Chapter 16 #4
“They’ll track them, you idiot!” Riley sniped back.
“That was a Black card, little sister,” Little sister? They didn’t look related at all, “I can buy a house with that thing…”
“You mean could have,” Lee chuckled as I came back down. Sure enough, there were several pieces of cut-up plastic on the coffee table, along with a pair of scissors she must have asked Lee to fetch for her.
“We have plenty of cash to last us,” she said to him, not looking at all perturbed that she just cut up something that could have paid for several hundred thousand dollars worth of stuff.
Logan was gawping at her like she’d lost her mind while Shelby, Meredith, and Haldon got their coats and shoes on to go out.
“Don’t take long,” Vail called after them. “One hour.”
Haldon nodded, saying nothing as usual, as he escorted the girls outside.
“I’m ordering some Swiss Chalet for supper.
” Lee sat at the dining table beside Vail, who had taken a seat and was working away furiously on the laptop he’d left there this morning.
Shaw wordlessly turned on the TV and set up some shooter game I didn’t know, and held out an extra controller to Logan, who was still gaping at the shredded pieces of credit cards, which he had been cradling in his hands.
But he accepted Shaw’s offer, and they both sat quietly, leaning back against the couch on the floor as they played each other, without saying a word.
It was weird how they were together, but I didn’t question it.
It was kind of nice to see Shaw being so okay with another person, even if it was this guy, who was a walking contradiction with his badass tattoos, yet mourned the loss of his plastic.
I walked over to Riley. “Thought you guys might need some of this,” I said, shaking the bottle of painkillers at her.
“Thanks.” She softened a little, taking the bottle while I got them some water.
I was kind of glad to be having this distraction from thinking about tonight.
School just wasn’t cutting it. When I came back out, Riley had gotten Micha to remove his shirt, and his pants had been pulled down enough to reveal his thighs and show off the extent of his injuries.
He had five bullet wounds, two in his right side, one in his left shoulder and mid-thigh, and one that looked like it missed his heart by no more than an inch or two.
Each area was stitched up, angry and red, surrounded by severe purple and yellow bruising.
These were very new. Less than a week old, I’d say.
“Uhhh,” I stared at the glasses of water in my hands and the bottle of painkiller I’d handed to Riley and muttered, “We’re gonna need some more stuff.”
I gathered together a large mixing bowl of water, soap, a washcloth, polysporin, and clean bandages from our expansive first aid kit upstairs and then sat on the floor on the other side of Shaw.
I spent my time watching Riley as she tended to Micha, occasionally muttering under her breath to him to stop fidgeting, and turning my focus to the television, not really seeing what was happening on the screen.
“May I ask you something?” I said as Riley washed the healing wound over his chest. He winced the slightest bit but bore it well, his eyes locked onto the game that the other two were playing.
“Go for it,” she said, glancing up to see me watching her.
“What exactly happened down in Florida?” For a moment, everyone grew quiet, and I quickly added, “If you can’t or don’t want to say, you don’t have to. Sorry…”
“You Canadians really are so damn polite,” Logan said under his breath as he blew up what looked like some sort of chemical factory on-screen. I saw Shaw’s guy die instantly on his side of the TV, and his shoulders tensed ever so slightly, a sign that he was displeased.
“It’s alright,” Micha hissed between clenched teeth when Riley carefully dabbed some polysporin along the stitches. “We do owe you guys an explanation.” From the dining room, Lee and Vail, who had been whispering with each other, grew quiet, listening in.
“Her uncle is the president of the Lost Souls MC, and there’s a war brewing between them and the Reapers in Miami, who are run by his brother, that asshole who killed his nephew and brother’s wife that I’d told you about earlier.
We...” he nodded to Riley. “We were outside the Lost Souls clubhouse when they did a drive-by, and you can see how that turned out.” He flinched ever so slightly when she moved on to clean the wound on his arm.
“This idiot threw himself over me.”
“Shouldn’t that be seen as something heroic and romantic?” Lee asked, raising a brow at her name-calling for the man who saved her life.
All she did in response was look over the back of the couch at him, finger raised in a warning, and said, “Don’t start with me.”
“It’s not worth it, dude,” Logan piped up. “Just let it go.”
I snickered a little at that, and that was when my eyes fell on her cast, looking over the few pieces of artwork that had been scribbled on there already.
