UnLove Me - The Angels Warriors MC Complete Trilogy Box Set (21 page)

Two months later

After telling Vinny what happened, he was livid, he kissed me quickly, then left, most likely to go after Mason. But I understood Mason’s rage; his wife took off. I get it. Vinny didn’t care. He came home later that night with busted up knuckles. I took one look at him and shook my head—men. Vinny calmed down a bit, even explained what happened at the clubhouse before he came home and saw the bruises.  He made love to me, so sweet and gentle, kissing the bruising around my neck.

I check the time on the clock that’s sitting on my dresser, and realize I might be running late for work today. Shit. I got a job at the local grocery store just for the extra cash since my mom only gets clients a few times a week. I work for her, working on the books and stuff, but I need more than that. My dad sent me money for this house I bought, but in order to keep up on the mortgage payments, I needed more cash. I’m about to run out the door when my land line goes off. 

“Hello?” I say, out of breath from rushing to the phone.

“Hey, bitch, Eden is in labour. She needs a c-section, though, so just wanted to call you up and let ya know,” Hilary tells me excitedly.

“Why the c-section?” I ask her, worried. Having twins is risky, and Eden is young.

“She opted for it. Apparently you can do that with twins. She also wants to get her tubes fuckin’ tied,” she says, sounding mad.

“Why the hell?”  I know twins are a lot to take on, but like I said, Eden’s young. That isn’t a decision to go into blindly. What if she wants more later on?

“Some bullshit about this is her one shot, so she’s going to live it up. No more kids or some such shit—I don’t know. She was able to find a doctor that would do it, but I convinced her to just get them clamped, so it’s reversible,” Hilary tells me, sounding relieved a bit.

“Well, that’s good. I wish she would just come home,” I say into the phone. I miss them both so much, and Eden’s going to need all the help she can get with the babies.

“Yeah, doubtful. Her anger at Jasper has blown up, big time. Not sure what the hell happened between them at the end. Seriously, this isn’t just a simple case of heartbreak. I’m telling you, shit is running deep.” I hear her name called in the background. “Lilly, babe, gotta go. Her spinal took, so I’m going in the room to be with her. I’ll call with an update later, send you some pictures,” she says before hanging up.

I realize I’m now even later for work, so I rush out, get into my car, and take off.

Rushing inside the store, I see my boss. “I’m so sorry I’m late,” I rush out.

Jackie smiles at me. “It’s okay, sweetie. Everyone’s late sometimes. You are on ‘til six today. Your cash drawer was already counted, so you just need to sign in,” she says, smiling at me.

The day drags on and on, and I swear I now understand why people buy extremely ugly but comfortable shoes. Clocking out and counting my cash drawer, I deposit my slips in the office and head home.

An hour later, Vinny comes strolling through my front door with bags of Chinese food.

“Oh my hero,” I say sweetly, grinning up at him.

He shakes his head at me. “Nut,” he grumbles playfully.

As we’re dishing out our food, my phone chimes with a message. I set my plate aside and reach for the phone. A huge smile takes over my face as I look at the pictures of Eden’s twins, Jessica and Ethan. I wish I was there. I wish I could hold them, help her out.

I can’t even talk to Vinny or show him these pictures. This is hard.

“What’s with the grin?” Vinny asks.

My smile falters- shit, how do I explain this? “It’s nothing, just Hilary letting me know she’s okay. She sent me a picture of some dude’s ass,” I say, hoping to deflect.

I quickly scroll my thumb over the screen, deleting the pictures from the message history. Thank God, because Vinny grabs my phone from my hand and scrolls up. “They are so damn cute,” he says, reading my message.

I roll my eyes. “Knock it off, Vinny.”

“Where are the messages after that, Lilly?” he says quietly.

“What’s your problem? Am I not allowed to check out other guys?” I throw at him.

“Yeah, as of now you are,” he says, putting my phone on the kitchen counter and storming out of the house.

I place my hands on the counter and lean in. “Damn it,” I say to myself.

He’ll come back. He always does—it’s our thing.

Two years later

Lounging on the main area sofa, beer in hand, I see Jasper come out of his room. It’s been exactly two months since he got off the drugs, but not the whores. At least it’s somewhat of a step in the right direction. 

And the strange part about that shit is that he and Monica got clean together. Those two, as weird as it seems, shared something, something huge, but because of the drugs, they lost it. So they decided to get clean together and remain close.

He’s even helping her out with schooling. For some reason Monica wants to surround herself with a shit load of kids. I always felt bad for any teacher I ever had; Mason and I used to terrorize them. Monica should have fun with that. I might need to install some cameras when she starts working. Be funny to see some little shit prank her a few times.

As Jasper grabs his beer, I notice Lacey, one of the club girls, come out of his room, smirking. I shake my head.

Jasper spots me on the couch and comes over, sitting closely beside me. Before he starts talking, I do. “What’s with that? Thought you and Monica were a thing now?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No, don’t feel that way about her, but when I feel like her, I go to her.”

