Page 30 of Reacher's Ride or Die

“Shit,” the man grumbled. She watched as he unbuckled Arabella from her car seat and pulled her free, not caring that it had taken her the better part of an hour to get her to sleep. “She’s mine,” he admitted. The biker wrapped his tattooed arms around the sleeping baby and cradled her to his body.

“Who the fuck are you?” he rudely asked. “And why the fuck do you have my kid.” Yeah, her sister wasn’t ever big on dating guys with manners. Trinity wondered if Charity had made the choices she did to purely piss off their great aunt, or if she was happy with them. She was pretty sure her sister’s piss-poor excuses for boyfriends had everything to do with their aunt, even after she was generous enough to take both Trinity and her sister in. She and her sister had taken very different paths in life. Her sister looked for every excuse to blame their aunt for all her failures and Trinity looked past their shitty childhood and made something of herself. She went to college, earned her degree, and worked for a local law firm. She and Charity were like night and day and there would be no changing that.

“I’m Trinity—Charity’s younger sister. I take it you’re Ace?” she asked. It was just about all her sister gave her to go on.Charity handed her the car seat with the screeching kid in it, her diaper bag told her the kid’s name and the father’s name. That was about it and then Charity was gone.

“My sister dropped off Bella today and asked me to deliver her to you. She said something about you not coming after her if she gave you what you wanted. I’m assuming that’s her?” she asked nodding to the baby who had once again settled and fell back to sleep in her father’s arms.

“Damn straight. I’ve had men out looking for her,” he looked down at his daughter and smiled. “Her name is Arabella,” he corrected.

“Sorry?” she asked, trying to keep up with the change of topic.

“You called her Bella and that’s not her name,” he said.

“Yeah, well—I’m the kid’s aunt and I’d say that earns me the right to call her all kinds of cute little nicknames.” Trinity reached out and rubbed Arabella’s fuzzy little head. She had to admit—the kid was pretty damn cute but the last thing she needed was to get involved in her niece's life. That would be a giant fucking mistake.

“I take it you and your sister aren’t close?” he asked.

His assessment felt like a physical assault more than just a comment. “Why would you assume that?” Trinity spat.

Ace chuckled, “Because Charity was my Ol’lady for almost five years and she never mentioned you.” Figured. Her sister wouldn’t have mentioned Trinity’s existence because that would have meant that she gave a fuck about her sister. Charity didn’t care about anyone else but herself. That fact was evident when she so easily walked away from her kid.

“Right,” she said, clearing her throat. “Well, it seems you have it all worked out then and she seems to be in good hands.” She again nodded to her sleeping niece and smiled. Were all babies that peaceful when they slept? “I’ll just be on my waythen,” she said. Trinity picked up her purse from the table and pulled the diaper bag free from her shoulder, handing it over to Ace. He took it and slipped it up his shoulder.

“Thanks,” he said. “For everything. You have no idea what having her back here with me means to me. I owe you, Trinity.”

She nodded, “No need to pay me back, Ace she said. Listen, I know my sister can be hard to live with and I have no idea what happened between the two of you, but I know Charity usually means well. I’m sure she returned Bella here for good reason and if that’s the case, you must be a pretty decent guy.”

“I appreciate that, Trinity,” Ace said.

“She just ate an hour ago and my phone number is in the diaper bag—just in case you need me, Ace. I’d love updates about her.” Trinity barked out her laugh and it sounded mean. “Up until yesterday, I had no idea my niece even existed. The little bug grows on you I guess. Take care of her.” She turned to leave the seedy, little bar because standing in that place for even one more minute would have changed her mind about leaving Arabella. But what choice did she have? Trinity had a life to get back to and with any luck, a case to win. Her client was depending on her and she’d never let one down yet.

Trinity spent the next week tied up in endless meetings and had her nose stuck in more legal briefs than she cared to admit. It was her job to kick-ass in the courtroom, but all she could seem to do lately was think of the baby she dropped off at a biker bar, just a week earlier. What kind of fool left a baby in a bar surrounded by men who looked like the criminals that her firm would have her representing? Actually, the criminals that her firm took on were of a higher grade than the thugs who filled thatbar—and it had a casino attached to boot. All she could envision was her sweet little niece growing up and becoming a showgirl for the disgusting clientele she was sure frequented such a place. It took every ounce of willpower not to drive back across town and demand Arabella back from her supposed father.

