Arrow of Time (29 page)

“
Making up?” She asked and he could see when she got it. “Oh...”

He gave her cheek a kiss. “She’ll be fine, if she’s not, that’s when you step in. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He left Mel and walked into the garage. Fifteen minutes later, Edie and Dawg came out from the room. When Edie saw him she smiled, turned to the side to give Dawg a kiss and then left.

“I take it you two are okay now?” He said when she was gone.

“
For now,” Dawg shrugged and looked after Edie as she left. “We’ll be at it soon again, probably. She’s a lot of work.”

“
Worth fighting for?”

“
Worth fighting for,” Dawg smiled and lit a smoke.

“
Wow! You really got it bad,” Bull said and shook his head.

“
Yup.” Dawg laughed and nodded. “I know. Fucking pathetic, isn’t it?”

“
Nah. I admit, pretty fucking surprising since it’s you, but the shit that’s happened to you lately means you're seeing shit differently.”

“
I don’t know.” Dawg seemed to think about it. “Think it’s a combination of things.”

“
Usually is when tides turn.”

“
Aww, Bull, are you comparing me to the ocean?” he said and batted his eyelashes in his direction.

Bull laughed and shook his head. “When you’re down from that cum high, you can fix that Ford over there.”

Bull walked out and left Dawg behind him. Turning tides. That was pretty much the best way to describe what had happened. He’d always liked Dawg. Respected that he’d gone away from his home club, where his dad was president, to prospect with people who hadn’t known him since he was a kid. He knew it had been some crap between the two of them for that, but his dad had come around and understood what Dawg was doing.

Losing Vasco and then his dad was probably a blow unlike any he’d ever had, and Edie had been there with him. At Vasco’s funeral they’d been there for each other, and he’d seen her with Dawg at Hawk’s funeral, too. They hadn’t talked to each other for weeks; she was pissed and he stayed out of her way, but then she just walked up to him, held him and was with him. He’d overheard their conversation in Dawg’s room. That it was history and if he still needed to, they’d talk later, but to focus on this 'cause there was no later for it. Even he had liked to hear her say that to Dawg. It was really sweet of her, and Bull rarely found things or people 'sweet'.

Bull had checked up on Edie, early on. So he knew what she’d done and why. She’d been brainwashed by her dad for eighteen years, and she’d still had the strength to go into his room and put a bullet in his head. Everyone has a breaking point; there’s nothing strange about that. It’s what a person does when they reach that point that defines them. Lay down and give up, or rise up and, in this case, put a bullet in the fucker’s head. Chicks probably didn’t see it that way, but he was pretty impressed with Edie even so. There was a strength in here, the same strength that let her put her own feelings aside and just be there for a guy when he needed her. If Dawg was as smart as Bull knew he could be, he'd see that that's the kind of woman you kept your dick in your pants for.

-o0o-

Melanie was on the deck, drinking wine, when Brick came walking though the kitchen and then noticed her outside. She patted the chair next to hers, and he came out and sat down.

“
I talked to Edie today.”

“
Okay?” He took her hand. “About Dawg?”

“
No. Not only. We talked...” She took a deep breath; just thinking about it made her eyes water. “She said it wasn’t my fault, that I had to forgive myself.”

She could hear Brick take a deep breath.

“And?”

“
That I...” The tears were running now. “That she left because she didn’t know anything about herself. That she didn’t know what food she liked, not even what her favorite color was, that dad had controlled her so much that she didn’t even know those things about herself.” Melanie looked at her husband. “Can you even imagine what that would be like? ‘A blank page,’ that’s what she called herself.”

“
Baby,” he said and pulled her into her lap. “She’s right, that wasn’t your fault, and you do need to forgive yourself. She knows you love her, that you’ve always loved her.”

“
She said that the emails I wrote—” It was hard for her to talk now, so she tried to calm herself down. “That the emails I wrote, showed her that someone loved her and that she had something to come home to.” That’s when she broke down. “My sister was a blank page.”

“
Baby. Listen to me.” He pulled her closer. “She came home to you when she was ready, and she came to you because even if you let her leave, you didn’t let go of her. You gave her a base. And you letting her leave with that base brought back the woman she is now, and she’s something. A fantastic woman. Some of that is on you. She left, but she was never lost because you were there, do you understand?”

Melanie couldn’t speak now, she just nodded and hugged her husband closer. When she finally calmed down, she looked at him.

“It was a lot her, too.”

“
Yeah, that’s true.”

“
She said she loves him.”

“
Not surprised about that. Think he’s got it bad, too. Like I said, she’s a pretty amazing woman.”

That was something she could agree on. She was more relaxed, calmer, and that talk with Edie had been a long time coming. Edie was right, she needed to forgive herself, and she needed to let go and trust that she could handle even tougher things in her life. They had more to talk about, but this was a start ,and no matter what, she would never let go of Edie completely. If needed, she’d be there, just like any sister would.

-o0o-

Saturday, February 23
rd

ELIZA CAME RUNNING TOWARDS
him when he walked into Edie’s apartment. He picked her up and she pulled off his beanie while she put her arms around his neck.

“
We’re having girls' night.”

“
Wow! I didn’t know that.”

“
Yes you did,” she giggled. “You have the movies cuz I forgot them and daddy said you’d bring them.”

