Riveted: Drawn Series Book 1 (15 page)

“I don’t see why not. I had heard your Dad was, like, a
motorcycle repair guru. Have him come by once he gets all settled in,” he
replied. He was on his toes now, hopping from one foot to the other, super
excited it seemed, to be working with my Dad.

“Thanks Skeeter,” I said softly. He smiled and walked out
of the back room and the shop. Chloe gave me a small smile and a wave and then
went over to her room and shut the door behind her.

“Okay, well I am going to take off,” I said to Jack. He
came and kissed me softly and walked me out.

“Drive safe baby. I will see you later right?” he asked
as he leaned against my truck.

“Probably not until later because I have that dinner with
my Dad and all.”

“Okay, if you want to come in after that is all done with,
I can do some more work on your tattoo.”

“I will let you know.” Climbing in my truck, I waved to
him as I pulled out. I drove down the street, cranked the radio and made my way
to the prison.

My massively tall father sat next to me in my truck, unusually
quiet. This was not normal for him. At all.

“Dad?”

“What?” He jumped a bit. His large, tattooed hands were
folded in his lap and he looked like he was on his way to a firing squad. His
left leg was bouncing up and down. I put my hand on his knee and he stilled.

“What in the hell is wrong with you?” I asked.

“I am nervous.” He cocked an eyebrow at me as if he was
daring me to make fun of him. I was so tempted.

“You??!!” He was a huge bear of a man, but he kept running
his tattooed hands in his hair.

“It has been over 10 years Bleu. It feels good being out,
but it’s been awhile. So much has changed,” he said softly.

“I know Dad. But I am so glad to have you out,” I
replied, putting my hand over his. He smiled up at me and touched my cheek with
his hand.

“You are such a good girl,” he said softly, which made me
feel all warm and happy inside. I was far from a good girl, but it felt good to
hear my Dad say it. My heart throbbed happily. My Dad was home.

We pulled up to the restaurant which was a biker bar/BBQ
restaurant. Their ribs were amazing and I knew Dad would feel at home here. He
smiled as we stepped in and we grabbed a table. Loud music was playing and a
couple of grizzly bikers nodded to my Dad as we walked to our table.

“So what is the plan?” he asked. The waiter came by and
took our drink order and Dad was twisting the wrapper to a straw around his
fingers. He drummed his fingers on the table top in time with the music. Far
off, I heard the subtle, muted click of pool balls.

“Plan?” I asked. I pretended to look innocent.

“Bleu?” he said, cocking his eyebrow at me. He knew me so
well. I sighed.

“Ok. You are going to stay at your sister’s house. She is
driving Uncle Tangler crazy and I thought it would help him out to have you
there. Plus it’s free until you can save up some cash. I also have a possible
job for you at Axels’ shop. That’s if you want it. They need a mechanic and I
cannot think of anyone who could do the job better than you,” I said with a
smile.

“Well thank you Bleu. I just want to get settled in first
and we will see how this all plays out,” he said slowly. He went back to
fiddling with his straw wrapper.

“Okay Dad. Understood.”

“What’s good to eat here?” he asked with a wicked grin
that was so much like Axel's.I suddenly missed my brother so much. We opened
our menus.

Later in the car, we made small talk
on the way to Aunt Almeida’s house.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked me, his leg
bouncing up and down again.

“Well after I drop you off, I am going over to the shop.
Jack said he wanted to do some work on my tattoo,” I replied.

“Tattoo?” he asked, turning to look at me.

“Yeah. Jack is doing a rib piece. You can come and hang
out if you want,” I offered. He shrugged. He opened his door.

“I will let you know honey. I think I just need some
time, you know?” he replied. Nodding, I smiled and watched him walk up the
walkway to my Aunt's house. She threw open the door and flung herself at him,
screeching. Uncle Tangler stood off to the side, rubbing his head and then he
and Dad hugged too. Tears were in my eyes as I pulled away, waving to my wacky
family.

Sitting on the couch, I was eating a Cup o’ Noodles while
channel surfing. Chloe was plugged into her laptop next to me and Jack was
still at the shop. I jumped and nearly spilled food all over me as there was a
knock on the door. Chloe looked at me, smirked and jumped up.

“Stay there, I will get it. You seem to have more than
you can handle going on over there,” she called over her shoulder. Placing the
soup on the coffee table, I checked to see if I had spilled anything on the
couch. No, but my t shirt was soaked.

“Someone is here for you.” She called over her shoulder.
I looked up as Chloe walked around the corner into the living room with my dad
following close behind. She wiggled her eyebrows and mouthed the word hot. I
frowned at her antics.Eww he was my Dad. I got up and gave my dad a hug. He
squeezed me tight and shot me one of his killer smiles.

“What’s up Dad?” I asked. He sat down. Chloe went into
the kitchen behind us and grabbed some coffee. I think the only reason she did
that was so she could ogle my dad.