I angled my head a little to the side to get a better look, impressed by the perfect Minnie Mouse covering a large portion of it.
There were a few lilies and what seemed like a half-finished tree near the top. “Did you do these?” I asked.
“Had a lot of time to pass on the plane and drive here from Ottawa,” she said.
“You took a plane here?” Vail snapped incredulously. “The first thing they’d do is check travel records!” For a moment, I thought he was about to throw these guys out of here.
“There are benefits to owning your own airline. Ever heard of Hudson Avionics?”
“No,” he replied simply.
Logan shrugged, “Well, if you ever need to fly anywhere, let me know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind…” Vail muttered, looking back to his screen.
“I like to draw, too.” I ignored the guys back and forth and refocused on Riley. I picked up my bag by the stairs and brought it over, pulling out my notebook to show her. She stopped what she was doing to Micha and looked in my notebook, pausing on the dragon sketch I did my first week in Harley.
“I love this,” she said, her blue eyes taking in the tear sliding off its nose. She pointed at the scales. “The use of shading and light are perfect… and that sparkle in its tear makes it look so life-like.”
“Thank you.” I could feel my cheeks pinken a little at her compliment. “I love your lilies. Impressive considering what you had to work with,” I said, gesturing at her cast.
“I’ve worked on tougher surfaces. Brick walls don’t make for good texture.”
“You’re a graffiti artist?” I raised my brows, smiling, putting together Logan’s earlier comment.
“Yeah, she caused a real ruckus at our school that one time,” Micha added in, listening in on our conversation.
“Naomi deserved it, the fucking bitch!” Riley snapped at him in defense.
“Sounds like every school has a “Naomi” in it. Celeste Wood just so happens to be mine. I swear, no matter what country you’re from, you’re going to have that one bitch in school that runs the show, and everyone just lets them.”
“Maybe so.” Riley makes a face. “But did Celeste fuck your uncle?”
I raise my brows at her. “Your uncle, the Lost Souls MC Prez?”
“That’s the one!” Though her tone was playful, I knew she was pissed as all hell.
“What’s your problem? Both Micha and I fucked her, too!” Logan said.
My mouth dropped at this information, considering how both guys were here with their current girlfriends, and Logan just felt the need to divulge this information to a group of strangers he just met?
This guy really had a screw loose. From the dining table, Lee scraped his chair back and stomped off into the kitchen, as though he couldn’t stand to be around this guy for another second.
“I love these flowers,” Riley said, ignoring the guys and pointing to the hellebore I’d drawn around the dragon.
“Thanks,” I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling like my chest was slowly compressing, “They were my mom’s favourite.”
Riley’s gaze sharply cut to me, and I knew she could see the involuntary change. “Where is your mom?” she asked, obviously having put together that I didn't live with her.
I cleared my throat, my voice catching for a second.
“She… died. Drunk driver…” I looked away, playing with a loose thread on my navy blue long sleeve; my fidgeting would increase as my discomfort rose.
From beside me, Shaw let Logan kill his guy so that he could reach over and wrap his hand around my ankle, his thumb stroking the bare skin there.
I ran my nails over the back of his hoodie.
I wanted to wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his shoulder, but not here.
I was not as big into PDA as Logan seemed to be.
“My mom was killed by a drunk driver, too,” Riley said softly.
I looked her way to find her watching me, her face pained. “Did they catch the guy?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small round gold and blue disc.
Inscribed on the surface was a gold triangle with a 1 Month in the center.
She held it up so I could see it better and said, “This was hers, but the more I think about it, the more I doubt her sobriety.” Her lips tightened, and her jaw clenched as she spat out the words.
“Sometimes, the best lies are the ones we tell ourselves.” Holy shit… I didn’t know what to say.
We all sat in silence for a minute, and as we did, I watched Riley.
Her rage was bubbling at the surface, and though I was pissed that someone’s negligence killed my parents, I knew that I’d be furious and disappointed if my mother had been the perpetrator.
“In life, people make good decisions and bad decisions. Even good people can make a mistake.”
“Sometimes, they’re not good people at all,” Micha spat out, his own displeasure evident on his face. Riley gave him a look I couldn’t decipher, but something passed between them briefly. There was more to that statement than what it seemed.