Chapter 34 Nothing And Everything
Nothing And Everything
Havoc
“So then he fell—” The rumble of a well-tuned motorcycle carries through into her kitchen. “Creed!” How is that possible? He doesn’t get home until six. The clock on her wall reads twenty after. We’ve been talking for hours.
About nothing and everything.
It’s the best afternoon I’ve had in…too long for me to remember. “I was supposed to have already started dinner.”
“Oh, of course.” Greer stands up, and all the relaxed vibes evaporate. She reaches for the empty cake plate and my flute. “I’m sorry for dist—”
“Don’t be sorry.” I place my hand on her arm. “Come have dinner with us. I’m sure Creed would love to see you.”
“Dinner. I…I…have things to do tonight. Maybe another time.”
Does she mean that?
I don’t know, but I aim to find out.
At another time. Today has been a hard day for her. “I’m right next door if he comes back.”
“With the way you scared him…Darrel’s never coming back.”
The thing about cowards is that you can’t trust them. And that guy…there was way too much anger in him for that to be it.
“Hey, Dad. Where were you?” Creed asks as I walk in the door.
“Next door talking to Greer.”
“What?” His head pops up. “Does that mean you two made up?”
“Yeah.”
“Cool. So, are you two dating?”
“Creed.”
“What? You know you want to see more of her.”
“And? When you care about a woman, what’s the most important thing?”
He stares past me and then nods. “She isn’t ready to date you.”
“Exactly. Her ex-husband showed up today and tried manhandling her—”
Creed frowns. “I hope you put your fist through his face.”
“I didn’t need to.” Even though I thought about doing it.
“But he deserves it.”
“Absolutely. But all I had to do was stand there, and he almost peed his pants.”
Creed laughs.
“Never underestimate a coward with a grudge.”
“Like Reaper.”
“Exactly.” I walk over and open the refrigerator. After all that cake, I’m not really in the mood to cook. “How does pizza sound for dinner?”
“With chicken wings? I’m starving.”
Is there any time that boy isn’t hungry? “Sounds good.”
“I’ll order. Then we can come up with a plan to help Greer.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“Sure, it is. When your friend has a problem, you help them. Greer had a bad relationship. Then you were mean to her, so she’s having trouble trusting you and probably herself. We need to show her that you’re a trustworthy, upstanding guy.”
That boy is so stubborn.
My phone rings.
Rogue. Finally! “Welcome back, brother.”
“Thanks.”
“Celebration at the clubhouse tomorrow?”
“About that…I think it might be too much at once for Dylan. What if we introduce her slowly?”
“How about we do it at my place? Just a drop by and say hi kind of thing?”
“Perfect. And I need to talk to you about the nutjob.”
“Tomorrow morning? I can update you on our quest to find the drug dealer.”
“See you then.”
“It’s good to have you back, brother.” And now all I need to do is explain Greer to him.
“You going to invite Greer to the party tomorrow?”
I forgot Creed was listening. That boy doesn’t miss anything. “I don’t think so. I’ll introduce her to the club slowly.” After we start dating.
“Slow is boring.”
It kind of is.
***
“What’s for breakfast tomorrow, Dad?” Creed asks as he’s shoveling down a mountain of eggs and bacon.
“Why? Do you want something?”
“Could you make that frittata thing again? The one with vegetables and cheese.”
My son is asking for vegetables? Something is definitely up. “Why?”
Creed grins. “I have a plan. Oh, and you might want to brush your hair and your teeth before breakfast tomorrow.”
“Creed.”
“Have you ever thought that the reason Greer makes me breakfast every morning is to give her someone to talk to because she’s lonely? I’m going to invite her to breakfast.”
“Meddling is usually left to little old ladies.”
The boy shrugs. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth.” He tips his head to the side. “She might not care if you shave or brush your hair. Women are funny about the teeth thing, though.”
I turn away to smirk.
***
“So you’re telling me Dylan rescued herself.
” My best friend couldn’t have found a better woman for himself.
Though she was the one who picked him. When they first met, I thought it might be a brief affair.
One that burned hot but fizzled fast. I mean, it’s not every day a beautiful woman walks in and asks a total stranger to kiss them in a bar.
“Oh yeah. My warrior woman can handle anything.”
“I’m surprised that she didn’t take the guy down herself.”
Rogue grins. “Like I was giving up that honor? But here’s the thing. The crazy guy seemed more irritated that I didn’t give him time to record his snuff film before he died than the fact that I was torturing him before I killed him.”