“Thought I would go with you tonight, that way I could
talk to that guy about the job,” he said. He looked like he had just gotten a
shower. He was wearing clean dark wash jeans, black combat boots and a black
short sleeved button down shirt.

“That’s not a problem. Chloe is coming with us too,” I
replied, jerking my head in her direction. He looked up and smiled at her. She
blushed, at first, and smiled back. Her hand went to her hair and I rolled my
eyes. Really?

“Do you work there too?” he asked her. She nodded, and
then took a sip of her coffee.

“Yep. I don’t work on bikes or ink though. I am strictly a
piercer,” she replied.

“Really? Get much business?” he asked. She beamed. She
loved talking about her job.

“You have no idea. I am overbooked some days. Not a lot
of the other shops have a piercer who is there all day. My schedule makes it
kind of convenient for them, you know?” she replied. He smiled.

“Do you have any piercings…Mr. Bleu’s dad?” she asked. He
chuckled.

“My name is Aaron, and yeah,” he said. She smiled
mischievously. What in the hell was she doing flirting with my dad?

“Nice, well if you ever want more, come find me,” she
replied, giving him a sassy grin.

“Easy girl,” I warned. Dad just laughed. Chloe rinsed off
her coffee cup that she was using and held out her hand for my fork which she
tossed in the sink. Padding into my room, I grabbed my purse. Chloe and my Dad
were talking when I walked back in and they stood up and we all walked out.

“I am telling you, something is up,” I whispered to Jack
as he snapped on his gloves and got ready to do work on my tattoo. He shook his
head.

“Woman you are talking crazy. They were talking for like
what? Three minutes? Plus, your Dad got out of jail today. I know he is
probably hard up, but I don’t think he is going to throw some pipe to your best
friend,” he said with a laugh.

“She told him she wanted to pierce him!” I whispered
back. He pushed me back on the table and smiled.

“What??!!” I whispered.

“Baby, you are comically loyal to your family. You are
worried about your father, a grown man. A man who was in prison for over ten years
mind you. What could go wrong Bleu?”

“What do you mean “comically loyal”?” I responded,
wincing as he started to detail my tattoo.

“You are considering hiring a detective to track down
your brother, which I do not have a problem with. You have fiercely stood by
your father, even when everyone said he was guilty. You are a good sister and
daughter Bleu. And besides, your Dad is allowed to talk to other women,” he
said, continuing to work. I scowled. He turned, with a mischievous look in his
eyes.

"Just think about it baby, ten years.
Ten years.
No pussy," he remarked.

"I could have gone all my life without that little
tidbit, thank you. And who says throwing pipe to someone? Where the hell did
you hear that?" I remarked, a tad bit snarky. He chuckled. He was right,
but it was weird. 

“Tomorrow I go to talk to that investigator about Axel. I
just want to make sure he is okay. I mean even if he tells me to go to Hell, I
just want to know he is okay,” I said after a while.  He nodded. Because I
was turned onto my side, I did not hear my Dad come in.

“Well I got the job. I start next week,” Dad said. I
looked up at him and grinned.

“Congrats Aaron,” replied Jack. Dad nodded.

“Whatcha got going on here?” asked Dad. He pointed to my
hip.

“Something he drew up Dad,” I replied. Dad studied the
wingspan that Jack was working on. His cellphone buzzed and he frowned as he
read the display. I bit my lip to stop myself from asking him who it was.

“Nice detail. Hey I am going to go smoke a cigarette,
I’ll be back in a few,” Dad said. Jack nodded.

“See you Dad,” I replied.

"Man of few words,” remarked Jack.

“He is up to something,” I replied. Jack snorted and went
back to work.

“I was waiting for you to ask him who it was on the
phone,” he said. I groaned.

“You caught that?” I asked.

“Yeah baby, I did,” he replied.

“You have no idea how much self control that took,” I
replied. He laughed loud at that one.

A few hours later, Jack finished up what he was working on
and wiped down the excess blood and ink. He smeared me up with some goo and
patted me on my butt. Slowly sitting up, I leaned in for a kiss.

“Let me clean up and we can go alright?” he said.
Nodding, I slid my feet into my flip flops. Shuffling out of Jack’s station, I
wandered over to Chloe’s door and saw her sign was on the door knob saying she
was busy with a client. Walking away, I took a seat on the back room couch and
closed my eyes. Bed sounded really good right now. Mmm, bed with Jack.

Lying in bed with Jack that night did not work out so
well. I lay there, staring up at the ceiling as he slept next to me. I could
not get my stupid brother out of my head. There HAD to be some clue as to what
the ass hat had been doing. I crept out of the bedroom, snatching up my flip
flops from the floor by the door. Tip toeing, I snatched up my car keys and
walked out of the apartment.

