Arrow of Time (11 page)

“
Were his knuckles white?”

“
No!” She laughed. “He was
not
petrified.”

He noticed Dawg walked by behind her and he nodded with big eyes, miming 'I was'. When Edie turned around and looked at him he straightened his face and smiled.

“Anyway,” she mumbled when she focused on him again. “I though I'd go and buy a bed and some other things so I can move in today.”

She'd found an apartment in Old Town. Old Town was cheap, and her place was cheap even for being in that area. It was a small apartment above a Chinese restaurant that smelled more than a little bit funky.

“What's Mel and Brick saying about it?”

“
Nothing. I need my own place and they know it.” She gave him a small smile. “Need to sleep alone in the bed.”

“
Girl, are you saying you need to get laid?”

“
I need to get laid,” she nodded. “Get laid or maybe raid that sex shop you've got and get me something that vibrates. Either way I'm gonna need a bed for that so I'm gonna use this fabulous truck and buy some stuff. Like a bed. To get laid in.”

He found the thought a bit disturbing. Especially the thought about her getting toys from the shop and shook his head.

“Honey, you know I love you, but I don't want to hear about your fuck-plans and I definitely don't wanna hear about any toys that you get.”

“
I saw you with a hand up a girl’s skirt, and she was possibly younger than me. How do you think that made me feel?”

“
Doll, she was not even close to younger than you. I'm not that bad.”

“
She wasn't that much older,” Edie protested.

Dawg came and sat down next to them. “What are you talking about?”

“The fact that I saw Vasco fondling a girl about my age.” She gave him a sweet smile. “You know, at Brick's barbecue. I'm pretty sure I saw you there too.”

“
I have some memories of you seeing me there,” Dawg said, and they exchanged a strange look.

“
It was a nice party,” Vasco said. He suspected that there was more to that story, but he'd take that up with her later. “So you’re moving in today?”

“
Yeah, if I have the time and the skill to maneuver that truck to buy the stuff I need.”

“
You’re moving?” Dawg asked, looking really surprised. And he also noted Edie looking a bit uncomfortable.

“
Yeah. A bit too old to live with my sister.”

Vasco wanted to poke the two of them a little. See what was really going on and how they reacted to things. So looking at the two of them carefully, he took a jab.

“Not all that easy to get laid there.”

Edie was blushing, and Dawg initially smiled and then it faded. Yup. This could get ugly, or nice, depending on what happened, but he was leaning towards ugly. At least if Dawg didn’t have some miraculous revelation and suddenly realize that it wasn’t the amount of pussy that was the thing, it was the quality.

Edie mumbled something and then glared at him.

“
How are the driving lessons going?” he asked instead of asking her what she just said.

“
Fine,” Dawg lit a smoke. “Think she’s fine now.” He looked at Edie as he stood up.

She nodded while looking down on the ground. “Thanks.”

Vasco didn’t miss it. Dawg was pissed, Edie was embarrassed, and he needed to have another talk to both of them.

-o0o-

Rationally, Dawg knew he couldn’t be pissed. He had nothing to be pissed about. At all. Not like she was his girlfriend. She wasn’t seeing anyone, and all that had been said was that she wanted to get laid. So why was he pissed? He could relate to that feeling. Wanting to get laid.

He knew why, though. He liked her, definitely had a thing for her, and he knew exactly how fucking hypocritical it was considering he wasn't holding off on other women while waiting to see what happened between the two of them. He wasn't sure why he'd done that thing in her room. Probably to provoke her, even if he couldn't have been sure that she'd walk in on them. He got into her truck and drove it into the garage; he’d promised to check a few things before she drove off.

Twenty minutes later she came walking in.

“
Are we okay?” she hesitantly asked.

“
Sure,” he smiled. “Why wouldn’t we be?”

She didn’t answer, just shrugged. “Thanks for this. The lessons and fixing it. I owe you one.”

“Yup. So I’m expecting a free beer if I ever come to The Rover.”

“
Absolutely.”

He closed the hood and leaned against it and she moved to lean next to him.

“So you’re planning on parking this beast today?” He could clearly see her panicking about that and laughed. “I’ll tag along. And I’ll drive. I’ll even carry stuff for you if you’re nice.”

“
I’d be happy if you just park the damn thing.”

“
You’re gonna have to learn.”

“
Maybe not today?”

He mock sighed while wiping his hands. “Okay.”

He didn’t only park ‘the damn thing’, he carried her bed, bought her food and eventually sat on her floor in the apartment with only a bed and a carpet, drinking beer and having pizza. His back hurt a bit because when they'd carried her bed up the stairs, she dropped her end of it.

“
I'm really sorry,” Edie said with a giggle when tried to stretch his back.

“
I can hear just how sorry you are.” She just continued her giggling and he looked around. The place was okay, not big, no real kitchen, but still a decent place. Except of the funky smell that came from the Chinese place on the bottom floor of the house. “What else are you planning on putting in here?”

“
Mel said she had some things from her old place that I could take.” She looked around as well. “I’ll make something out of this. You can come back in a month and inspect it.”

“
I will.” He leaned his back against the wall and took another slice of the pizza.

“
Hey,” she said, all of a sudden sounding insecure. “Thanks, for today and... all the other stuff. You’ve been really great.”

“
No prob. You know how to pay me back.”

She smiled. “It's a black koi fish and a blue lotus flower.”

“What?” He wasn’t sure he got that right, if she was telling him what he thought she was.