She just handed her over with no proof, no DNA—just going on the big biker’s word and what kind of fool did that make her? A huge damn fool—that’s what kind. She was feeling off her game since her sister showed up on her doorstep, drunk out of her mind, with a baby in tow. It should have been something she saw coming, but she was still shocked that her sister could be such a heartless bitch of a mother. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree for her sister—she turned out to be exactly like their mother. Always bringing home strange men to live with them, staying out and partying all the time, and leaving both of her daughters to fend for themselves at an early age. Yeah—her sister’s latest fuck-up shouldn’t have surprised her at all, but it did.

Trinity had always hoped that Charity would find a way out of that life as she had. When their mother took off, leaving them to both go live with a great-aunt that neither of them knew, Trinity vowed never to turn out like her mom. Their father wasn’t really in the picture much at that point, and she and her sister were as good as orphaned. They would have been living on the street if it wasn’t for their great aunt. She and Charity used to lay awake at night, in the little twin bed that they shared, and dream about the life that they wanted—one where they were living in a big apartment and had nice clothes, and lots of food to eat. All the necessities in life that they should have been provided by their mother, but never had. But their great aunt gave them that life. They had everything that they ever wanted, and Charity still took off when she turned eighteen. She left Trinity just like their mother had. Trinity was only sixteenat the time and Charity said she couldn’t take her with her. She promised to send for her just as soon as she found a job and a place to stay, but that never happened. She abandoned Trinity just like their mother had and for her that was unforgivable.

She saw her sister once in a while—usually when she was in trouble or needed money. Her sister was always good to show up with her hand out or to ask a favor that was going to cost Trinity so much more than just giving her sister some cash. Trinity found a way to work her way through school, even getting a partial scholarship to help. She moved out of her great-aunt’s place and into the dorms at school and for a while, she felt as though she had made it. She felt like she was living the dream that she and her sister used to lay awake at night to talk about. But that only made her miss Charity even more.

She tried to track down her sister, for the better part of her senior year of college, with no real luck. When she found out that Charity had taken up with a biker, and had basically joined a biker club—whatever that was, she gave up trying to reach her sister. It was time that she found her way forward and gave up on the silly pipe dreams that they had come up with together. Her dreams were going to look the same, she’d just have to learn to go it alone. That worked for Trinity—being alone wasn’t something that she minded. She had already spent so much of her life alone; this would be nothing new to her.

Trinity worked her way through law school and when she graduated at the top of her class and gave the commencement speech, there was no one there to cheer her on or to watch her walk across the stage. She was fine with the loneliness, but when Charity showed up on her doorstep with Arabella, she felt that tiniest bit of hope that had her rethinking her lone wolf status. Hope that she’d have the family she always wanted as a kid, but that was quickly dashed when her sister dumped her kid on her and took off once again. She was a fool for believing that hersister might have cleaned up her act and wanted her to be a part of her life again. She was an even bigger fool for letting her niece steal a little piece of her heart, but the little bugger had a way of weaseling her way into Trinity’s heart in just a few short hours. In fact, that kid was all she could think about all afternoon, and getting any more work done wasn’t going to happen. She’d been good, keeping to herself, and not calling to check in with Ace every day to see how Arabella was doing—even though she wanted to.

Trinity grabbed her bag and purse, loading most of the contents from her desk into the big bag she carried back and forth to work every day. She was constantly bringing her job home with her, but what else did she have going on? Trinity had nothing waiting for her at her tiny apartment other than a sad TV dinner and whatever was on television that night. She shut down her computer and turned off the lights in her tiny office, poking her head out to find her assistant still hard at work. Yeah—she was an ass for ducking out early, but if she didn’t go to see her niece, she’d let the questions that plagued her over the past week continue to occupy her thoughts, keeping her from her caseload.

“Hey Beck,” she breathed. Her assistant looked up and smiled at her.

“Hi Trinity,” Beck said. “Can I do something for you?”

“Um—no,” Trinity said. Her assistant was one of the best in the whole firm. Beck Dax could work for any of the partners in the law firm, but she stuck with Trinity. She was honored that Beck didn’t try to use her to climb the corporate ladder and Trinity was sure that she could count Beck as one of her friends, although they were hard to come by for her. She didn’t really have any good friends and what did it say about her that she counted her assistant as a “friend”?

“What’s up, Trinity?” Beck asked, standing to round the desk. She looked so concerned that Trinity almost wanted to giggle.

“Nothing bad,” Trinity said. “I just need to run an errand and I’m cutting out a little early today. If you need me, I’ll be reachable by cell.” She turned to leave the office and then changed her mind. “You know what—never mind. You should play hooky for the rest of the day. Have some fun,” Trinity ordered.

“But I have all this work and—” Beck started to protest, and Trinity held up her hand, effectively stopping her.

“And it will all be here in the morning. Just go, Beck. You need a day off once in a while,” Trinity insisted.

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