Clutch: Satan's Fury MC (12 page)

“We had some leftover spaghetti, but if you’re not up for that, I brought more soup, too.”

“Spaghetti sounds good.”

She sat the food down next to me and asked, “You feeling any better?”

“Well, I’m not dead, so I guess that’s a plus,” I chuckled.

“So dramatic,” she giggled as she sat down at the foot of the bed. “I hate to break it to you, but I think you’re going to live.”

“I don’t know. It’s still pretty early,” I teased. “I could always take a turn for the worse.”

She lightly slapped my leg and said, “You are such a mess.” 

“I’ve been called worse.”

“I can only imagine. Before I forget, I talked to Louise earlier. She thinks you might have caught the flu from some kid named Kevin?”

“Kevin? Are you sure? His dad said he tested negative.”

“Well, he’s got it. And I think she said they were checking him into the hospital.”

“Shit. I need to call Blaze and see how he’s doing.”

She looked down at her watch. “Maybe you should wait until tomorrow. It’s kind of late.”

“Poor kid.”

“Speaking of getting late, I better get going,” she told me as she stood up. “Can I get you anything before I go?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Okay. I’ll be back in the morning to check on you. I left my number on a sticky note on your dresser if you need me before then.” She smiled. “Try not to die on me before I get back.”

“I’ll do my best.” Just before she walked out of the room, I called out, “Hazel?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

She smiled that smile I’d come to love as she said, “You’re welcome, Shaggy,” then shuffled quickly out of the room.

“
Hazel!”
I warned just before my front door slammed shut. I wasn’t exactly sure when, but soon, Hazel was going to find out that payback was a bitch.

Over the next couple of days, Hazel continued to do what she could to nurse me back to health, coming several times a day to bring me something to eat and to make sure I’d taken my medicine. With the meds, it didn’t take me long to get back on my feet, but I wasn’t exactly happy that I was getting better. I’d come to enjoy my time with Hazel and wasn’t looking forward to the day she stopped coming by to see me. I’d just have to make the best of the time I had left. When I heard her tap on my front door, I sat up on the bed and turned down the TV.

“Come on in,” I shouted.

Seconds later, Hazel walked into the room carrying a paper sack and a Styrofoam cup. I thought she’d be impressed that I’d showered, but she didn’t even seem to be fazed by the fact that I no longer looked like death warmed over. From the dark circles under her eyes, I could see that she’d had a long day and she was exhausted. She tried to hide her fatigue, giving me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes as she asked, “How ya feeling?”

“I’m hanging in,” I answered. “How about you? Long day?”

“Yes … a very long day.” She placed the drink and brown paper bag on the bedside table, then plopped down at the foot of the bed. “I’m beat. How about you? Anything interesting with you?’

“Not much. I did call Blaze about Kevin. He said he was home from the hospital,” I told her.

“Good. I know you were worried about him.”

“Yeah, I was. He seemed like a pretty cool kid. I told Blaze I’d try to be back to work tomorrow.”

Her voice went up several octaves as she began to fuss, “No, it’s too soon, Clutch. You’ll get worse if you push yourself. They can make it a few more days without you.” It meant something to me that she cared, but I didn’t have a choice; Cotton and Gus were counting on me to get the job done so I could be on my way.

“The sooner I finish in the garage, the sooner I can get back home,” I explained.

A look of disappointment crossed her face as she looked down at her lap and started fiddling with the strap of her apron. Without looking up, she said, “Do what you’ve gotta do, but I think you should give it another day or so.”

“Hazel?”

She glanced over to me and mumbled, “Yeah?”

“They’re months behind in that garage, and they need me. That’s why I’m here. Their top mechanic’s laid out, Sunshine. And Blaze needs to be with his boy. All I can think about is the work load building up. I get that you are worried, but if I stay in this room for much longer, I’m going to lose my damned mind. I’ve gotta get out of here … even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “Just don’t overdo it.”

