Broken & Burned (20 page)

“So, have you found a place yet?” she asked. Dray leaned back and looked at her from around me with one of those burning looks of his.

“She’s cool,” He said and tried to soften the look with that boyish panty dropping grin of his, “When we get home we’re going to find space to get all her stuff put away off our bedroom floor.” Mandy blinked at him wide eyed and then looked at me, I wasn’t going to help her out. I was too busy grinning at his use of the word ‘our’. My friend tipped her head to the side and tried to read my face. Finally she sighed in defeat.

“Okay, look. As the best friend it is my obligation to tell you that if you hurt my girl I’ma have to find you and cut your balls off.” She crossed her arms and said it so sweetly and matter-of-factly the entire table busted up laughing. A waitress came by and we ordered our drinks.

“You catch up to her ex yet?” Dray asked Mandy speculatively. Her expression darkened.

“No but if I ever do, boy he better look out!” I believed it. Mandy had a sharp tongue and was a master at emasculation via verbal assault, she was just so sweet and unsure of herself it took her a long time to get there but once she did, look out! We ordered pizza a plenty and the conversations wove in and out of what people did for a living, where they came from and a general way of everyone getting to know each other.

“What do you do?” Mandy asked Zander and it was just this side of shyly.

“Tattooist and piercer. I own Open Road Ink along with Trigger, Squick is our new school artist, I mostly do portraits and cover ups. Trig is a jack of all trades, portraits, new school old school, he does it all and does it well. Damn fine at cover ups too.” He shrugged one shoulder.

“Ashton runs the counter. Sets up appointments, finishes out the billing and rings people up. Took to it like a fish to water.” Trigger smiled proudly and rubbed a big hand up and down Ashton’s back while she blushed under the praise.

“You’re just happy you don’t have to pay me anymore.” She said faintly in a teasing tone.

“Why not?” Mandy asked, frowning.

“My husband… passed away… when he did I got a lot of what was left.” She shrugged.

“Oh! I’m so sorry to hear that.” Mandy said sympathetically and I squeezed her knee under the table she looked at me startled.

“What!?” she asked.

“Don’t be sorry,” Ashton said and her expression was solemn, “I’m not.” and put on a brave smile. Mandy nodded and I could see she filed it away for later. I would explain quietly
much
later. Mandy would see to it.

“What about you Ev? What do you do?” Squick asked.

“I’m a barista over at Quick Stop coffee shack. I work the early shift. It’s just until I finish school though.” I took a bite of pizza.

“What are you going to school for?” Zander asked.

“Mandy and I both, we’re going for business. I’m really into coffee she’s a fabulous chocolatier and we want to open a coffee and chocolate shop together.” Mandy and I exchanged smiles.

“We dreamed it up in high school. I have a bunch of these family recipes. My grandparents were confectioners, chocolatiers… I want to open a shop and be like them. Gran and I always had so much fun in the kitchen when I was growing up.” Mandy smiled. Ashton was looking at both of us thoughtfully but remained silent.

“Well you know a great interior designer now.” Reaver said.

“Oh! That’s right!” I exclaimed and told Mandy all about Hayden.

The lunch concluded, there wasn’t much left over pizza and it was wrapped in plastic wrap for us and put into grocery bags so it would be portable on the bikes. Pizza boxes being too ungainly. Everyone split off from the pizzeria. Zander, Mandy, Trigger and Ashton went back to the studio for their cars. Dray and I went with them to keep Mandy comfortable. I didn’t want to just ditch her with people she’d barely just met and I didn’t know Zander from Adam yet so yeah…

I loved that Dray was cool with it, I didn’t even have to ask. I stuffed my backpack from Ashton’s car into my dance bag and slung it across my chest and Dray took us home. I got off and he backed Matilda into the small garage and locked her in.

“I meant what I said. I figured we could find some comfortable clothes and get all your stuff put away. You don’t need to be livin’ off our floor.” I pulled my self against him and he kissed me, I drew back.

“I love that you call it ‘our’ floor. Shows me that you really do want me here, in your life.” He smiled at me and smoothed some stray hair off my face.

“Yeah. I do.” He said and a gust of wind swept our hair across our faces into our eyes. I looked up. Dark clouds were starting to roll in. I sighed.

“Looks like the weather reprieve is over for now.” I said.

“Yeah, let’s get you inside. It’s gettin’ fuckin’ cold out here.” We went inside and I put on some coffee.

“I need to do laundry.” I said.

“You and me both, put something comfortable on before we get started.” He eyed me up and down and I smiled. By the time we were both changed, me into what passed for my pajamas and Dray into some lounge pants and a black wife beater the interior of the house had become downright gloomy. He switched on the bedside lamp and opened his closet. I gathered my dirty pile and went for the mudroom. Unfortunately the way the house was built, it hadn’t been done with the modern convenience of a washer and dryer in mind. The house was well before that time. So in order to reach the washer and dryer in the basement, you had to go out the mudroom, down the back stair on the outside of the house and then down another set of concrete stairs to the basement door.

