An Angel on Fire
Chapter Two
After a few moments of trying to regain her composure, Ash pushed herself off the bed and walked out the open door to see the back of an older man, maybe in his early to late thirties, attempting to enter into J's new room. Ash shrugged her shoulders as chose to walk by him, not acknowledging him. She made her way down the long corridors of the house, passing by Smurf who was calling out for J. The two women just smiled briefly at each other. Ash had considered telling Smurf about the man who was lurking around J's room but with her heading that way, it seemed that there'd be no point.
Once in the kitchen, she grabbed one of the few unopened bottles of beer and dropped down onto the couch, just needing a break from the party which was starting to die down. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and read through her recent text messages. A handful of them came from unknown numbers.
Unknown numbers: When can we pick them up?
The rest of the unknown number texts followed the same style as the first one.
She took a swig from her beer as she typed her reply of "three days' time" to each of the messages.
Ash was still busying herself away on her phone as the whole Cody family dropped onto the sofa. Deran right beside her. Craig sat on the floor at her feet. Baz and Catherine were beside each other on the sofa next to them. J stood at the entrance to the seating area. Smurf and the previously unknown man sat down on the final couch.
"Ash sweetheart, you remember Pope, don't you?" Smurf said as she moved into a comfortable position on the couch.
"Yea I do" she smiled slightly nervous at him before she shoved her phone back into the front pocket of her jeans. She didn't really know much about Pope since he'd been in prison for the past three years and Ash wasn't as involved with the family before he went to prison.
Ash zoned out of the conversation that was happening between the family members and rested her head on Deran's shoulder. Her fingers were rubbing the label of the bottle. She was only vaguely registered that J left when Deran nudged her off his shoulder, before he stood up and went outside.
She felt her phone start to vibrate in her pocket before it rung out. She didn't check the number before she decided to answer it. In an attempt to get some privacy she followed Deran outside. Craig and Deran were busying making sure that the people from the party who were still hanging around left. Ash dropped onto one of the few dry pool side chairs.
"This is Ash what do you want?" she snapped.
"Ash please don't hang up" a male's voice crackled through her speaker. The lingering twang of his Italian accent could still be heard over the phone.
"Give me one good reason, Matteo." She huffed.
"Have you got anything ready to fence?" Matteo asked.
Ash ran her head through her hair. "Not just yet. But I might come into something soon"
"Ashie come on. I need something"
If Ash didn't know Matteo as well as she did, she would have assumed that he was pleading with her.
"Well I've not picked anything up lately. But I'll check my storage"
"Come on, I give you mates rates" he spoke with a sing-song type tone.
"But y'know I mightn't be doing this much longer" she said, still slightly frustrated with him for not picking up on what she was hinting at. She rested her hand on her knee in some attempt to stop it bouncing before it begun. "Oh by the way, I'm getting them either tomorrow or the day after, so you'll have it when I next see you"
"Thank you Ashie" his jovial yet over the top tone was still evident.
Before Ash was able to say a word in response, Matteo hung up the phone and left an annoyed Ash just hanging there. She fell into the chair and forced her eyes shut, struggling to shut out the almost argument which was beginning to unfold in the kitchen between Smurf and Pope. Ash's thoughts lingered on the phone call with Matteo, there was something about it that left her with a sour taste in her mouth. Something was off but she didn't know what.
Ash walked out of the bathroom, with her hair wrapped in a towel. She was wearing one of Deran's old t-shirts. Due to her much smaller stature compared to Deran the hem of the shirt was hanging around her knees. J opened his door as Ash walked passed it.
"Hey" she smiled and continued towards her room for the night.
"Ash, can I ask you something?" J reached out towards Ash's arm. She flinched slightly due to his sudden movement. She stopped mid step and faced him.
"Sure J" she followed him back into his room. She sat down on the edge of the bed.
"What did you want to ask me?" she sat with her legs crossed under her body.
"You've been around my uncles a lot?"
"Yup, I guess I have" she nodded.
"Is it always like this?" his voice was quiet, it was as if he thought that the family would somehow be able to hear him.
"Partying and loud?" she paused for a moment, J nodded to allow her to continue speaking. "Yeah it is" her fingers drummed on the top of her thigh.
"Is Pope always that intense?"
"Truthfully? I don't know" she shrugged her shoulders, "I wasn't really around that often before Pope went to prison."
