Chapter 5 Put a Bell On
PUT A BELL ON
POPPY
Friday, the magical day when Lily would pay me back…
came and went. By Sunday I was worried. She always crashed at my house on weekends.
It spared her from her mother’s constant trail of men.
I knew her mom was a hooker. And I knew the club tried its best to keep her busy at the club, but Jewel was a bitch.
A conniving, lying… I squashed the anger down and tried to stay positive.
“I’ll go to the club. Maybe if Jewel’s there, Lily will be at the trailer, and okay. ”
Plan made, I swung by the trailer first to see if Lily’s car was parked on the weedy gravel pad. It wasn’t, and the windows of the mobile home were dark. Plan B. Find Jewel.
I pulled into the junkyard where the club was.
The prospect at the gate didn’t want to let me in, so I had to wait for him to call the main building, get authorization, and then weave through the stacked rows of squashed and wrecked cars until I was close enough to the main building to park safely.
As I stared at the husks of vehicles, I wondered which RV Austin was sleeping in.
None in range looked remotely habitable.
I felt awful for him. If it were my father, he’d have a home…
family. “Enough. Find Lily, forget about that kiss.”
“You talking to yourself?” Sprout leaned on the pillar ten feet down.
“Put a bell on or something.”
His grin glinted in the dark. “Where’s the fun in that? You looking for Smoke?”
“No, my sister.”
“She ain’t here.” His humor dropped like a stone and his reply was quick.
I looked at the lot. Bike after bike lined up in front of the building. Near my car were a few vehicles. Some nice, some almost worse than the salvage cars smashed into alleys beyond. “Is Jewel here?” I didn’t know what she was driving lately.
He groaned. “Yeah. Upstairs. Want me to send someone up?”
I debated the inconvenience. “I can wait until she takes a break. I just want to know if Lily stopped by her house is all.”
He peeled off the post and wrapped an arm over my shoulder.
“Come on. We’re doing this.” Despite using the word, “we,” Sprout deposited me at the bar, tucked into the corner, warning everyone in earshot that I was Pinner’s little girl and there would be dismemberment if anyone breathed on me, then he stomped up the stairs two at a time. He came down about forty seconds later.
“She says she hasn’t been home.”
Home. The word rankled under my skin. Lily had a home with me. I wanted a drink. I wanted my sister. I wanted a lot of things.
“Hey Poppy.” Austin sat down on the stool next to me and signaled the girl behind the bar for a beer. While he waited, he acknowledged Sprout and asked me how I was doing.
He’d been a great listener this week during lunch breaks, and even went as far as waiting with me while I wrapped up loose ends long after the crew left.
I’d gotten over the rejection of our scorching kiss then his subsequent retreat.
Mostly. I knew the men feared and respected my father.
It was to be expected, right? But I was not alright. “Lily’s missing.”
He glanced at Sprout.
“Jewel says she hasn’t been home.”
Austin’s brow lowered. “How long has she been gone?”
I shook my head. “I gave her sixty dollars on Monday That was the last I saw her.”
He waved off the beer and stood up, collecting his jacket. “Sprout, ‘you coming with?”
“Yeah, guess so. Fuck.” He pulled on his coat and then began firing off questions.
No sooner than Sprout took a breath, Austin jumped in with ones of his own.
I listed off all the places I knew that were her friends’ hangouts or homes.
Some of the people were not truly her friends, they were dealers.
I made certain to convey the distinction.
Then I listed the clubs she’d spoken about in passing.
The ones she managed to get into despite being underage.
“I’ll take the north side of town. You got Poppy?” Sprout asked.
Austin nodded. I chimed in to amend Sprout’s plan. “I can take downtown, while Austin takes the south side.”
Sprout stopped in his tracks. A few other bikers within hearing distance perked up.
“Did Poppy just call you by your government name?” Skinner, one of the nosier members was too curious. I had to set him straight.
“That’s right, Justin.”
