No More Tears
Havoc
I can’t believe I just stood there silently watching my hot neighbor introduce Creed to her sugar daddy.
Creed smiled at him and shook his hand. My son is way more open-minded than I am. I wanted to throw something and send that man away. Not watch her get into a car with him and drive off.
The urge even now to put my fist through the old man’s face is overwhelming.
I don’t have time to think about either of them…especially the fact that they’re spending the day together…
There’s too much to get done. I need to find Berzerker, see if Max needs any help with the women he rescued, and I need to get updated on Vandal, Ryot, and Torque.
Maybe I’ll get some gym time in today…punching something sounds good.
My phone rings as I pull onto the clubhouse grounds. Stopping in my spot, I pull out my phone and set the kickstand. “Hello.”
One of these days, I’m going to actually check to see who’s calling first.
“We’re hitched.” Rogue sounds ecstatic.
“So she actually went through with it?”
“Yeah, and now we’re back on our way home to figure out the rest of those pesky details, like where to live.”
Here. The only option is here. My best friend can’t move away for a girl. “Your family is here.” Like Rogue needs that reminder.
“Dylan is pretty set on having a pool.”
“The clubhouse has a pool.” Two of them, actually. One indoor for when it snows, and one outdoor to beat the heat in the summer.
“No, she likes a ‘private’ pool.”
“So build her one.” It’s not like he can’t afford to. “I’ll get an architect out to start designing one as soon as you get back.”
“I can’t believe we’re married. I almost lost her to that nut. Every time I close my eyes, I see her locked down in that cellar, unable to yell for help…If she hadn’t found a way out, I don’t know if we would have been able to find her. The cellar was hidden.”
“But you did. Dylan’s safe with you.”
“When I get back, we need to talk about what happened. It’s going to mess with your mind.”
How could a violent stalker do anything else? “Will we need to go to church?”
“I don’t know if the brotherhood needs to get involved. But something he said keeps playing in my head.” Rogue’s got good instincts.
“We’ll figure it out when you get back. Don’t let it ruin your honeymoon.”
“Nothing could do that…except maybe some bad weather. But we should have clear roads until next week. See you soon.”
“Ride safe.” I click off the phone and climb off my bike.
The first thing I need to do is find Berzerker…
My brother steps out of the clubhouse and walks towards me. “Havoc, we need to talk.”
Or let him find me, it seems. “What can I do to help?”
“It’s about the winter festival.”
Did he hear about everyone who is interested in the job? No one would approach him.
“My old lady doesn’t want to step back from the winter festival planning. She knows how important it is…but she just doesn’t have it in her to do it.” Berzerker hands me a file folder filled with paperwork for the event.
“Completely understandable. I will find someone else to take care of it. She doesn’t have to worry about a thing. Is there anything else we can do?”
Berzerker shakes his head. “No. I’m going to take her somewhere sunny for a few months. Seasonal blues aren’t helping with her grief.”
“Whatever you need, brother.”
“The one thing I want, you can’t give.” Berzerker shakes his head and wanders away.
I wish I could, but at least we’ll find the man who caused this.
“Havoc…” Fly walks up. “Are you sure Fiona is taken? That woman could bring a man to his knees, and not just because of how she looks.”
“How much do you value your skin? The Vincenti Family might take it if you so much as look at Max Rage’s woman.”
“Just checking…though she might be worth risking it.” Fly is a nut.
“Find someone else.” Don’t get us all killed.
“Good women aren’t that easy to find.”
“The bad ones certainly are.” My hot neighbor fits the latter category. Why are there so many selfish women in the world?
“Do you think she has any friends that are available?”
“Getting anywhere near Fiona is playing with fire. The Vincentis aren’t known for their reasonableness.”
“I’ll avoid getting flayed alive. Oh, I have some good news for you.
A dealer made contact with Vandal already.
He isn’t our normal type, though. Vandal’s going to explore this lead a little bit, but I don’t think he’s part of the ring we’re looking for.
Vandal’s guess is he’s a science nerd using his lab access to make money for his tuition. ”
“There’s got to be a better way to pay for an education.” Though at the prices colleges charge, I can see the need to get creative. Drugs aren’t the answer. “We’ll figure out his situation after we deal with our drug dealer. Vandal is doing well. How are the other two?”
“Ryot’s cold a lot, but so far hasn’t made any contact yet. He’s going to go looking for a job as a bouncer at a club in town. One that’s known for drug activity.”
Cold is a relative term. Riding your bike in the fall and winter is cold. Living outside with nowhere to recover from the weather is a whole different level of cold. “Do you think he’s going to try going in over his head?”
“All of them are determined. Ryot…it’s a whole different level for him.”
That’s what I’m worried about. “Pull him if he starts going off book.”
Fly nods. “Oh yeah. I warned him several times that we would.”
The question is, can we stop him? “Have you seen Bram today?”
“Nope. He’s probably still at work or on his way to have coffee with his new lady. She’s smoking hot. Do you think Bram would mind if I stole her from him?”
I know Fly isn’t serious, but this woman must be something special.
“I'd better go give him the good news. His lady is going to be running the winter festival. She’s got a lot to do to get all of it done in time. We should get some old ladies to support her.” Bram can arrange that.
It’ll help her to get comfortable with the club if she’s going to be his old lady.