I was surprised when I went into the basement. I expected it to be musty with a cracked and uneven dirty concrete floor, exposed beams overhead… What I found was a comfortable and completely finished basement. The floor was concrete but smooth and even. It had that paint stuff on it that you could mop clean like a linoleum floor which was really nice.

The washer and dryer were flanked by cabinets and shelving. The cabinets held canned goods and bottled water, basically an emergency storehouse. The water heater sat in one corner and the electrical panels for the house were down here as well, set into completed drywall painted a uniform light gray, like white with just enough color in it to make it gray. There was an extra freezer down here too and I blinked in amazement. The shelves held all manner of dry goods and above the washer and dryer, a shelf hung with all the supplies needed to do the laundry. There was even an ironing board and iron set up down here.

I started a load the machine and just as I switched on the washer my ears were assaulted by the dull pounding of the rain. I dashed outside and up the steps and back into the house and managed to only get half soaked to the skin. I found Dray standing in the bedroom, he was still and holding something in his hands and when I stopped in the doorway I realized what it was. He was holding my da’. More specifically, the stainless steel urn that held my da’s ashes in it. I rocked back on my heels and bit my lower lip between my teeth.

“I didn’t want to freak you out.” I said and grimaced. A ghost of a smile flitted across his lips, his deep dark eyes held sorrow. He held out a hand to me and I stepped forward to take it. He pulled me into his side and hugged me with one arm, placing a kiss against my bare shoulder.

“You didn’t have to hide your dad under a pile of your clothes Baby.” He said gently.

“I’m sorry.” I said quietly.

“Don’t be, just… where would you like to put him?” he asked and I looked up at him.

“Some place safe.” I said. He smiled at me and led me out into the living room. There was a shelf in one corner. The kind that you bolted to the wall with wrought iron accents. The kind that held two votive candles on either side of it. Another urn sat on top of it and I blinked. I hadn’t noticed it before. He carefully, reverently, slid the smaller urn to one side and asked.

“Okay with you?” I nodded mutely and he set my dad next to his mom. He swallowed hard. There was a picture of a small woman with long brown hair and laughing brown eyes on the wall above and behind the shelf. I went back to the room and found the picture of my dad and my mom when they were young in the silver picture frame. There was just enough room to put the smaller photo behind and to the side of my dad’s urn.

Dray looked the photo over and pulled a lighter out from behind the TV. He lit the candles and we stood for a long time drinking the image in. My dad, his mom… their children standing in front of them in silent introspection… thought and prayers… Dray put an arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him. The only sound in the house, the pulsing rain on the roof and outside.

“I miss her.” He said.

“I miss my da’.” I said, and it was all that needed
to
be said. We were two human beings united in perfect harmony by our shared grief. It was one of the most profound and intimate moments of my life and I think it was for Dray too because neither one of us ended it right away. We let it go on for several somber moments until a flash of light and a crack of thunder dashed it to pieces. We exchanged a look and laughed nervously.

“Guess they’ve had enough of us doing that.” He said smiling.

“I think so!” I agreed and we went about finishing what we’d started.

“Tell me about your dad?” he asked me shifting things aside in one of his dresser drawers. I handed him some neatly folded tees.

“My da’ was a slender man. Tall and willowy with big hands.” I said. I handed him the last photo my da’ and I had taken together. Him in his Dockers and button down shirt, me in one of my dance costumes after one of my competitions. His hair had been freshly cut, business like and his round spectacle like glasses perched smartly on the bridge of his nose. Pride shone in his eyes as we both smiled for the camera, a trophy clutched between us.

“What did he do for a living?” Dray asked softly, his gaze roaming the photo in his hands.

“Worked in a warehouse, loading and unloading trucks and trains.” I said softly.

“My mom…” he paused and took a deep breath, “My mom was a bank teller when my dad met her. She left that to run the front office and the books for the club and the shop.” He said. I smiled.

“My da’ was tough on me.” I murmured. “He had grand plans for me, wanted me to be whatever I wanted to be but wanted me to be more than him, you know? More than blue collar working all hours in a warehouse or factory. When I told him what Mandy and I wanted to do he wasn’t all for it at first. I convinced him.” I smiled, remembering. We’d had one hell of a row over it at first and finally he’d relented on the condition I get a degree in business. I hadn’t argued the point accepting it as more than fair.

“My mom was like that too. There was nothing second rate for me, everything was first rate and she’d be damned if I would be treated as anything less… that I would accept anything less for myself. She loved me, she loved my dad and she loved the club. She was proud as hell when I said I wanted to be a mechanic like my dad.” He rubbed the back of his neck and I could tell that our conversation pained him.

“What do you miss the most about her?” I asked, “For me, it’s the way my dad would explain things. He was a great philosopher that one, always thinking. Always encouraging me to think, to look below the surface, to lift the stones and people’s hearts and to look at what was underneath. ‘Never take what you see at face value Evy, always look underneath. It’ll keep you safe and you might be surprised at what you find’ he’d always tell me.” I looked at Dray and he looked at me.

