Taming Crow (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) (21 page)

***

“What. The. Fuck?”

Crow still had road dust all over him when he walked through the kitchen door of the cottage. Even though the shiny silver Porsche sitting in the driveway should have given him some advanced warning, he still could not quite believe what he was seeing.

Jaci?
Jaci?

Could. Not. Fucking. Be.

Jesus. He took a step back, scrubbed a hand over his face and blinked hard.

Yup. Still there.

Jaci looked like she had just stepped out of the pages of some weird stripper comic book. Her long legs were bare, leaving her ass just covered with a strip of leopard printed fabric that he guessed was supposed to pass for a skirt. The low V-neck of her black lace shirt exposed deep cleavage and she balanced herself on six inches of
come fuck me
pumps
.
Her plumped lips were covered in dark red gloss and large hoops dangled from her ears.

But that was not all.

Crow peered closely and then did another double take.

Jaci had gotten a boob job. And not just a boob job.

She must have cleaned out the doctor’s office of implants that day.

Jesus.

Crow had to shake his head to get a grip on what he was seeing. When he did, his eyes fell on Melissa.

Just. As. Bad.

But in a weirdly different way.

Whereas Jaci looked like a central casting ‘ho, Melissa looked more like a Disney character gone wrong.

The neon, bright yellow, daisy covered sundress she wore was torn and bloody. Her hair seemed to be growing from the middle of her head.

And she was armed.

Crow felt like he had just walked into some weird horror-sitcom. He half expected Freddy Krueger to pounce out from behind the shadows and yell,
“Lucyyyyyyy, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do!”

For the first goddamn time in his life, Crow was honestly so freaked out that he couldn't think of a single thing to say or do.

Suddenly the screen door bounced open again. Jules looked incredulously at the three motionless mutes and sprang into action. He went first to Melissa, placing a large protective hand over her smaller one until she surrendered the weapon. With a quick movement, Jules threw the ice pick into the kitchen sink where it landed with a clatter.

At the sound, Crow was finally jarred from his shocked state. He looked carefully at Melissa and realized that her leg was covered in scratches and scrapes. Crow looked past her to the gaping hole in the floor.

Holy Fuck! Had she fallen through?

“Babe, are you okay?” Crow managed to croak out, but his eyes had volleyed back to the deep chasm in the floor.

“I’m fine.”

Both women responded at precisely the same moment. Crow looked up in time to see two pairs of eyes pivot away from him and towards each other.

And it just got worse from there.

“Babe?!
”

A deadly silence filled the room. The implication of the word swirled around the two women’s heads. It finally landed in the space between
no longer
and
not yet.

Woman looked at woman, registering surprise, shock, and righteous indignation.

Jaci was first to break the silence. She did that by drumming her perfectly manicured fingers on the counter top. Once she was sure that all eyes were on her, in typical Jaci fashion, she went in for the kill. She gave Melissa a long deliberate sweep with insulting eyes. Then Jaci turned to Crow and snickered.

“Really? The
tenant
? Jesus. Honey, just how lonely have you been?”

Crow shook his head at her slightly in warning, but his eyes were glued to Melissa.

“Bitch,” Jules growled.

“Fuck off, Jules.” Jaci’s elegant mouth twisted.

Jules leaned forward “What did you just say?”

“You. Heard. Me. I said,
Fuck off,
you giant goddamn idiot.”

Jules stepped in closer. His big body loomed over her.

“Really, that’s what you said? Because what I heard was ‘blah, blah, blah… I’m a dirty used up whore.’”

Jaci hissed at him like a rattler getting ready to strike.

“You gonna let him talk to me like that?” Jaci turned to look at Crow who was moving towards the empty space where a moment before Melissa had stood.

When Jaci stepped toward Crow, Jules moved in front of her blocking the way. But then he turned to look at Crow.

“Clean this mess up first, Brother. Because if I have to spend one more minute with this nasty snatch from hell, I’m gonna slice out her dirty flapping tongue and shove it up her worn-out asshole. Should have done that the first time around,” Jules roared that last part.

