Chapter 12 Ford
Ford
Iplace a slice of cheese on the bread and slap another slice of bread on top.
Cutting the sandwich in half, I toss one half in the trash and place the remaining half on a plate.
I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and pour three quarters of it down the sink.
I take the half-meal up to Effie. It occurs to me I should feel some level of bad, but I don’t. She didn’t, why the fuck should I.
She scrambles onto her knees when I place the plate on the floor, along with the bottle of water.
She snatches the pitiful sandwich and shoves half of it in her mouth.
Instead of feeling bad, flashes of myself eating like a pig resurface.
I spent hours dreaming of burgers and meals that consisted of more than a few bites.
She gave me enough to keep me alive, now she’s finding out how that shit felt.
“You can’t keep doing this to me,” she says around a mouthful of food.
I glare at her but say nothing. I lock up behind me when I leave and lean against the door.
She’s on her way to experiencing what I went through, though she’ll never know what it’s like to get a kicking every so often. That I have saved her from.
The walls begin to close in around me. Pulling at my collar, it does nothing to help me breathe.
I jog down the stairs, collecting Princess’s leash from the hook at the bottom of the stairs as I go.
The dog is on me before I have to call him and I slip the leash around his neck.
“Taking the dog for a walk,” I holler on my way out.
The late afternoon sun offers no warmth, and I yank my hood up and shove my free hand in my pocket.
The longer I walk, the clearer my mind becomes, and the easier it is to breathe. Especially when I end up at my mom’s house and let myself in.
“You should keep your door locked when you’re here on your own,” I tell her as I make my way into the kitchen.
The bags under her eyes aren’t so heavy today and her hair is clean and shines once again.
“Is there a reason I need to have it locked?”
“You never know what could happen.”
Frowning, she murmurs, “No, I suppose I don’t.”
She eyes the dog warily and I promise her, “He’s okay. Give him anything to eat and he’ll be your friend for life.”
“Sounds like having a son.”
I laugh and a tear rolls from her eye. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing, I just… I still can’t believe you’re really here. It’s like nothing happened.”
If only she lived in my head, I wish I could get over it and feel like nothing has happened.
She wipes her eyes and goes on to ask, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?”
“I wanted to check in, make sure you’re okay and so you know I’m okay.”
“How considerate of you,” she murmurs.
“I won’t put you through that again, Mom. I’m gonna be a better son.”
She crosses the kitchen and cups my cheek, side-eyeing the dog. “Just keep yourself alive. Don’t put yourself in reckless situations. And come home for dinner more often and I’ll be happy and content with life.”
“I can do that. I will do that.” Glancing at my watch, I need to get back to the club. Standing, I say, “I’ve got to go but I’ll see you soon.”
“Can we not bring the beast next time, please.”
I laughs as I ruffle Princess’s head. “Sure.”
Out on the front step, I stop and light a cigarette and smile. Perfect timing. Phoebe’s taking out grocery bags from the back seat of her dad’s car.
“You want some help?”
She jumps but she keeps her back to me. I exhale the smoke and flick it across the street as I walk toward her. She always hated me smoking, wouldn’t kiss me until I brushed my teeth.
Princess plods beside me and sits when I stop behind Phoebe.
“Leave me alone, Ford.”
She uses her hip to close the car door and glares at me when I have her full attention.
“Just being neighbourly.” I shrug.
I take in her hair all piled on top of her head and her makeup free face. Her beauty has me growing hard and I will my dick to go back down.
“Go out with me tomorrow night,” I blurt out.
“Even if I weren’t heading back to school in the morning, I wouldn’t go out with you.”
“You wound me.”
“Don’t joke about this, not with me. You broke me, you don’t get to decide you want to pick me back up after I made myself whole.”
I drop the jesting, and tell her seriously, “I want to make it right between us.”
“Why?” It almost pains her to ask.
Or maybe she’s protecting herself from my answer. It doesn’t matter, a reason doesn’t come to me, and my silence angers her.
“Go back to your new life, Ford. Leave me to live mine.”
I watch her head into the house and slam the door shut. Princess nuzzles against my thigh, and I start our walk back to the club.
I should’ve told her that I want it right between us because I should never have fucked it up in the first place.
That every move I’ve made since she left for school has been made in pain of her absence.
While I’m not going to change my lifestyle now for her, it could’ve been different if I just told her the truth.
I scope out every shadow we pass as I walk. Four guys hanging around just inside the alley coming up have me tightening my hold on the leash.
I keep my face forward, wanting to just get back to the club. I should have known better than to leave the club alone when they step out onto the street. Princess lets out a low growl.
“Look, boys. A lone asshole.”
I come to a stop, and it doesn’t take them long to circle me. My mind moves at top speed, and I try to figure out how I’m going to get out of this.
None of them draw any guns. That gives me hope I won’t die tonight.
Straightening my shoulders, I hold my chin high and vow to myself that these pricks aren’t going to get the better of me. Not after everything I’ve been through. I didn’t survive that just for these motherfuckers to take me out.
“Do what you’ve gotta do, I’ve got shit to do,” I warn.
I loosen my grip on Princess’s leash. I can’t see the two pricks behind me, but I listen hard for any steps being taken as I keep my eye on the two in front of me.
It occurs to me I have my gun on me, but if I start letting off shots, it’s going to attract attention the club doesn’t need.
My last fist fight was when I was in high school but it’s like riding a bike, your muscle memory doesn’t forget.
I don’t know if it’s the darkness making this feel more menacing than it is, but my heart is pounding, and their slowness is throwing me off.