“You sound as bad as your dad right now,” I say, smirking.

“Ah, fuck, I guess you’re right,” he says with a little laugh. “I guess Dad ain’t so bad after all.”

“Yeah, tell yourself that. Just don’t be like him in that way. Don’t get married or go steady with someone if you’re still gonna fuck around,” I tell him.

“Don’t worry about it. Trust me, I still have hope Eden will come back to me one day, hence why right now I wanna talk to you about something,” he says.

“What’s up?” I ask confused.

“Heard Big Willy talkin’. They have a handover coming up, down in Drayton Valley,” Jasper tells me. We’ve been talking on and off for the last month about how we hate this club, how he has tried to see if there was a way to bring the club down.

“I never heard of that one,” I say.

“We’re not in on it, and it’s going to stay that way.  I think we should plan a set up, have Big Willy and Pres go down.”

“You want to put your own father away?” I ask. He’s been talking for a long ass time about cleaning up the club, but it’s usually when he was high as fuck, so I always brushed it off. But over the last few months, he’s been talking more and more about it.

He nods. “This club wouldn’t run this way if it wasn’t for him. He’s also the one that drove my mom away. Needs to pay for that shit.” Gloria moved away a few years back after she learned of all the screwing around Vic was doing. It wasn’t a marriage she signed up for.

“What about Mason?” I ask hesitantly.

“He’s making the run with them. He’s in too deep with the big players. I already asked him to join our side, and he said no. He’s happy the way shit is. Ever since Hilary left him, he’s hard—harder than ever. He was my best friend since diapers, and now I don’t even know the guy. Goes by fuckin’ Reaper now.” He shakes his head in disgust.

“You ain’t no fuckin’ angel yourself, man. Just last night you were partying with the whores,” I point out, nodding my head in the direction Lacey just went.

Sighing, he says, “I know. Fuck, I know. Eden leaving without so much of a note is eating at me. I let it get to me last night.” He scrubs his face with his hands. “I feel so fuckin’ dirty.”

“You sound like a pussy, you know that? Monica’s the last person I would ever push on you, considering the bitch has always hated Eden, but since she started getting clean and since she got away from her cunt of a cousin, she’s different. You should go for it,” I tell him.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

Vinny and I are in the middle of another break up, this time because he caught me talking to Hilary on the phone. He said I shouldn’t interact with the enemy, and when I told him to kiss my fat ass, he stormed out. It’s been four days, and I still haven’t heard from him. I’m starting to lose hope that this relationship will ever last. Seems like every time I think we are headed in a good direction, we wind up making a left turn somewhere.

I finish packing up my suitcase and lug it out to my car. My flight leaves in two hours. As I’m shutting my trunk, I look down the street and see Vinny driving down. He pulls in the driveway just behind my car and shuts off his engine.

“Where you going?” he asks.

“I’m going to see Hilary,” I lie. What’s one more with all of the lies I’ve told to keep Eden’s secrets over the years. I’ve lost track at this point. I swear, some days I don’t even know the difference anymore. If Vinny ever finds out, he’ll hate me. There is nothing he hates more than a liar.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” he growls. He pulls out his smokes from his cut. For once, he actually has the same lighter he had when he walked away from me four days ago.

“Nope, sure didn’t, not since we’re broken up and all right now,” I shoot back at him. He hasn’t given a shit about me all week. He doesn’t get to start now.

His head drops down. “Will you be back?” he asks so quietly that I almost don’t hear. What’s his problem? He should know by now I’m not the one always taking off and leaving. He’s always the one getting pissed and leaving me hanging. I’m not Eden or Hilary. I wouldn’t just leave and never come back without an explanation.

“Yeah, I’ll be back in about a week,” I tell him quietly. I should be a bitch and tell him I’ll come back when I damn well feel like returning. As mad as I am at him, though, I love him and don’t want to hurt him. Even if he is being a dickhead.

His shoulders sag in relief, and he nods. “Good, that’s good. I guess it’ll give us some time. We’ll talk when you get back.”

“Yeah,” I say to him. He snuffs out his cigarette, and an awkward silence stretches between us. Both of us are too stubborn to make the first move; it’s like a Mexican standoff.

Not giving in, he turns his bike back on and leaves, doesn’t even kiss me goodbye- nothing. That hurts. I slide into my car and back out of the driveway.

My phone rings on my drive to the airport, and I put it on speaker. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lilly-pad, you still coming down?” Eden asks.

“Sure am! I can’t wait to see you. I miss you so much,” I tell her.

“Yeah, me too. It’ll be nice to see you again.”  We chat for a few more minutes about the kids. This trip to Eden is just the distraction I need to get my mind off Vinny and his stubborn stupid ass. I click my phone off and crank up the radio. There is a new Maroon 5 song playing. I love them. I belt the lyrics out, already feeling better to be leaving my problems behind, as I speed toward the airport.