Chapter 3
MENACE
POPPY
The knock on the door was too heavy to be anyone but Austin. Unless it was Wolf, with his woman, Tits, and a sheepishly hesitant Austin trailing behind.
“Good, you brought friends. I made a ham.” I’d wanted extra for Lily to take home in case she showed up. And ham kept longer than most other choices. It also could be kept warm for longer without ruining it, as I had no idea if anyone would show up when I started cooking.
“I’ll help you with the table,” Austin offered as I went on tip-toe to get the cups down. Plates and heavier objects were on the first shelf, so I grabbed two more from that stack and pointed to the glassware I wanted.
“While you at it, please pull down the Tupperware for later. I’ll send some home with you.”
Tits had already raided my silverware drawer and Wolf settled in place at the foot of the table.
She fussed around him and helped me move the baked yams and green beans while Austin cut the large spiral slices into more manageable pieces for each plate Wolf handed him.
In almost no time, we were all served, and I discretely checked the clock on the microwave.
“Your sister didn’t show?” Austin asked around a mouthful of ham.
I shook my head, trying not to let them see me break down.
“When did you see her last?” Wolf asked.
“This afternoon at the job site.”
He froze, beans hanging from his suspended fork. “Tell me you didn’t give her money.”
I bit my lip.
He set the fork down with a sigh. “She’s a grown woman now.”
“But she’s struggling, and I have…Besides, she needed gas for work.”
Wolf wasn’t hearing it. “Heard from Jewel she got fired again.”
Oh. “Maybe it’s a new job.”
He sent me a look that was plain to read.
“She’s my sister.”
“Half-sister, and a menace.”
Tits interrupted us. “How old is she?”
“She turned eighteen last month,” I informed them. Not a one of us at the table was so far removed from that point in our lives that we couldn’t remember what it was like at that age. I glanced at Austin, who shook his head.
“What?”
“Ever hear of “enabling?”
“She’s a good kid, really. Sweet. She’s just had a tough time lately. You don’t know her like I do.”
“I don’t intend to.” He stabbed his beans with brute force.
I tried to plead her case with someone, maybe Tits, would see reason. “She’s had a rough life.”
Wolf slammed the table, hard. “Don’t you dare.”
I jumped, and Austin slid his chair back, hands held loose as if ready to leap over the table and pummel Wolf.
“Honey, what did we say about my battles?” Tits’s voice was soft, but we all heard it.
“This ain’t a battle you need to fight,” he growled.
She placed a hand over his fist. “How rough?”
Austin cleared his throat and stood up. “Excuse me.” He slipped outside to my back patio and lit a cigarette. He walked down the steps and disappeared into the backyard.
It distracted everyone long enough to give me time to formulate an answer. “Her mother didn’t protect her very well.”
Wolf corrected me. “Her mother is a whore. Jewel.”
Tits’s face cleared with realization. “Oh. That’s a terrible life for a kid.” She swallowed.
“Yes, it is, that’s why I try so hard to show her there’s another way.”
Wolf rolled his eyes. But Tits heard what I said. Her frown proved to me she was thinking hard about the situation. Finally, she spoke. “How much initiative has your sister shown to prove she’s serious about getting out?”
“Getting out? She just turned eighteen, getting out of what?”
Tits shut her mouth and leaned back in her chair. Wolf picked up the conversation for her. “She means out of prostitution.”
“Lily’s not a prostitute!”
“Not for us,” Wolf mumbled.
“Not for anyone,” I insisted. “She’s my sister. If things get that bad at her mother’s again, she’s a bed right here in this house. She knows that.”
Austin returned and sat down at the table, picking up his fork and knife and proceeding to eat. His plate was almost empty, so I offered him the potatoes. He took a serving and then leaned over to stab a second stack of ham slices with his fork.
I included him in the conversation. “Would you help your sibling if they needed it?”
“Fuck no. I wouldn’t piss on him to put out a fire.”