When Jaci lifted her clawed hand to scratch Jules's face, Crow grabbed it, twisted it around her back and pulled her out of the house kicking and screaming.

Crow didn’t look back as he dragged Jaci across the lawn. But if he had he would have seen Jules grab the whiskey on the counter and down it.

***

“Let. Go. Of. Me!” Jaci pulled away from him.

“You ready to rein in the crazy?” Crow tightened his grip in warning.

Apparently she wasn’t. Because it took another long few more minutes of ranting. Then Jaci stopped as suddenly as she’d started.

“You fucking done?” Crow sighed.

“Yeah. I’m done,” she said abruptly.

Crow pushed Jaci away from him. He had no intentions of catching her if she fell.

Jaci gave him a baleful look then took a minute to compose herself. She adjusted her clothing, patted her hair and licked her lips. Then she took a deep breath and a moment to peruse her surroundings. Looking up at the newly renovated house, she said in a voice that was heavy with meaning, "I like what I'm seeing on the outside. You gonna let me in?”

Crow leaned back against the tree. He regarded her for a long minute. “Not a fucking chance.”

Jaci hesitated and looked at Crow. Then she suddenly sighed and plopped herself down on the front steps of the house.

When Crow pulled out a pack of cigarettes, she nodded to the smokes. "Can I have one of those?"

Crow arched his eyes in surprise. “Thought you quit?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

Crow pulled out another smoke and tossed it to her. Then he walked over and bent down to light it. Crow sat down heavily beside her, run a hand over his scruffy chin and exhaled slowly.

“Been a long time, Jaci. What are you doing here?”

“Ah…you know me. I always turn up eventually.” Jaci smiled and took a long drag off the cigarette.

“Yeah. True.” He paused before adding. “Some things just never change.”

“What things?”

“You being allergic to giving a straight answer comes to mind.” Crow arched an eyebrow.

Jaci gave him a small smile.

“Buy me a drink?”

Crow gave her a long look. Then he went into the house, grabbed a couple of beers, came back out and tossed one to her. She caught it easily and twisted off the cap.

“So you gonna tell me?” Crow’s voice was weary.

“The truth?” Jaci looked sideways at him.

“No point in lying. We ain’t married anymore.”

“I made a mistake.” Jaci shrugged.

Crow looked at the hundred-grand-plus Porsche sitting like a silver bullet in the driveway.

“Nah. Looks to me like you hit it just right.” Crow took a hit off the beer.

“There you go getting all judgmental again. I never made any secret of what I wanted out of life, Crow,” Jaci said.

“Or what you were willing to do to get it,” Crow replied.

Jaci was staring at the Porsche. “Maybe, but I paid the price for that.” Then she added. “Right life with the wrong guy.”

Crow snickered. “Wrong
guys
. With an s. Or aren’t we counting the last… what…ten or so?”

“That’s not fair.” She slumped.

Crow shook his head and stood up away from her then. “Jesus, Jaci, what the fuck are you doing here? Really. Why after all this time?”

She looked at him with a measure of surprise. “What do you mean why?”

Crow stared hard at her and repeated. “Why?”

She shook her head as if trying to make sense of the question.

“Because it’s what we do. I always come back and you always take me back.
It’s what we do
.”

“Not anymore.”

“What do you mean not anymore?” Her eyes narrowed.

He paused. “People change, Jaci.”

“I didn’t,” she answered with a defensive tone.

“My fucking point.” Crow looked at her.

Jaci’s mouth formed a hard line and Crow could see her hand tremble as she lifted the bottle to her lips. “Melinda? Is that it? You fucking Melanie?”

Crow shook his head and sighed.

“Really? You got amnesia now? Cut the shit, J. You know her name. You sure as shit didn’t have any trouble remembering it when you cashed the steep rent checks she sent you every month,” he snorted.

Jaci pouted and her artfully done fingernails began peeling away at the cold sweating label.

“You are seriously going to throw me over for some backwoods little widow? With a
kid?
” she said in disbelief.

Crow shook his head in warning. “Don’t do it Jaci. Don’t fucking go there. This ain’t about her. It’s about you and me.”