Predators circling me but I’m not going to be the prey this time. Fuck this. If they’re going to take their sweet time before making a move, I’ll do it for them.
Releasing Princess, he goes on the attack to our front while I spin on my heel and start swinging my fists.
I catch one prick on his jaw, and he stumbles back.
I jump straight on the other and throw my fists one after the other.
Keeping my senses open around me, I hear one of them cry out, yelling for someone to help get the dog off of him.
While they’re distracted by the dog, I throw punches as fast as I can, not giving the two I’m dealing with a chance to get close to me.
A car horn blasts somewhere off in the distance then I hear her urgent voice.
I need to get out of here. I need to get her out of here.
I pull out my gun and the two pricks back up and run off down the street.
I turn and Princess is mauling the shit out of another prick’s leg and his friend is warily trying to come up from behind, a flick knife in his hand.
Fuck me, if he hurts Victoria’s dog in any way, Luca will slice my balls off. I close the distance and press the tip to the back of his head.
“Run and live. Don’t, you die,” I grunt, breathlessly.
He holds his hands up, and the knife drops from his hand and lands by my feet on the ground. I kick it out into the road and watch him run.
“Princess!” I yell sternly.
It takes a few moments, but the dog comes back to my side, blood dripping from his mouth. I crouch beside the guy writhing on the ground like a pussy.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Fuck you!” he moans.
“Ford!”
What the fuck is she doing here?
Police sirens fill the air, and I stand. I grab at Princess’s leash and head for Phoebe’s car.
“This ain’t over, biker!”
Shoving Princess in the back, I fall into the front seat. “Drive!”
She slams her foot on the gas and the back wheels spin before we pull off.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demand.
Her hands tremble on the wheel and in her fear, she drives through the stop light. I don’t know why but I laugh.
“I was so angry with you. I was coming to yell at you.” She glances at me, then shrieks, “Are you laughing at me?”
I wipe the smile from my face and shake my head.
“I’ll take you yelling at me over ignoring me.”
She looks over her shoulder and tells me, “Your dog is dripping blood all over my seats!”
“Don’t freak out. I’ll clean it.”
“What was that back there?”
I shrug and it hurts. Why would it hurt? Looking down at myself, the dark patch covering my shoulder catches my eye.
“I don’t know,” I tell her, shoving my hand under and up my hoodie to have a feel around.
“Take me to the club,” I order and hiss in pain when I dig my finger into a stab wound.
Which one of them stabbed me? I didn’t even see them holding a knife.
“Is this your life now? Walking home and you get attacked?”
“Looks like it,” I mumble and put pressure on my wound.
I’m grateful when she stays quiet, though her anger fills every inch of the car. The club comes into view, and I sigh with relief.
“This is crazy, Ford. It’s not normal. You can’t seriously think this is the life you need to live.”
I sigh. “Just drop me off, then take yourself straight home.”
She stops outside the club, and I swing open my door, grunting through the pain shooting down arm and across my shoulders from the movement.
I collect Princess and he bounds out of the car and runs straight for the door. I let out a sharp whistle and he returns to my side.
It takes me a hot minute to realise Phoebe is following me through the side gate.
“I told you to go home.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re okay. You’ve been stabbed!”
My adrenaline is rushing. I haven’t got the energy to argue with her. I lead Princess over to the water hose and clean the blood off of him and step back when he shakes the excess water off.
Phoebe’s quick to hide behind me and I can’t deny it, I like how close she is. She grabs onto my arm, forgetting it’s fucking killing me and then shrieks when I hiss in pain.
“Sorry.”
I need to talk to Luca. I grab a towel from the kitchen counter once we’re inside and towel the dog off before he goes in search of his owners.
Everyone’s in the bar and they all stand when they see me. I catch a glance of myself in the mirror and see the bruise below my left eye forming and a small cut on my cheekbone. I don’t even remember being hit.
Luca’s across the bar and in front of me first.
“Talk.”
“I was walking home from my mom’s and four pricks tried jumping me.”
His eyes land on the bloody patch.
“Got stabbed. Don’t think it’s too deep, but it needs looking at. Is Rudi here?”
“Yeah.” Over his shoulder, he calls out, “Angel, get your old lady down here.”
Angel disappears and I sink down onto a chair. I shrug out of my cut and whip my hoodie and tee over my head, dumping them on the floor.
“What’s this? Why is she here?” Luca asks, pointedly staring at Phoebe.
“I’m here to make sure he’s okay. And he has blood to clean in my car.”
“Prospect! Clean her car.” He looks back to Phoebe. “Give him your keys. Ford ain’t scrubbing shit with his arm tonight.”
She passes her keys over and then the weight of the last half hour presses her down. I pull out the chair next to mine and she sits.
“As soon as your car is cleaned, you need to go home. Go back to school tomorrow and forget tonight ever happened,” I tell her.
“Not likely.” She snorts.
Rudi comes down the stairs and sets a small bag on the tabletop and expertly puts on a pair of gloves.
I lean back in the chair as she assesses my shoulder.
“You’re lucky. It’s not deep but you will need stitches.”
“Do it.”
Warren passes Phoebe a shot of tequila, telling her, “For the nerves.”
I don’t like the smile she gives him, and I certainly don’t like the shit-eating grin he gives her when she necks it back in one.
He takes the glass from her, and I relax when he stays behind the bar. Rudi jabs her needle in and out of my shoulder, and I relax further when Phoebe slides her hand across my thigh. I need to get this shit with her sorted. I don’t have the mental energy to dwell on it.