12. Twelve
Twelve
Vic
“ W hat the fuck is going on in here?” My voice erupts in a yell as I witness Rosie with her shirt pulled up and Samuel leaning over her while she lies on the piercing table.
“Nothing. Get out!” Rosie yells at me while Samuel looks like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Like hell.” I’m standing over Samuel before he has a chance to get out of my way.
“She was on the books, Vic,” Samuel says with his black-gloved hands up in surrender.
“Who put her on the books?”
“Guilty.” I look back and see Ax. “My debt is paid.”
“Yep. Good doing business with ya,” Rosie says with a smile.
“Get off the table.”
“I plan to in about five minutes. Right, Sam?” Rosie says as she looks over at him. When did she decide it was okay to abbreviate his name?
“Ah, right. ”
“No, get up.”
“Vic, please.” I look at Rosie with those big, pleading eyes, and her plump bottom lip jutted out. I like this look on her.
“Fine.” Why the fuck should I care what she does with her body? “Watch where the fuck your hands go, Samuel.”
“Chill, Vic, you already told me. I gotta touch her to pierce her, though.”
“Well, get it done quick,” I say before I look back at her.
She looks like a platter of dessert on this table for me to devour. I know that’s not where my head should be. But here I am, standing over her head and breathing down Samuel’s neck because I feel territorial of her.
As she moves her arms above her head to give Samuel easier access, the top of her breasts peeks out of her v-neck top. I quickly pull the collar of her white shirt up while pulling the bottom of her shirt down a little farther. It doesn’t help that her bra has some kind of pattern on it that can be seen through the white shirt if you look hard enough.
As I gaze over at Samuel, his smirk sends a wave of annoyance through me. I’ve already caught that little fucker looking at her a few times in the past, and it makes my skin crawl with the need for violence.
“Relax, Vic. What if he messes up?” Rosie says.
“I won’t mess up, beautiful,” Samuel tells her before looking at me with the same smirk.
If I didn’t love him like a brother, I’d kill him.
I reach out and grasp her hand tightly as the needle pricks her skin, causing her to wince. The realization of my lack of control hits me as soon as our skin makes contact. I shouldn’t be touching her .
“All done,” Samuel says as he helps her up.
“Ah, Vic.” I look over at her as she tries to pull her hand from mine.
“Sorry.” I let her hand go, feeling a little embarrassed.
She runs to the mirror and looks at her new piercing with a big smile.
She skips back and hugs Samuel, much to my displeasure. “Thank you. I love it.”
When she pulls away, he’s all smiles and red cheeks. I level him with a glare, and he turns around, making himself busy.
Rosie grabs her bag off the counter and looks over at me with a smile. “Put it on my tab. I’m heading to Sweet Escape to get everyone food real quick.”
“You don’t have a tab. You won’t be getting anything else done.”
“We’ll see,” she says in a singsong tone.
I watch her as she skips out the door, smiling brightly before stopping abruptly to retrieve something hidden in her bag.
I step closer to the window and see a crinkled piece of paper in her hand that she’s attempting to smooth out. I step out of the door and look over her shoulder without her even realizing I’m behind her. She has a pen in her hand and is crossing something off.
“What’s that?” I whisper in her ear. Rosie’s hands go flying since I caught her off guard.
“Nothing.”
I rip the paper from her hands before she has a chance to stop me.
“Hey!”
My eyes scan the paper, and I raise my brow. “A list? ”
“Nothing gets past you,” she says with an eye roll she loves to give me as she tries to rip the paper from my grasp.
“Why do you have these silly things on a piece of paper?”
Her eyes flicker with something close to pain, and I feel like an ass. If she took the time to write it down, it isn’t silly to her. I should know this better than anyone, considering our history of correspondence.
“Just give it back.”
“Tell me, and I will.”
“Those are just things I want to do while I’m free.”
“You mean you haven’t done any of these things?” I look back at the paper with a frown.
“No. Now give it back.”
“What about this last one?” I gaze back at her with a devious smirk.
Her cheeks flush a delightful shade of rosy red, betraying her embarrassment. I reluctantly hand the paper to her, feeling a slight tug as she rips it out of my fingers before folding it and tucking it away in her bag.
“I was thinking. Maybe you can draw for a client coming in tomorrow?”
A radiant smile spreads across her face. “Really?”
“Yeah, I don’t have time.” A lie. I have plenty of time, but I want to give her this. Despite my frustration that day—between the client and I not meshing artistically and then my constant ache for someone I can’t have—witnessing her artistic skills while drawing for that client filled me with a mix of pride and awe. She had a deeper understanding of the client’s wants and needs than I did. She has talent, and it would be a shame to see it wasted, especially while she’s just sitting in my shop .
