The Word of a Liar (24 page)

Laughing, Dee pulled herself from his lap and sat next to him.

“You know you love it, Spider Mullen,” she teased.  “I’ve known these guys for quite a while, Ellen, and I can tell you for certain they’re all into—what was the word you used?”

“Lewdness?”

“Yeah, that.”

Everyone laughed except Ellen; being made the butt of their joke irritated her. “Okay, I know you all think I’m an uptight school marm. I’ll show you all I can be as brazen as the rest of you. Spider, would you like to see my tattoo?  Not even Mason’s seen it yet.”

“You betcha, Ellen.”

“Is it all right with you, Dee?”

“You go, girl.” Dee smiled.

“Mason, unhook my bra. And don’t be bashful. You’re the one who told me to lighten up.”

Mason smirked at the small group. “Lean back, you little vixen, so I can undo it.”

Mason’s fingers manipulated the hook under Ellen’s leather vest. When he unlatched it, Ellen slid her arms simultaneously through each strap then pulled it out from under her vest. Dangling the bra, she turned and then handed it off to Mason. She stood and confidently strutted over to Spider’s chair. A grave stillness settled over the group. Ellen felt their eyes as she undid the top button of her vest and then the second.

“‘Come closer,’ said the spider to the fly,” she cooed in a seductive singsong voice.

Standing directly in front of Spider, she moved in closer. A big grin spread across Spider’s mouth, moving his handle bar mustache upward.

Ellen’s hand moved to unbutton the last button. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mason stand, but she didn’t hesitate. She flipped open her vest and exposed her breasts and the black widow spider she’d tattooed in her cleavage. Spider’s eyes widened.

“Want to touch it?” Ellen asked, but before he could answer, she pulled his face into her chest.

When she released him, Spider’s look of astonishment made Ellen smile.

She turned to Mason, who surprised her with and a territorial, angry look. She expected to see that proud-as-a-peacock expression he had had on his face the night Desi had stripped for the crowd and had made him her dancing pole. Ellen swaggered back to her seat, glad to be drunk so the shame of what she’d just done wouldn’t hit her until later. Mason sat down. She feigned a smile as she buttoned up her vest. The group didn’t make a sound. Everyone stared into their glasses except Spider, who slammed down his bottle of beer.

“Well,” Dee Dee finally said. “It appears, old man, you have been bitten by a black widow.”

The table erupted into laughter. Mason hugged Ellen’s shoulders. His voice hoarse, he whispered in her ear, “Wait until I get you home. You’re gonna pay, Black Widow, for that lewd little stunt.”

Ellen looked at him. He smiled, but the dangerous blue heat in his eyes made her shiver.

***

Several hours later, Mason lay in a deep silent darkness. He felt someone watching him but fought consciousness. Eventually his eyelashes fluttered open. The sunlight seeping through the red curtains temporarily blinded him. Ellen’s soft hair, the weight of her lifeless arm lying across his chest, her leg against his hip and her sweat alerted him to his whereabouts. He blinked, trying to focus. JD stood alongside the bed, staring down on him.

“Mason,” the boy called in a bewildered voice. “You’re in Mommy’s bed, and you’re molted.”

Mason didn’t move. He looked blankly upward. The pounding in his head made it hard to concentrate. He moaned. He must have fallen asleep after he and Ellen had made love and not woken early enough to go home before JD woke up. He lifted his arm out from under Ellen’s sleeping body. She turned onto her back, exposing her naked breasts.

“Mommy, you’re molted!” JD eyes rounded in surprise.

Mason reached over, covering Ellen with the sheet. He shook her gently. “Ellen, wake up. We seem to have a visitor.”

Ellen’s brown eyes slowly opened. She looked at Mason and then up at JD.

“Why are you still here?” she moaned.

“I must have fallen asleep.”

“Wonderful!”

JD moved around the bed. “Mommy, where is your nightgown?  You’re naked.”

“I was so tired I forgot to put it on. Would you please go and get it for me? It’s hanging in my closet.”

JD went to her closet. “I don’t see it. It’s lost.”

“Oh, shit!” Ellen groaned softly. “It’s on the hook. Do you see it now?”

“I found it, Mommy.”