“
The tattoo, on my back, it’s a black koi fish and a blue lotus flower.”

He stared at her. He didn’t think she’d ever tell him, and when he didn't say anything she continued.

“I lived in Japan for a while and had a boyfriend who was a tattoo artist. I asked him to tattoo me, something that he thought fitted. That's what he did.”

“
You trusted him with that? To just do whatever he found fitting?”

“
We got pretty close. He knew... a lot about me.”

He was gonna have to google to find out what that meant because it was obviously something very personal to her.

“A black koi fish and a blue lotus flower...” He gave her a big smile. “No. It’s not enough. I just have to see it to complete my life.”

Edie shook her head. “Too big. I’d have to take off my top and bra.”

“Ahh.” He wouldn’t mind and it would actually make his life even more complete, but instead he shook his head. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“
I’ve seen yours.”

“
I meant my ink, Nibbles, not my dick.”

“
Like I said, I’ve seen a lot of your ink. You were passed out on the couch once when I came to the clubhouse.”

“
Really?” He hadn’t known that. “Well, that seems unfair.”

Edie stood up and walked over to one of the boxes that were already in the apartment. A few minutes later she came back and handed him a picture. It was her bare back with the ink on her left shoulder. It wasn't that big, just covered her shoulder blade. The fish was swimming upwards, looking like it was rounding the flower and surrounded by black waves. It was beautiful and as far as he could tell from the picture, well done. He looked at Edie.

“It’s really nice, Edie.” Looking down at the picture again he admired it. “Really nice.”

“
Thank you.”

His phone rang and he picked it up.

“Need you at the compound.”
It was Brick.

“
I’m on my way.” He closed the phone and looked at Edie with raised eyebrows. “Gotta go.”

“
I’ll drive you. You don’t have your bike, you know.”

“
Fuck! Forgot that.” He looked at her. “Think you’ll be okay to drive it home?”

“
I’ll be fine.” She rolled her eyes, and when he just kept staring at her, she glared at him. “I’ll be fine. Don’t look at me like that.”

He laughed. “Okay. Move your ass, I’m in a hurry.”

-o0o-

Melanie saw the truck coming into the lot and Dawg jumped out of it. He walked around it, opened the door on the driver's side and talked to Edie for a few seconds before slamming the door shut with a laugh.

She had a hard time deciding what she really thought about that, Edie and Dawg, but she was definitely leaning towards not liking it. This was Dawg after all, and Dawg did not talk to women unless he was trying to get into their pants. And she didn’t want Dawg anywhere near Edie’s pants.

She hung around until she saw Wolf coming out, and that’s when she walked over to the clubhouse. Dawg was sitting at the bar with Brick, and she sat down next to them.

“Dawg, I’m a bit worried.”

“
About what?”

“
What are you doing with Edie?”

“
Taught her how to drive that big ass car your Old Man bought her, and today I helped her to move. Or rather drove the truck and carried her shit.”

“
Dawg...” She wasn't sure what to say. She liked Dawg, that wasn't the problem, she was just worried about her sister.

“
Hey, Mel. It’s not what you think. I helped her out, that's all.”

She eyed Dawg carefully. “Since when do you help women out without wanting some peach in return?”

“Mel, I know where you’re coming from, but you’ve seen me with these bitches or... well, bitches I don’t really care about. And then there’s you, the other Old Ladies and club kids. Edie’s more of the latter, okay? I know I started off kind of bad, but I'm just trying to get to know her, in the normal, friendship kind of way.”

“
Okay.” She decided to move closer and kept looking at him. “She just got back and there’s more to her than you think.”

“
Mel, no offense, but she’s taken care of herself for a long time. I think she’ll be fine.”

She knew she was balancing on a fine line here and she needed to get him to understand what Edie was really like, without telling him too much.

“Dawg, I know that’s how she comes off and how she sees herself, but there was a reason she took off. She’s really strong in some ways, in other not at all, so please...”

He didn’t let her finish.

“As opposed to what you think, I’m not a complete fucking ass.”

“
That’s not what I think.”

“
Then don’t assume that I’m gonna hurt her.”

He seemed very defensive, and for a second Melanie was unsure. She had no idea what the fuck was going on, and more importantly; she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“Okay.” She leaned closer so only he could here. “But if you do hurt her, I’ll rip your balls off.”

Dawg looked at her and then he gave her that smile that could make even the most frigid woman's vagina ache. Fuck he was good at this.

“So that’s how I get you to touch my balls.”

She couldn’t help herself, she laughed and gave him a hug. She liked Dawg; she just didn't want him to mess up her sister.

“Don’t worry, Mel,” he said as he hugged her. “We’re just friends. Or, not even that. We’re pals and I like her. I wouldn’t hurt her.”

Melanie wasn't so sure about that. She was quite convinced he'd hurt women without even noticing it more than once. That was kind of the effect charming as fuck men had, but she couldn't force him to stop seeing Edie. She was going to have to stay on the sidelines for this one, at least until it looked like it was getting out of hand.

-o0o-

Wednesday, July 2
nd

VASCO WAS AT THE
Rover, waiting for Edie, who was currently cleaning along with Dawn while they both wailed out the lyrics to some silly pop song. The pop song made him think it was Dawn who’d picked the music that night. It was always pop when it was her night. Even Mack, the owner, seemed to be fed up with it, since he'd complained about it when he came out from the kitchen in the back.