Missing

-Gemma Teller-Morrow POV-

"Maybe she decided to go home?" Luann Delaney suggested after I tried calling Charlie's cell phone for the third time. "She was pretty disappointed her dad and Opie weren't there. And you said she got into a fight with Jax."

"I don't know that it was a fight. I think he just caught her after she was already upset and then a goddamn crow-eater dumped a full glass of whatever alcohol she was drinking all over her new dress. Charlie smelled like a brewery when I bumped into her at the lot."

"The guys should have been there. They would have loved her speech. They truly don't know how much she adores all of them."

"Her mom should have put aside her petty bullshit tonight too. Mary should have driven the hour and a half to see her daughter graduate. Charlie isn't the girl Mary thinks she going to be. She's making something of herself."

"She's making a wonderful life for herself. I'm so glad she isn't turning to porn or bar tending to make her way through life."

"Or working at the garage. She has the heart of a caregiver."

"And she's a scrappy fighter when she needs to be."

"That's the club in her. She's strong. She's tough. She'd make a great 'old lady' someday."

"You think that's something she'd want?"

"If the way she looks at my son is any indication, she'd definitely want it. Jackson just needs to pull his head of out his ass."

"They are pretty close. I'm sure she was upset he didn't go either."

"She was heartbroken, Luann. We all give everything for the club. Charlie has given a lot to the guys and this was one time they could do something for her. All they had to do was show up. She worked her ass off to get there and the club frequently got in the way."

"It's after one," Luann said as she looked at the clock on my wall. The uncut, congratulatory cake sat on my dining room table.

"Something is wrong. If she'd gone home, she would have called to say she wasn't coming here."

"You're right."

"I'm gonna call the clubhouse. And then I'm going to go back to the school."

"You think she's still there?"

"I don't know for sure but every instinct is telling me to look for her," I said and picked up my cordless phone. I dialed the familiar number to the clubhouse and after about twenty rings, someone finally answered.

"TM," Jax, my son, said. He sounded like his voice was full of gravel.

"Jackson."

"Hey Ma!"

"Hey, did Charlie swing back by there?"

"Not since she stormed off. She was really upset about something, I think."

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Tonight was her graduation from nursing school, you idiot."

"What?!"

"Yeah. She was counting on her dad and her brother and even her asshole friend, Jax Teller, to show up."

"Shit," he muttered and I detected full remorse in his tone.

"Jesus Christ, Jax."

"I truly forgot."

"When the booze started pouring or when the pussy showed up?"

"Both."

"An hour and a half. That's how long the ceremony was. You and Opie and Piney couldn't be counted on for a goddamn hour and a half to just show up."

"Fuck…and she was so looking forward to it. She said something about it when she was here but, I was… busy."

"Yeah, and your whore ruined a dress she spent weeks saving for. Her night was ruined. She supports everything the club does in any way she can without being an old lady or a goddamn sweet butt. And she worked her ass off for this. Did you know she was valedictorian?"

"No, I didn't."

"She gave a speech and talked about how the club has been a positive influence in her life. She really loves all of you."

"C'mon, Mom. We all love her too."

"Do you?"

"Of course we do."

"Do you think she believes that tonight? Do you think she feels the love the club has for her when no one shows up for an important moment because they're too busy getting their dicks sucked?"

"When you put it like that…"

"Look, I didn't call to give you a lecture."

"Could have fooled me."

"Not that you didn't deserve it," I emphasized. "However, Charlie was supposed to come by my house after she got her stuff."

"What time was the ceremony over?"

"Around eight-thirty. I expected her about nine-fifteen."

"She never showed?"

"No. That's why I called. I thought she might have gone by there but, I had my doubts."

"You think maybe she wanted to be alone?"

"She would have called and told me that since she knew I was expecting her."

"That's true. I haven't seen her here. You call Piney's house? He took off a couple hours ago."

"No. Like I said, she would have called if she went home."