“Dammit, Poppy.” Skinner adjusted his hat and hid his scowl behind a glass.
“You are going with Smoke’m. I’m not losing both of Pinner’s kids. On her like glue.” Sprout made a hand gesture to Austin, aka Smoke, to keep eyes on me at all times. “Not one scratch.”
“You heard him. We’ll take the bike. Come on.”
If my sister wasn’t missing, and the night wasn’t so cold and foggy, I’d be squealing for joy.
A motorcycle ride… from a Destroyer! The last one I’d been on was right before my father was arrested.
As soon as Austin’s head was turned, I did a little shiver dance to expel some of the excitement bubbling up inside.
Then I was back to calm, composed, sensible Poppy.
Three hours later, I regretted ever setting my ass on a bike. I was numb from the thighs down.
“Walk around a bit.” Austin idled in my driveway. “You’re not used to riding, are you?”
“No. I probably embarrassed my father. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. It happens to the best of us. We rode hard tonight. Sorry we couldn’t find her.” He frowned and continued. “I’ll keep looking.”
“The bars are closed. People are in bed. You have work. Go home.” Ick, to a trailer. I decided right then that I’d invite him in. “On second thought. Stay here tonight.”
His eyebrows shot upward. “No can do. Not even innocently.”
“You know, I’m beginning to hate my father. How am I ever going to get laid?”
Austin choked on something and then started coughing. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I want sex. Preferably before I turn thirty. So, I’m offering you one shot at all this.” With as little as I was, the sweep down to my toes and back didn’t take long.
His eyes lingered a second too long to make any protest he had not a lie.
“He’s in jail,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, and he’s got friends on the outside.”
“Yeah. You. And that’s who I want. You.” It took guts not to look at my toes after my declaration.
His jaw worked as he debated what he could say. “I am honored, but—”
“No. Come inside.”
“Absolutely not. Nope. Sorry Poppy. Get behind that locked door so I can leave. I need to hear the deadbolt. Go.”
“I’m going to be a virgin forever.” I slammed the door shut and flicked the lock with such force it bounced back to unlocked. Bastard. It would serve him right if I left it that way. But I was sensible enough to flick it back into position.
Then and only then did Austin rev his bike and pull out of my driveway. “I wish… I wish I could be like Lily and not give a shit.”
“Hell yeah, mamasistah.”
I jumped almost two feet. “Lily you’re home.” And swaying drunk, or on something. She leaned against the wall and her eyes were glassy.
“Shit yeah. I needed a place to crash. Mom locked me out again.”
That bitch. Lily wasn’t more than half of my flesh and blood and I would never turn on her like that. Even if she wasn’t related at all, I would have a hard time turning her away. She needed someone in her corner.
“You know you can move in here with me.”
She blinked and swayed some more. “Um. No. I couldn’t fuck here. It’s too… virginal. Why did I want a pink room?”
I slipped an arm under hers and helped her stagger down the hall to her room.
And yes, it was pink. Frilly pink. A little girl’s dream come true.
I helped Dad decorate it. Now the pink was slightly less childish, and a bit more Lily with posters and two lava lamps.
Plus, there were French-inspired carnival masks she and I made one weekend not too long ago.
I’d painted mine bright purple and an almost transparent sea foam green.
A red and black checkered harlequin pattern, accented with black lace and dark sequins, adorned her mask.
Both hung on the wall between the two closets.
Hers directly under mine. “Here we go. Did you want any water, Alka-seltzer?
“Hook me up with that hangover medicine you swear by. I’m going to need it.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to demand answers. Instead, I tried the indirect approach. “Did you have fun?”
“Oh, fuck yeah. I met this guy.” She held out her hands, and the gap ranged from three inches to almost eighteen as she tried to lock in dick size. “This fucking big. Man, I’m broken. He broke my pussy.”
“That’s nice. What’s his name?”
“Uh… Some city name. Fuck. Dallas, Fort Worth…?”
A cold slither of doubt crawled up my spine. “Austin?”