Brick had walked into the clubhouse with a fist full of cartoon musicals with girls falling in love. With black eyes he told Dawg that his baby girl had forgotten them and that he had to get them to Edie’s place. Brick might love his baby girl like crazy, but he was still lost on a lot of the girl stuff and the whistles and yells filling the clubhouse about 'the pink shit in Brick's hand' wasn't making it any easier for him.

“And we're celebrating her anniversary,” Eliza added with a happy smile.

“
Her what?”

“
She's been here a year!” Eliza looked at him as if he was stupid, but he hadn't known that. “We're gonna have a girls' night every year on this day. We've decided that today.”

“
Think that's a really good idea,” he gave her cheek a kiss and then he noticed her t-shirt; it had the text, ‘My dad is a Marauder Rider’. “Like your tee, sweetpea.”

“
Daddy gave it to me.”

He walked into the living room with her still in his arms.

“Did I miss the mud mask?”

“
No, but we’re not doing that. We’re doing hair stuff, we can do that now when she doesn’t have those dreads.” She squirmed to get down so he put her on the couch. “I’m glad you’re friends now, it’s more fun when you’re here.”

“
I’m pretty happy about us being friends, too,” Dawg smiled and just then Edie came out, holding two jars in her hands.

“
I got lavender and honey. What do you wanna smell of?” She looked up at him and smiled. “Did you bring the movies?”

“
I did.” He put them down on the table. “So you've been here a year today?”

“
Yeah, I realized it this morning, but I think this is a good way to celebrate.”

“
The best!” Eliza yelled and jumped up and down on the couch with her hands in the air.

Later that night he had the honey-smelling girl sleeping on his arm and the lavender-smelling one on his chest with her thumb in her mouth. She looked up at him.

“You’re not just friends, are you?”

“
No.”

“
Are you in love?”

“
Yes we are.”

“
Like The Little Mermaid and the Prince?”

That was the movie they were watching at the moment.

“Or like Belle and the Beast.”

“
Good,” Eliza smiled and put her thumb back in.

She was right, it was good. Did suck a bit that he had to sleep on the couch during girls' nights. That was the next thing Brick had said to him. That there was no fucking way he’d sleep in the bed with Edie and Eliza. He didn’t want him in his baby girl's bed with a hard-on for her babysitter. He’d laughed and agreed.

-o0o-

Saturday, March 2
nd

BRICK WAS STANDING BY
the barbecue of the annual Spring Hog Roast, held the first Saturday in March every year. It was just a thing that had started even before the club became a Marauder club, and they'd kept the tradition going. Along with the Christmas party it was the biggest one of the year. Everyone that was anything to the club was there. Just one of the reasons he'd been so keen on getting Edie to go the year before.

Mel and Edie had made up, as far as he could tell, but Edie was avoiding him and he had a pretty good idea of why. So when she went inside to go to the bathroom, he followed her. He waited, leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door. When it opened she stared at him

“Time's up,” he said with his hands still crossed over his chest.

“
Time's up?” She asked and kept staring at him.

“
Yup, I know you're a runner, but I've given you enough time to come and yell at me for my big mouth, you didn't, so we're gonna talk about it now.”

“
You can't
force
me to argue with you.”

He pushed with his foot against the wall to stand up straight and then took another step towards her.

“Wanna bet? I'm
very
good at getting people to yell at me. Especially women.”

She laughed, pointed towards the dorms and when he walked towards his, he made sure that she was following him. They went inside, he sat down on a chair and she took the armchair.

“I told Dawg, because I thought he needed to know. He needed to understand why he couldn't pressure you, where you were coming from, and why Mel was acting the way she did.”

“
It doesn't matter
why
you told him or even what the outcome of that was, it's
that
you told him.”

“
I know that.” He leaned forward and when she looked at him he gave her a smile. “And I know how you feel about it, I knew how you'd feel about it when I told him, too.”

“
Then why?”

“
Thought that was obvious, girl. Because I love you, and how you felt about me was less important than what you needed.”

“
Fuck!” She muttered. “You're making it really hard for me to stay angry at you. I still am, mostly because I trusted you and...”

“
You want to trust me again, you're just not sure you can,” he filled in for her. “Honey, take your time. I'll be around when you decide whatever you decide. Okay?”

“
Okay.” She looked at him. “You owe me one, though.”

“
I do,” he agreed with a laugh. He just hoped she wasn't planning on asking about club business, because he'd have to break a promise again if she did. “Got anything on your mind?”

“
I might, but give me some time on it and I'll get back to you.” She stood up and went over to him. “I'm not good with forgiving people when they break my trust, and it takes me a really long time to do it.”

“
I know. But it doesn't look like anyone of us is going anywhere, so let's just see what happens.”

He stood up as well and gave her a hug. When he came back outside Mel came up to him. She circled his waist and gave him a squeeze.

“So?” She asked.

“
We talked. Don't worry about
every
little thing, baby. You'll go mad if you do that.” He gave her forehead a kiss. “We'll be fine. Edie's the kind of girl you need to give a lot of slack, and if you do, she comes back. You of all people should know that.”

Mel glared at him with a smile playing on her lips. “You think you have her all figured out, don't you?”