Odd. “Nutjobs don’t always make sense. Obsession is a powerful thing.”
He walks over to the wall of video screens. The club security feeds are playing in the background, as well as a few from my house, including the ones pointing at Greer’s front and back yards.
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. He wasn’t obsessed with her as much as those videos. Yeah, she was part of it. Right before I ended him, he said he was just trying to prove that he was the biggest fan, and because of me, he was going to lose.”
That’s an odd way of phrasing it.
“Not that he was her biggest fan. That he was THE biggest fan. And that isn’t something you win like a contest.”
Weird. Very weird.
“Did anyone do a deep dive into him?”
“No. Once you had her, we stopped searching. Why?”
“I’ve got this feeling in my gut that there was more to what he was saying. I can’t let it go.”
“Then don’t. Go invade his privacy all you like. The guy’s dead, so be careful about it. Right now, there’s nothing tying us to his disappearance. We don’t want to give the cops any reason to look at us.”
Greer’s front door opens, and she steps out in one of her normal outfits.
Rogue whistles. “So that’s why you’re watching the house next door. That woman is fine. Does this mean you’ve given up on hating women?”
“Possibly. She feels different. While you were gone, I did everything wrong…”
“…after all that, you’re in for one uphill ride.”
Don’t I know it. “I think she’s going to be worth it…I just worry—”
“That she’s hiding who she really is. This time you’ve got me. I’ve got your back. If I see any signs that she’s anything but the sweet woman who cooks for Creed every morning, I’ll let you know, or do what needs to be done if you end up obsessed.”
“I may not thank you for it.”
“I know, but friends do the hard things. Plus, you don’t hit as hard as you think.”
“Oh, really? I’m not the one who has been sitting on my butt all day for weeks. Wanna go hit the mats?”
“You’re on. I’ll try not to bruise your face up too much that it’ll scare that new pretty lady of yours.”
“Oh, really. And what’s Dylan going to do when you come home bruised?”
Rogue laughs. “Have I told you about all the training she’s had…”
***
“Are you sure Greer’s going to understand not being invited to the party?” Creed hefts a bag of ice on his shoulders.
“I didn’t think about that.”
“Women are sensitive when it comes to things like that. She might think that you’re still mad at her.”
“You’re awfully worried about the neighbor.”
“It’s not often you get a hot neighbor.”
“Creed.”
“Fine. I like her, and I’m sick of seeing you home alone every Friday night. If I find a woman, it’s going to impede my dating potential.”
Where does he come up with this stuff? “Oh, really?”
“Yeah, what if I want to watch a movie with her one night? How am I going to steal a kiss if you’re sitting next to us, stealing all the popcorn? Or, if I arrange for us to work on a class project together? Or I offer to privately tutor her?”
“She doesn’t need that kind of tutoring.”
His grin gets huge. “She might. I might find that I like the sweet and innocent ones.”
“Creed.”
“In a completely respectful way. But wouldn’t it be cool if I could fall in love with a girl and be her first and last kiss?”
“Here’s a question for you as you ponder that: don’t you think she might want the same thing?”
Creed opens his mouth, then shuts it.
***
Would Greer have felt uncomfortable if I had invited her? There are people everywhere in my house, talking in little clusters. She seems friendly and outgoing, like she could get along with everyone. Maybe I hurt her feelings.
Even The Cake Lady was invited. But in my defense, how was I supposed to know that The Cake Lady was close friends with Dylan?
“Have you seen my wife?” Rogue walks over with a grin on his face.
“She’s beautiful.”
“I know, but seriously, have you seen her? I’ve been looking around for the last fifteen minutes.”
“What that guy said is really messing with your head.”
Rogue nods. “She’s probably in here somewhere.”
“Let’s check my security. It’ll be faster.”
“Thanks.”
We walk over to my office and close the door before turning on the feeds.
“There she is.” Rogue points to the bottom screen. “But that’s not your deck. Does Dylan know your woman?”
It sure looks like it.
“You know spying on a woman you aren’t even dating counts as stalking, right? She might think you’re creepy if she finds out.”
“I just forgot to change the cameras.”
“Sure, you did.” He raises an eyebrow at me.
Rogue isn’t wrong. I turn the camera away from her backyard, leaving the front one since it has a view of my yard too.
There’s nothing wrong with making sure that she’s safe.