Bram might have an old lady soon…
***
I need to come to Bram’s bookstore more often. It’s not one of those frilly, girly bookstores that cater to women looking for book boyfriends. It’s for readers. For people looking for classics as well as comics, histories as well as manga. Creed developed a love of reading here.
“Havoc, haven’t seen you in here in a while.”
“Don’t have time to read much. Club business keeps me busy.” I need to make time to set an example for Creed. Maybe I’ll find a new mystery. “I actually stopped by to bring you this.” Berzerker’s old lady didn’t get far, but there’s a start in the folder.
Bram takes it with a raised eyebrow.
“Your woman can start immediately. Pay her whatever you think is fair. The club won’t quibble about a few dollars.
I might have a line on some help for her.
Part-time. It’s a high school student, but she’s reliable and hard-working.
” If Creed isn’t letting his hormones do the judging for him.
“I’ll let you know in a day or two. I’m sure some of the old ladies would be happy to help out. ”
“Thanks. This is really going to help her get comfortable, I think.”
Just what I’m not concerned with. But that’s my issue with women. Not everyone has an irritating hot neighbor that they’re trying to get rid of. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She’s not ready to come around the clubhouse yet.”
Maybe I’ll have to visit the Ivy Café sometime and get a peek at the woman who’s breaking down all of Bram’s walls.
***
It’s been a day. All I want is to relax, watch something explode on the television, and then go to bed.
If one more person calls me with a problem today, I’m going to lose it.
Creed rushes into the room. “Dad, you’ve got to fix it.”
“What’s wrong?”
Creed grabs the remote and flips over to the security feeds. “That’s what’s wrong. She’s sitting in the backyard crying.”
“Women cry.” Don’t look or her tears will break your heart. It’s a power all women have and use to their advantage.
“Greer said she had an appointment in Urbium today. And now she’s crying. You need to go fix her, Dad.”
Did her sugar daddy dump her? Why does that thought make me happy? “Creed, women cry. When they do that, they usually want privacy. She doesn’t want me to go barging over there.”
“She’s been crying out there for an hour. We can’t just leave her like that. You’ve got to do something.” Creed looks at me with expectant eyes. The same look he gave me when he was a kid and broke his toys.
I fixed them then. He really expects me to fix this woman who I can’t even stand. “Fine. I’ll go try, but I can’t promise she won’t kick me out.” This isn’t going to go well. I walk over to the bar, fill two glasses, and march out to her backyard and up onto her deck.
Greer looks up at me with her tear-streaked face. “Whatever nonsense you’ve decided to yell at me about this evening, can it wait until tomorrow? I don’t have the energy for it right now.”
Well, that didn’t just make me feel like a lowlife. “I came in peace, with some of the best whiskey known to mankind.” I hold out a glass to her.
And in the blink of an eye, her demeanor changes. She shrinks back from the glass like it’s poison.
Women. Like I would waste the good stuff. “This is a hundred-year-old whiskey. There’s no way I’m contaminating it. Pick one.”
“No, thank you. I have a cup of tea.”
Tea. Tea. I flop down into the chair across from her and set one of the glasses down on the edge of the chair. “Woman, what is wrong with you that you turned down the finest whiskey when you’re crying?”
“What’s wrong with you that you feel the need to treat every problem with booze? I didn’t invite you over here. I just wanted to cry in peace.”
Cry in peace. I can’t help but chuckle. “He isn’t worth your tears.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because no man that makes you cry is worth the tears you waste on him.”
“You’re a man.”
“Exactly my point.” I take a sip and let the smooth burn slide down my throat.
“I’ll have you know I wasn’t crying over a man.”
“Could have fooled me.” I’d wager my favorite bike that she was, and it wouldn’t even be a gamble.
“Not directly over a man. More like the situation he put me in.”
“Did he put you in it, or was it you?” Looking for the easy way out…
Yelling at her won’t help.
“My friends told me he was scummy, but I believed that he loved me. I believed that I was his whole world, and that they were wrong.”
A man doesn’t send a woman who’s his whole world to hide in this small town while he lives in the city. “Your friends, your real friends, usually tell you the truth, even if you don’t want to hear it.”
“They always have, but I didn’t want to believe it.
Not about him. I wanted everything he promised to be true.
Now—” She flops back in her chair, pulling the massive blanket she’s wrapped around herself even tighter.
“—I don’t know what to do with my life. Everything that used to feel right, feels wrong. ”
“You’re crying because you don’t know how to move on?”
“Exactly. How do I live now? Everything in my life has changed, and I don’t know what to do.
I don’t even know how to take out the trash properly.
How did that happen? It’s not like I’m stupid.
I have a degree from a prestigious school.
But I don’t know how to live without a man?
Is there something wrong with me?” She turns to stare at me.
“Like you’re the one to ask. You already think I’m stupid.
Maybe I am. Maybe my mother was right to want to control every aspect of my life. ”
Well, that was a spiral…that I helped create. “Are you really going to keep wallowing over a man not worth your time? You aren’t exactly old, gray, and feeble.” Like she needs me to tell her that she’s fine. “You’ve got time to figure out who you are and who you want to be with or without a man.”
Greer stares at me for a long moment. “You almost sounded like a person that doesn’t hate me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll remember just how much I dislike you in the morning.”
She chuckles. “Good to know.”
“But you shouldn’t dislike yourself.”