"You try her cell?"

"It just keeps ringing and then clicks to the answering service. Something's wrong, Jax."

—Jax Teller POV—

It's not often my mother utters those words and whenever she does, it sobers me up no matter how much alcohol or weed I've had. My heart began to race. Charlie would never just not call when she knew someone was expecting her. Especially not with the MC life we were raised in.

"Okay. I think Opie is still here. I'll see what he wants to do."

"I'm gonna go back to the school."

"You think she's still there?" The fact that Gemma Teller's instincts were telling her to go back to the school Charlie was supposed to have left hours ago nauseated me.

"I don't know."

"I'll meet you there," I said, hanging up the phone and going to look for Opie. I found him and his old lady in one of the dorms, sleeping. I flipped on the overhead light. "Ope. Hey Ope!"

"Huh? What do you want Jax?" he asked and sat up on his elbows. Donna rolled over and opened her eyes for a second before slipping back to sleep.

"We gotta go to your sister's school."

"Why? It's the middle of the night." He closed his eyes and turned his head away from the light.

"Her graduation was tonight, bro." I let it sink in and both Opie's and Donna's eyes popped open.

"Holy fuck," Opie muttered.

"Oh no," Donna groaned, her face betraying her misery at missing Charlie's big moment. I imagined they felt as shitty as I did. Opie growled.

"Ugh! I can't believe I did that to her. Only one in our family who makes something of herself and works her ass off doing it and I can't even bother to show up at her graduation."

"She'll forgive you, baby."

"That's not the point, Donna. I promised her I'd be there. Did Pop go?"

"No," I said and shook my head.

"You?"

"No."

"Shit. Did anyone?"

"My mom. But we have a bigger problem."

"What?"

"Charlie was going to go to Mom's after the ceremony. Mom expected her around nine-fifteen but she never showed. Mom's called her cell and it rings and rings before going to the messaging system. If she'd have gone home, she would have called Gemma."

"She's never not showed up or called. Especially because of her relation to the club."

"Exactly. Mom is going to the school."

"Still think she's there? It's almost two in the morning."

"She doesn't know. I think she just wants to start somewhere. I'm gonna meet her up there. You?"

"Pop?"

"I don't know, man. Call him, I guess. I'm gonna head out now."

"I'm right behind you. We should wait to call Dad until we have something to tell him. We don't need him going on a rampage and burning the town down to find his daughter. Because he will. You gonna be okay here, Donna?"

"Absolutely. Be safe, okay babe? Let me know when you've found out anything."

"Sure," Opie said and kissed her. I ignored the pang of envy at their relationship and made myself focus on the task at hand. Opie and I walked from the dorm and ran into Clay and Tig.

"Mom call you?" I asked Clay Morrow, the current president of Samcro.

"Yeah. Heading to the school now."

No one said anything else as we went to our bikes and took off in formation toward the nursing school. Thankfully, it was only about fifteen minutes away. When we pulled into the parking lot, my mom had just gotten there too. Charlie's car was the only one on the lot. We all parked next to mom and turned off our bikes. She was out of her Cadillac by the time we reached her.

"You think she went with some else?" she asked and looked around.

"Leaving her car isn't something she does. She's always been careful and it's not often she puts herself in a dangerous position," Opie said. There was genuine fear in his voice and it mirrored what was building up in me. Even though she was my best friend's sister, Charlie had become a best friend to me in her own right. She'd become a confidant and a shoulder to lean on. She'd gotten me through some serious shit and the one day she had something going on for herself, I blew her off. My chest ached at the thought of how I'd upset her that afternoon and yelled at her for raising her voice. I heard my mom gasp and she ran near the car, picking something up from the ground.

"Shit," she said and in her hand was Charlie's purse. I felt like I was going to be sick.

"Goddamn it," I growled. "Charlie!"

