Perfect Collision (39 page)

“Is that so?”

“She's doing good. Really good. Working her ass off and bringing in the big bucks. You could probably retire and have her working for both of you.”

“That good?”

“Oh, yes. She's not charging Sami's rates yet, but she's charging well, and I know for a fact there's not a member in the Marauders who's not just waiting for her to get an open spot. She's been forced to limit her booking to six months ahead. She releases the dates one month at a time, and they're full within two days.”

“Fucking hell!” Mac'd had no idea she was doing
that
well. In her usual manner, she'd shrugged and said she was doing okay whenever he asked her, “How many have you got?”

“She's inking me for free,” he answered with a satisfied smile. “I told her she should charge you, but there was some shit about loving you and stuff. So you'll probably get it for free, too.”

“I miss her, man.”

“I know,” Mitch said. “We're taking care of her as much as she lets us, but she's... she misses you, too. She's off all the fucking time, because she thinks time goes faster that way.”

Mitch was the only one he talked to about this, and he was the one giving Mac the most honest updates on Vi. Mac was so fucking proud of her, of what she was doing, and how well she was doing.

Mitch stayed for as long as possible and it was nice talking to him. He missed him, too. Missed getting high while they discussed whatever came to mind.

Once the visit was over, he went out and sat down on their bench next to Bull and Sisco.

“Who was it?” Sisco asked

“Mitch. Gave me some updates. They'd deal with the problem.”

“Good,” Sisco said. “Anything else?”

“Nothing about that. Apparently my girl is making enough money for me to be able to retire.”

“Should do that,” Bull said with a smile. “Or marry her. That way her money is your money.”

“I was hoping to marry her for a little nicer reasons.”

“Are you gonna get all sappy on us?” Bull asked. “Because really, people might think you're a pussy when you talk that romance shit. How you love her and all that.”

“I'll try to contain myself,” he said and gave him the finger, and Bull just laughed.

“Please do.”

“I miss pussy,” Sisco mumbled.

It was a common discussion. How much they missed pussy and proper food. Mel's food was often mentioned.

“Where's Dawg?”

“They came and picked him up. I'm guessing they had news from Edie.”

“The kid?” Edie was due at any moment, and he saw Bull nod and then glance towards Sisco.

“That's my guess.” Bull said, then he pointed towards the doors. “There he is.”

Sisco got up and left. He didn't handle births well. Mac didn't know what it was about, but Sisco was the only brother who wasn't at the hospital when someone had a kid, and no one gave him a hard time about it. He didn't know what it was about, and his dad had told him to mind his own fucking business when he asked. So he shut up this time as well.

“Fucking hell!” Dawg yelled as he came running. “It was a boy. Another boy!”

Bull caught him in a hug. “How is she?”

The smile on Dawg's face was impossibly big. “She's fine, and the boy is fine. We're gonna call him Jacob, and everyone is fucking perfect. She's sending pictures, and... she'll visit with him as soon as possible. Fuck!” he yelled again as he sat down. “I have two boys.”

-o0o-

It was nice to wake up in my own bed. I was getting very tired of the traveling. It had gotten to the point where I sometimes didn't even know what fucking city I was in. It wasn't as if it mattered, I hardly ever saw anything of them anyway, except the closest airport, the road between the airport and wherever the convention was, and the hotels.

It was slightly different if we were at a guest spot, but not much. If we were working somewhere, we both tended to try to make the schedule as booked as possible.

But we often stayed at hotels, and I hated hotels. I thought it was great in the beginning, but then the small things started to get to me. Literally, the small things. The complimentary shampoos that turned your hair into steel wool, the small but still expensive bottles of Coke, and just... everything always smelling the same.

Despite all that, it still felt as if time was crawling. It was still six months until Mac was released. Although it meant another hurdle had been passed. I booked my jobs six months ahead, and I was now fully booked until he came out. I'd decided to take a month off once he was. Because by then I'd been working for almost two years straight without any longer times off—I deserved some time off.

