Arrow of Time (35 page)

“
Members, family, ex-family if they want to, sweetbutts and hangarounds.”

“
Great!” She grumbled. “I'm going to spend the week with a bunch of strippers my boyfriend's had sex with and pissed ex-wives. Is she gonna be here, Brick's ex?”

“
Probably, but she's okay.”

“
I've forgotten her name.”

“
Donna. Lives in Phoenix. She's a hairdresser.”

She'd met Donna as soon as things got serious between her and Brick, which was pretty early on. He had wanted the two of them to meet, so Donna would be okay with the stepmom of their kids. Melanie'd been nervous as hell, but Donna had been pretty cool about it. Brick and her had gotten divorced when the kids were young, years before Melanie met him, so it was all water under the bridge. 'Too much hassle with the club and all that', was her explanation. 'Too much dick where it shouldn't be' was Brick's. He'd been honest about it, that he'd cheated, but also pointed out that he was in his thirties at the time and he was older now, had different priorities. She knew that the truth was in between those two, and that he'd taken over the club just after the divorce. Bloodless, according to Vasco, and he had been known for telling the truth when he actually told you something.

“Ever been in a lockdown?”

“
No. It's been calm since we met. Brick says these things happen, every ten years or so.” She leaned her elbows on the desk. “What do you know about the club business?”

“
Not much. What I've figured out, but in general nothing at all. I'm fine with that. Just don't expect me to cook while I'm here.”

“
No. Think we'd want to avoid a clubhouse full of people with food poisoning.”

“
I'm not
that
bad.”

“
Yes, honey, you are. Even Eliza wants to make sure she's had dinner before your girls' nights. She's also said that I have to teach her how to cook so she doesn't 'suck at it as much as Aunt Edie'. That's a direct quote.”

“
Dawg hasn't complained,” she mumbled, but did look a bit embarrassed.

“
Dawg's still in that first 'madly in love' phase.”

Dawg also quite often ate at the clubhouse before going home, but she didn't tell Edie that. He hadn't explicitly
said
it was because Edie couldn't cook for shit, but he'd never hurried home to catch dinner either.

“
Without giving any details, how bad is it?” Edie said and she'd put the magazine down. “I mean, I know Brick, he's smart so he's got a plan, but do I need to worry? Like, for real?”

“
It depends, but do what Dawg says for the time being and no running off in the middle of the night. You'll be fine.”

“
Okay.” She sighed. “I'm gonna get fired if I keep taking days off. Not sure I really care, it's not the best job I've had, but I need a job.”

“
Don't think he dares to fire you. If he does, talk to Brick.”

“
Yeah, 'cause I really wanna use up my favors with Brick by having him make sure I keep my job as a waitress.”

“
Don't think there's a limit to the numbers of favors you have with him, honey.”

Edie smiled and put her boots up on the desk, leaning back.

“Is this you telling me I should tell him that he's totally forgiven for telling Dawg my dirty secrets?”

“
Maybe...”

Brick hadn't brought it up, and she was pretty sure he was okay with the entire situation; he'd done what he thought was right, and he was the kind of man who slept well if he was convinced about that. It was more Melanie hoping that Edie would say it to him.

“I'll think about it,” Edie said with an even bigger smile. Then it faded a bit. “Do you fight? You and Brick.”

“
You kidding me? Sure we do, we're two people who live together. It's unavoidable.” She noticed Edie not looking at her while she spoke. “You worry about you and Dawg fighting?”

“
Yeah. The only other real, longer relationship I've had was with a Japanese guy, and they're so fucking polite. Instead of swearing, they breach etiquette to be rude so him being mad at me and insulting me most often went right over my head. And he never yelled at me the way Dawg does.”

She remembered Edie telling her about Kenji. They seemed good together and Edie'd seemed happy. Even once she left Japan she kept going there to see him until they definitely broke up about a year before she came back.

“I heard they don't have swearwords.”

“
They do. They also pick up foreign swearwords, but they have their own as well. Much like ours, you know, sex-words. That's the most common ones. Except in the Catholic and Scandinavian countries, where the most rude swearwords have a religious base,” Edie yawned and stretched. “Either way—so it's normal? To fight a lot, I mean.”

“
Yes, especially in the beginning. It's all about how you fight and also... you still make up, you're still sorry after fighting and feel bad rather than annoyed about it. That's a good sign.

“
Okay,” Edie nodded. “Hey, what was that thing with Mitch in the library?”

Melanie rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It was him and some girl. I don't even wanna know. I'm still to this day surprised it was Mac and not him who stole my bike,” she sighed. She loved those kids, but they were trouble. Especially Mitch. “He's lucky they couldn't prove anything. Underage sex is taken damn seriously here.”

“What did Brick say?” Edie laughed.

“
That if he wanted to be able to make full use of his dick the remaining years of his life, he should keep it in his pants in public.”

Edie laughed. “I like your Old Man.”

Yup, she was sure Edie'd forgiven him, she just wasn't big on telling that to people. She was more for showing it.

-o0o-

Saturday, May 4
th

I WASN'T GONNA ADMIT
it in a million years, but I really liked Dawg's apartment. Or rather, my apartment. He hadn't signed it over yet, but he'd left it all in my hands. He didn't comment on any of the things I did to it; he helped me carry whatever I bought and paid for most of it, saying I could pay him back later. So at the moment that was what we were fighting about, I was trying to pay him back and he wouldn't let me.