“Okay. Be back soon,” she says before walking away. “Oh, and Vic?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.” She looks at me with a sweet smile that nearly brings me to my knees.
I’ve had disgusted Rosie when we first met, irritated Rosie over those next couple of days, bratty Rosie most of the time, sensual Rosie the night we became more, and now this. Thankful Rosie. This is one of my favorites and almost rivals sensual Rosie. Almost.
I’d love to see her look at me this way more often.
And I plan to.
I incline my head but say nothing. Then, I watch her until she safely steps into Sweet Escape.
I’ve kept an eye on her every move since the intruder. Who we still haven’t been able to identify. I haven’t wanted to tell her, though, fearing it would scare her, or worse, she’d tell her brother and he’d take her away. So, I’ve silently stuck by her side like a creepy fucking shadow.
“Well, you two look nice and cozy,” Ax says from his station as I walk in the door.
“No clue what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve never been overbearing and protective of any woman. You’ve been jealous and moody as fuck since she’s been here. Haven’t seen you with anyone else since the bar.”
“I’m watching her for Gage.”
“Try again. I’ve known you for too long. What gives?”
I put my head in my hands and massage my temples. “I fucked up.”
“Juicy,” he says as he smirks. “How? ”
“You remember a long time ago when I told you about a girl I was writing letters to in prison?”
When he connects the dots, his eyes go wide. “No fucking way.”
“Yes.”
“Does she know?”
I say nothing.
“What about Gage?”
I shake my head.
“He’s going to filet your ass.” He laughs.
“I know.”
“Are you planning on telling her?”
“I don’t think I can now.”
“Why?”
“Because I fucked up.”
“There’s more?”
“Yeah,” I sigh.
“You fucked her.”
I shake my head. “Not exactly.”
“So you do have a problem, like Rosie said in the pool.”
“What? No.”
“I bet I can score you some blue pills.”
I massage my temples as a headache forms. “Why am I even discussing this with you?”
“Because I’m your best friend and your servant for the rest of my life.”
“You need to quit with that shit. You would have done the same for me,” I say as I walk back to my station as quickly as I can.
It’s unsettling to see that intense, upset expression in Ax’s eyes. The weight of his self-blame has taken its toll on him these past few years, leaving him in a downward spiral. He found solace in partying to excess, numbing his pain with drugs and isolating himself from those who cared about him. The guys said it’s been better since I’ve been out, but he’s still not the same.
I guess neither of us are.
Fourteen Years Old
“Fucking go, Ax.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“Only one of us needs to get caught. You have your mom and brother to worry about.”
We’ve been arguing for minutes when time is more precious than ever.
“No, I’m not leaving. You go.”
“What about Jess? Her parents just died. If you go away, she’ll be all alone.”
That statement changes his demeanor instantly.
“But...”
“No buts. Get the fuck out of here,” I yell at him just as the sirens get closer. They sound like they’re outside.
The other brothers have been long gone. As new patches, our first run needed to go with no hitches. And I thought it did until we heard the sirens, and Julian confirmed so on his computer screen through traffic cams.
We’re fucked, and someone needs to take the fall .
There’s no time.
I slouch out of the kutte I’ve worked so hard to earn. This kutte holds hope, brotherhood, and family. Everything I’ve always wanted.
I hand it to Ax as if it’s a priceless heirloom. No way I’m letting these fuckers get their hands on it. He makes his way down the hole, where he’ll run through a tunnel for a mile or two, then get picked up.
“I’m sorry.”
“There is no sorry between brothers. Take care of everyone.”
“Vic.”
“Go, Ax,” I say as I lock the wooden trapdoor off to the far-right corner of the barn before placing hay bales over it to conceal the secret door. They’ll find it. But I want them to find it once Ax is already safe on the other side.
Someone is yelling into a microphone, but I can’t make out the words. It’s like white noise, and I’m having an out-of-body experience. Everything is going in slow motion, and silence cocoons me. I’m above all the chaos as they ram the door in just as I make my way toward the middle of the barn where crates of AR-15s and AK-47s, and bricks of blow sit.
Men in tactical black gear rush in. Red laser beams target my chest. My hands go up as they stalk toward me.
“Where is everyone else?” Someone shakes me and yells in my ear.
I keep my mouth shut and my eyes forward. I’ll never say a fucking word.
“All is clear, sir.”
“Fuck!” someone yells. “Rip this fucking place apart. Find them. ”
I smile, knowing Ax will be safe. It was a simple decision. He has people who love him.
I have no one, and I never will.