We all spread out and called for her. A patch of woods was near the parking lot and I picked a direction and went with it. I could barely see in the darkness but I didn't let that stop me. I had an odd sense that I was on the right track. After calling for her over and over again and hearing everyone else in the distance doing the same, I was about to move on. Then I heard what sounded like a whimper. I called her name again, quieter, and heard it again. About a minute later, I found her and it was a sight that would haunt me the rest of my life.

"Sweet Jesus, Charlie," I cried and got on the ground next to her. She had bruises on her face and a wound on her temple was still bleeding. There were bruises and bite marks along her neck, the collar of her dress was stretched and torn low enough to expose part of her chest, which was also covered in bite marks. Her left wrist was either dislocated or broken, her ankle was swollen…and the worst part, the part that made sent my anger into overdrive… her dress was bunched up around her waist, her panties were ripped to shreds, leaving the damage done to her exposed for the world to see. It was obvious what had happened to her. Tears welled in my eyes and I moved hair from her face. At my touch, she let out a whimpering cry.

"Charlie! Charlie, talk to me."

"J…ax…" Her voice was hoarse but I felt a bit relieved she was responsive.

"Yeah, it's me. You're gonna be okay."

"Jax," she said and started crying. A few tears leaked from my own eyes.

"I know, baby. I'm gettin' you out of here."

I pulled her dress down so when I brought her out of the trees, no one else would see her so exposed. Enough had been taken from her so I was going to make damn sure she maintained a little bit of dignity. I lifted her upper body so she was in a sitting position and pulled her uninjured right arm around my neck. Once I had her secure, I put my arm under her knees and stood. She cried out, flinching as the movement obviously caused her more pain, her hand around my neck gripping the shoulder of my cut. I gently rolled her a bit so she was fully leaning on me and wouldn't tumble the opposite way, her forehead against my collar bone. When I started walking, she whimpered with each movement.

"I'm so sorry, babe. I'm trying to be gentle." She got quiet again and I wondered if she was slipping in and out of consciousness. The sooner we got her to a hospital, the better. It wasn't long before I outside of the trees and saw everyone else gathering around the bikes. Clay was rubbing his hand across my mom's shoulders and Tig was trying to keep Opie calm.

"I got her!" I yelled and the loudness of my voice caused her to burrow closer to me. They met me halfway to my mom's car.

"Oh my God," Clay said when he got a good look at the woman in my arms under the light in the parking lot.

"Oh, baby girl," my mom said, touching the top of Charlie's head gently. Charlie cried harder

"Charlie," Opie cried. "Oh God, Charlie. What happened to her?"

"She was raped," I said quietly. Everyone stared at me, each in their own state of shock and the silence was deafening. Things like this didn't happen in our town and they didn't touch Samcro. The whole club was going to rage when they all found out. "We gotta get her to the hospital."

"Put her in the backseat," my mom said and ran to the car to open the door for me. When I reached the car and tried to gently lay her down, she fought to stay with me. To be honest, letting her go was proving to be more difficult than leaving my bike in the parking lot. I tried to pry her off me but her whimpered 'no' and the fear in that one word tore me up. I couldn't let her go. Not when I was clearly her lifeline.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said and kissed the top of her head. Clay came up to the door and I met his eyes. He was as devastated as the rest of us.

"You staying with her?"

"Yeah, she's afraid to let go."

"Of course she is. You can get your bike later." I nodded and Opie came up after Clay walked away.

"Are you okay to stay with her? I can ride with Gemma if you'd rather not leave your bike here."

"It's not a problem. Go ahead. Get to the hospital safely, though. Last thing she needs is her brother in a wreck."

"Right. I'll meet you up there."

Mom already had the car started and as soon as I closed the door, she took off like a bat outta hell. I was eager to know what happened but we had to get Charlie in a better mental state before we could ask her anything. Whatever it was, I was fairly certain it wasn't MC related. However, even I couldn't deny that if we had shown up like we promised her, she wouldn't have been alone and there was a decent chance this wouldn't have happened.