Sami'd agreed extremely quickly to the month off, and I realized that me working for two years straight, actually meant he had, too. And he was, like, old. It made me feel a little bad. Trixie'd told me to ignore it, that he was a grown man and my boss, if he wanted some fucking time off he should just tell me so. That was a direct quote.

The last few weeks, my arm had started to hurt, and my fingers got numb much faster than normal when I was working. I wasn't even twenty, so I didn't want to know what Sami's body felt like. He'd taken my arm as an excuse to cancel one of the conventions, and we were taking five days off. When I protested, he told me a hurting arm at the age of nineteen was a red flag the size of Texas, and I needed to give it time to rest.

I just dreaded being home with nothing to do. The only thing I had planned was visiting Edie to meet the new boy, Jacob, but I couldn't stay there for five days straight.

When I got out to the kitchen, April was making breakfast, and Dad was sitting by the window and smoking, as usual. Lately, my relationship with Dad had been purely phone-based, and I missed him. I missed sitting with him in the kitchen when he was smoking by the window while I drank some of his awesome hot chocolate. I was going to try to catch up with him properly.

“Hey, Katze,” he said when he saw me. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah.” I sat down. “I thought I'd got to the clubhouse today.”

“Sure. Wolf's missed you.”

“I was thinking I'd continue on those chairs.”

“Hun', if I see you with a tattoo machine in your hand, I'll break your pinky finger to make sure that arm of yours gets proper rest.”

Sometimes, I truly hated how Sami and Dad often talked to each other, and I hated it even more when they ganged up on me. He might not break my pinky finger, but he'd make sure I didn't do anything, and he'd tell everyone else at the club the same thing. I wouldn't be fixing those chairs today.

And as suspected, the first thing coming out of Wolf's mouth when I came to the clubhouse was regarding the chairs.

“Your dad told me I was free to tie you up if I saw you with a tattoo machine,” he said with a crooked smile. “When a man tells you that you can tie up his teenage daughter, that's when you know you're old.”

“Or that the man is severely perverted,” I said when I sat down next to him. “But I don't think he is.”

“No. He's perverted, but not
severely
perverted. I'm old.” Wolf eyed me. “You haven't given me shit about me getting out yet. I've been waiting for that for months.”

“When did I ever give anyone shit?”

“You should practice, girl. It's important knowledge.”

“I'm not going to give you shit for wanting some peace and quiet.” I looked at him. “Where are you going?”

“Don't know, yet,” he smiled. “But you're gonna come visit me. We're gonna smoke pot and listen to Willie Nelson.”

“I don't smoke pot.”

“I'll teach you. Can't call yourself a Willie Nelson fan and not smoke some weed.”

I laughed and gave him a hug. “I'm gonna to miss you.”

“I know, baby girl. I'm gonna miss you, too.” He kissed my temple. “Make sure to take care of your dad and your man. They need you.”

“I need them, too.”

CHAPTER TWENTY:

No Prop Involved

-o0o-

BEAR HAD LEFT THE
clubhouse to go home, but halfway there he changed his mind and took the turn towards April's house. It was Friday night and late, but he usually got away with coming late.

He'd honestly not seen it happening again. Him meeting someone—not like this.

The last few years of his marriage to Ella coincided with Vi's early teens. So while Vi tried to find herself, her home was falling apart, and her own mother refused to accept her needs. It would've been hard on any child, but to someone like Vi it was absolutely devastating. In some ways, she'd been more childish than those around the same age, but in other ways, like her creativity and instincts, she was far beyond them. She'd always been observant, so she'd known all along what was happening. She just didn't talk to anyone about it.

When the decision about the divorce had been made, Ella had made
one
attempt to claim Vi should live with her. He'd made it
extremely
clear it wouldn't happen, and she'd never suggested it again.

He'd picked up Vi from school, taken her to their spot, and told her he was going to divorce her mom. She'd eyed him carefully, afraid to ask, so he told her she would be staying with him. When she'd asked him if there would be anyone else living with them, he'd laughed and told her he'd once in his life lived with a woman, and that would have to do.

