Arrow of Time (16 page)

“
You wish!” He laughed. “Open it.”

I did and that's when
I
started to laugh, it was a pack of panties, several packs, actually.

“
Thought you should at least have some pairs of panties that the old man hadn't fondled.”

“
Folded not fondled!”

I might pretend to be pissed, but this was high class stuff, and no thongs as far as I could tell. It was boy shorts, the kind I preferred, and I realized that, just as Vasco had pointed out, Dawg'd seen me in my underwear more than once. Which was a bit weird when I thought about it. And they were my size.

“I would've given you something nicer, a real present, but Vasco kept saying you'd be upset, so I thought...”

“
That you'd give me something that made me laugh.” I held them up. “Thank you. I actually don't have that many of these.”

“
He told me that, too.” When he noticed the look on my face he shook his head. “No! He didn't suggest I'd buy that, he just said you didn't have many clothes.”

I nodded and put the panties in my bag. I didn't want them lying on the table.

“If you feel like actually celebrating your birthday, let me know.”

I didn't want to go into that, not with him, so instead of saying that it wasn't likely to happen, I nodded and drank my coffee.

“If I do and you buy me underwear again, could you not give it to me in public?”

“
Deal. If you make sure there's cake.”

“
I'll keep that in mind.”

“
I know you're probably a chocolate cake girl, but if you could find it in your heart to have strawberry cake I'd be very happy about it.”

“
You can have strawberry on your own birthday. I'll have what I like on mine. “

“
But it's chocolate, isn't it?”

“
Yes.” I glared at his very pleased smile. “When's your birthday?”

“
I'll be thirty-two on January fifth next year.”

I was a bit surprised. I had thought he was younger than that. Maybe not
much
younger, but I hadn't thought he was six years older than me. He must've noticed my surprise.

“
What?” He asked.

“
Nothing. I just though you were younger. It must be that low score on the maturity-scale that fooled me.”

“
Hey! You're supposed to be nice when I've bought you a present and everything.”

“
I know. Sorry,” I said and tried to not laugh. “Thank you. They were great and even my size. Did he tell you my size, too?”

“
No,” Dawg said happily. “I'm good at judging ass size, and I've looked at yours closely. It's this big,” he said and held up his hands in front of him as if he was gripping an ass.

I tried to swallow my coffee instead of spurting it all over the table, with the result that I choked on it and started to cough. When I finally managed to gather myself, I dried my cheeks, still giggling and looked at him.

“You're horrible! You can't scope me out like that and then tell me! I don't talk about your dick.”

“
Actually you did. You said it was very nice,” he said with a pleased smile. “All I need to know.”

I couldn't think of a good retort, so instead I just shook my head and tried to dry the coffee from my jacket in an attempt to avoid looking at him. When I finally did look up again, hoping that I wasn't blushing as bad as it felt like I was, he was studying me, smiling, but not the cocky or arrogant smile. It was a nice smile, and that feeling of free falling hit my stomach.

CHAPTER EIGHT:

I Won't Leave

-o0o-

Friday, September 8
th

MELANIE WAS ON HER
way to Edie with Eliza. They were gonna have another girls’ night, but she needed to stop at the garage to pick up some things first. As they walked towards the office, Eliza ran up to Dawg, pulling off his beanie and cuddling him like she always did. Melanie left Eliza outside to quickly get the papers and laptop, and when she came outside again she called for her. She came skipping happily with a big smile on her face.

“
He said he’d come.”

“
Who?”

“
Dawg, he said he’d come and watch ‘Chicken Run’ with us.”

“
You invited Dawg?”

“
Yes.”

She wasn't sure how to react, what to say.

“Why?” Was what she finally landed on.

“
He said last time when he came with breakfast that he’d come and watch the movie with us next time we had a girls' night.”

Melanie wasn’t sure how to explain to her four-year old why bringing Dawg to a girls' night sounded so damn wrong.

“But you were having a girls' night,” she tried.

“
I know, but he’s okay. And me and Edie are his girls. Like Gaston has three girls, and he’s like Gaston.”

She had to give it to her daughter; she was more right than she thought, and Melanie started laughing.

“Have you told him that?”

“
Yeah. He watched 'Beauty and the Beast' with us when he came with breakfast, and I told him he was like Gaston.”

“
Okay.”

Edie opened the door with a big smile and picked up Eliza in a hug before putting her back down. Once Eliza was in, Melanie handed Edie the backpack.

“She invited Dawg.”

“
Eh, okay? She invited Dawg to our girls' night?”

