Sly (13 page)

“I’m Scarlett. It’s nice to meet you, Gus.”
 

“You’re a good looking gal. What’re you doing hanging around with this bum?” Gus straightened and pointed to Sly with his thumb.
 

“Gus, show me some mercy. The lady’s going to get a bad impression.”
 

“Only if she’s smart.” Gus thumped Sly in the shoulder hard enough to make him wince. Gus smacked the window frame.  “You better talk to that crew of yours. Tiny tried driving in here the other night with one of those foreign cars. I threw him off the lot. Also, he looked like hell. What’d you do to him?”
 

Sly shrugged. “He had a little accident. He’s okay. He’s about to trade in that car; I’ll make sure he takes you with him when he gets a replacement.”
 

Gus harrumphed. “You boys have been having a lot of those lately. Something I need to know about? Benny said you sent your bike over the ravine last week.”
 

Sly ran a hand through his hair. “Benny’s got a big mouth. And no, you don’t need to worry about anything. Scout’s honor.”
 

“If you say so. I may be old, but I’m not useless, Sly. People say shit around old guys because they don’t think we can hear. If I hear about something coming down the pike, I’m going to call you. And you better answer.”
 

Sly nodded and shook Gus’s hand again. “I appreciate that. I promise though, nothing’s coming down the pike. Now, do you want to stand here and talk business or are you going to let me and my lady friend have some quality time together?”
 

Gus flashed me that charming smile. “I’m watching him. He tries anything you just let out a whistle and I’ll be your knight in shining armor.”
 

A slow blush heated my cheeks. When Gus saw it, he got a bona fide twinkle in his eye. “So who’s going to save me from you?”
 

Gus made a clicking noise in the back of his throat and took a twirl around the parking lot, holding his arms out as if he had a dance partner.
 

“Be still my heart,” I gushed. “I think I just got a better offer.”
 

“At ease, Gus. You’re gonna steal all my thunder.” Sly put the car in gear. Gus waved him off but kept on dancing as we drove by. I half hoped I got the chance to take him up on his offer.
 

“What,” I turned to Sly, “was that?”
 

Sly laughed. “That was Gus. He’s kind of a local legend.”
 

“He didn’t even make you buy a ticket. How does he stay in business? Or is that the squeaky clean biker reputation you have?”
 

Sly shook his head. “When are you going to believe me? My club’s clean. And in answer to your question: yes. I do have a special relationship with the Gus. I
am
the owner. This is club property.”
 

My mouth dropped.
 

Sly pulled into a front row spot. The sun wouldn’t set for at least a half hour so we had some time before the screen flared to life.
 

“This is your place?”
 

Sly shrugged. “On paper, yes. But everyone knows it’s really Gus’s. Like I said, he’s a Green Bluff legend. He’s like ninety-five years old. He predates the club even. He bought this place in the late forties, with his G.I. Bill.”
 

“He’s a WWII vet?”
 

Sly nodded. “Though don’t get him started. He’ll talk your ear off. He flew the Hump for the Army Air Corp. Had some of the toughest flight missions in the war. He brought in supplies for the Chinese over the Himalayan Mountains. He still flies on occasion. He’s sharp as shit.”
 

“I can see that. But this place wouldn’t still be here if he didn’t have club backing, would it?” I looked around. It was a Saturday night. Sure, it was still early, but there were only a handful of other cars in the lot. Certainly nowhere near enough to keep this place running unless he wildly inflated the ticket prices for non-M.C. patrons.
 

“He’s not a charity case, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Sly said. “He doesn’t get a lot of business from ticket sales, no. But he also owns the camp grounds over that ridge. He’s got a grant from the government. They train therapy dogs and horses over there. The drive-in is just kind of a hobby for Gus. Keeps him busy.”
 

Something happened to Sly as he talked about Gus and Green Bluff. He became animated, gesturing with his hands, his voice rising with excitement. This town mattered to him. The people in it mattered to him. The more time I spent with him, the more he shattered everything I thought I knew about him ... about all of the Great Wolves M.C. It unsettled me. It stirred me. He was trying to build something for himself, for the club and for the town.  I leaned over and took Sly’s face in my hands, turning him to look at me.
 

He got a puzzled look in his eyes as I studied him. “Who are you?” I said.
 

Sly leaned back and looked at me. “I don’t know how to answer that, Scarlett. I’m not trying to hide anything.”
 

Then I kissed him. Not for passion’s sake, not because I couldn’t bear not to have him touching me. All of those things were there and true, but something else was happening to me. Sly had been open and honest with me. He’d held nothing back. It was me who harbored all of the secrets.
 

For the first time in my life, I began to doubt everything. Who I was. What I was doing here. Sly was starting to make me feel things I wasn’t ready for and it was much more than physical. It tore at me. Sly was trying to step out into the light, and I still dwelled in darkness.
 

I pulled back, dropping my hands to my lap. I should go. I should end this now. Make Sly drive me away from here and find a place where I could finish the job I was sent to do. My head knew it was the safest choice. But the thought of it tore my heart in two.
 

As Sly looked at me, his eyes widened. I couldn’t hide it anymore. He had to be able to see something tormenting me as I tried to make up my mind about what to do.
 

“Scarlett?”
 

In a rush, I bridged the distance between us, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him close. I didn’t want to think. Didn’t want to talk. I just wanted to feel. I wanted him to kiss me and hold me and drive away every thought from my head that wasn’t about the way he made me feel when he touched me.  I held on to him as though he were some sort of life raft. If I
let go, the waves would rise up and drag me down. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t live unless he held me. Maybe he was strong enough to pull me into the light with him, if only for a little while.
 

