Chapter Fourteen
To Catch a Creeper
Kingston
I could have been discreet, and dropped her off at the tavern, but something inside me wanted Forty to know exactly when I brought his daughter home.
I’d done everything in my power to make it as late as I possibly could. We stopped to refuel, and shared cheese fries in the little restaurant that was attached to the local gas station.
I must have made up at least a half dozen stories to amuse her with, most of which I couldn’t even remember the details of. She’d laughed and ate up every bit of it, dropping a few of her own in that reciprocating way that people usually felt compelled toward.
I knew she and Pacman were close, but after hearing her childhood tales, and seeing the smile in her eyes, I knew he was her person. It made sense, I supposed. Forty had done his own thing with the club during his grief. So, why wouldn’t the two siblings cling to each other?
I parked in front of her family’s home a little after midnight and helped her off the bike. I made sure to keep my gaze glued to her, like she was the prettiest, wittiest thing I’d ever encountered.
She was an attractive girl, so it wasn’t hard to pull off.
And I supposed, if I were doing this for any other reason, I’d have probably found her to be funny and laid back. She was easy to be around.
“So, tomorrow night then?”
Her mouth twitched up one side, and she looked away like she hadn’t decided yet.
“Come on,” I stretched the two words and reached for her chin, forcing her to look at me. “You know you’re at least dying to see me blow my big chance, if nothing else…”
She snorted, and reluctantly nodded. “Fine. Tomorrow night.”
“In that outfit,” I reminded her.
She sighed and rolled her eyes, giving me a sideways glance as she started toward the house. I grabbed her hand and tugged her back toward me, earning a little squeal, before I silenced it with a firm, lingering kiss.
“G’night Princess.” I winked.
She blinked a few times, pinked in the cheeks, and briskly sought the front door. I didn’t see Forty, but I knew he was in there. His bike was parked in front of the garage.
I hope he saw it all.
I hope he felt me creeping up on his daughter, and his chrome throne.
I spit toward the foot of his driveway and fired up the engine. I made a grand show of letting the pipes roar as I pulled around the block, too.
It was all for his benefit, I looped around a few blocks down and parked. I threw my hood up, stuffed my hands in my pockets, and started back toward them on foot.
I kept my shoulders high, like some awkward soul that was in a hurry to make it safely home. Those people rarely drew attention.
If I approached from the East side of the property, I could squeeze through Diane’s overgrown blackberry bushes and slide along the shed. It was the perfect cover, and the best angle to see inside her bedroom window.
I expected to hear voices, certain Forty was going to air her ass out for wearing that costume and mingling with his men.
Yeah, she served drinks, but that wasn’t exactly the same.
People knew her name and face, they recognized her as her father’s daughter, but they weren’t familiar with her like I was about to be.
He knew it, too.
He’d seen me snare bitches in my web before. Most of them were nothing more than a waste of time. All of them were the same woman when I left them.
A shell, drained of joy, funds, and confidence.
I sucked my teeth and watched her silhouette in the window while she changed into her lounge clothes and fucked with her phone.
My pocket lit up as my own phone vibrated against my leg. I shifted back into the darkness, retreating to the sanctuary of the blackberry vines.
I didn’t even look at the screen, I swiped to answer like I honestly thought it would be her.
“Where the fuck are you at, numb nuts?” My father’s voice instantly made me cringe.
I jerked the phone away from my ear and almost hung the damn thing up.
“What? What the fuck do you want?” I hissed, stepping back toward the edge of the shed.
“Boy, do you think you’re speakin’ to your fuckin’ mother, right now? Huh?” he demanded, before addressing someone in the background, “You dropped him on his head when he was little, that’s it. I don’t give a damn what you say.”
I hung up the phone, unwilling to entertain his fuckery, or be deferred from mine and Kennedy’s little ritual.
Well, it was more mine than hers, since she was unaware of our nightly encounters. My phone began vibrating in my pocket every few seconds. For the most part, I caught it before the damn thing made its first chime.
Twice.
Three times.
I moved to the lowest part of Forty’s brick wall that separated his property from the adjoining yard and stepped onto it. The bricks elevated every three feet or so, until they ended at the base of the second story patio.
I was confident Birdman had learned how to take a clue and fucked off at last. Things were calm for several steps.
When the phone began to vibrate halfway up the wall.
It was the worst possible timing, I looked like a goddamn creature of flight myself, with both arms out for balance and my feet moving over the bricks with more grace than I’d ever managed.
It was worth it most nights, but now…
My hand was in a race to reach my pocket, before Forty made it to consciousness.
It wasn’t much of a race at all, my hand inched down my belly, and crept over my belt. I scarcely breathed, until Forty’s bedroom light flicked on.
When it did, light flooded the backyard, and parts of the brick wall. I’d never sucked in a breath so violently as I did, when my eyes met his. His lips curled, and I realized what I must have looked like patiently pawing at myself halfway to his daughter’s bedroom window.
“N–” Was all I got out, my intentions of denying what it looked like with a wave of my hands, ended with a complete loss of balance.
Diane’s blackberry bush caught me, and I batted dry, fruitless wisps of thorny limbs. By the time I got myself loose, I almost wished it had been the cold, hard ground that caught me instead.
The phone began to vibrate and sing again, sending a hot wave of anger over my already wounded pride and stinging flesh.
There was no time to unleash on him, and any plans of chunking the phone were instantly dashed, when the yard I was currently standing in illuminated.
“Cocksucker,” I growled, while scrambling across the lawn.
Dogs barked around the neighborhood, and I heard a screen door slam.
“Kal? Forty, what in the world is going on?” A strange, female voice demanded in the distance.
I didn’t hear his answer, but I swear, I heard the distinct, ‘kuh klick’ of his twelve gauge. I shot off the sidewalk, behind someone’s tarped car and between a pair of houses.
I didn’t even risk a look back when I reached the bike, I just took off like my life depended on it.
Had it been in my mind?
Hell if I knew. The only thing I was certain of was that me and my father were about to have words. I pulled my phone out and punched his number at the first red light I came to.
“Where the fuck are you?” I growled, the minute he answered.
His deep, menacing laughter answered me, “Boy, come on down here and get you some. I’ve been waiting on you all night. I got something for your sorry ass. You better believe it.”
He sounded drunk, so I didn’t bother responding.
I hung up and accelerated through the red light since the other lanes were empty.
I had myself all pumped up to beat his ass and finally teach him a lesson, only slowing as much as absolutely necessary when I turned into the driveway.
It was probably a good thing I wasn’t going at the normal speed, because as soon as I passed the entrance, my mother’s sharp scream competed with a familiar pop.
A bullet pinged off the streetlight a half of a breath later, leaving me in darkness.