? Not even a child support payment?”
     
    He shrugged again. “I can’t explain it either. I’ve been thinking about it all week, God knows.”
     
    “She’s been here all week?” My eyes went wide.
     
    “Yeah, and she’s still alive. Go figure.” He rolled his eyes at my shock.
     
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you would have taken care of her all week is all.” He hardly looked the type. The only word that came to mind when I looked at him was “dangerous.” He was a dangerous man. His tall, broad body could inflict pain if he wanted it to. His mouth could easily curve into a smile or a snarl. His hands were big enough to squeeze a person’s throat until they stopped breathing. He had a coldness to him, an insolence. And he was the leader of the most dangerous bunch of people in town. How could I think otherwise?
     
    Then again, his daughter was happily playing Candy Land in the middle of the clubhouse. It was all too bizarre for words.
     
    “What’s next, then? I guess you haven’t found Rae.”
     
    “Good guess. She’s a ghost.”
     
    I shivered at his use of the word—I had already wondered to myself if she wasn’t maybe dead. Who knew the sort of people she was mixed up with? They were likely capable of anything.
     
    “I went to the house today. Still empty and dark,” I said.
     
    “Yeah, we’ve been keeping an eye on the place, too. Otherwise, I’ve been asking her dealer friends to contact me if they find her.”
     
    I shook my head. “Rae’s been clean for ages. I don’t know that she relapsed.”
     
    He sneered. “Please.”
     
    “It’s true. She was proud of herself for it. She does drink, though.”
     
    “Once a junkie, always a junkie. Especially with heroin.” He sounded like he knew what he spoke of. I decided not to ask how he was so well-acquainted with it.
     
    “Well, none of them have seen her, I guess?”
     
    “Nobody has any idea where she is. Most of them act like they don’t even know who she is.”
     
    “They might not. I’m telling you, she’s trying.”
     
    “Sure.” He shook his head. “She’s doing a great job, isn’t she? Leaving her kid here.”
     
    “Your kid, too.” I watched as he winced.
     
    “Yeah. Mine, too.”
     
    She looked happy enough. I couldn’t help but smile, watching her laugh with the girls. I hadn’t seen her like that at school. She was always so serious. A funny thought crossed my mind. There, she only had to be a kid. She didn’t have to worry about her mommy, or how she would eat, or where her winter clothes were. She could relax for once and be a kid.
     
    “What are you going to do with her? I mean, let’s say you never find Rae. Let’s go worst-case scenario. She went off on a binge and OD’d. It happens when people relapse.”
     
    “Right.”
     
    “So what are you going to do? She can’t grow up here, obviously.”
     
    He eyed me up and down. “You said you’re her teacher?”
     
    “Yes.”
     
    “And you care so much?”
     
    “She’s sort of my special student.” I couldn’t help admitting it.
     
    “I guess she’s lucky to have somebody who gives a shit about her.” He sounded grudging in his praise, but I would take it. I got the impression he didn’t give praise freely.
     
    “I do. I want what’s best for her.”
     
    “Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not putting her in any foster home.” He sounded adamant.
     
    “What makes you say that?”
     
    “I grew up in one.” His grim tone told me everything I needed to know. I knew better than to press the subject.
     
    We stood side-by-side, watching Gigi play. It warmed my heart to see her looking happy. How bizarre, a little girl looking happy in a place like that. Beer signs on the walls in bright, glaring neon. A bar along one side of the room. A pool table, a pinball machine—all right, she might like a pinball machine. Dart boards. Sofas,