Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V (11 page)

“Going home with Zander?” she asked and I nodded. She
smiled. “He’s been there for you and been good for you the last few days,” she
stated.

“Yes he has,” I blushed furiously and she smiled wide. We’d
had the entire sordid girl talk about my first time in the car on the way in
this morning. Everett hugged me close and I hugged her back.

“I know you almost as well as I know myself,” she stated
dryly. “So are you feeling what I’m feeling about your da’?” she asked.

“Almost relieved?” I asked.

She laughed, “Certainly explains a lot.”

“Yeah it does,” I said softly.

Everett knocked her shoulder lightly in to mine. “I think
it’s a good thing you want to talk to Zander rather than me about this one. I’m
close to the situation. I know your da’ and how it’s been and all of that. All
I could tell you is what you already know and the same perspective. Zander
might have something different for you.”

I sighed and said the one thing that Everett and I had
fantasized about for
years.
“Why couldn’t my mom…” she picked up and
finished with me,

“…and my/your da’ have gotten together when we were growing
up?” we laughed lightly together.

“My da’ loved my mum… So much. I wish I had more than just
the one picture of them together. I wish I had some kind of journal or
something
to know what she was like,” she said wistfully.

“I just wish my dad loved me. Saw me for me and could be
proud of me,” I leaned my butt against the kitchen’s sink.

“I know that look,” she said and crossed her arms.

“What look?” I asked.

“The one written all over your face that spells out regret
but also says you’re going to forgive him and keep trying. I’ve seen it a
thousand times before,” she rolled her eyes. I pursed my lips.

“Shows you don’t know
everything
. I wasn’t thinking
about my dad just then,” Everett’s eyebrows went up.

“Your mom?”

“It’s the first time she’s ever let me down and it’s just so
big
.” I sighed.

Everett snorted, “Bullshit! Your mom has been letting you
down your entire life! Every time she let him hit you, or her, without standing
up to him.” Everett shook her head. “I love you, Mandy, but it stops here. I
won’t be silent anymore. I can’t be silent anymore.”

I nodded, “It wasn’t fair of me to ask you to keep such a
big secret anyways,” I admitted and Everett softened.

“It all had to come crashing down at some point. I’m just
glad Zander was there to protect you when it did,” she said. The kitchen door
opened and the man of the hour stepped in.

“I’m glad I was there too, but Red had it handled. I’m
pretty sure she was going to serve him a mean right hook any second,” he put up
his fists and went through some boxing movements and I smiled, but it wasn’t
exactly easy or a comfortable one.

“Violence isn’t Mandy’s thing,” Everett said, “Never was and
never will be,” Zander straightened up.

“I know, that’s why it was funny, and it’s one of the
reasons I love her like I do,” he quirked that grin that made the butterflies
in my insides lift off.

“Me too,” Everett said.

I finished with my chocolate curls and laid them artfully
over the top of the chocolate ganache coated fudge cake and slid it towards
Everett. She sighed and picked it up and took it out to the display case,
carefully backing out the kitchen door with it.

Zander retook his seat at the counter and sat quietly,
watching me move around the kitchen, cleaning up and moving fluidly on to the
next project. After another hour I joined him at the counter where we quietly
ate our lunch. Appreciative of the fact that he didn’t feel the need to fill
the silence, that he gave me time to parse through the things in my head.

It was nice to have a presence other than Everett in my life
that didn’t tell me how I should feel, or react or how to handle things but at
the same time I was feeling a little lost at
not
having these things
spelled out for me. What did that say about me?

I did what I was raised to do in these situations, I
practiced what my father preached and silently prayed for guidance and for some
kind of answer to the conundrum that was the whole situation.

With any luck God would be listening.

Revelator…

I’d called Dray and asked if the thing with Red’s dad had
been gotten to. He said he’d check and would hit me right back and he was
dependable like that so I waited. My phone buzzed in my hand less than two
minutes later.

“Nope, not yet why?” he asked.

“Hold off,” I’d told him and laid out what had just gone
down in my Red’s kitchen. Dray was silent for a minute.

“What’re you thinkin’?” he asked.

I sighed and with the image of Red’s too-solemn face still
burned into my brain I’d said, “I’m thinkin’ that it’s time to break the cycle
for her, but that it’s also time to send a message to her daddy that he’ll
never forget.”

“Oh? And how do you propose we do that?” and so I sketched
out the idea I had forming in my brain. I could almost hear my VP grin through
the phone.

“You know what brother? I think you’re on to something and I
think that it might be good, not just for Mandy but for the club too. We been
back sliding into some gnarly ass shit with The Suicide Cunts. This might just
be a good reminder that there’s something out there other than blood and
violence and blowing shit up that we could be doing. Let me run it by my pops.”

“Good deal. I gotta go, man. I got Red to agree to stay at
my place tonight.”

“Good times. Talk to you later bro.”