JD proudly approached the bed and handed his mother her nightgown. Ellen slid it over her head, smiling at her son. JD threw himself across the bed and rolled between the two.

“Are you going to snuggle with us, JD?” Ellen asked.

“Did you and Mason have a sleepover, Mommy?”

“You might say that.”

Mason chuckled, wincing as the battering inside his brain grew worse. “How would you like it if I slept over every night, JD?”

JD looked at Mason. “In Mommy’s bed?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t want to snuggle with you. Get up, Mason.” JD sat up and pushed Mason to the edge of the bed.

Ellen intervened, trying to persuade her son. “Come on, JD. We can all snuggle together. There’s plenty of room for the three of us. ”

“No!” JD shouted.

Crawling out of the bed, he stood alongside Mason and grabbed Mason’s hand, pulling him. “Get up, Mason!  Get up!  I don’t want you to snuggle with us.”

Every word JD spoke felt like a hammer hitting Mason’s skull.

“All right!” Mason replied irritably. “I’m up. Can I at least get dressed before you kick me out?”

He rose to pull on his jeans. JD watched him and then crawled into the bed to lie next to his mother.

“Now what am I supposed to do while the two of you snuggle?  Can I at least sit here?” Mason pointed to the foot of the bed.

“No!” JD wailed. “Go home to your house!”

Ellen rose up on her elbows.  “How about we all go downstairs and I’ll make a big breakfast? Later on we can talk about Mason spending the night. What do you want for breakfast, JD?”

“Pancakes and bacon.”

“It figures,” Ellen moaned.

JD looked at the clock and then sprang from the bed. “It’s time for Sponge Bob, Mommy.”

“Go watch it. I’ll be down soon.”

JD hurried from the room. Ellen got out of bed.

Mason hugged her. “I’m sorry, Ellen. Next time I’ll set the alarm.”

Ellen shook her head. “What have you done to my life, Mason Hackett?  Right now I’m suffering the worst hangover ever, and my son catches me naked in bed with my lover. You’ve turned my quiet world totally upside down. And the worst part is I’m crazy about you. What’s that all about?”

She rested her head on Mason’s bare chest.

“I don’t know. You’re either crazy, crazy in love, or both.” He kissed the top of her head.

“What are you?” She wrapped her arms around his neck, looking into his eyes.

“I’m both.”

She smiled. “What am I going to tell JD about us? He’s never had to share me before, especially with another man. He’s jealous. That’s why he tried to pull you out of the bed.”

“I figured as much. Hopefully I’ll be around long enough for him to get used to the idea that he has to share.”

“What should I tell him?”

“Tell him when two people are as in love as we are, they like to snuggle and on occasion spend the night with one another?”

“You think he’ll be all right with that?”

“He’ll have to be.” Mason held her close, smelling faint traces of her perfume.

Ellen sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if I’ll survive loving you.”

Her words provoked a chilling premonition. Mason thought about his dangerous associations, and the real threat they posed to Ellen and JD. Yet, he shrugged it off. As an officer in the Sons of Thunder Motorcycle Club
,
no one would dare harm them.

CHAPTER twenty-two

“Thanks for the ride, Ron,” Ellen said as she grabbed her large black bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She closed the car door and then looked up. A sign reading
O’Donnell’s Auto Repair
loomed above the open door. She entered the now familiar shop.  Mad Dog worked beneath a car up on the lift.

“Is my car ready to face a Milwaukee winter?” Ellen asked.

Mad Dog looked over his shoulder. Ellen thought that even in dirty coveralls and his face splotched with grease he was still handsome.

“Hey, lady!” White teeth sparkled in his smile. “Your car is ready, but I’m a little involved.  Brady is in the office and can get you your bill.”

“Thanks, Mad Dog. You know Samantha will be here for Thanksgiving. Maybe we should all try to get together. She said she has some good pictures to show us. She’s been doing an assignment for a travel magazine.”

“She’s a busy woman, isn’t she? I’ll let you know. My son Sean will be home from school, so I don’t know how much time I’ll have on my hands. He wants to go hunting.”

“Okay, we’ll play it by ear. Thanks for working on the car.”

“You’re welcome, madam principal. You know I’m still waiting for that spanking you promised me.”

