CHAPTER FOURTEEN
-:- Paisley -:-
“Come on, Paisley, let”s go to my place and get something to eat. You know you’ll need to eat before you go to the range for training with Winter. She doesn’t go easy on us, so expect to work hard on the learning front.” Mia giggles and I’m hoping that doesn’t mean she knows something I really need to know, before I go for this training, rather than think ‘oh shit,’ after I’ve been.
“I’m coming.”
Now, both myself and Jo, who is walking at the side of me, are trying to keep up with Mia, who has a twin on each hip yet is steamrolling from the clubhouse to her house.
Walking into Mia’s kitchen, I throw myself into a seat at the kitchen table and hold my head in my hands while my elbows rest on the table.
“You need to get fit,” Mia states, and I must give her a shocked look because she giggles then says, “Come on, Paisley, I have these two monsters and one on the way and can out speed walk you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I reply while rolling my eyes at her, much to Jo’s amusement, as she sits next to me.
We both watch as Mia puts the boys into a playpen. Well, it’s more like a barricaded area. Toys, cushions, blankies as the twins call them, and even a pair of plastic seats for them to use as they are miniature size.
Looking over at us when opening the fridge, Mia quirks an eyebrow. Jo quickly shakes her head as she answers the unspoken question. “Not for me, Mia.”
“I’ll have a soda if you have one, please.” I’m not sure why I asked for that, but presume I must like them.
Mia takes a seat and we all three sit quietly as we watch the boys settling down next to each other, pulling up a blankie and snuggling together.
“How are things going, Paisley?” Jo asks.
“Good, I think. I keep remembering small things, but nothing that makes sense at this time.”
“How’s married life?” Mia asks, and she has an odd look in her eye.
“Okay, nothing spicy happening.” I can’t help the huge sigh that escapes.
“You not getting any, Pais?” Jo asks, and I have to smile at her chopping my name to a nickname for the first time.
“Nope. I think I’m well enough now too. Can’t remember much but I’m sure I can remember how to have sex.” I know I’m now starting to whine, but hey I have a good-looking husband and he’s not doing his husband-y thing.
Jo gives Mia a look, and Mia returns it before she leans back in her chair, folds her arms over her chest and looks me right in the eye. “Okay, we’re going to tell you everything we know. Then we need to know if you are onboard or not. If you are then we’re going to sort this shit out.”
My mouth must drop further and further open until my chin is on my chest. Seems my liar of a husband wasn’t my husband, but he is now. Yeah, it’s complicated alright!
I was married to a freaking Senator who may be crooked as a bent fork and I have information on him he doesn’t want told. Maybe this folder and diary Mia mentions I need to see. It may just jog my memory to what the heck is going on.
“Okay, so I really am married to TwoCents?” I ask once more.
“Oh, yeah, you’re really his wife. They made sure you were married so nobody could use anything against you. But girl, you got yourself one heck of a good man. TwoCents is into you and I’m thinking he’s not going to let you walk away once this is all solved.” Jo is looking at me with wide eyes, but she’s blinking more than necessary, and I’m not sure if she’s worried about my state of mind or her own.
Jo tells me all about her and Knuckles getting together and boy, it seems she had her own trouble before settling down. But Mia’s was even worse and to have served unnecessary time was just cruel.
“So, do you want to get this marriage off to a good start or what?” Mia asks.
“Yeah, I think I do. I feel like he’s my husband. Maybe it’s because we’ve been married a while, and he has been acting like we are truly married, that it feels so real. But I’m willing to give this a shot rather than have two failed marriages behind me.”
“Okay, fill us in on everything you can remember about TwoCents”, and his excuse for not having intimacy,” Mia grins.
Lunch is hilarious, we plot and plan, and if and when we can drop things into the mix to get TwoCents back for his not coming clean, then we will. Two can play this game, and we hope to play our hand well.
Back at the clubhouse, after a coffee with TwoCents and me, Jo heads off to do some writing. “See ya later, Pais.”
“Pais? I like that. I think I’m going to call you that from now on. We’ve never gone down the ‘nickname road’.”
Looking down my nose at him, I think this is a good time to have a little dig at him.
“Well, you have one as such, with your club name. I don’t remember you calling me any endearing term. I never want to be Babe, Doll, or even Princess. I’ll settle for Pais. For now, anyway.”
Walking into the shooting range with TwoCents later, I give Winter a small wave. TwoCents has a hand on my lower back guiding me to the reception desk. We must look like the married couple we are, but no one knows that I now know what has been going on.
“Come on, Paisley, let’s go look at some weapons, get the feel in your hand for which feels comfortable. We’ll see you all later.” Winter guides me away and I give a two-finger wave to TwoCents and blow him a kiss, which has his eyebrows shoot up his forehead.
Phase one–starting, I think to myself.
Winter goes over all the safety lessons first. I must have handled a gun at some point, as I can strip down and reassemble the Glock we’re using without a problem. I don’t remember any time I’ve held a handgun, let alone fired one, but I definitely know how to strip one, clean it, and rebuild it ready for use.
When she hands me an AR15 rifle, I can do the same with that. An image flashes across my mind of a bolt-action rifle. Something makes me flinch and I spin to my right, raising the AR15 as though to defend myself.
“Whoa! Paisley! It’s okay. There’s nothing there.” Winter has her hand on the rifle, pushing the muzzle toward the floor.
“There was a memory of something on my right. Attacking me, I think. Winter, do you have a bolt-action rifle I could hold? There’s a memory so close, but just not quite there.”
“Sure thing. Give me a minute to grab one. Should I grab TwoCents from the office, too?”
“NO! I mean, not yet. Let me play this out first, okay?” Having TwoCents here will somehow cloud my memory. He isn’t part of the memory. Now I don’t know how I know that, but I sure as hell do.