Ash covered her mouth as she yawned, she stood up from the corner and walked over to the desk which had a notebook placed on top. Ripping out a page, she wrote down her number in a matter of seconds.
"That's my phone number. Call me if you ever want to talk. I like to think that I'm semi adjusted to the chaos your family lives in" as she rambled on she waved her hands around herself, it was as if she thought that her hands would help explain what she was saying.
As she rambled on J looked at her with some amusement, his eyes lingered on her lips longer than they probably should have.
Ash yawned once again, before speaking, "I should really get to bed. Gotta a full day of shit to do tomorrow" she motioned towards the door. As she spun around on her heels, J's gaze was fixed on the way her legs moved, his eyes travelled up her body, ignoring the visible scars.
"Good night" J spoke
Ash gave him a soft, yet genuine smile before closed the door behind herself.
The sun light broke through the thin curtains that covered the window, Ash rolled over so that she was no longer facing the sun in some attempt to stay asleep. But that didn't last long as the headache she was trying to avoid hit her. It came down on her like a tonne of bricks, every noise that was being made in the kitchen increased the pain she was feeling.
Ash opened her eyes and kicked the covers off herself and rolled off the bed. With a groan she used the edge of the bed to pull herself onto her feet. She made sure that the shirt was brushing just above her knees as she stumbled out of the room and towards the kitchen.
"Morning sweetheart" Smurf smiled towards the young girl before turning back to making breakfast.
"Is there any coffee?" Ash asked, her voice still filled with sleep.
Baz pointed towards the freshly made pot.
"Are you wearing my shirt?" Deran asked Ash who was struggling to not inhale the coffee in an attempt to wake herself up.
"Well, it's my shirt now. I stole it from you ages back" she muttered before taking a sip of her drink. She ignored the burning sensation that travelled down her throat. In between sips of her coffee and in an attempt to reduce her headache, she rested her head on the cold kitchen island, trying her best to ignore the noise around her.
Deran and Baz were at the table busy talking about the location of the cameras for the job they were about to do. For the past two weeks, Ash had helped Deran scout the store so she knew the locations almost as well as he did. It should be a relatively simple job, minimal security, the cameras in easy to spot locations and no on site security. A simple smash and grab.
Ash actively chose to ignore what was being discussed at table since it was still too early for her to function.
It didn't even register with Ash that the boys at the table had finished with their discussion about the heist and that they'd been joined by the rest of the family. She ignored them and just ate her own breakfast while still being fixated on the conversation that she had with Matteo last night.
"We're headed for a surf. You gonna come?" Craig asked Ash as finally finished her cup of coffee.
Not even bothering to give a verbal response she lifted up her bandaged forearm to remind Craig that she couldn't go surfing even if she wanted. "Still a couple more weeks and anyways I gotta get back for group"
"You got a way back?" Smurf interjected.
"I'll call an Uber or Lyft." She shrugged her shoulders before moving to take another bite of the pancakes in front of her. "Wait, maybe not a Lyft. I got banned from them a couple of weeks ago. I think that there's a bus down the road so that'll do me"
"The boys will give you a ride?" Smurf stated, even though it was phrased like a question, Ash and the boys both knew that it was an order.
Deran nodded in response.
"Well, I better go get dressed" she lifted up her plate and placed it beside the sink. "Because group is in…" she looked down towards her wrist, thinking that she had her watch on. "I think it's in like thirty minutes but I don't know. Because I'm an idiot who lost her watch again."
Ash made her way back towards the room she spent most nights she was over in. She pulled on the clothes that she wore yesterday. She shoved everything back into her duffle before tidying the room slightly. The duvet cover which she'd kicked down during the night was positioned so it was just underneath the pillows. Once she was finished it looked as if no one had spent the night in the bed.
With her duffle in hand Ash made her way through the house and towards the front door. She stood in the middle of the garage to see that Craig, Deran and J were all waiting around for her. Craig was leaning against his motorbike, with two helmets in his hand.
"Wanna get a little closer to God, Ash?" Craig asked motioning towards his extra motorbike helmet.
"I occasionally have a death wish but you could not pay me enough to get on the back of that bike with you" Ash stated as she walked towards Deran and J.
Craig laughed and put on his own helmet and sped out of the driveway not waiting for the gate to open any further.
"I call shot gun" Ash laughed as she jumped into the passenger seat of the Scout.