“You’ll get no arguments from me there. That’s exactly what this is about. It’s about you and me. That’s my point, Crow.
You and me.
Always has been about us. Always will be about us. It’s about
history.
We come from the same place. The same fucked-up place. You’re the only one who really
gets it. Who gets
me
. We got years in of seeing that through together. You were never so quick to throw that away before.” Jaci’s voice had taken on a hushed pleading sound.

“Yeah. You’re right. It’s always been about that. And thinking about that now. Thinking about you and all that goddamn time I spent trying to help you deal with that shit of yours, all the ways I tried to love you through that…” His voice trailed off.

Jaci put down her beer and went to him. She touched his arm. “Crow.”

Crow moved away from her. “I’m not done.”

Jaci removed her hand as if it had been slapped.

Crow continued. “Thinking about all that wasted time makes me want to kick my own ass for being so damn stupid. Jesus, Jaci. You spent our whole damn marriage wallowing in self-pity and comparing price tags. ”

Jaci made another move towards Crow then, but the clench to his jaw and the hard lines of his mouth stopped her.

Her eyes narrowed.

“You’re right.
You’re right
. I was stupid and selfish and all those things you say. But please spare me the self-righteous bullshit. I never hid that from you. You knew exactly what you were getting when you married me and you liked it. You liked it, because my being so fucked up made
you
feel better about yourself. You got off on trying to make me a better person and
I was
. You being there for me always helped me that, at least for a while. Then when I was done acting like a damn fool, I’d beg to come back and you’d give me a goddamn hard time about my bullshit before you fucked some sense into me. It’s who we are.
And we always end up together.
No matter what, you always take me back.”

“We’re divorced. You divorced me. There is no turning back from that,” Crow said.

“But what if there was? What if we could do it all again, Crow? What if we had the chance to do it all again?”

“Don’t do this.” Crow shook his head.

“Just think about it.
Please.
Just think about us having the chance to do it all again.” Desperation sounded in Jaci’s voice.

Crow pulled himself away from the tree that he was leaning against. He walked over to his ex-wife and looked down at her lipstick-lined pouting mouth and tear-filled eyes.

He squared his jaw and his mouth formed a hard line.

“Okay. You wanna know, J? You wanna know what I would do given the chance to do it all again?”

She looked at him with just a hint of triumph in her eyes and leaned in pressing her breasts against him. “Tell me, honey.”

He put his hands on her arms and pushed her squarely away from him.

“I would go back to the very first time that I saw you and ride like hell in the other direction.”

Crow heard her sharp intake of breath, saw the pained look in her eyes—the one he had seen a thousand times before.

She had been right.

What she said had been dead-on.

It’s what they did.

Time and time again.

It’s what they did.

She always came back.

And he always took her back.

He knew it was fucked up and he had no idea why he did it, he just did. Maybe it was because years ago when Crow was just a scared lost kid someone had opened up their heart to him and that had made all the difference.
Prosper taking a chance on him had made all the difference.
And he guessed he had wanted to give Jaci that chance. And now he realized that all along he had been confusing love with that need to pay it forward.

It’s what they did.

Now here, she was standing in front of him just like a million times other times.

But now there seemed to be an honesty in her eyes that he had never seen before.

“Crow, please listen to me. I’m ready to come home now. I'm done with the on and off between us. I don't want to do that anymore. It's you I want, it's always been you. I was just too stupid to see it. No matter how hard I try, a part of me just won’t let you go.”

A quiet confidence born of years of practice crept into Jaci’s voice.

“We belong together.”

Crow narrowed his eyes at her and scrubbed his hand through his hair. Then he walked over to the Porsche and held the door open.

“It’s too late, Jaci. Years too late. W
e’
re finished. This thing between us is done. It’s finally fucking done. You need to get outta here. Now.”

Jaci started to say something, but after taking a good look at the expression on Crow’s face, she stopped. Then she summoned up what was left of her pride, lifted her chin and got into the car.

“You and I will always be unfinished business,” she said to him from behind the wheel. Then Jaci slammed into reverse and sped out of the driveway.