“
That's not fair, Dawg. You say it's my place and then you pay for all the things and that way it doesn't feel like mine.”

“
Of all the fucking women I could've hooked up with,” he muttered. “How much do you make a month?”

I didn't answer, just glared at him and when I didn't say anything he continued.

“I'm not making as much as Brick, but I could still probably afford a pretty damn big house and still have money to spare. In short, I make a lot of fucking money. In fact, I have shitloads of money, so I'm not gonna let you pay me back when you're on a waitress salary. That is not going to happen, Nibbles.”

I stared at him, and it took me a few seconds before I could even breathe.

“Then why do you have a place like this?” I looked around. “And why don't you even own a decent pair of jeans?”

Not that I minded, he was very hot in those worn jeans he had hanging from his hips. But he didn't look like a guy who had a cent to spare.

“Because,” he said and moved closer to me. “I don't care about shit like that. I have bikes, I spend money on them, and now I have a woman, I'd like to spend money on her. So could you please let me do that? It's not like I wanna buy you jewelry.”

“
I don't wear that.”

“
I know, so can I buy things for your apartment? Especially considering that I'll spend a lot of time here as well?”

“
Okay,” I mumbled. Still not really over the fact that he had 'shitloads' of money. At least I wasn't pissed anymore, more shocked. But I could deal with shocked. “I'll let you pay for the take out, too.”

“
Thank you.” He said and gave me a kiss. “I've actually been doing that all the time.”

“
No. I pay sometimes.”

“
Yeah. And I've stuffed money in your pockets when you have.”

I stared at him. “Is that why I keep finding money in my pockets?”

“Yes.”

“
But...” I took a step back. “Hang on! You've done that all along. Since before we even hooked up.”

“
Yes,” he smiled. “Is this something you're gonna explode over now? Because I did it since you're a waitress. It didn't feel right to have you pay for my food.”

I sighed. No, I wasn't gonna explode over that since those ten and twenty dollar bills had saved my ass more than once the days before payday. I still glared at him, though, and when I did his smile grew bigger and he squeezed my hips. Slowly, he leaned closer to me and when I didn't protest he stroked his nose against mine. I didn't move. His tongue gave my lips a quick lick and that's when I couldn't hold it back. I smiled. Instead of gloating about it, he put his arms around me and rubbed his beard against the side of my neck.

“I love you,” he mumbled. “So can we not argue about money? I have it, you don't.”

“
Okay.” I leaned back to look at him. “I'll find other things to argue about.”

“
I bet you will, Nibbles.” He gave me a kiss and then let me go, smacking my ass when I turned around.

I was just gonna reply and was interrupted by his phone ringing. He answered and I knew that face. It was the serious face that he always had when Brick or one of the other officers from the club called him.

I walked into the bedroom so he'd have his privacy. The carrying of furniture and shopping for it had me soaking in sweat and the AC in the apartment was really shit. Since I wasn't planning on going out anymore, I took a nightgown and put it on. It was one of those things Lanie had left in my drawers, and I'd never used it, but it worked okay as a sundress to wear at home. I got out in time to hear Dawg ending the call after a 'I'll see you in fifteen'. He hung up and looked at me. I was drying off the sweat on my face with a towel and smiled at him.

“
It's okay, you have to go, I know,” I said and started towards the living room. “I'll fix this.”

He fingers wrapped around my wrist and he spun me around so I crashed into his chest and held me still with an arm around my waist.

“We'll fix the shelves tomorrow.”

“
I can do that, don't worry.”

“
I love you, but you're pretty feeble, so I don't want you to drop it and end up underneath it when you try raise it.”

“
I'm not feeble.”

He caught my jaw and smiled. “Yes you are, give me a kiss.”

“I'm not...”

“
Do I have to remind you about the tire incident, or the box with china, which is the direct reason we just bought a new set of that, and then there's the time you dropped your end of the bed when we carried it up the stairs and...”

“
Okay, I get it. I'll wait with the bookshelves.”

“
Pout and give me a kiss.”

“
Not giving you a kiss when you call me feeble.”

He laughed and seriously pressed my cheeks together until I made an involuntary pout. I was pissed at first, and then I felt his tongue dart into my mouth and instead of nagging, I wrapped my arms around his neck. When both his hands went down to my ass and squeezed, I moaned.

“I like the dress.”

“
It's a nightgown. I need to buy a new AC for this place.”

“
If you keep the old one, is this what you're gonna wear around the house?” He asked as his hands ran up the outside of my thighs and up to my waist.

“
Maybe...”

“
Whatever it is, I like it, and you're lucky you're wearing it right now,” he mumbled, as his hands slid down to the back of my thighs and he lifted me up. “Cause I got like ten minutes to get you off.”

I sucked on his tongue and hugged him tighter. He was holding me against door with one hand on my ass, and the other was definitely unzipping his jeans. I loved this about him. He could drive me nuts with hours of playing and sex, but he wasn't a stranger to these quick ones either. I liked that he saw the value in those as well, and most of all, I loved how easy it was to get him to do this. Still, no harm in teasing him about it.

“Shouldn't you be on your way?” I mumbled as I felt him moving my panties to the side.

“
Nah, Sisco was gonna come here to pick me up.”

His fingers went inside me, but despite that, his comment sobered me up and I stared at him. “He's coming here?”

He gave me that naughty smile. “That's why I have you against the front door. That way he can't walk in on us.”