Page 16 of Stag

Harley waved him off to his corner. “Waiting on the Pres, you wanna give us a minute?”

“What day is it?” I asked him in response to his earlier question. My days were all over the place with the night shift shit going on.

“Wednesday.” Fuck. I dug out my phone and called my boss. Hell of a time to take a day off, you know, when my entire fucking job was hanging in the balance.

Claudia

Marissa was gone when I came out of the shower, and that left me some time to stew, to wonder what the hell to do about her, and my lost phone. It was completely trashed, the screen shattered, and nothing working, even though it still lit up.

I dug out my laptop to see what I could buy in place of it, but if I didn’t want a difficult discussion in a phone shop, where they never seemed to know sign language, and it was too hard to pick up some of the jargon by lipreading, it left me having to order online and wait for it to arrive, leaving me without one for days.

I was perusing the options when the door opened, and closed, and Marissa stood there, a carrier bag from the local IT store in hand.

“I’m so sorry,” she mouthed, handing me the bag. Inside it was a brand new phone, not Samsung like my last one, but android at least. Thank god.

I closed the store I’d been browsing and dug out the boxed phone. It wasn’t sealed, but that wasn’t such a shock if things had to be installed or whatever.

“I had them upload your call software and stuff, sorry. I fucked up. I panicked. I’m sorry.”

I set the phone back down, taking a long slow breath before responding.

*It was nice of you to get this so fast for me. I’m lost without it. You get that, don’t you? Without the phone, I was even more dependent on you.*

She didn’t look surprised or bothered by that statement, tucking her hair behind her ear as she sat down facing me.

“I worry. You’re so trusting. So sweet. That biker guy is trouble, and I suddenly thought he was messaging you or something. He’s bad news, you get that, don’t you?”

I closed my laptop and picked up the box with the phone in it, fully intending to get away from her, and she reached over, lightly touching my hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I know I get overprotective and you’re probably fed up with me. I’ll do better, I promise!”

She looked so sincere, so much like the sister I grew up with and loved so much. Maybe she was seeing how her behaviour was looking to me, or to anyone who realised how she’d been acting lately. Maybe she was finally going to back off and let me live my life.

I just wanted my twin back, the sister who lived and loved, and laughed so much. She looked like a stressed out, overworked parent. Like she just needed a hand. Didn’t I owe her that?

I sat back down again, pushing the phone toward her.

“Why don’t you get me started, and I’ll make some tea.”

She nodded, a happy smile on her face, and a little of the frustration dissipated. She was still in there, just bogged down with fears and worries. For me. Because of me. Couldn’t I cut her a break if she seemed overbearing sometimes?

Chapter Seven

It took Micro about forty minutes to get to Harley’s place, by which time I’d given in and settled wearily into the chair usually occupied by Harley’s old lady. I didn’t know where Caroline was right now, but I was grateful for the seat. Rocket’s little dog, Nixie, was happily in her little ‘compound’ in the gap between the desk and his counter, chewing on some obscene looking pink toy. Did she steal something from his bird or what?

“Sorry, sorry. Had to drop Soph and the baby at the club, then go back for my ride. What’s going… Fucking hell, you got jumped too? What the hell is going on lately? First Henley with the Double Ds and now you? Do you need a doc?”

Hell, at least it sounded like they cared, but how long would that last, I wondered, as I picked up the bottle of water Harley had given me and took a gulp. Harley headed over to lock the shop door, flipping the sign around, and then he dragged his chair over to us, while Micro and Rocket sat on the bench seat Rocket had added when he started actually getting clients and bitched about no seating for people.

“Okay, brother. Tell us. We’re here.”

I stared at my hands, which were bruised and bloodied themselves. Sure, I’d washed them, but broken skin on knuckles keeps breaking every time you move your damn fingers.

“This happened after my stint on the motorway,” I said slowly, wondering for the millionth time how to explain this without sounding like a creeper.

“It’s okay, brother. Did something happen to your ride? I noticed it’s not outside,” Micro said, rubbing his jaw as he eyed Harley. Those two could have whole presidential fucking conversations with a look sometimes. Were they plotting the end for me? Taking my cut? Casting me out? Phoenix was my home, and I was starting to realise just how much I stood to lose here.

“It’s in town. Uh… okay, so, there’s this girl,” I hesitated as they all groaned, and I’m sure they immediately imagined I’d run foul of some boyfriend or something, and fuck me, I wish. That wouldn’t get me booted. This will. I’m certain of it.