“
Yup.”

“
Wow. Said to the wrong crowd that could be severely misunderstood.”

“
I was thinking the exact same thing,” Melanie laughed. “Did she really tell him he was like Gaston and had him watch the movie?”

“
Yup. Dawg is still sending me texts with his lines and quotes. I got ‘Every last inch is of me is covered in hair’ yesterday.”

“
Oh, jesus!” Melanie couldn’t stop laughing. “You’re kidding me?”

“
Nope. ‘Take whatever booty you can find’ was the one before that.”

She’d known Dawg had a great sense of humor, if somewhat immature; that was one of the reasons she liked him. But watching 'Beauty and the Beast' with her girls, and those damn texts to Edie, that wasn't just funny, it was really nice of him. She was a bit suspicious about him being 'nice,' though. At the same time, he wouldn't try anything serious in front of a kid. Especially not Eliza.

“So what are you two up to?”

“
We’re friends, Lanie. Really, that’s it. I made a joke about Gaston having three girls instead of two, Eliza heard it and asked if he had two girls, so he said me and her. It was a save. We’re friends. He drops by when he’s not otherwise occupied, and that’s it. Think he just wants a girl who’s a friend, nothing more.”

“
Honey, I don’t think that’s it at all, but I’ll watch this from the sidelines for a while.” She moved closer. “And no funny business with my baby girl in the house.”

“
Promise.” Edie gave her a kiss. “I’ll behave.”

“
It's not your behavior I'm worried about,” Melanie said and shook her head.

She wasn't really worried; not even Dawg would try anything while Eliza was there, but the warning was sort of a permanent one. As in, don't ever engage in funny business with Dawg.

-o0o-

I watched Dawg on my couch eating a pink cupcake while dodging Eliza’s requests to at least paint his toenails or do a facial mask. It had been just over a month since my birthday and it had been calm. Vasco had really pulled through for me that day, and we'd talked even more since. A lot about Dawg, even if I still preferred to not talk about him all that much. I still wasn't sure what we were doing, but I liked it like this. He stopped by, we had some take-out, talked, sometimes watched a movie, but it was all calm, between friends.

At the moment I was actually sitting there with a mud mask covering my face and so was Eliza. Dawg was unsuccessfully trying to hide his smiles every time he looked at me. I couldn’t blame him; I had a hairband, mud mask and most likely pink frosting on my lips. Once the mud mask was gone and the popcorn made, we turned on the movie.

“
So who am I in this move?” He asked Eliza, who was once again curled up in his lap.

“
Rocky. All the chickens swoon when he’s around.”

“
You think girls swoon when I’m around?”

“
That’s what mom says.”

“
Jesus,” he muttered. “Not sure I wanna know what else your mom says about me.”

“
She likes you,” Eliza said and kissed his cheek. “And I looove you.”

“
Good. 'Cause you’re my girl.”

We watched the movie, and towards the end Eliza got tired so I lay down on my back with Eliza on my chest, and she soon fell asleep with her thumb in her mouth. Dawg’s phone rang, and he went out to the hallway to answer it then came back with a serious face.

“I have to roll.”

“
That’s okay. Girls’ night is over,” I said with a gesture towards the sleeping Eliza.

He came over and picked up Eliza from my chest. “I’ll take her to bed.”

I started to clear off the table, and when he came back out there was still something a bit off with him. It was probably club business so I didn’t ask. He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek.

“
I’ll come by tomorrow. Tell my girl in there that I love her.”

“
I will.”

Once he'd left, I was still bothered by his strange behavior. Between Lanie's emails and the fact that I'd been around a lot of different types of cultures, I'd come to understand some things. The first two or three years while I was away it had been hard to get into the closed groups I came across, then I figured out the basics on how to behave and it got easier. It was always pretty much the same, and in most of them, you didn't ask for details. You waited for them to tell you, always. Questions got you into trouble. And frankly, I didn't want to know, some things were better not knowing.

-o0o-

Twenty minutes earlier

His baby girl was at Edie's, the two older boys were out with friends or girlfriends, he didn't care which. Because it meant he had his Old Lady all to himself in a blissfully quiet house. And he was making her moan. He ran his hands along her curvy hips and up to her tits. He loved those tits—much more than a handful, and he latched on to her left nipple.

“Brick! Oh shit! Baby, please!”

“
Patience, sexy, we've got all night,” he mumbled as he moved up to her mouth and watched her as he kept moving inside her with slow, deep thrusts.

