“It is a gym, genius. The shelter is a converted gym,” I said shaking my head.
"Malcolm!" Isla said, and shot up from her seat. Her face suddenly brightened into a warm smile like the biker was an old friend. "It's been a while," she mused. I almost scoffed when she came out from behind her desk, walked over and gave the man a giant hug. Okay…Isla is into bikers? Not that he wasn’t attractive, I just associated those guys with organized crime.
"Hey Isla, it's been a minute," he said. He wrapped in his huge arms and I watched her lay her head on his chest. Then the man picked her up off the ground and spun her around like a little kids. Make that, loves bikers?
"Claire, I want you to meet Malcolm Miller, he's one of the lawyers who help out around here.
"Lawyer?" I asked, gesturing to the massive man standing in front of us. “He didn’t look like he practiced family law. I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. "We're that desperate that we take help from a biker club?" I clapped my hand over my mouth because I didn’t exactly mean to say it aloud.
Isla barked out a laugh, "Malcolm is not a criminal."
"He's jacket says he is." The other hand shot up and doubled over the first on my mouth. I didn’t mean to insult him, but biker clubs were criminal organizations with ties to the mob. I’d learned all about them in school. If this guy was a lawyer, he was living some kind of double life as far as I was concerned.
"I'm not a one-percenter," Malcolm said. His deep voice was the kind that demanded everyone's attention.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"One percent of all biker clubs are criminal rings. There are far, far more of us that aren't dangerous predators. It's a brotherhood, a group of people that join together in a common cause. And to ride, don’t forget that part."
"And what's your cause?" I asked, my head tilted back, staring him dead in his eyes. “You just there for the ride?” He was hot. Like scary hot. But for some reason, the guy was raising my blood pressure.
"I like to help people. Kids, especially."
"I bet the Hell's Angels also do a lot of good deeds in between, you know, murder, human trafficking, and drug dealing." I was sassing this man as hard as I could and I didn’t even know why. I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and stumbled right into him.
Malcolm laughed. His laughter was boisterous. The sound vibrated through the room and bubbled up in my veins like effervescence. The laugh wasn't at all what I would expect coming from a man his size, it was joyful and light, a spattering instead of a downpour.
"True," he said, "but a simple google search would tell you that we're nothing like them." He turned and directed his attention toward Isla. "I need your help, Lala. I found a girl earlier this evening, stopped the attacker. I don’t know her whole back story, but she’s not in great shape and has nowhere to stay. You guys got a bed you could spare?”
"Have you taken her to the hospital," Isla asked.
"No," Malcolm said, shaking his head. "I got there before the asshat could harm her this time, but my guess is there have been other times. She looks roughed up. No track marks, but she might be on something. Could be a runaway. Definitely under age and in need of a hot shower.”
"Mal, you couldn't have come at a worse time. We’re maxed out. We don't have any beds and we don’t have the resources."
"Lala, in all the years I've known you, I’ve never seen you turn anyone away," Malcolm said.
"You think she can make do on the floor?" Isla asked. "I mean, I can take her, but it’s going to be a spot on the floor. She can eat and shower. They’ll drug test her in the morning.”
"How much you guys need?" he asked.
"How much you've got?" Isla tilted her head to the side and asked with a chuckle. It was almost like they were flirting, or in the least, very amused with each other.
Malcolm went into his back pocket and pulled out a soft leather wallet. He handed Isla his credit card. I could see from across the room that it was black. "Put whatever you need on there. The girl can pack it away, just make sure she’s fed."
"You don't want to give me a limit, Mal? I could max this out, easily."
"No max, dodo. Just get whatever you need. Buy yourselves some coffee and get some air fresheners for the gymnasium." He was jovial and kind, his eyes were bright when he mentioned the girl. I wondered how often he was misjudged on account of his looks. I stood there shocked as this man just gave Isla what she needed—no questions, no max. To be honest, he was exactly what we’d been asking for. But I wasn’t buying it. He couldn’t be that decent.