Wolf chuckled. “You’d probably find gasoline to help speed it up.” That was funny to both of them. Stupid bikers.
Tits was my only hope. “What about you? Would you help a sister?”
“I would die for a sister.”
“None of that. No one’s dying or getting close to it ever again, hear me?” Wolf kissed her on her temple and did something I swear I’d never seen him do before. He lingered. With his nose buried in her hair, he squeezed his eyes tight and inhaled. Then, for good measure, gave her another kiss.
They were inseparable that way. Both of them.
“I would, too. My sister is special.”
“She’s special alright.” Wolf snickered.
Austin sent him a glance. “Pinner thinks so.”
“My dad?” Of course he did. He loved both of us so much. “How is he doing?”
“Full of shit, and an asshole about it. Healthy, though. That’s more than you can say about some of the old-timers.” Austin’s face fell. Then he smiled. “The man practically runs the joint.”
“Is he protective of the new inmates?”
“If they are brothers, sure.” Austin’s smile fell. “Saw him shiv a guy once. Fucking skinhead with a chip on his shoulder who thought he was king shit. The bastard claimed bikers are pussies. ‘Couldn’t let that slide.” His fist curled as he spoke.
“Hell no,” Wolf agreed. “You fuck him up?”
“Smoked ‘em.” Austin’s mouth curled up on one side.
“Ha! That’s my man.” Wolf reached across and slapped his hand. “You know, that’s how he got the nickname, Smoke’m. Fucking kicking ass and taking names.”
Austin’s eyes met mine. His bright grin fell. “Sorry, Poppy. You didn’t need to hear that.”
“On the contrary, I’m glad he’s still sharp enough to protect himself.
” I took a shaky breath. “I’ll sleep better knowing that.
” I missed him so much. I’d had barely enough time to know him as a father, and then when I came back, barely enough time to know him as an adult.
There was never enough time during visitation to say more than the nice stuff, the superficial things that didn’t really matter.
I wanted to know he wasn’t getting abused, or beaten, or broken by the system.
Hopefully, someday he’d live long enough to breathe free air again, and I’d get him back, but knowing that day might never come, or that he’d be cut down for the sin of getting old, killed me.
In the wake of those thoughts, I tried to shove the awful realities away and smile at the people who were present in my life. Taking time to cherish their presence with me and be grateful for every second I got to spend with friends I had so many common threads to.
When Tits and Wolf said their goodbyes, Austin lingered. Wolf sent him a warning shot, non-verbally.
“I’ll be good. See you back at the junkyard.”
“Naw, we’re going home.” Wolf slung his leg over his bike, then fixed his prosthetic into the holder that kept it from jarring loose as he rode. As soon as he was set, he smiled at Tits who crab-walked her deceptively ugly rat bike into position like it weighed nothing.
“Ready, babe?”
“Always.” She fired up her bike, and they rumbled away.
Austin looked at the sky. “I should be heading out. Sorry your sister couldn’t make it.”
“Wait, I have food for you.” I ran back inside to collect the Tupperware we’d stuffed with leftovers.
He laughed and followed me to the kitchen. When the screen door slapped shut behind him, he shut the cold out. “Are you okay? I shouldn’t have told you about Pinner doing bad shit.”
I set the containers back on the shelf. “I’m glad you did. I worry so much about him. And—” My emotions took the wrong time to clog up my throat and make my vision blurry with tears.
“Hey. Shh.” Austin’s strong arms wrapped around me and the heat felt magnificent.
I leaned in, wanting just one moment to rely on someone else for a change.
He smelled like sawdust and leather. Just like Dad used to.
I inhaled deeply to pull those memories in and hug them tight.
As I did, I tightened around Austin, practically plastering myself against him.
And his hard cock. Which also felt fantastic.
But was likely just a by-product of too many years inside, not enough freedom yet, and I squeezed tight for another second, scrunched up my smile and gave him my best happy face.
