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ANYTHING AT ANYTIME
Thunder
Traveling with a twelve-hundred-pound animal in tow was way slower than unreservedly flying down a highway on my Hog. Plus, my bike didn’t literally keep taking dumps. Rya, again, was such a pro, tending to the animal like the second nature it was for her. It’s not easy to impress one-percenters, but she had managed to do so with us. This was no princess we were dealing with. She hadn’t been spoiled by her dad or brothers. In fact…
Arms crossed over his chest, Diesel was a distance away from the trailer, watching Rya shovel poop. His expression showed his mind turning, big time.
I went to him, facing the same direction to try to figure out the why of the smoke coming out of his ears. “What is it?”
He squinted behind his sunglasses. “Watching her with Sable and how this is all so ‘routine’ for her has me thinking of her brothers.”
When he didn’t volunteer more, I asked, “Aaaaaand?”
He adjusted his stance, eyes locked on Rya. “Well … when her brothers loaded and tended to the horses yesterday, they weren’t so fluid. I mean, they knew what they were doing, but…”
I waited. And I waited… But the hurt the brothers had caused Rya was dancing on my last nerve.
Getting agitated, I spat, “Fucking spell it out.”
Diesel’s stare left Rya, slowly, and was now mine to carry. Instantly, I felt the weight.
Not so softly, he asked, “The fuck you just say to me?”
In the parking lot, I was confronted by a man who gave not one fuck whether or not I was some sort of dangerous hybrid. At that moment, I understood Diesel would rather go to ground than be disrespected.
Shit.
Trying to remember the manners Ani and Dio instilled in me and forget the beatings Onus delivered to get them out of me, I said, “Diesel, you are the last person I should ever talk to like that. From the bottom of my heart, I am so sorry. You are literally saving my ass. What I said was incredibly rude. I’m ashamed.”
He stared for a long beat before finally giving me a nod. “All right, I won’t shoot you this time.”
Whew! “I appreciate that.”
He exhaled loudly, “As. I. Was. Saying.” He went back to watching Rya. “Her brothers were … rusty. I don’t know much about horses, but the way they loaded the animals yesterday and the way she did today, her way was like a well-oiled machine. They were … clunky. A little out of practice.” He rubbed his short beard while trying to voice more thoughts. “And what she had said, ‘I only did as I was told.’ Maybe she wasn’t only referring to her dad.” He looked away, as if seeing Rya while speaking of her sexual abuse was too much for him. “Doing what he … you know…” He observed Rya again. “But maybe she meant something else.”
I was baffled that he had gathered all this just by watching horses being loaded onto trailers. Then it hit me. Lu had mentioned ‘perspective.’
What was mine? Fear of Rya’s immediate danger. I struggled to see past it and make wise decisions for her future. Like the night Diesel had called and told me to run, I was running with Rya. Again.
“What was her dad like?” His question pulled me from my thoughts.
“I hadn’t truly met him until the night … you know.”
Diesel nodded. “That’s okay. It was just a thought I was having.”
I searched my memory. “But when we were kids at church, he was always yelling at her to come home.”
“Hmm. I see. He sound worried or angry?”
“Angry. Always angry. The first day I met her, he had been threatening to boil her bunny.”
“The fuck?”
I cringed in instantaneous guilt. “Damn. That should’ve told me more, huh?”
In disgust, he shook his head. “Not when being raised by someone who made boiling rabbits seem like child’s play.”
That was a ‘perspective’ to have.