“I won’t,” I promised. “I’ll go in for a couple of hours, and then I’ll be back.”

She paused for a minute, taking a quiet breath, then asked, “So, when you finish helping them in the garage, you’ll head back home?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Where is home? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“You can ask me anything. I grew up in Missouri, but for the last nine years or so I’ve been living in Washington.”

She leaned back, propping herself up with her arms behind her. “Wow. How did you end up all the way in Washington?”

“I dropped out of college during my junior year after spending the summer out on the road. I was just supposed to be taking a break, but when I ran into Cotton and spent some time at the club, I knew I’d found what I’d been looking for.”

“You really dropped out of college just so you could join a motorcycle club?”

“It was where I was meant to be.”

“Simple as that, huh?” She smiled.

“Yep. Simple as that. When you know, you know. How about you?”

“I’m a waitress, Clutch. Not much to tell.”

“I’m not talking about what you do, Hazel. I want to know what makes you tick. What makes your palms get sweaty and your heart race? What’s the one thing you want more than anything in the world? What do you long for late at night when you’re lying in bed all alone?”

“You really are a dramatic one.” She laughed. “I used to love to dance. I was really pretty good at it, too. I started with ballet when I was just a little girl… maybe four or five, then as I got older, I moved over to contemporary ballet. I loved it, feeling the rhythm of the music, telling a story as I danced, hearing the applause … but in the end, it just wasn’t in the cards for me to dance.”

“Why’s that?”

“I tried to get into Juilliard, but didn’t get asked back for the third audition. I just wasn’t good enough.”

“So what? What the hell do they know?”

“They know, Clutch. At first I was disappointed, but in the long run, it was the best thing that could’ve happened.”

“Bullshit. If you loved it, you should’ve kept at it,” I told her as I reached for the brown paper sack. I peeked inside and said, “Smells good.”

“Louise sent it. It was tonight’s special: a grilled chicken sandwich and some fries.”

Even though it was getting late, she continued to sit with me while I finished my sandwich. After I was done, we spent another hour talking about my draw to the club and her love of ballet—two completely different worlds, but with us, they seemed to fit. There were differences between me and Hazel, anyone could see them, but the fact was that neither of us seemed to care. We liked being together, and she was finally starting to open up to me. I was getting closer. Each time I was with her, I got another piece of the puzzle. It wouldn’t be long before I could piece it all together.

From the moment I’d laid eyes on him, I knew I was in trouble. I’d done my best to resist it from the very start, but nonetheless he’d gotten to me. I’d let my guard down when he was sick, and when I wasn’t paying attention, he’d started working his way into my heart. It started with our nightly chats. I’d stop by to see if he was feeling better, and we’d end up visiting for hours, laughing and talking about our day. Those little talks continued long after he’d recovered from the flu. I’d try to resist the temptation of going next door, but when I didn’t come over on my own, he’d just end up banging on the wall with some silly excuse to talk. Eventually our nightly rendezvous spilled over into daytime visits, and he’d even started to include Charlie and Hadley. It had become our little routine and I’d come to like it. A lot.

I’d just gotten home from work and barely had time to change into one of my favorite t-shirts and a pair of shorts when Clutch knocked on the door. He’d told me earlier that he was bringing dinner. When I opened the door, I was surprised to see that his hands were full of grocery bags. I took one of the sacks from his hands. “What’s all this?”

“I told you I was bringing dinner.”

“I thought you meant takeout.”

He followed me into the kitchen and placed the remaining bags on the counter as he smiled and said, “No fun in that. I figured we’d make some homemade pizzas. Let Cindy have her way with the toppings.”

“You’re a brave man. There’s no telling what she’ll put on it.”

He laughed and said, “I figured that, so I limited her options a bit.”

We had just started taking everything out of the bags when Charlie walked in and asked, “Do you know where my blue binder is?”

I looked around the kitchen and answered, “No. I haven’t seen it.”

