Phoenix nodded, walked into the hallway, and yelled, “Carbon! Get your ass in here now!” Crap. Carbon was going to find out Reese lied to him, not to mention that she was the one that brought me here against his direct orders. He was going to be very upset with her. And it sounded like Phoenix was already upset with Carbon. This was not going to bode well for me.
A man with the same eyes and the same hair color as Reese walked into the office. If I thought Phoenix was a beast, this guy was the beast’s dad. What were they being fed around here? “What’s up, Prez?”
Phoenix gestured toward me, “You know her?”
Carbon shook his head, “Never seen her before.”
Phoenix looked back and forth between the two of us. “She says you told her I could help her get a new ID. So, which one of you is lying to me?”
Carbon looked down at the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose. He slowly shook his head before raising it to meet my eyes. “You’re Reese’s friend, aren’t you?”
I almost choked when I tried to speak. “Yes.” I turned to face Phoenix, “I’ve never met him, sir. I’m friends with his sister. She asked him for me. I’m not trying to cause trouble or anything. I just need someone to help me.”
Phoenix didn’t acknowledge me, but turned back to Carbon, “That true? Your sister asked you about this?”
Carbon shook his head. “Not exactly. She told me it was for her friend’s mom. That she was being beaten by the step-dad, things were bad at home, and she needed help getting out. She never said anything about needing an ID. I told Reese to tell the mom to come by the clubhouse and talk to you. No more, no less.”
Phoenix remained silent for several long minutes. Finally, he walked back to his desk and took his seat. He focused on Carbon. “That’s all I needed from you. You can go.” He turned back to me with narrowed eyes. “Start talking.”
I think I may have yelped like a scared puppy. “I-I-I don’t know what to say. Um, what do you want to know?”
Phoenix pinned me with a stern glare, “You know exactly what I want to know, but to humor you, I’ll play your game. I want to know who or what you’re running from. I want to know what kind of help you think you need and how you are planning to pay for that. I want to know what kind of trouble you might be bringing into my club, but first and foremost, I want to know what your name is and how old you are?”
I took in a shaky breath. Okay, I would start with the easy stuff first. “My name is Ember and I’m 18 years old.”
He raised a brow, “Can you prove that?”
I wanted to scream, “That’s why I’m here,” but I didn’t think that would benefit anyone given the current tension in the room. Instead, I said, “I don’t have any kind of identification, real or fake. The only thing I have is my high school diploma with my name on it.”
“You’re 18 and you don’t have a driver’s license?”
“No, sir, I wasn’t allowed to get one.”
“Birth certificate? Social security card?”
I shook my head. “I’m sure those things exist, or did at one time, but I don’t know where they are or who has them?”
He looked at me incredulously, “Where are you from?”
Solemnly, I told him, “I grew up at the orphanage on the other side of town.”
“What happened to your parents?”
I mechanically repeated the only answer I had ever been given when I’d asked the same question. “My mom died when I was born and my dad was never in the picture.”
“Do you know their names?”
It was always hard for me to think about my parents, let alone talk about them. I swallowed thickly and cleared my throat, “I don’t know my father’s name, but I was told my mother’s name was Annabelle.”
Phoenix’s spine went ramrod straight, his hands balled into fists. He asked through gritted teeth, “Her last name?”
I was taken aback by his reaction. He was obviously angry and he was starting to scare me. “Um, I never asked that. I assumed it was the same as mine.”
Phoenix scoffed. I noticed his fists clenched even tighter. He looked like he barely had his temper under control. “And what is that? Tell me your full name,” he barked.
His tone caused me to flinch and I quickly eked out, “Ember Rose Blackburn.”
Phoenix jumped to his feet and roared, “Get the fuck out! Now!” The next second, he flipped his desk over, sending everything crashing to the floor.
