Whisky State of Mind (2 page)

“It’s Sky,” she muttered irritably.

His expression didn’t alter but his words held a note of amusement. “I prefer Whisky.”

“I don’t give a damn what you prefer. What are you doing here?” she snapped, ignoring the bemused look Marcy was sending her.

“I came to see you. Can’t an old friend do that?”

“Why now?”

“Nice to see you too,
Sky
,” he emphasized dryly.

“What are you really doing here, Sawyer?” Inwardly she quaked at saying his name aloud. God, how many years had it been since she’d seen him and he still had this power to both frustrate her and make her go weak at the knees.
Damn him. Damn them all!

“He wants to see you,” Sawyer finally said quietly.

Sky gave a low, angry groan and turned to walk away. She only managed two steps before he was up out of his seat and had one large hand wrapped around her upper arm.

“Wait. Just hear me out,” he said in a low tone that sent a sliver of excitement through her despite the anger that his words had begun to stir up inside. “He’s changed. The club
’s changed. Things are different now.”

“They sure are. I’ve grown up and I have my own life. A life without needing anyone like him in it. Go away Sawyer—I have work to do.”

Sawyer stared at her, his face transforming back into that hard, cold mask and his gaze as brittle as ice chips. “Man, that’s brutal. What the hell happened to you, Whisk?”

“Stop calling me that! It’s Sky, got it? And what
happened
to me?” she almost shrieked in disbelief, “Are you serious? He sent me away.
Remember?
Walked away without a backward glance.”

“You were a kid and he was going to prison…he did what he had to do to protect you.”

“He never came back. I think that pretty much summed up the extent of his care factor,” she growled. She refused to give in to the flash of pain that surfaced as she recalled the letters she’d written pleading for her father to come and get her from her grandparents. They all went unanswered. For a whole year she’d waited, hoped and held out for the day her father would come riding up on his Harley to take her away…take her back home.

But that day never came. Eventually she
realized she had to make the most of what she had—and she did love her grandparents, even though they were controlling and over protective…she was grateful to have the chance to get to know who her mother had been, but it came at a cost. Her grandparents had never forgiven their daughter for running off with a lowlife biker and getting pregnant.

They had a right to be upset—her mother, Clarissa, had been a train wreck waiting to happen from all accounts, although she barely remembered her. She’d overdosed when Sky had been three. All she remembered was a pretty lady who’d laughed and always seemed to be happy…but had the saddest eyes she’d ever seen.

Her father had brought her up…her father and his family of bikers. She’d been the luckiest kid alive to be the center of attention of too many aunties and uncles to mention. She never lacked attention or love—there was always someone there to look out for her, to play with her, teach her, cuddle and spoil her. She had the perfect childhood…until her father went to prison and sent her away.

“You used to be so smart…what the hell happened? Open your eyes Whisk, he was giving you a shot at a decent life. You think it was easy for him to leave you there?”

“I wouldn’t know, would I? I never saw him again!” she snarled, and shook off his hold. “Just leave, Sawyer. You’ll get me in trouble with my boss.”

“So that’s it?” he asked incredulously.

“What the hell did he expect? You must both be delusional if you think coming here to summon me home was ever going to end well.”

He stared at her and shook his head slowly. Sky refused to drop her gaze or let his disappointment fill her with guilt. She had nothing to feel guilty about. How dare he just come marching in here, out of the blue, and think she was going to drop everything and return to the home she’d been kicked out of ten years ago?

“I expected better of you. This isn’t the end of it.”

Sky watched him walk from the diner, frowning at his parting words. They were a threat and one that she knew he would make sure was carried out.

Chapte
r
2

Sawyer pushed open the door, reining in his temper—what he wanted to do was drive his fist into the doorframe, but that would just confirm everything this new
Sky
version of Whisky thought of him.
Goddamn it.

He’d been watching her since yesterday. He told himself it was just to make sure he got the feel for her routine and to
figure out his plan of attack, but if he were being completely honest with himself, he’d waited until this morning to approach her because he’d been unsure of the reception he’d get. Damned if his instincts hadn’t been dead on target.

Outwardly, she still looked like the same Whisky McKenna he’d grown up with. She dressed a little different, but then again she’d been eleven when she’d last seen him. She was twenty-one now. A woman. He shook his head to clear it. He needed to concentrate
, not get side-tracked by the body he knew was under that apron.

She’d been wrong when she’d assumed Johnny McKenna had given up on her. Her father had been keeping tabs on her ever since she left the club. He’d been watching from afar at every major event in her life over the last ten years. He was at her
high school graduation, saw her go off to the prom, and swelled with pride when she’d been accepted into college. 

Sawyer had watched Johnny beam with pride over her achievements as he showed off report cards and photos of a young girl transforming into a young woman, but beneath the pride was a deep sadness.

Lately it had fallen onto Sawyer’s shoulders to do the surveillance and he’d struggled to remain in the background. It was hard when he wanted to reach out to her so badly. She was younger than him by four years, and as kids he’d been more like her big brother. He remembered the day she’d been sent away though; it was the only time he’d ever seen her father cry.

Straddling his big bike, he kicked the stand up and planted his two booted feet
on either side to balance while he lowered his sunglasses and looked back over at the diner, silently contemplating the conversation he’d just had.  He’d be back alright…there was no way he was going to stand by and watch this woman break her father’s heart. Not if he could help it.

****

“Oh, hell no,” Marcy said, following her out the back where Sky had headed to take a minute to calm her jittery nerves. “You don’t get to walk away without an explanation after that,” she said placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Sky pointedly. “
Whisky?
Your name’s Whisky?”