“I’ll find it. I’m sure you-know-who did something with it.” He peeked over at all the groceries and asked, “We making pizzas for dinner?”

“Yeah. You want to help?” I asked.

“Maybe later. I’ve got to finish up some math homework first,” he told me as he walked towards the hall. Seconds later, I heard him fussing at Hadley about taking his binder, immediately followed by the sound of him slamming his bedroom door.

“Do they ever grow out of that?”

Clutch winked and said, “Sorry, darlin’. You’re stuck with it for another ten or twenty years.”

“I’ll never make it,” I giggled. I loved those little winks of his. They got to me every time.

“I don’t know about that. They’re good kids. You must be doing something right.”

“I can’t take the credit for that. They’ve always been great kids.”

Once we had everything laid out, Hadley came into the kitchen to help us put on the pizza toppings. Her eyes grew wide when she saw all the different choices and said, “What do I put on it?”

“That’s up to you,” Clutch answered. “Just remember, you gotta eat it.”

“You didn’t get any anchovies, did you? I hate those things.”

He shook his head. “No anchovies. I’m not much of a fan either.”

I leaned over and examined all the choices myself. “Anchovies aren’t all that bad.”

“Eww,” Hadley fussed. Her nose crinkled as she asked, “You actually
like
them?”

“I didn’t say that! But there are plenty of people who find them … not gross.”

“I think they’re gross. And olives, too. No anchovies or olives on the pizzas,” Hadley huffed. “We’re sticking to the basics tonight.”

“I like your way of thinking,” Clutch smiled. “Basics are always good.”

We spent the next half-hour making up three different pizzas, and when we put them in the oven to cook, Hadley and Clutch went into the living room to watch TV while I sat with them and folded laundry. I was on my second basket of clothes when Clutch looked over to me and asked, “Are you sure there are only three of you?”

“Yes. Why?”

He glanced down at the laundry basket and said, “Just asking.”

“If you are referring to the laundry, Mr. smarty-pants, the kids in this apartment have failed to learn the technique of hanging up a towel or wearing a pair of jeans more than once. So, yeah. I’m stuck doing laundry all the time.”

He looked over to Hadley and teased, “Surely she’s not talking about you.”

Hadley’s eyes dropped to her lap. “I always forget, and by the time I remember, the towel is all funky and smells like Char—uh—I mean David’s feet.”

“It wouldn’t smell like feet if you’d hang it up as soon as you were done with it,” I fussed. “But you’ll figure it out as soon as you have to start doing all the laundry.”

“I’m in charge of the vacuuming and dusting,” Hadley groaned.

“I think it’s time for us to swap,” I taunted.

Clutch cut his eyes over to me and smirked as he said, “Don’t worry, Cindy. If she starts making you wash clothes, you can borrow my washer and dryer.”

“Wait! How come I’ve never gotten that offer?” I screeched.

Before he could come up with some smart-assed response, the timer went off for the pizzas. He jumped up off the sofa and said, “Saved by the bell.”

Charlie finally came out of his room and joined us for dinner. As soon as he saw the pizzas, he said, “These actually look pretty good.”

“You doubted our cooking skills?” Clutch asked.

“Yeah … I guess I did. I didn’t expect them to actually look like real pizzas,” Charlie admitted with a smile.

“Did you finish your math homework?” I asked.

“I finished it. I’m not sure it’s right, but I finished it.”

“Want me to look over it before we go to bed?” I offered.

“If you want to. It’s not that big of a deal. Mrs. O’Neal likes me. If I messed it up, she’ll let me fix it,” he told me as he took a big bite of pizza.

I looked over at Clutch and smiled, thinking how easily we all fit. The kids were crazy about him, and seeing how good he was with them only made me fall for him even more. He was quickly becoming part of our lives and it terrified me. It wasn’t just that I knew so little about him; it was the fact that I’d been lying to him. He knew nothing about our past and the danger that lurked around the corner, and as much as I hated to admit it, deep down I knew it wasn’t fair to get him involved.