Ellen frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t remember promising you any such thing.”

“Maybe I was dreaming.” His sexy grin moved his mustache upwards.

Ellen smiled and then walked over to the door that led into the reception area. Brady stood behind the counter and smiled when Ellen entered. “Car is all set, Ms. Abrams.”

“Yes, I know. What’s the damage, Brady?”

“Let’s see. I know I saw your bill here somewhere.” He flipped through a stack of papers. “Hmm. Maybe Mad Dog left it in his office, I’ll be right back.”

Brady turned and disappeared into the back.

Ellen got out her checkbook and began to fill it in. As she waited, her eyes wandered over the wall in front of her. Cluttered with awards, mechanics licenses, pictures of Mad Dog’s kids, and his motorcycle, a large calendar caught her eye.

It displayed only the cover for the upcoming new year. A bikini-clad woman with long slender legs and arms stretched out on her side over the hood of a red Lamborghini. Long blonde hair tumbled over the grill and full round breasts heaved over the skimpy top.  Ellen’s hands trembled. Desi stared back at her.

Brady returned, eyes on the paper. “I found your bill. It’s going to be two hundred and thirty-three dollars even.”

He looked up. “Something wrong, Ms. Abrams?”

“No,” Ellen replied, writing the amount on her check. “May I see that calendar on the wall, Brady?  I think I know that woman.”

“Sure.” Brady removed the calendar and handed it to Ellen.

She quickly flipped through it. Desi was on every page along with the words
Fortunate Son’s Auto Dealership
.

“She sure is a pretty woman, isn’t she?  Mad Dog said she was a girlfriend of one of the dudes he rides with. Lucky bastard.”

Brady popped open the cash register and deposited Ellen’s check. “I guess she works for the guy who owns the car place, and I hear she’s also a dancer at the Paradise Club. Have you seen the television commercial? She’s even prettier on TV.
”

Ellen handed the calendar back to Brady. “Are the keys in the car?”

She swallowed down the bile, rising in her throat.

“Keys are in the ignition.”

Ellen turned and walked out of the shop.  She went to her car. Mad Dog hollered to her, but she pretended she didn’t hear and got in.  She texted Mason asking where he was and waited for his response.

At the dealership. Will be done at 4. Meeting Spider at the Ritz when I leave here. Call you when I get home. Love ya Mason.

Ellen checked the time. 3:38. If she hurried, she’d catch him. She started the engine, straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, shifted into drive, and then headed to Fortunate Sons Auto Dealership. Her chest constricted when she thought about the story he had told her on Halloween. She breathed in short desperate gasps. Tears wet her face. Her heartbeat shocked numbness into her veins. 
Was it his pride that made him lie about where he worked? Or was it because he and Desi worked at the same place?

***

Desi Harrington pulled into the parking lot of Fortunate Sons Auto Dealership for her 4:00 appointment with Jack.  He had a contract he wanted her to look over regarding more promotional gigs for the dealership. With a smile of satisfaction on her lips, she shifted into park and killed the engine. If things continued with Jack like this, she was going to need an agent.

The crisp November air stung her cheeks as she stepped out on the pavement. She pulled the fur collar up on her waist-length jacket, slung her designer bag over her shoulder, and headed for the door. Six feet away from the entrance, she came to a standstill.   Butterflies took flight in her stomach. Her knees wanted to collapse and all forward movement ceased. Rambo sauntered out the door. They hadn’t seen each other since the rally. How much she missed him struck her like a gusty November wind.

Astonishment shown in Rambo’s face as he approached. “Desi, how you are?”

He smiled.

A chilly breeze blew through his hair. She wanted to reach out and tuck the stray strands behind his ears, but she didn’t move. He zipped his motorcycle jacket up to his chin and fumbled for the gloves in his pockets. He dropped one. Apparently he, too, was nervous. He looked up and his blue eyes entangled her thoughts. Desi no longer remembered the reasons why she had let him go.

“Hi, Rambo,” she managed despite the ferocious pounding in her chest. “I’ve been good. How about yourself?”

