Moving On by Erin Osborne
Chapter Nine
Grim
FOUR FUCKING MONTHS. It’s been that long since Sami was taken and we’re no closer to find her today than we have been over the months. Goose, Irish, and his family are out of their minds with worry, fear, pain, and rage. The only good thing is Goose has stepped up and been an amazing dad to his daughter. They’re closer than any father and daughter I’ve seen in a long damn time. Goose is Kelsie’s everything and he spends all of his time with her. That’s not to say he doesn’t still go out and search with the rest of us, exhausting each and every lead we’re given only to turn up dead ends, but his sole focus is his daughter as they try to navigate what their lives have now become; a two-person family without Sami at their sides.
Whitney is losing her shit almost as bad as Goose was before Irish threatened him with taking Kelsie from him. She barely gets out of bed these days despite her other children wanting to spend time with her. From the very beginning it was Sami and Whitney against the world. At least until Irish stepped up and showed her about love and took on Sami as if she were his blood and not his woman’s daughter by another man. Irish doesn’t see shit that way; none of us do. Other than a few breakdowns, Irish has appeared strong to the outside world. Almost as if he’s not scared shitless and filled with vengeance and rage with his daughter missing. To those who know him, we know how bad he’s hurting. He dies a little more each day we come back with no news on her or Sami herself with us.
We managed to finish the work needed to be done in Cedar Bay over the last four months too. Over the last month, the boys would take turns heading down there with half of Gage’s club to finish the repairs, customizations, and painting. They also started working on building up the relationships with the people in town so they could have good relationships when they finally move down there. Since they’re not even patched in yet, we’ve been putting it off. Everyone wants Sami home before we patch them in. Honestly, I’m not sure we’ll be able to wait for her to come home. At this point, we’re all losing hope of ever finding her and bringing her back home to us.
Every day one of us gets a call about a supposed sighting of Sami. So, we go out and search for her where we were told about the sighting. When we show up, no one’s seen her or heard anything about a missing girl. We all know it’s a lie because her face has been splashed all over the place in Clifton Falls and the surrounding area. There isn’t a single place we’ve gone where we haven’t left flyers with our information on them and how to get a hold of us if anyone sees our girl. Some of the leads have been pretty decent and we’ve missed Sami and her captors by mere minutes instead of being days and weeks behind them. Still, they manage to hide deep enough in the underground where we can’t find them.
Gage, Slim, and even Reaper’s clubs have also helped search. They’ve called in markers, put in man hours going out in every attempt to find Sami and get her home to us. When we called to tell Jameson what was going on, he lost his shit. Sami is one of us and he took her being kidnapped harder than hell. That’s why Reaper and his club have been out helping us search for them. Even though my nephew is still a Prospect with them, they’re showing him their loyalty by helping when they literally have nothing to gain by helping us. Reaper turned down a marker I promised him for their help. That’s not often done which brought the respect level for him up in my eyes. Along with the rest of the men in my club.
Gage and his guys, when they’re not in Cedar Bay working, are out scouring every single place we’ve all been hundreds or thousands of times now. There literally isn’t a single place we haven’t searched for her. Or anyone who has any news of where she is. Slim’s guys are out each day, calling in favors from their various contacts since they have more than we do because of their business dealings. Our hackers are even working together to do their magic behind the scenes. Each time they get close to finding something, the trail disappears. We’re all beyond frustrated and I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.
Tech, Gage’s hacker, brought in a female MC he works with. Siren and the girls are working their connections every single day to find them. These women do a lot of work with bringing down the fuckers who traffic women and children. They’ve been looking into various angles and are hopeful they’ll find something soon. Honestly, it won’t be soon enough if you ask me. However, I’m not going to balk at their process or state my opinion to any of those women because they’re doing us a favor just by helping when they really don’t have to.
Sitting in my office, going over the maps as I do each and every single day, there’s a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I call out, not bothering to lift my head.
“Pres, can I talk to you for a minute?” Goose asks, coming inside and closing the door behind him.
“Always, Goose. What’s on your mind?” I ask, leaning back in my chair to give him my full attention.