She was close. He pressed his tongue inside her mouth and started to rub her clit with his fingers. That's when his phone rang.

“You have got to be shitting me!” Mel yelled, but she knew he had to take it, it was the prepay, and you didn't ignore it no matter what.

“
This better be good or I'll fucking kill someone!” He mumbled as he reached for the phone and he wasn't kidding. Heads would roll if this was some banal shit. He'd made it very clear that since the kids were out of the house he was going to fuck his sexy, curvy woman until she passed out. “What?!” He yelled into the phone.

“
It's me. Bear.”
He could hear him take a deep breath.
“Someone bombed BB.”

Brick got out of the bed to find his clothes and heard Mel groan behind him. “What's the word?”

“Minor injuries to some of the girls. Nothing too bad, but it was in the back, underneath some of the sofas.”

“
Who?”

“
Vasco. It's bad, Brick.”

“
Meet me at the hospital. Who else have you called?”

“
You're the first call. Mech and Sisco were here, that's it.”

“
Call Bull and Wolf. I'll call Dawg. Wait with the prospects for now.”

This would fucking kill Dawg. And fuck! Edie! He turned around and looked at Mel who still looked slightly pissed.

“Someone bombed the Booty Bank. Vasco's in bad shape.”

“
Jesus!”

“
We need to get to the hospital.”

“
Of course.” She got out of the bed and picked up her clothes. “What about Edie?”

“
I'll go over to see her tomorrow.”

“
Don't you think it better if I...”

“
No. I'll do it.”

Mel would stutter and cry before she even got to the main point, and it would just freak Edie out even worse. He knew that Mel would agree to it, since she didn't want to be the one who told Edie. Mel was a strong woman, she could deal with most things, but when it came to her sister, she had a soft spot. Or more like a weak spot. She was still so scared that something would happen to make Edie leave again. That made Mel careful, overly so. There was so much shit between those sisters that needed sorting out, and he wasn't sure how to make them do that.

They walked into the hospital twenty minutes later. He'd called Dawg from the car, and since he was at Edie's it had been a lot easier than he'd expected. He'd told him not to mention it to Edie yet, that he'd deal with her himself. When Dawg came in not ten minutes later, he gave him a hug.

“
Heard anything?”

“
No,” Brick said and patted Dawg on his back. “What did you say to Edie?”

“
Nothing. Just that it was club business.”

“
Good. I'll go and talk to her tomorrow morning.”

They sat down on the couch to wait, and the rest of the brothers did the same.

“Who the fuck would do this?” Dawg said a while later with a low voice, trying to keep the conversation private. “Think it's the Iron Skulls?”

Iron Skulls was a rival biker gang. They mostly operated in blow and pussy. Ten years earlier, the rivalry had turned into war when they opened up strip clubs and named them Booby Bank. The Marauders' clubs had a good rep and they were trying to use that. The war had ended about two years before he met Mel. It had been a tense standoff since then. The Iron Skulls sure as shit didn't hesitate to use violence, but this still didn't feel like them to him.

“No. They'd attack in our face, not this shit. Besides, they'd want our girls, blowing up the place they work at isn't gonna convince them.”

“
This is gonna bring on a lot of fucking heat from authorities,” Bear said with a sigh. “That's really fucking bad. For a lot of reasons.”

“
Yeah.” Brick laid back in the couch. “I'm not gonna worry about that yet. It'll come and we'll be fine.”

He didn't want to think about all that now. He just wanted Vasco to be okay. He
needed
Vasco to be okay.

-o0o-

When the doorbell rang the next morning, I thought it was Dawg, but it wasn’t. It was Brick.

“
Girl, sit down,” he said with a serious face.

On shaky legs I went over to my tiny kitchen table.  Just the fact that he was here was enough of a hint. That face meant it was really bad. “What?”

“It’s Vasco. He’s in the hospital, and it doesn’t look like he’s gonna make it,” Brick sounded concerned, and I wasn’t sure what to feel. It mostly felt like I’d gotten slapped in the face. Hard. “Bucket is downstairs. Go with him, and I’ll take Eliza. I’ll be at the hospital soon.”

I nodded, got my clothes and my bag and raced downstairs. I didn’t talk in the car, and when I got to the hospital it wasn't hard to find the rest of the club. The first one who saw me was Wolf. He have me a hug.

“Be strong, little girl.”

I nodded again and looked around. Dawg was standing in a corner, looking at me reluctantly. I walked up to him.

“You found out yesterday, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “Brick told me to shut up about it, that he’d fill you in himself.”