Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Erica
Even though Brew isn’t a verbose or noisy person, the office seems quieter without him.
Without his presence, the day seems to drag on.
Nova has been making her presence known, and even though I didn’t have a great first impression of her, she came down to apologize the next day and explained she’d had a rough couple of weeks.
“Men,” she sighs, after telling me all about her ex, who she mistakenly hooked up with when she got out of jail.
That turned out to be bad news. Not only is the guy a complete loser, but he also hit her a couple of times.
I try not to, but my mind flicks back to Amber and all that she suffered at the hands of Vincent.
Steven would slap me, but never punch or leave a mark.
Physically, that was the best I could hope for, but the emotional scars will remain forever.
Nova has also taken to sitting next to me and even offered to help with some of the filing.
I think she just needs something to do. Now she looks more like a human being than a zombie, I can’t seem to shake her.
Not that I mind the company, it can get pretty boring here by yourself all day.
I don’t know what it is about me, but I’ve always been the shoulder to cry on.
Women especially seem to flock to me to tell me their problems. It could be because I keep their secrets to myself.
I’m not one to gossip. I know from living in the compound surrounded by other women that nothing good can come from sharing someone else’s secret, even if it is just to idly gossip.
I don’t like that, and I woundn’t want anyone talking about me behind my back like that.
“Well, I’m glad you got rid of him if that’s the case. Did you tell your cousins what he did?”
“And be a witness at their trial for murder?” she snorts.
“You make a good point.”
“Oh, you’ve no idea. The pair of them have been like this for as long as I can remember.
I don’t have any brothers, so they were the next best thing growing up.
” She sits back in her chair. A fond memory showing in her smile.
“Haze is Haze; what you see is what you get. But Brew? He’s a lot, don’t get me wrong, but he wasn’t always a grump like he is now, he’s only gotten worse with age. ”
I swallow hard. We shouldn’t be talking like this, but I do want to know more about him, and what better way to get the skinny than from a family member? “I think life hardens you, in fact, I know it does. Whoever said life was easy clearly never had anything bad happen to them.”
“That’s what gets me. Brew spends all of his time seeking revenge for what happened to Valencia, but it’s kinda taken over his life.”
“He’s still seeking revenge? As in, vigilante style?
” Brew is no angel, I know it, and I also know the MC deals with their own form of punishment.
I don’t know how I feel about that, but I’m in no position to argue, judge or let my feelings be known.
I owe this club, and part of that is keeping my opinions to myself, and looking the other way.
Not that anything happens causing me to look the other way, but I’m not dumb. The MC aren’t Boy Scouts.
“Oh, Brew will never stop,” she chuckles.
I stop typing, turning my head to look at her. “What do you mean?”
The women in the club talk, but none of them come outright and say it. Club business is club business and is usually only discussed with the men around the meeting room table they call Church. Nobody has ever said Brew is on a warpath of revenge. Maybe I’m reading too much into this.
She looks around, lowering her voice even though nobody else is here. “When he found out what happened to Valencia, he took out anyone who was involved, with his bare hands. Don’t tell me you don’t know this?”
I frown. I’ve spent time at the clubhouse, but as I say, even when the ol’ ladies talk, they’ve never come out and said anything about people disappearing and the MC being responsible.
I know from Amber that the boys deal with things MC style, and that means taking the trash out to the bayou.
It’s a long running joke around the clubhouse.
But learning Brew is still on the warpath? He must be in so much pain.
“He killed people?”
She bites her lip, unsure if she should be saying anything. I am just the receptionist in her eyes.
“My sister-in-law, Amber, she’s Bronco’s ol’ lady,” I say. “I’m not going to say anything to anyone, but there’s talk around the clubhouse. I know what goes on.” Hopefully, that’s enough to keep her yapping.
“Well, knowing Brew my entire life, I can vouch for the fact that he’ll kill every last person who had anything to do with Valencia’s death,” she goes on. “Let’s face it, those assholes deserve it after what they did to her.”
“I agree,” I say, tempted to clutch my rosary beads — hypothetically of course. I’ve never believed in an eye for an eye. I was brought up to believe that everyone would have their judgment day, but after some of the atrocities I’ve witnessed over my time on earth, I’ve questioned my own beliefs.
“He’s never really gotten over it, and he blames himself,” she goes on. “They broke up because she wanted to travel and explore the world. Just because she was deaf, didn’t mean she was incapable of living a full life, but Brew blames himself.”
“She was deaf?” I whisper.
Nova nods. “Yep. I liked her, she was good for Brew, but like I say, they wanted different things.”
“Like what?” I whisper.
She shrugs. “He wanted to settle down.”
I’m shocked to my very core. Playing along, I tuck my hair behind my ears as I lean closer to her. “No way?”
She nods. “Yeah, you’d never think it, right?
But he always wanted a bunch of kids. Brew may not look it, but deep down inside him, he’s a family man.
Look at what he’s done for his brothers, the MC, for me.
Not that I deserve it because I have thrown it back in my cousins’ faces on more than one occasion.
” Her cheeks flush slightly. “The point is, Valencia wanted to travel and see things, and he thinks if he’d gone with her, she never would’ve been kidnapped. ”
Oh, my god, the torture he must still be going through. And then the realization that he always wanted a bunch of kids?