“My mom always knew how to get me to talk about it.” he said. “She saw though all the layers and all the bullshit and knew just what to say to pry whatever was bothering a person free. She’d always listen and then she’d find a way to help you fix it. Or some piece of wisdom would come out of her mouth like it was as effortless as breathing.” He swallowed and coughed like he was choking up and handed the photo of me and my da’ back to me. I leaned way across the bed and set it up on the bedside table he’d declared mine.

I returned to his side where he sat, shoulders hunched and I put my arms around him. I didn’t know what to say, so I just held him and said the only thing I could.

“I love you Draven.” He turned his head, dark eye flashing when they captured mine.

“Love you too Babe.” He said and we held each other close for a time before resuming integrating each other into one another’s lives.

Dray…

“Fuck me!” I exclaimed. Everett blinked her pretty blue eyes in mild surprise herself. I tried turning Sadie over one more time.

Click!

Nothing.

“Battery?” she asked.

“Or starter. At least its dry today, come on. We’re going for a ride.” I got out of the car and she followed suit.

“I can tell you are just
so
broken up over that!” She grinned at me but her smile faded when I didn’t quite return it. I didn’t know what my problem was today but I had this, just,
nagging
bad feeling about it.

I wanted to lock Em in the house, pull the blinds;
keep her safe
. It was crazy and didn’t make a damn bit of sense.

“Dray what’s wrong?” she asked. I didn’t want to sound crazy so I grimaced inwardly and lied.

“Nothin’ Babe. Car’s just pissin’ me off.” I smiled and she looked at me with those steely baby blues as if she were trying to decide if I was lying.
Let it slide, let it slide, let it slide…
I chanted in my head and finally her shoulders relaxed as I slid up the garage door. She bought it but grudgingly so.

“Okay.” She said and put on her helmet and glasses. She slid the straps of the backpack over her shoulders and shut the garage door behind me as I rolled Matilda out. It was dark and colder and the ride was going to be a biting one. I fired up my bike and Em got on behind me.

“You good!?” I called over the growling thrum of the engine.

“Yeah!” she called back. She settled her thighs around my hips and her arms around my chest and gave me a squeeze with her whole body. I smiled. I couldn’t help it when she did things like that. I moved us out of the driveway and onto the street and took my girl to work.

It had been a couple of weeks since the night ride and Em and I had settled into a routine. Life with her in it was amazing. To have someone to hold at night, to wake up with her tight against my back, her arms around me. To come home on the days I had to go back into the shop and find dinner bein’ set on the table. To have someone love me, care for me, worry about me, support me… Fuck, man, it was an amazing ride.

I pulled right up to the shack and frowned when I caught sight of the blonde bitch she worked with. Em had told me how the broad had been cheating her out of tips. Had even gone so far as to whine to their boss that Everett was cheating the tip jar to throw suspicion off herself. Em got off the bike and pulled off her helmet. She’d keep hold of it and the glasses for when I picked her up. Didn’t have to worry about leaving them out on the bike. She gave me a quick kiss goodbye and I pulled her into it, making it last, letting it linger a touch longer.

“I love you.” She said against my mouth. I smiled. We didn’t say it often enough and I never got tired of hearing it.

“I love you too Babe.” I said and let her go. She smiled and disappeared into the brightly lit interior of the little drive up coffee spot. I rode to work at the shop, my feelings of unease growing the more pavement that passed beneath me. Finally I pulled up in front of one of the bay doors. I shut off the bike and got off, taking my keys. I unlocked the padlock holding the bay door down and lifted. The thing went up about half a foot and jammed tight.

“Fuck!” I screamed into the silent dark. I fiddled and wrenched on the damn thing until I stood in front of it breathless and defeated. Something bright captured my attention from the edge of my vision. I looked over and the bright light cut across my eyes again.

I watched the crucifix from my mother’s rosary swing and sway from my handlebar. I stared at it as the cross spun on its length of beaded chain. It twisted slowly, the blue white light of the shop’s flood light illuminating the parking lot caught it just right and the silver metal blazed. I put up a hand and frowned. The street was suddenly eerily silent. So still, so quiet you could hear anything and everything. I felt something. Deep down inside, somewhere out in the dark, in me around me and the cross flashed silver at me once more.

“Mom?” I asked softly… I knew it was crazy but…

That sense, that crushing unease I’d been feeling since I woke up, swamped me full force. Hit me square in the chest and squeezed the breath from my lungs.

Everett.

I didn’t know what the fuck it was but I wasn’t about to argue with it anymore. I threw a leg over Matilda and put my helmet on. I barely had it fastened and I was firing her up. She roared to life and I swear to Christ I heard my mom’s voice, whether it came from inside or outside my head I couldn’t tell you but it said one word and it was all I needed to know I was making the right decision.

“Go.”

And I went.

Like a bat out of hell, I rode. Back the way I came, back to Everett because something damn sure wasn’t right…