J and Deran climbed in after her, J in the back seat and Deran in the driver's. The three surfboards in the back maybe it a tight squeeze for J to get comfortable.
"How old are you, are you twelve or something?" Deran asked as he started up the Scout.
"Twelve and a half actually" she corrected him as the left the house behind them.
For the drive back to the group home, Ash and Deran just talked about everything and anything to keep their mind off the upcoming job, whereas J just stayed quiet, for a moment Ash even forgot that he was in the seat behind her.
Anytime Deran spoke about the surf and how good it was lately, Ash whined as there was nothing she wanted more than being back out in the surf. The feeling of the ocean's breeze against her skin. For her, it was the one place she was able to turn off the noise in her head and just forget about all the pain she'd lived through - even if it was just for a moment.
Deran parked two streets over from the group home, which was normal for them. Ash jumped out of the door and J climbed into the front seat.
"Deran, can you tell Craig to not try and sleep with Cass if he's the one sent around. I'm getting sick of texts from her saying that he's tried again. And I don't have many friends so I don't want to piss off one of the few I have"
Deran shrugged his shoulders before speaking, "I'll tell him but you know what he's like"
"Please try to make sure that he doesn't even annoy her. Because I only have a handful of friends, and I can count them on my hand. You, Cass, Franks and sometimes Matteo, depending on how much he pisses me off in any given week"
Deran laughed in response as she sighed, before her phone beeped from her back pocket, she pulled it out and saw that the reminder for group had gone off.
"I've gotta run. Literally. Group is in like two minutes"
As Ash started to run down the path, she wasn't paying attention to where she was placing her feet. She stumbled over the side of the curb, her struggled not to fall face onto the footpath. She stood for a moment in an attempt to regain her composure.
"I'm okay" she yelled when she got herself moving again.
Ash was standing behind the counter at The Surf Shack, she lent her arms as she watched the surf crash. She wished that she could be out in the surf but just a few weeks longer until her stitches were out. Frankie walked out of the staff only area, she stopped and lent against the counter.
"When you finishing?" Ash asked Frankie, not taking her eyes off the surf.
"Five minutes" Frankie smiled as she lifted up an almost empty box of water bottles and placed a few of them in a rack to the side of the counter.
Ash's phone started to vibrate in her back pocket, she reached into her pocket and pulled it out.
"Why is Deran ringing me?" She muttered out loud. "Frankie can you cover me for ten minutes while I take this?"
"But I'm about to clock out and I've got to meet the babysitter" Frankie half whined.
"It'll be five minutes. I'll give you the fourty-five cents you make" Ash stated.
"Fine" Frankie replied.
"Thank you" she mouthed as she answered Deran's call.
Ash walked out to the front doors of the Shack, as she walked she pulled out a carton of cigarettes and a lighter from her back pocket. She lit up one of her pre-rolled cigarettes, she'd managed to rest the phone securely between her ear and shoulder.
"Deran what do you want?" Ash hissed down the phone as she walks around to the side of the Shack, in an attempt to find herself from Owen.
"Have you seen J?" Craig spoke down the phone.
Hearing Craig's voice over the phone, made her look to check that Deran was the one who called.
"Craig why are you calling me from Deran's phone" she asked, completely ignoring Craig's question, before taking a drag of her cigarette.
"Because we both knew you wouldn't answer if you knew it was me."
Ash nodded in response, momentarily forgetting that she was on the phone with Craig.
"So have you heard from him?"
"Why would I have heard from J? If you're suggesting that just because I'm a teenager I should know all other teenagers?" she explained, only slightly annoyed. The hand which her cigarette was in waved all around her. It was as if Craig was in front of her and not on the other end of the phone.
Ash could hear the brothers arguing, Deran wanted the phone but Craig wasn't willing to pass it over while Deran was still driving. Ash rolled her eyes as she listened to them argue.
"Ash have you heard from him or not?" Deran asked.
"No I haven't?" she ran her hands her hair as she started to pace around her hiding spot.
"Why is everything alright?" She hadn't known J that long but he didn't seem like the type of guy who would disappear without any good reason.
"No. It's not. It's was Julia's funeral today"
"Deran why the fuck didn't you tell me this? I would have been there!"
"I'm fine"
"I know you didn't see her for like ten years or something but she's still your sister. And this is something you should have told me"
"Ash you didn't have to be"
"What happened to her?" She whispered down the phone.