When Sly did kiss me, it was slow and tender. Not filled with the all-consuming passion I knew simmered below the surface for both of us. This was different. Somehow, it was an acknowledgement of the pain he must have seen in my eyes. He gathered me in his arms, letting me feel the solid weight of him as he pulled me into his lap.
 

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “Whatever it is. I can make it okay.”
 

“Don’t,” I said. “Please don’t ask me any questions. And don’t make me any promises like that.”
 

He shook his head. “Not right now. But I won’t let anyone hurt you.
I
won’t hurt you. Okay?”
 

I kissed him back. My movements were rushed and urgent, like I was drowning and I was about to pull him under with me. I hurt. I ached. I wanted to be here in his arms but at the same time, anywhere else.  It confused me. Made me feel like the world had turned upside down and somehow he had become the center of it. I wanted to scream.
I don’t need rescuing. You do.
 

Instead, I let him envelop me with soft, perfect kisses. Lights flickered ahead of us as the movie screen flared to life.  Blue shadows bounced off his skin and mine, making me feel like none of this was real.
 

It was real though. Sly was very real and my heart seemed to beat in sync with his from the moment I first let him touch me. I didn’t know what this was. I could say I was starting to lose my soul in him, but I’d lost that a long time ago. In that moment, with the blare of the giant movie screen flickering in front of us, a cold reality settled inside of me, then shifted and started to burn.
 

Sly Cullinan wasn’t the man I thought he was. He was flawed and beautiful. Dangerous and courageous. Kind and cruel. He was supposed to mean nothing to me. He was starting to mean everything. I’d broken every rule the moment I let him touch me and now there was no going back and that was the truth. But there was one more truth that tore me to shreds.
 

For everything that he was, I had fallen in love with him. And there was no way this could end without one of us destroying the other. Because darkness always chases away the light.
 

Chapter Twelve

Sly
 

I can’t explain what happened in that car. I don’t know what I said or did, but something shifted in Scarlett. I could see it in her eyes.  She clung to me with a desperate need that was so much more than lust. She confounded me and had me spinning. She was no damsel in distress but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try to save her.
 

She held so much inside. She was tough as steel but there was something so fragile about her too. She begged me not to ask her questions as I held her against me. Then something broke within her and she yielded to me in a way I knew cost her, even if I didn’t understand yet why. But I would. No matter what else happened, I meant to have Scarlett bare her secrets to me as much as she had her body.  I craved it as I held her close to me and kissed her.
 

We stayed wrapped in each other’s arms as the movie played. If we talked I don’t remember what we said. But she let me pull her against me and rested her head in the crook of my arm. Halfway through the movie she got restless and we went for a walk. I held her hand as she hopped up on the cement ledge separating the gravel lot from the grass. Then she went ahead, balancing on her tiptoes as she made her way toward Gus and the concession stand. She leapt and twirled on the strong muscles of her calves. She moved like a dancer with long lines but delicate hands. As we reached the end of the ledge, she hopped down and held her hands out just like a gymnast dismounting.
 

Gus sold two things. Popcorn and Dr. Pepper. He said they were the only things worth consuming during a movie and anyone who thought different could go stuff themselves. When Scarlett looked at the menu she told him it was perfect. Gus made a gun with his fingers, pointed it at her and winked. She let out a lilting laugh that warmed me from the inside out.
 

Gus used stock footage and doo-wop songs to play through his ten-minute intermission. As there were only four other cars in the whole lot, Scarlett asked him to come out and join us.
 

“I don’t know, darlin’, I might miss the rush.”
 

“Live a little,” she called out. She’d taken a seat at the nearest picnic table. When she flashed that killer smile back at Gus, I knew he’d be just as smitten as I was. He came around the concession booth and stood next to her.
 

She looked from me to Gus, cocked her head to the side and flashed a mischievous smile.
 

“Let’s have that dance,” she said to Gus.
 

Gus placed his hand flat against his heart, stood and gave her a courtly bow. Some sappy big-band song came on as if Gus had planned the whole thing. Scarlett giggled again and I took a seat on the top of the picnic table to watch and wonder.
 

“Don’t you try to steal my girl, Gus,” I shouted.
 

“Eat your heart out, pecker head,” he called back and Scarlett laughed again.
 

Gus’s hands were gnarled with arthritis, his legs permanently bowed from a back injury that had plagued him since the war. But when he twirled Scarlett during the slow parts, he looked about twenty-five again. She was a full head taller than him, but somehow, she made him stand straight and tall like a king.
 

“Don’t go too fast,” she said. “I might step on your toes.”
 

“Better watch that,” I called to them. “She’s got some damn big feet for a girl.”
 

“Shut up, pecker head!” they yelled back to me in unison.
 

The music died down and the movie came back on, but Gus and Scarlett kept on dancing.
 

“Big finish, baby,” he said.
 

Scarlett looked back at me, arching a brow. I shrugged. “You got yourself into this one.”
 

She threw her head back and laughed. Gus wagged his eyebrows at me. “Watch this. You might learn something.”
 

I crossed my hands in front of me. Gus swung Scarlett fast enough she let out a yelp. Then he leaned forward and dipped her low so her hair brushed the ground. Ninety-five and half crippled, old Gus still had a few moves left. Bowed as he was, he was still solid as a tank. He brought Scarlett back up with agile grace and gave her another deep bow, holding his hand out to the side. She clasped her hands together. He took one of them and kissed her knuckles.
 

“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll partner with you anytime.”
 

“Hear that?” Gus yelled to me. “She’s into me. I told ya, they’re
all
into me.”
 

I nodded and clapped my hands. “You’re a heartbreaker, my friend. I’ve never doubted it. Now let my girl go or are you going to make me fight you for her?”
 

Gus waved me off and reached up to plant a smacking kiss on Scarlett’s cheek. “I’ll take it easy on you, tonight. This one’s a keeper though. Treat her right or I know where you live.”