Axel’s house was dark and quiet. I did not know what I
was expecting. I walked over to the front porch and prayed silently that my
brother had a Hide a Key somewhere hanging around.  I spied a beat up
looking flowerpot filled to the brim with cigarette butts. I tipped it over a
bit, careful not to knock all the cigarette butts out, and voila, there was the
key. I did a little happy dance and snatched up the key. Looking over my
shoulder, I slid the key into the door lock and pushed open the door.

The house was quiet with the exception of the hum of the
fridge in the kitchen. I padded over to the dining room table and looked
through a bunch of receipts. Nothing.

“What are you doing?” said a deep voice. The receipts
that were in my hand went flying into the air and I threw my keys in the
direction of the voice.

“Fuck. Ouch,” said Jack, stepping closer to me, rubbing
his forehead. He frowned and shook his head.

“I am so sorry. I did not know it was you. It’s a good
thing it is you, seeing as how I just threw my only weapon at you,” I
stammered.

“Your only weapon was your car keys?”

“Well yeah. I heard someone say that you could use them
as a weapon if you are ever attacked. You can gouge someone’s eye with them or
stab them in the jugular,” I replied.

“But you threw them at me,” he said. I looked down at my
sneakers.

“I got nothing,” I replied. He grinned. I gave him a hug.

“Again, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Looking for evidence,” I replied. He smirked.

“Evidence of what? I should have known when you DVR a
shit ton of CSI, that you were up to something,” he remarked.

“No. I just really like that show,” I said with all the
innocence that I could muster up.

“Uh huh. Evidence? You were saying something about
evidence?” he said.

“Oh yeah, that. I am thinking there has GOT to be
something in this house that can point us to a clue of where he is,” I replied.
He rubbed his hand over his head.

“Lead the way Scooby Doo,” he muttered.

     After looking through all of the
downstairs, I found nothing. Not a single scrap of paper or a phone number,
nothing. So I dragged my happy ass upstairs, Jack smacking it the whole way up.
I went straight to Axel’s room. His king sized, four poster bed was neatly
made. His deep mahogany dresser was clean and organized, well the top was. I
went to open a drawer.

“Bleu,” he muttered, shaking his head. I raised an
eyebrow.

“What?” I hissed.

“What if you find something in there?” he asked.

“That is what I am planning on,” I replied.

“I mean…
something,”
he responded.

“Like what pray tell?” I asked, crossing my arms over my
chest, leaning up against the dresser.

“I don’t know. Something weird,” he muttered.

“Like what? A cock ring?” I asked. His eyes widened.

“How in the hell do you know what a cock ring is?” he
asked. I laughed.

“CSI is not the only thing that I DVR-ed.”

“Oh really now?” he asked, coming to me and putting his
hands on my hips. I shook my head.

“As smoking hot as you are, I don’t really want to get
down with you in my brother’s bedroom. Especially because you are so concerned
about what we are going to find in his drawers,” I remarked. He kissed me and
stood back.  I turned to the dresser and opened the drawers. Nothing but
clothes, socks, the usual stuff. Third drawer had lube in it, no biggie. He was
a man whore after all, and one bottle of lube did not mean anything. The fifth
drawer however.

“Holy mother of Troy,” I muttered. Jack came over to
where I was and looked over my shoulder.

“What the fuck???” he muttered. The drawer was FULL of
sex toys. Dildos, a strap on or two and a handful of rainbow vibrators of
various sizes. It was like an adult film star had taken over the drawer.

“Why does your brother have that?”He pointed to the
drawer.

“Well I don’t know. But you were worried about a cock
ring,” I responded.

“This
by far
surpasses a cock ring,” he replied. I
mean really, I may have been a virgin before Jack, but it does not mean that I
was not double clicking my mouse to online porn and I was WELL acquainted with
different adult toy stores. This did not surprise me.

“Sadly, I am not surprised by this. I mean with all the
ass he gets, he needs to have a back up arsenal,” I said bitterly.

“Shut the drawer Bleu or for all that is holy I will
never ever be able to look your brother in the eye!’ he growled. I slammed the
drawer and hesitantly opened the last drawer. And that was full of videos and a
silver framed picture. The videos were all labeled with the name Anna or Ann.
Hmm. Toward the back was a picture. I flipped it over. Jack looked over my
shoulder.

“Who’s the girl?” he asked. I looked down at the picture.
It was of my brother, and nestled in his lap, in his arms, was a very pretty
redhead with pale skin and the biggest, most beautiful green eyes I had ever
seen. She smiled shyly and he just looked at her, I mean really looked at her.

“He loves her,” I muttered. Jack put his hand on my
shoulder. He took the picture from my hand and placed it back in the drawer. I
walked over to the bed, and sat down. I felt deflated.

“You alright?” he asked. I shook my head and the tears
just came. I buried my face in his chest and cried so hard, my heart hurt. He
did not ask me to explain why I was crying, he just knew. I just wanted my
brother back. I just wanted to know what had happened to make him leave, and
not tell me why he was gone. I wanted my family back. All of them.