He'd fully believed it to be the truth. Ella'd been the first woman he'd ever even wanted to live with. April hadn't come crashing into his life the way Ella had—nothing even close to that. It had been a slow realization that she was... more. More than he'd expected, more than he'd initially understood, and just... more.

April opened the door wearing her robe.

“Hey? You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. Missed you, and I didn't feel like going home to an empty apartment.” He stepped inside and took her in his arms. “Thought maybe you were a bit lonely as well.”

“I am. This big empty house with the big yard, and I was just thinking I could scream as loud as I wanted without anyone hearing.”

“Woman, is this you trying to dirty talk?”

“You think I should work on it?”

“Yeah,” he said as he followed her up the stairs. “Whatta you got under your robe?”

Instead of answering, she dropped it, and as suspected she was buck naked underneath. He didn't even think about it, just opened his jeans as he pulled her down to kneel on the stairs.

It was rough, he needed it, and she liked it, so it wasn't a problem. When they lay next to each other on the stairs, soaked in sweat and sated at least for the moment, he looked at her.

“They're getting out soon, and I'm guessing Vi's gonna move in with Mac.”

“Probably,” she mumbled with her eyes still closed. “She's twenty soon, and she hasn't been home much. She's growing up, and you'd probably drive each other crazy anyway.”

“I know. Gonna be strange, though.”

April laughed and opened her eyes to look at him. “Is the big bad biker telling me he doesn't like to be alone?”

“No he doesn't,” he said and took her hand. “How about helping me with that?”

She stared at him. “Are we discussing you moving in while lying on the stairs?”

“Yeah, it's not comfortable.” He pulled her with him as he stood up. “Let's get to the bed.”

He followed her into her into the bedroom, and she eyed him carefully.

“So, moving in together. Or... you moving here?”

“I live in a small apartment, and you have a house. Thought I'd move in here.” He gave her a kiss. “Think we could make it work if you give me free rein in your garage.”

He was blown away by April. Her patience, how she'd been with Vi. He felt he was ready for it, and it wasn't just because Vi was about to leave—not at all.

“You want my garage?”

“I was hoping to be allowed into the house, too.”

“Good. Got no use for you in the garage.”

“I love you,” he laughed. “You know that.”

“I do, and I love you, too.”

“So, think you'd give me a shot?”

“I'm not gonna be one of those club women. I mean, I'll go to some of the parties, but I'm not going to be Mel or Edie.”

“I know. I'm fine with that.”

He actually liked that part. He'd had a woman who was all club, in the middle of it all, who even worked at the strip club, but he liked how April wasn't a club woman. She was all his. She got along with the others, had been to a few dinners at Brick and Mel's, and Mel liked her. April understood the club, followed the ruled, but was on the outside. She knew some of what they did, but had told him she didn't want to know it all. She wasn't stupid, and she knew it wasn't all legal, but she was fine without the details.

“Then talk to your daughter, and we'll figure this out. There's no hurry.”

-o0o-

When Mac walked into the visitors center, he saw the small girl with purple hair, and he knew he was smiling like a moron. She'd been gone for over a month, and he'd missed her visits. He caught her in a hug and fisted her hair while taking a deep breath just to be able to smell something that didn't stink of prison.

“Gotta let go of me, Katze,” he mumbled in her ear when he noticed a guard raising his hand in a warning.

She sat down and looked at him with a smile, and she immediately grabbed his hands. She'd sort of kept her promise to laugh at least once during every visit. It'd been slightly forced a few of the times, but he knew there weren't many visits left before he got out. That somehow made this visit even worse. She alway talked a lot about everything that was going on. They'd even managed to fight once. It was after he and Bear sent Marauders to get her ink at conventions.

Those guys were proud these days, though. A lot of Marauders wanted her ink, and she wasn't as easy to get an appointment with anymore. Every fucking club was keeping tabs on where she was and did their best to get an appointment when she was close by.