I ducked back into the shop and found Red with Irish at her
side saying she was glad I’d been there when the shit went down. I tried to
lighten the mood but failed miserably so I just tried to content myself with
being near Mandy while she worked.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” she asked around an
hour in when she seated herself at the counter with me. She pulled a burrito
out of the sack I’d brought in with me. She started to unwrap it but I stilled
her hands.

“You’re going to make a mess,” I laughed. “Let me show you
how these are done,” I brought out the plastic knife and fork from the bag and
cut into the thing with surgical precision, squishing the two ends together to
open it up more. I handed her the fork for the neat little foil and flour
tortilla bowl.

“Seriously?” she asked.

“What?”

“This is not how you eat a burrito!” she laughed at me.

“It is if you don’t want to wear it.” I shrugged and she dug
in, humoring me.

“This feels so wrong but it tastes so good!” she said a few
bites in and I laughed, working on my own which was so not on my meal plan but
I would work it off as soon as I got home. I was human and allowed to cheat
every once in a while. Of course come weigh in, I’d probably be kicking my own
ass for the burrito but you know, whatever… Nature of the beast.

“Thank you for being here,” she said quietly a few minutes
later, “I’m sure you could be doing any number of things right now.”

“Yeah but I really want to be doing you,” I winked and she
blushed and scoffed a laugh, giving me a gentle shove.

“Pervert!” she declared.

“You have no idea, but no worries Red, I’m gonna show you.”
I winked at her and she got seven different kinds of flustered.

“I um, worry about that you know?” she confessed.

“About what?”

“My inexperience, I mean I… um… and you, well…”

I chuckled, “What the fact that before I met you I could be
qualified as a top ranking member in the male slut hall of fame?” she
really
blushed at that and fixed her eyes on her burrito.

“I wouldn’t put it like that,” she said weakly and I
grinned.

“I know, that’s why I did it for yah. And to answer your
question, I’m not worried about it in the slightest but I can see you are and
I’m telling you right now, you ain’t got no reason to worry.”

She met my eyes reluctantly, “Okay,” she said quietly but I
could tell she didn’t quite believe me, but that was okay. I had her to myself
all night tonight.

“What time are you out of here?” I asked.

“Three more hours, we close at our regular time. I think it
might be quieting down out there.”

We finished our food quietly and she went back to moving
wraithlike through her kitchen. I fucked around on my phone for some of it,
when really what I wanted to do was take us both the hell out of there and back
to my place.

The clock ran down slower than a pregnant cow on methadone
crossed the field but finally with a gusty sigh my girl undid her apron and
hung it neatly on a hook set in the wall by the big freezer thing.

“’bout ready?” I asked her nonchalantly. She gave me a wry
smile.

“Just about,” she said and with an arm around her waist we
exited the kitchen. “Need a ride or is Dray coming?” she asked Everett.

“Ride, Dray is at the club, I’m supposed to meet him. I was
going to ask if you could drop me off there.”

“Tell you girls what. Let’s head to your place so Mandy can
get an overnight bag and drop off her car and I’ll give you a ride to the club
since it’s on the way to my place.” The girls nodded.

“Sounds great. It’ll let me throw some things together for
tomorrow too,” Everett said. They went through the motions of final clean up
and shutting down.

“When did Zeb take off?” I asked.

“When it was clear you weren’t going anywhere I told him to
go, there wasn’t any point in having both of you here,” Everett stated flatly.

“Surprised he went,” I said. Everett scowled and Mandy
laughed at her.

“He didn’t listen to her! I know that look anywhere.”
Everett menaced Mandy with the cloth she was using to wipe off glass cleaner
from the front of the display cases.

“You’re right, damn you. I had to call Dray and
he
had to tell him to go.”

“Yeeeeah,” I drawled, “The new guys may be fully patched but
they still act like prospects sometimes.”

“Except for Grinder, he probably would have just gone,”
Mandy observed softly. Everett rolled her eyes at his name.

“Problem with Grinder?” I asked.

“He’s just a big damned flirt and doesn’t know when to turn
it down a notch,” Everett declared, Red shifted.

“He make you uncomfortable?” I asked her, eyeing her
carefully.

“Depends, are you going to do something stupid?” she asked,
which was pretty much all the answer I really needed.

“Stupid how?” I asked, grinning.

“Like punch him or something?”

I laughed, “Does he make you uncomfortable?” I repeated the
question.

Mandy paused in her sweeping and shook her head, “No.”

“You suck at lying, Sugar.”

She looked up alarmed as Everett started to howl with
laughter, Red frowned at her best friend and stuck out her tongue. I laughed.

I followed the girl’s home and waited while they threw some
of their shit together. Mandy paused at her flowers I’d brought her the day
before and smelled them, a slight smile curving her lips before she shouldered
her small gym bag and turned to me, ready to go. Irish came out right behind
her.

“All set,” she declared and after locking up the house we
trouped out to my Chevelle. Mandy got in back. I frowned.

“What’re you doing Babe?” I asked.

“Everett’s getting out first, I’ll switch then,” she smiled
at me warmly and Everett sighed.

“This isn’t high school anymore Mandy,” Everett chided.