“Yeah. Blame it on my father’s deluded Scottish heritage.”
And the fact her parents were either stoned or drunk at the time they’d decided on her name,
she added mentally.

“Who was that guy? And why on God’s green earth would you turn that fine specimen away?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“I may have misjudged you, girl,” she said giving Sky a considering glance.

“Excuse me. It may have escaped your attention but we have customers out there waiting to be served,” Sparkles came to the doorway and hissed at them. “Both of you—get out here now.”

“I’ll find out what you’re hiding one way or the other,” Marcy said with a smug smile before she turned away.

Great,
Sky groaned,
just what she needed, someone else meddling in her life.

That night Sky did something she hadn’t done in a very long time. She pulled down the box that sat on the top of her wardrobe and carried it to her bed.

When she’d first moved into her grandparent’s house, she’d spend most nights pouring over these photos, sobbing and homesick, missing her father and the only life she’d known for the first eleven years of her life. Eventually when her attempts to contact her dad had failed, she’d stopped looking through the album and put it away, out of sight. There was so much pain trapped in this box of memories…and yet, it was the only connection she had to her childhood and the memories of her family. She hadn’t looked inside it for a long time. It sat on top of her wardrobe, a silent, constant reminder of a past she’d left behind and yet, she couldn’t make herself throw it away. So there it had sat…watching, waiting…holding safe her precious memories.

Carefully she removed the lid and hesitated briefly before withdrawing the photo album from inside.

She ran her fingers over the photos and smiled sadly as she looked at a photo of her mother and father. They were sitting on a bike, her mother’s arms around her father, her dad grinning at the camera.
She must have been happy, once
? Sky thought as she looked at the photo and saw the love shining in her mother’s eyes.

It hadn’t been until she’d grown older that Sky’s sadness had turned to anger. Why had her mother chosen drugs over her?
Why hadn’t she been stronger? Why had she just…given up? There were no answers and there was nothing really to gain from asking the same old questions. It was just a sad fact of life; sometimes, the people you counted on most, let you down.

Sky jumped when her phone blasted out the lyrics to
“Barbie Girl” and smiled. It was almost like Bella was still here, their daily phone calls broke the dreary monotony of her work day and she got to bitch about her stupid boss to someone who at least pretended to be sympathetic. She could always count on Bella to make her feel better.

“
              Bonjour,” Bella said with a thick French accent.

“Hey
, you’re getting pretty good at that French thing.”

“
Merci,
I now know two words…oh, and a whole bunch of swearing, if you ever want to cuss someone out in style. So, how was your day?” Bella asked.

“Eventful, actually,” Sky answered slowly. She wasn’t too sure she wanted to relive Sawyer
’s visit, but it had led her down this little memory lane trip and Bella more than anyone else would appreciate the significance.

“Oh
. My. God…You spoke to Mr. Mysterious?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sky scoffed. “I didn’t even get to see him this morning,” she said
, unable to mask the sulk that had entered her voice. So much had happened, she’d almost forgotten she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her reason for getting out of bed each day.

“Well then, what? I need something juicy since I’ve had a full day of meetings and my brain’s about to explode.”

“I had a visit from…” she started then cleared her throat and started again, “one of my father’s friends came into work to see me.”

“A
biker
came into Sparkles’ diner? Oh my God…did he like, freak the fuck completely out?” The glee this thought seemed to bring her friend was somewhat daunting. Clearly, Bella was in some serious social deprivation if this was something highly amusing for her.

“He was not amused,”
to say the least,
she added silently.

“I can imagine. Dude, I would have paid good money to see the look on that pompous assed face, to see a biker walk through his precious diner’s front door,” she chuckled. “So, what happened? Was it scary?”

“Scary? No. I was surprised. I hadn’t seen Sawyer since I was a kid.”

“Sawyer? Doesn’t sound like a biker name…hang on…wasn’t Sawyer that guy you used to talk about…wasn’t he like, your hero or something?”

Sky didn’t like the suspicious edge creeping into her friend’s tone. A nosy Bella was not something she felt like dealing with right now. “Yeah, he used to be. Anyway, the point is, he came into work and told me my dad wanted to see me. Just like that, I’m expected to drop everything and run off to see him just because he decides it’s time I did? Umm, hello? Where have you been for the last ten years of my life?”

“Is he hot?”

“What?” Sky frowned at the phone in confusion.

“This Sawyer guy. Is he one of those hot lookin’ bikers?”

“I think you’re missing the point here, Bella.”

“He is, isn’t he
?”

Sky clenched her teeth before taking a calming breath. “Bella, this is your best friend going through a mini crisis. Can you please focus for a second
?”

“Oh. Right. Okay, so your dad wants to see you. That’s good though isn’t it? I mean, maybe it’s time to deal with all
this…now that you’re older. Maybe that’s what he’s been waiting for?”

“
Maybe
I don’t want to deal with it.
Maybe
I’m happy without him in my life.”

“Maybe,” her friend mimicked, “but are you?
Really?”

Damn Bella and her uncanny way of knowing her deep down like no one else did. That’s what you get for being blood sisters. When they were eleven, they’d watched a movie where two best friends cut their palms and shook hands to seal their friendship pact. Bella and Sky thought this was an awesome idea, until they actually went to try it and neither of them could make that long cut across their palms…they settled instead for a pinprick on the end of a finger and shook pinkies instead. Looking back, it was probably a good idea they weren’t overly aware of
AIDS or hepatitis back then. Kinda’ took the shine off. “I’ve survived this long without him.”