“Thank you for coming tonight, and tell Wolf and Tits thank you for me, too. Okay?” With another grin, I stepped back and away from temptation.
Because my sister was amazingly accurate when she described him as, “Tall, dreamy, and deadly.” I’d noticed the glee in his voice when talking about beating another human.
Ignorance was an effective shield when around bikers. That and not inhaling too deeply around the grosser ones.
Austin eyed the boxes. “I don’t have saddle bags.”
An easy problem to solve. “I do. Dad’s bike may be gone, but I still have his gear.
” I led Austin to the garage where he helped me pull down a box of Dad’s riding gear and custom leathers.
“Feel free to borrow anything you want.” I swallowed the lump in my throat and rallied.
“He’s not going to need them for a while. ”
The lid clattered to the floor as Austin dropped it to hold me again. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself.” His shoulders rose and fell. “Pinner has a good daughter. But he’s not getting out. You know that, right?”
I nodded but couldn’t say the words. And try as I might, I couldn’t muster a smile.
I blinked the tears down and tried to swallow the pain.
“Anything you need. Go ahead. And,” I swiped at my right eye where the tear was just about to escape, “if anyone gives you shit about this, let me know. I’ll set them straight. You tell ‘em Poppy’ll kick their ass.”
Austin clamped down on the laughter shaking his whole body. “Babe, you’re what? A buck twenty? You ain’t kicking anyone’s ass.”
While he was grossly under on my weight estimate, which was awesome, I had to pick a fight. On principle. I wouldn’t be Pinner’s oldest without some backbone. “I’ll let you know I can bash someone’s head in if I wanted to. I’ve got a baseball bat in my truck and I’m not afraid to use it.”
His tongue hit the corner of his mouth and stuck there as he found humor in my defiance. “I think you could. But should you?”
No. That would land me in prison, and no one would be on the outside to take care of Lily. “Ah… you’re right.”
“You’d be damn cute doing it.” He gripped an imaginary bat and swung through the air. “Home run! The crowd goes wild…”
His smile was so beautiful.
What would it hurt if I kissed him? Would I be an awful person? It was just a kiss. I tip-toed forward, waiting to see if he’d back away, and I could forget this foolish desire.
But he didn’t step away. Instead, he took a step toward me. Then another. “Poppy?”
“May I kiss you?”
His face changed from happiness to wonder. “Do you want to?”
I nodded, not daring to lose eye contact, because whatever this was, it was spellbinding. Mesmerizing, fantastic, unreal, and so damn powerful I don’t remember closing the distance between us.
And like before, being wrapped in his arms and pressed so tightly against his firm body filled a void in my soul.
It latched into place and buoyed me up like helium.
Our mouths met and what began so slowly shot up into the stratosphere like fireworks and our tongues and bodies tried to merge into one being.
When the kiss broke, I was breathless and awed. Never, in my entire life, had I ever been transformed so instantaneously or permanently as this. “I—”
“Oh shit.” Austin let go of me and backed against the wall. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I meant nothing by it. I just got carried away. I’m sorry.”
“It meant nothing?”
His face blanched, and his mouth fell open. “If Pinner found out I kissed his daughter…”
“He’d what? Break out of prison and kill you?” I crossed my arms and tapped my foot on the ground. “Well?”
“Probably?” Austin winced.
“No. He’s in. You said it yourself. He’s a lifer. He’s never getting out. And I am sick and tired of everyone telling me—”
“Everyone? You kissed other guys?”
“Not any bikers. Just assholes.”
Austin leaned forward, soaking in my whispered shame. “What was that? Wait, who?” His fists tightened.
Damn protective jerk. “I dated. Then, right about the time it got good, they found out my daddy hacked a man into pieces while he was still alive, and they’d get scared and take off. Happy?” The simple fact was my father was a monster everyone feared despite being in a cage.
He hesitated. Finally, he spoke. “I can’t do this.”
With that, he fled the scene.