She stuck her finger on her nose. “That’s it. Austin. That’s Tex ma’am, get your boots off the stage. A very bad cowboy.” She giggled and fell onto the bed with one leg dangling off and her clothes tangled around her body.
I stuffed down resentment and shame, and a lifetime’s worth of worry, and removed her shoes and helped her get into something she wouldn’t get strangled by later.
“Did I also mention, he kisses like a fucking Hoover vacuum. I thought my tongue was going to fall off. Fucking-A.”
I yanked her leg up onto the bed, rolling her to the side with the momentum.
She curled up into a ball, hugging the fuzzy black teddy bear I bought as a gift for her sixteenth birthday.
She loved that more than the mall gift card and shopping trip I’d splurged for.
It stayed here, because, to quote Lily, “Jewel, that bitch, would gut it with a knife and feed it to me for breakfast.”
Lily’s hair tangled around her face. I brushed it out of the way. Her makeup was smeared, and she looked a few pounds thinner than usual. She hadn’t eaten.
I didn’t like the way her veins floated too close to her skin, either.
But she was beautiful. Tragically pretty. Like her mother back in my childhood memories. At one time, Jewel turned heads. Every Destroyer wanted her. Except one. I straightened a lock of hair that flopped out of place. Dad put up a fight. But Jewel won.
Then she ruined the gift they made. My poor sister. If she’d been my full sister, we’d have both known nothing but love.
My nose was snuffly, so I did one last check on Lily before going to my bathroom and cleaning my face. Mid-mask, I realized Austin, and maybe Sprout, was still out there looking for Lily. I called the bar to let them know she was here. Safe at home. Where she belonged.
Austin answered.
“Oh hi, you made good time.”
“It’s not far. I was just waiting for Sprout.”
“I’m sorry I put you both through this tonight. If I’d had known she was on her way here—”
“Poppy?” His tone admonished me, but left it open enough to not sting.
“I know. I’m enabling her, aren’t I?”
It was late enough the party had wound down. I heard him sigh over the jukebox. “Yeah. She needs help. Professional help.”
“You’re right, but she also has to want it.”
“She can’t do that by soaking off your good graces. You realize that, right?”
I bit my lip. “Yeah.” My mind drifted, and I had to ask what was bothering me. “Silly question, where were you all weekend?”
“Here and there. We had a ride yesterday. I’ve been staying at Sprout’s mostly. Friday’s party was … uh wild?”
And Lily-free because Sprout wouldn’t lie to me, would he? “You’re staying at Sprout’s? That’s good. I hope you aren’t bothering Danielle too much, she’s an introvert.”
“Not when she’s drunk.”
I laughed, because his comment was accurate. She was a downright lively drunk. “I missed the ride.”
“Did you get feeling back in your ass yet?”
“Yes, thank you for asking.” I smiled, remembering how amazing it felt to be on the back of his bike. And wrapping my arms around him. I could still sense the firmness of his stomach in the tingling of my fingertips, and imagined the smell of leather in my nostrils. It was glorious. “I enjoyed it.”
“Despite what I said, I could invite you to the rides. We can’t… I can’t go there with you, Poppy, but I can get you back in the fold. Let you have fun with your father’s club. Under their watchful eye.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I enjoyed having you on the back of my bike. It felt… right.”
“It felt like home.” I didn’t mean to say it aloud, but I didn’t regret saying it either.
“It did. And I haven’t had one of those in a while.”
That hurt to hear. Knowing my father was stuck in prison and would never know that place again made it even harder to hear. I gathered up my courage and let my heart guide me. “I didn’t mean it when I said that was a one-time offer. It’s open any time.”
He was so quiet; I heard the laughter of one of the whores they kept there. “You have to know, I’m not a saint, Poppy. And your offer? It’s tempting.”
And I wanted kisses so amazing I’d brag to my sister about them. “Come home.” I hung up the phone and stared at it. I’d made my choice. And I didn’t regret it at all.