"She OD'd"
"Oh shit" the shock made the words slip out. "Deran I still should have been there! You're my best friend for fuck sake."
"You're scrapping the bottom of the barrel if I am then"
"Yea I guess I am. But I haven't heard from J." She took another drag from her cigarette, the smoke exited through her nose. "Maybe check around the pier?" she thought out loud.
"Okay thanks" Deran hung up the phone.
Ash finished off her cigarette and stumped it out on the wall behind her. She dropped it into the bin before making her way back into the store to see an increasingly agitated Frankie dealing with a much older man.
"I'm sorry but I have to pass you off to my colleague" Frankie explained to the man as she exited from behind the counter.
"Hi, I'm Ash so how can I help you?" she asked with her fake customer service voice.
When Ash's shift at the Shack finished ended, and after helping Owen close up the store for the day. Perks of working at a shop which had a predominantly surf clientele, as soon as the life guards leave or the sun goes down, the store can shut down. Ash grabbed her backpack and pennyboard out of her locker and made her way towards the industrial warehouse district.
The cool night breeze brushed against her skin. Rolling along the path which was right beside the beach. She listened to the crashing of the waves, just willing herself to keep moving.
The ride down the industrial warehouse district wasn't that eventful, until she reached the centre of the maze of warehouses. She flicked the board into her hand as she walked over to the unlocked door of the warehouse she knew that her friend occupied.
Ash pushed the heavy metal door open but it refused to budge so she slammed herself into the warehouse door in an attempt to ensure that it opened fully. It opened and she stumbled through the unlocked door. Ash laughed to herself and when she stood up straight, she brushed herself off with her free hand.
Cassidy was positioned on a stool in the middle of the floor space. The soft hum of classic music played throughout the warehouse. On the right of the painting easel was a long bench which held the small tubs of paint, glass jars of paint brushes were gathered in the back right corner.
In the front left hand size of the warehouse was a small kitchen, but instead of food and the typical equipment which is expected in a kitchen, it held a complicated home brewery kit.
Cassidy had a paint brush in her hand and her paint pallet in the other. She was as close as she could get to the easel with the canvas on it.
"Cassie?" Ash called out as she started making her way towards the woman, careful not to step on anything that Cassidy had thrown over the ground.
"Oh Ash!" Cassidy spun around on her stool, "I forgot you were coming tonight" she smiled as she placed down her materials.
"I'm here to the ID's" Ash waved her free hand around before she asked, "Can I smoke in here?"
Cassidy stood up and avoided the piles of equipment around, "Sorry you can't. I'm brewing" pointing towards the kit that was humming away in the corner. "Just give me two minutes and I'll have them ready"
Ash wondered around looking at the forged lines which lined the walls of the warehouse. She motioned to touch one of the paintings but common sense stopped her at the last moment. Her hand was mere inches away from the wet paint.
"Really Ash?" Cassidy's voice cut through the sound of the still playing classical music.
Ash held her hands up in defence, "I didn't touch it"
"You're an idiot" Cassidy chuckled to herself before throwing the large padded envelope into Ash's arms.
"There's six of them"
Ash opened the package and saw the tops of six different ID's, she closed it over again and shoved it into her backpack.
"Thanks." Ash smiled before turning on her heel to begin on her way home.
"Oh Ash, before you go, I need you to taste something" Cassidy called out and walked over towards the kitchen area. She opened up one of the smaller cabinets and pulled out four crystal glasses.
Ash never being one to turn down anything free, walked over towards her friend. The pair were leaning on the inner bench of the worktop.
"This won't get me drunk, will it? Because it's apparently it's illegal to stake and drive. Or so I heard" Ash badly explained.
Cassidy rolled her eyes.
"Nope. It won't since we're tasting and not drinking" Cassidy corrected her young colleague, as she poured out a finger of the amber liquid from the tap in the wooden barrel.
"You better be right" Ash commented, in response Cassidy just shook her head side as she poured more liquid from a glass bottle.
Ash took the smallest sip from the glass with the liquid from the wooden barrel, trying to pinpoint the range of different tastes, before she spat it out into the sink.
"What do you taste?" Cassidy asked as she swirled the liquid in her glass around.
"Oak?" before she continued rambling about how the drink tasted. Cassidy handed Ash the glass of the actual product and Ash repeated the previous action.
After a few moments of discussing what was missing from the forged drink, Ash spoke up to ask.