I gape at her. “Nobody could have known that.”
“Try telling him that. Not sure if you’ve realized, but he’s a little pig-headed.”
“I’ve noticed,” I say. “But he is an extremely generous boss. He may be a little… on the grumbly side at times, but he’s been good to me.”
Nova narrows her eyes. “Uh-oh.”
My eyebrows rise in surprise. “Uh-oh, what?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just I’ve seen that look before when it comes to Brew.”
“What look?”
“That cow eyed look.”
I snort. “I don’t have cow eyes, I just feel bad for him. That’s natural after what you just told me. I respect him for taking care of his family, and the MC, that’s all.”
“Right.”
Great. This is all I need — another person teasing me about Brew.
Nobody really knows the extent of my little crush, and that’s all it is.
A crush. Stupid. Juvenile. The way I don’t even shudder when I imagine him taking someone’s life for hurting his girl.
I see reason. I see justice. And for that I should go to church and pray.
It isn’t natural. My faith may have been questioned in recent years, but have I really fallen so far that I’d overlook him killing people?
Even if it isn’t cold blood, it’s still murder.
“Respectfully, we probably shouldn’t be talking like this anyway.
Brew is my boss, and I respect him and Haze for what they’ve done for me.
Without this job, I don’t know where I’d be, and the club found me a place to live.
” They’re a real family, not like the family I thought I belonged to years ago.
“That I can agree on. If they like you, they’ll help you. If they don’t, you’d be at the bottom of the bayou by now.” I balk as she laughs and adds, “just kidding.”
I don’t want to go into all the jokes about what the MC does with the people who cross them, or who have wronged the club. All I know is the alligators are well fed, and that’s all I need to know.
“So,” I say after a few moments. It’s time to get off the subject of her family and the MC. “Do you plan on sticking around for a while?”
She sighs. “I don’t know. I could probably find a job easily enough with Brew and Haze’s help…”
“Or you could be proactive and give them a reason to hire you?”
Her eyebrows raise. “What do you mean?”
I don’t believe in handouts for free, not when a girl like Nova is clearly smart, headstrong and looks like she has a good heart.
But relying on her cousins to keep bailing her out is an excuse.
One she seems to be using when things go bad.
“Well, they’ve been talking about hiring someone else to take the load off here.
I don’t know how that would go down, but by standing on your own two feet and showing them you’re capable might make them take it seriously. ”
Instead of getting annoyed and telling me to mind my own business — which she has every right to do — she looks away and begins to think.
“You’re right. They don’t take me seriously because they’re always bailing me out of my messes.
I mean, I could start fresh in NOLA. I can see myself here.
” She brightens, looking hopeful as she smiles and hugs herself. “I could be your assistant?”
I chuckle. “Heck knows I could do with one. Maybe it would sound better coming from me? I could suggest it to them, rather than you asking for a job. Sometimes it’s better to let them think it’s their idea. In the meantime, you could help out around here and show you’re committed.”
She blinks. “You’d put in a good word for me?”
“Why wouldn’t I? You’ve kept me company today, and helped me out with those files and tidied up the lunchroom without even being prompted. You saw how buried I was and didn’t hesitate to jump in.”
“Thanks, Erica, I’m glad someone around here sees my worth.”
I smile. “Others will, too. You just have to keep showing up. Put the past in the past.”
“Is that what you did?”
Her question is blunt and between the eyes, but I answer honestly.
“Yes. I had to. After my ex, things were really, really bad. Then they got better. I never stopped believing that there was a better future for me and my daughter. When others shot me down, I refused to believe it. Sometimes in life you do have to fight for the things you want.”
“Ugh, tell me about it,” she sighs. “I feel like I’ve fought for fucking everything so far in this life, and I’m still bouncing on bupkis.”
I pat her arm. “It’ll get better. Short goals to begin with; finding a job. Then, a place to live. Then, put some money aside for a rainy day. Things will look up, but it might not happen overnight.”
“You’re really good at this,” she says, laying her head on her hands on the desk. “I can see how it looks; I just got out of jail, but in my defense, the jerk deserved it.”
Of that, I have absolutely no doubt. Then she goes on to tell me all about how it began, starting with her ex. In some ways, she’s a lot like me when I was her age. Vulnerable. She trusted people who swore to keep her safe, when they didn’t, she lashed out.
What I’d hate to see is this incredibly smart girl in more trouble than she can handle.
Maybe it’ll be good for her being here; giving her a job to do might keep her out of trouble.
From spending the morning with her, I can see she doesn’t have a bad bone in her body.
She just feels very passionately. I can relate to that.
“And he’ll get what’s coming to him,” I assure her. “Now. Shall I show you where the leaflets are that we need to print out for the mail drop? The prospects are coming to collect them before lunch.”
“Sounds good,” she says. “Thanks, Erica.”
I blink, caught off guard. “For what?”
“For treating me like a human being and not someone you just stepped on out on the sidewalk.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, genuinely meaning it. “It’s rotten that anyone would treat anybody that way. You don’t deserve that.”
And we get to work, side by side, like we’ve known each other our whole lives.