“I know,” Red smiled brightly at her friend and Everett got
in. I filed the exchange away for later and drove us to the club. Letting Ev
out in front, Mandy switched into the front seat after handing her BFF her bag
and giving her a hug. Everett waved over her shoulder before disappearing
inside. Red fastened her seatbelt and looked up at me, running straight into
the kiss I had waiting for her.

I kissed her carefully, leaned way over the center console
which didn’t exactly make things comfortable for an extended make out session.
I pulled back and smiled at her and she smiled back, almost shyly in return.
Good. She had an idea of what we were gonna be up to then.

I shifted the car into first and pulled out, headed for
home. The car ride was silent, Red looking out at the scenery but not really
seeing it. When I pulled up in front of the house she looked at it without
comment.

“Not much to look at. Was my dad’s-dad’s place. He was a son
of a bitch, so was my pops.” I let my gaze roam the dilapidated one story
rambler. The yard was overgrown, choked with brown, dried up weeds. The tan and
brown paint peeling off the sides of the house.

“You don’t pull into the garage?” she asked softly.

“It’s full of shit from the shop right now,” I told her and
a cloud of some unnamed emotion passed over her face. “You okay Red?” I asked.

She unhooked her seatbelt, “I’m fine, it’s just...” she
trailed off, eyes staring sightless off in to space.

“Just what, Sugar?” I kept my voice low, and soft.

“It scared me. That level of violence,” her hazel eyes met
mine and searched my face. “What if you’d been there? Or Disney had gone
inside?” I trailed a fingertip down the silky skin of one of her cheeks.

“I wasn’t, Sugar and he didn’t. Let’s go inside. I’ll build
us a fire and we can take some time out to relax.”

“I’d like that.”

“Kind of figured you would.”

We popped open our doors and I came around to her side,
taking her bag out of her hands and slinging it over my shoulder. She put her
free hand in mine, my keys lightly spiking into our palms as we walked to the
front door. I keyed us in and hung them on the hook by the door.

“Hey Disney! You here?” I called out.

“Yeah!”

“Got company!” I called, just in case he decided to wander
out here in his Fruit of the Loom’s or some shit. He came around the corner
fully dressed, slinging on his jacket and cut.

“Hey Mandy!” he beamed at my girl and she smiled.

“Thought you were out with Aaron tonight,” I grunted.

“He’s on his way now,” I nodded and stepped past him.

“Gonna put your bag in my room, Sugar. Make yourself at
home,” She smiled at me and Disney started chatting with her as I made my way
up the hall and towards the back. I set her bag on the foot of my bed and tried
not to feel too self-conscious about the outdated, rundown nature of the house.
I mean, shit, she was used to living in places that looked like something out
of a magazine, if Dray’s place was anything to go by. I’m pretty sure her folks
place was nice too judging by the outside of it.

My house though? The thing had been built in the late
sixties, early seventies and aside from a few coats of interior and exterior
paint throughout the years, not much else had been updated about it. The carpet
where there was carpet was old and shabby, the linoleum and cupboards and
bathroom fixtures were all shit that had come with the house, hell even the range
and fridge were older than I was.

It wasn’t much to look at but it was mine and had the
potential to be nice with some serious remodeling. I switched out of what I was
wearing and into some gym clothes. I had to put in an evening work out, keep on
an even training schedule. It’d only take me an hour, hour and a half tops with
a shower. I’d get Mandy set up on the couch and a fire going in the grate,
pound it out and we’d be good to go for the rest of the evening. A soft knock
on my bedroom’s door frame had me wheeling around.

“Dis leave?” I asked.

“Mm-hm.”

“I need to hit the gym, stick to my training. Let me get a
fire started and get you comfortable first, though.”

“Okay,” her voice was so soft and sweet, like her, and it
made me smile. I walked back out into the living room with her. The house may
be rundown and old but the furniture was decent in the living room. A black
leather couch and love seat and a fifty inch flat screen TV took up most of the
space. Red sank down onto the couch at my urging and I started working on
starting a fire in the old ass grate.

“You don’t have to do all that you know.”

I smiled to myself, “I know, Sugar. I want to. You’re a
treasure and I want you to be comfortable,” I shrugged haphazardly and shoved
some newspaper under the logs.

“Zander really, it’s just nice to be here with you.”

I lit the paper and sat back on my heels. I looked over my
shoulder at her and when I was sure that the presto log in with the rest of the
regular ones was gonna catch, I slid across the open expanse of carpet between
us. I placed my hands on her knees and looked up into her face. Her hands
covered mine.

“I want good things for you, Babe,” I murmured.

“I know, thank you,” she was quiet for a moment, so was I,
as we studied each other.

“When will you be back?” she asked quietly.

“Not going anywhere Baby, home gym in the back. It’ll take
me an hour, hour and a half. You good?” she nodded silently. I reared up and
kissed her forehead. I pulled the remote off the TV stand and handed it to her.

“Make yourself at home, I mean it.” She nodded and I tore
myself away, as much as I didn’t want to, and headed for the back room. I would
have skipped it if I could have but I couldn’t so…

Damn.