“Here’s the thing, I can’t be here anymore. Seein’ all of Sami’s things, the house we made a home together, and everythin’ else, it’s too fuckin’ hard. Kelsie and I need a fresh start. I’ve been thinkin’ long and hard about this every fuckin’ day. When the guys move to Cedar Bay, I’d like to go with them. Can we make that work?” he asks me, his voice full of emotion.
I stare at the young man in front of me for several minutes, letting his words sink in. I’m not sure if this is what he wants or needs, but there really is no way I can deny him what he wants right now. Even if I know it’s going to hurt Irish and Whitney since they feel much the same as he does right now.
“Goose, are you really sure about this?”
“I am. I wanted to talk to you before I stopped over to see Irish and Whitney. I know I’d be takin’ their grandbaby from them, but it’s somethin’ I have to do for us. Kelsie and I need to have this new beginnin’ and I can’t get that here. I’m not movin’ there to find another woman or anythin’ like that. Sami is my wife and the love of my life. No matter what happens, there will never be another woman for me. Ever. We just can’t keep stayin’ in our home with Sami’s memory on every fuckin’ thing in the place. This is about me doin’ what’s best for my daughter,” he answers me, letting me see the truth in his words.
Goose has let himself go lately. His hair is longer than I’ve ever seen it, and he’s now sporting a beard when he never has before. Honestly, he looks as if he’s aged more than a few years since Sami was taken months ago. I can’t blame the man because his entire world imploded and he’s so damn lost.
“If Irish and Whitney don’t have a problem with you leavin’, I don’t either. It’s your life and you have to live it the way you want. They’re still goin’ to be a part of Kelsie’s life though and that’s my only stipulation to you movin’ to Cedar Bay.”
“Wouldn’t ever take them out of her life. They’re her only grandparents and love her as much as I do. We’ll be a few hours apart and they can come see her whenever they want. Hell, they can take her for weekends and shit too. As long as I have my baby girl with me, we can start over and begin to heal. Here, we won’t be able to move on. Not that I’m movin’ on from Sami. I’ll always want her with us, but I’m losin’ hope, Grim. Each day we get no news on her, somethin’ else breaks inside and my hope is about nothin’ right now.”
“I know. We all feel it. Go talk to them and we’ll move on from there.”
Goose gives me a nod before standing up and leaving my office. I don’t move until I hear a commotion from the common room. Standing up, I quickly make my way there to find out what the hell is going on in my clubhouse. I’m surprised to find Goose laid out on the floor with Irish standing over him and Whitney hanging on to her husband’s arm.
“The fuck are you tryin’ to do?” Irish bellows, rage filling his voice. “It’s not bad enough my baby is gone. Now, you want to take the only piece we have left of her away too. What kind of shit is that?”
“Irish, stand the fuck down,” I order him as I walk up to the trio. “You know this is somethin’ he has to do. He can’t continue to live in the home he made with his wife. Would you? If this were Whitney and your situation was Goose’s right now, would you be able to live in the home you created with her?”
“Fuck!” Irish says, dropping his head as Whitney wraps herself around him with tears sliding down her face.
“Goose, we love you and Kelsie so much. If this is what you have to do, do it. We want the best for you and will still see you both on a regular basis. What about when Sami comes home?” Whitney asks him.
“When she comes home, we’ll figure it out. If she wants to move back here, that’s what we’ll do. Grim, will I be allowed to come back if that’s the case?”
“You can come back,” I assure Goose as he sits up on the floor.
“For now, we still have time here. I have a lot to do and I’m gonna need your help. I love you guys and only want what’s best for Kels and me. She’s miserable and it only gets worse every day we’re in our home. My baby doesn’t understand why her mama isn’t here with us. Please, give us this peace we need to find.”
“You got it. Don’t fuckin’ shut us out,” Irish orders his son-in-law. “Don’t ever fuckin’ shut us out or keep that baby from us.”
“I won’t. Ever.”
Knowing the three of them have details to work out and plans to put in place, I head back to my office. I’ve got shit to do and plans to make. It’s time to patch our boys in and make it one big party even though none of us want to party at all. They need to get to Cedar Bay and show their presence there to help bring the town back to life. A town that was once thriving needs to be brought back to it’s glory so we can help them get their jobs back and keep the stupid fuckers away as they try to lure the young girls and women away for their own purpose.