"What exactly is this for?"
"A rich client hired me to make that whiskey for them" Cassidy pointed over towards the glass bottle. The label for it must have been delicately removed by Cassidy for her to make the exact copy.
"So the rich people are rich enough to get you to make the whiskey but not rich enough to pay it?" Ash thought out loud, it didn't make sense to her way someone would hire a forger if they could get the real item for around the same price.
"Yeah. Even though I'm costing around the same. I'm confused truthfully" Cassidy sighed before she took a sip of her glass.
"Sure they aren't cops?" The jovial tone had completely dropped from Ash's voice.
"Yes buttercup. I'm pretty sure the couple aren't cops. They've bought art work from me before" Cass ruffled the hair of her young friend.
"I have to get going" Ash said as she set down the glass and made her way towards the door. Cassidy just watched the younger one leave and she just returned to her painting. When outside her friend's workspace, she grabbed her board which was placed outside the warehouse and started on the journey home.
The ringing out of Ash's phone woke her out of her light sleep, a perk of the countless homes she lived in - continually on edge and ready to move even when sleeping. She grabbed it and flicked open it to see the message.
As Ash tried to process the message another one came through from Baz.
Baz Blackwell: here now.
"Shit" Ash kicked off her covers knowing that the only reason Baz would text her after a job was that something went wrong during the latest job.
She quickly got dressed into the clothes she was wearing from the night before, she grabbed her pennyboard knowing that she wouldn't be able to get an uber there.
She climbed out her window, being continually thankful for a ground floor room. She used the cover of the darkness to make her way to the road. Once she was far enough away she dropped her board and started her way across town.
With it being the middle of the night, Ash was able to get to Smurf's house in half the time. She kick flipped the board into her hand and climbed over the security gate. She opened the door to see Pope struggling to hold Craig still as Baz was sticking some sort of medical instrument into Craig's shoulder.
Ash dropped her board at her feet as she helped Pope hold down Craig. As she was doing this she didn't even have time to think were Deran and Smurf where.
The rest of her time in the Cody household all fused into each other, she didn't register that J had returned home or that she could audibly hear Smurf trying to comfort Deran.
Once they were done with removing the bullet and Baz had stitched him up, Ash left the boys to be on their own as they struggled to help Craig towards his room. She walked around and dropped onto the couch and looked out the window. The sun had risen completely, she had no idea what time it was. Back at the house, Rose was probably about to get Ash up for the day or she'd probably already tried to do so and planning some sort of punishment since she wasn't in the house.
She rubbed her hands over her face before standing up. She washed Craig's dried blood off her hands before grabbing her pennyboard. She knew that she probably didn't have much time to get back if it was before Rose woke up.
Everything that the teenager was doing was robotic. She'd been on autopilot since she entered the property earlier that night. Out of Smurf's property, jump the gate, when a free meters down the road drop the board and start staking home.
Ash's hair whipped her in the face as she rolled down the street, doing her best to avoid to parked cars and early morning joggers. She closed her eyes as she used her hearing to figure out if she'd need to move. She was deep in thought about the events that had just unfolded, something went seriously wrong with the job and she knew it.
The sound of a car's engine slowing down made Ash open her eyes.
"Yes Baz?" she spoke as she watched the idling car.
"Get in I'll give you a ride" he spoke, the tone of his voice told Ash that it wouldn't be smart for her to refuse.
Ash flicked up her board, she picked it up and jumped into the passenger seat of Baz's car.
"Thanks" she muttered as Baz started down the road again.
"Security was on the south entrance last night" Baz coolly stated, almost as if he didn't care. His fingers wrapped around the wheel.
"Oh shit" her voice was barely audible.
"Would have been nice to have known" Baz commented, Ash was able to pick up the annoyance in his voice.
"Excuse me?" she snapped. "Are you suggesting that it was my fault?"
"Well you didn't tell us" Baz's accusation was evident to Ash.
"I'm sorry but Deran and I spent weeks doing recon, not you. Sometimes routes change at the last moment" Ash snapped as her hands tightened around her board. "Just pulled over. Here's good enough"
Neither of them said anything to each other as Baz pulled over. She swung the door open and got back onto her board, and slammed the door shut behind her.
AN: This is chapter two. I hope you liked it! updates will probably be every week and half or two weeks, probably. Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, i'm glad people are enjoying this! Let me know what you think!