“I’m fine.” He continued to smile. “Mad Dog showed me your calendar, and I saw your commercial on TV. You look ravishing in both. I bet you sold Jack a few cars. Anyone from
Playboy
call you about being the next centerfold?”

“Would you buy it if they did?”

“Of course I would.”

Desi sighed. “I miss you sometimes, Rambo.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah.” She looked down. Desi wanted to ask if he missed her but then didn’t want to hear the answer. “I’ve got a new car.”

She smiled up at him and pointed to her gray BMW.

“That’s yours? Nice, Des.”

“Part of the TV deal. The car and a few dollars in spending money.”

“Ah, you always were quite the business woman.” Mason’s demeanor became serious. “Desi, promise me you’ll be careful around Jack. He isn’t someone you want to get involved with.”

“Why do you care, Rambo?”

“Just because we aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean I don’t care about what happens to you. I’ve always cared.”

Desi nodded, sucking her lips into her mouth. She dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “You’re still the only guy who never made a pass at me the first time you watched me dance. I should have known then things wouldn’t work out.” She attempted to smile. “I thought you were being a gentlemen.”

Rambo hung his head. “I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

She nodded. “It’s okay, Rambo. I’m the one who broke it off, remember?”

She smiled, believing that at least she had maintained some dignity by calling off the affair.

“You don’t have to worry about me anymore, Rambo. I know how to handle guys like Jack. I know what an asshole Jack is. That’s why I’ve let him think the two of us are still together. I figured he’d leave me alone if he thought I was with you. I don’t think even Jack wants you or any of those other lunatics from the
Sons of Thunder coming after him.”

Mason smiled slightly.

“I know you’ve been playing along because Jack always asks me what you’ve bought for me with all the money you’re making. Whenever he notices something new I’m wearing, I tell him you bought it for me.” She laughed.

Mason nodded and chuckled.

Desi hitched her purse strap up. “What I don’t understand is why you want to work for this creep. What are you doing that you’re making so much money?”

She searched his expressionless face.

“You’re selling, aren’t you? I should be the one telling you to be careful, Rambo. Just because you like to think of yourself as some badass gunslinger, doesn’t make you immortal.”

Desi looked over at the entrance and saw Jack peering out of the showroom window.

“Our boss is watching. Do you suppose he’s suspicious of our relationship?”

She smiled and waved.

Mason looked over his shoulder then back at Desi. His familiar roguish smile made her shiver. “Well, if he is, let’s convince him he’d better leave you alone.”

***

At the large intersection of Broadway and Park, the sign for Fortunate Sons
came into view. Waiting at the red light, Ellen tried to see if Mason’s truck was still in the parking lot, but the low November sun blinded her. The light changed. Nearly there, Ellen saw a couple standing in the parking lot. The tall, muscular build of the man with long raven hair tumbling over the collar of his black leather jacket had to be Mason. Unmistakably, the woman he conversed with was Desi.

Rattled, Ellen missed the turn lane for the dealership. On impulse, she pulled into the McDonald’s on her right and parked. Across the four lanes of traffic, she watched in horror as Mason took hold of Desi.

***

Mason pulled Desi into him. Startled by his embrace, Desi’s body went limp. Whispering into her ear, he asked. “You haven’t forgotten how we kissed? It wasn’t that long ago.”

He slid his fingers through her hair and tugged her face upward. She closed her eyes, his breath warming her cheek; he brought his lips to hers.  Passionate, but not deep, Desi knew it was Rambo’s goodbye.

When it ended, Mason looked into Desi’s lovely face. A deep sadness filled his heart. Now that he found love with Ellen, he knew the depths of Desi’s emotions and regretted the hurt he could never eradicate.

“If you ever need me for anything, Desi, don’t hesitate to call. And if Jack gives you shit. Let me know. I’ll always care about you, darlin’.”

He released her.

***

Ellen watched Mason get into his truck as Desi entered Fortunate Sons. She waited for him to drive off and then started her car. Numb to the chilly interior, she pulled out. A truck reared up behind her, blasting the horn. She glanced into her rearview mirror. From the driver’s hostile expression, she knew he uttered angry epithets. She squeezed the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white to steady her shaking hands and forced herself to concentrate on driving. It seemed a century had passed before she pulled into her driveway, but she made it home unscathed.