I take some deep calming breaths while I wait for Winter to return with a rifle. Seeing her carrying a beautiful wooden rifle with a scope fitted has my body tingling. I feel sweat breaking out all over me.
Taking another deep breath, I take the rifle from her and wait. Nothing! Not a darn thing. What the hell? Looking down the range through the scope does nothing either. I don’t believe this. I know there’s a memory. I just had a flash of it.
I subconsciously operate the bolt action and the noise it makes suddenly triggers something. Again, I spin to my right and the gun jumps to my shoulder. There’s a man running at me with a machete. He’s looking directly at me and in that instant, I know he’s going to kill me. I pull the trigger and see him stagger. Working the bolt again, I fire from the hip and this time he falls to the floor.
I’ve just killed a man!
I hear someone calling my name, and it takes several seconds before I realize it’s not part of the memory. Winter has taken the rifle, though I don’t know how or when. She keeps repeating my name and gradually I return to some sort of sanity.
“Paisley, are you okay? What happened?”
“There was an animal coming at me. I think I was on a safari in Africa. It came out of some scrub and I shot it twice.” Now why have I just lied? Who have I killed and why was he going to kill me?
“I think I’ve done enough for today, Winter. At least we know I’ve handled guns before.”
Meeting back up with TwoCents, I tell him the same story of an animal running at me. This time I tell them it was a warthog! What the hell am I doing? This is just getting worse and the hole I’m digging for myself is getting deeper, but I need time to process this memory.
That didn’t go as I was expecting, I think to myself.
Once we leave the shooting range, we head to the house. I’d told TwoCents I needed more clothes, and I did, but I also wanted to walk around and see if anything more jogs my memory.
Walking into the house, the first thing that hits you is that it’s lifeless. The place has no home energy to it, no smell of food cooking, no breeze from an open window. It’s just lifeless!
“I’m not sure this is my home anymore, TwoCents. It feels dead to me.” I look at TwoCents over my shoulder and he is looking at me with some concern on his face.
“We can make it a home Pais, it’s a nice place. It just needs people to be in and out, you know, living in it.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.” I walk from room to room and stop in the basement, which is now neat and with no dirty clothing lying around.
“Heather spoke to Alf and they have someone coming in three times a week, doing the laundry and taking it to the shop. The shop is doing so well with Sentry running it. Man, has he taken to this.”
“I liked Hannah and I could work with her easily. Her husband was nice, too. I hope he’s going to be okay and find something to ground him now that he’s left the service.”
“He’ll be good. We’ll watch him, and if needed we’ll pull him into one of the businesses so he has his mind on something.” TwoCents gives me a kiss on the top of my head and wraps me in his arms. It feels so right that I relax back against him, and close my eyes for a moment. Well, until I remember he was supposed to come clean.
Picking up magazines, looking at photographs, frames of scenes hanging on the walls. I know I did them as they all have my signature on the bottom right corner. But I feel a twinge in the side of my head, and as I rub it, a flash of memory comes back to me.
“I just remembered. I don’t want to be a professional photographer anymore, and I was closing down my businesses. I enjoy helping people and the Swap Shop was my dream. I don’t know what I want to do now to earn a living. But I know it’s not what I had been doing.”
TwoCents surprises me by saying, “Pais, you don’t need to work if you don’t want to. We have enough money to live a good life. I’m going to have a cabin built in the compound. I’ve picked the spot and will show you another day. We can survive easily, so you have plenty of choices about what you want to do. But I would like kids in the future.”
“You want kids? With me?” I turn in his arms and look at him, searching his face to see how honest he is being.
“Well, I wouldn’t want kids with anyone else. You’re my wife. Of course, I want my kids with you.”
Before I can respond, TwoCents slams his mouth on mine and pushes his tongue into my mouth, fully taking everything from this kiss that he can.
Now I”ve got to tell you that my knees are weak and I’m hanging onto him for dear life because shit, I’ve never been kissed like this before. Well, I don’t think I have?
After locking up the house, we head back to the clubhouse, eat the late meal, and settle in the common room. Mia gives me a flick of the chin and I make my escape to the playroom, where Mia is grinning like a fool.
“Here you go, it’s up to you now.” Mia hands me what we’d discussed earlier at her house.
I quickly go back to the common room, but walk up to TwoCents, swinging my hips a little more than necessary, gaining some of the brothers” attention.
Standing in front of TwoCents, I give him a sultry smile, which has him squinting at me suspiciously.
“I got this for you, lover boy. I thought you may need a little help; you know…” while looking at his crotch area, “getting it up.”
Shooting straight up in his seat, I grab his hand and hold the little blue pill in the air so all can see. I hand it to TwoCents, wink, then walk out of the room.
Rounding the corner of the common room, I bolt, running fast to our room while laughing all the way. I can’t hold the laughter back because the look on TwoCents” face, and the ribald comments I left behind me are truly hilarious.
Well, I think it’s hilarious until I hear heavy footsteps behind me. Shit, TwoCents is right on my heels, and I pick up speed. Slamming our room door open and bolting for the bathroom.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are?” TwoCents sing-songs, and shit, it has me giggling, giving away my position immediately.
The bathroom door swings open and TwoCents stands there, arms folded across his chest. Now, he’s not the biggest of the brothers, but standing there, I have to say, he looks mighty tasty.
Walking slowly over to him, I reach up and put my arms around his neck. Sensing that he’s not going to bend down for the kiss I definitely feel the need for, I hop up and wrap my legs around his waist. This has me slightly above him now, so I lean down and put everything I have into the kiss. I hold it for as long as I can without having to stop for a breath.
“Take me to bed, husband. I want to remember what our wedding night was like. Think you can do that? Remind me?”