CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
-:- TwoCents -:-
Nearly the weekend, thank fuck. It’s been a hell of a week so far, and it”s only Thursday. It’s been three days since the incident with Paisley and the attempted grab at the Swap Shop. We are waiting for news from Aaron, plus Tank and Specs have not found where the fucker who tried to grab Paisley is hiding.
We also need to find Irvin, and make our mind up as to his payback for all that he has been involved in.
Walking down to the common room and heading to the kitchen where Pais is having her breakfast, I pass Eden and Silver. Eden doesn’t look so hot, but I’m staying out of any Ol’ Lady crap. All it does is get your ass beat.
Hearing a loud groan, I stop and turn to look, and seeing Eden gripping her swollen belly and Silver looking up panicked, I sigh as I have to ask what’s wrong.
“Everything okay?”
“Does it look okay?” Silver snarls.
I hold my hands up like I’m surrendering. “Wow, I only asked.”
“Get Stitch, will you?” Silver again snaps.
Walking through to the medical room, I sigh as there’s no sign of Stitch, but to be fair, it is still early and he and Gemmy don’t live at the clubhouse anymore. Heading back to the common room, I stop when I see Eden standing in a puddle of water, Silver looking like he wants to pass out and Mia smirking at the both of them.
“Stitch isn’t here yet,” I state, but keep back from the saga that is playing out in front of me.
“We don’t need Stitch. We need to get Eden to the hospital. This baby boy is coming and not waiting for anyone. So, get moving Silver. You need to get her into the SUV and on her way, or someone is going to be catching your son as she pushes him out.”
I stay back and wrap my arms around Paisley as she leans against me after walking out of the kitchen. We are both wide-eyed at what we are watching, but the panic around the common room is so bad that we don’t want to get involved.
“When we have kids, we are going to practice what will happen, ‘cause TwoCents, this is a shitshow if I’ve ever seen one,” Pais says, but I can hear the laughter in her voice.
“Yeah, I am happy to do some practice in making them, and the delivery part,” I start chuckling when I see Jo get her pen out and start to write fast in her notebook. Probably her character is gonna have a child now, I’m thinking.
Axel passes and gives me a stern look as he does, then stops and turns back. “You two, go to Club Whisky and make sure it runs smoothly until further notice.”
We don’t have time to argue before Axel is out of the common room, following Mia, who is following Eden and Silver. Amelia steps up to us and grins, “I’ll make sure the twins are okay, and we’ll keep things running smoothly here. You two do Club Whisky as Axel said, and I’ll let Sentry know that Paisley won’t be at the Swap Shop.”
I look at Paisley and she looks back at me, both of us shrugging at the same time before heading out to Club Whisky for the day. It’s going to be a long day too because we won’t be back until the early hours of tomorrow morning.
An hour later we are at Club Whisky after I’d called in all the staff. They are all now standing around the kitchen waiting for what I have to say. I left Paisley in the newly painted office, which thankfully is now gray and cream. I’m betting Silver’s eyes were smarting after he’d painted over that shitty green color.
“Okay, listen up, everyone. Eden went into labor this morning, and is at the hospital at this time. Silver, of course, is with her and won’t be coming in to work. You lucky people have me and Paisley, so anything you need to ask, just run it past us and if we don’t know the answer, we’ll find out.”
I wait for the gushing of excitement to stop from the women and then continue. “We are giving you all a pay raise as the club has been doing so well. The raise will show in your next pay, so watch your bank statements. If you don’t see the pay raise, let me know and I’ll check why.”
Tony gives me a huge smile. “I’m ready for some extra pay because I’m going to have an extension built on the back of the house. It’ll come in handy to have a few extra dollars.”
“Okay, let’s get organized. Those of you that were off today can hang on a few hours to make it worth coming in, or you can buzz until your actual shift.” I don’t need to say more because I know if they do extra hours, they make sure Silver knows when he does payroll at the end of the month.
Walking into the office, I stand a moment leaning on the door frame as I watch Paisley reading paperwork on the desk. She’s frowning with concentration, which has her looking, well cute, in my humble opinion.
“What you looking at?” I ask, making her jump in the process.
“Nothing really. I’m checking out how the payments are made to suppliers. I don’t have any of this to do with the Swap Shop, but it’s interesting to see.”
“Well, I suppose you have laundry detergents and stuff, plus your utilities for the shop.”
“Yeah, but I get laundry stuff from the warehouse. The rest is on autopay with the bank so I don’t have to think about them. So far, I’ve always had enough coming from the shop to pay for them. But it’s a good thing Sentry upped the prices a little, or we’d not have his salary.”
“You don’t make any salary from the place, do you?”
“No, but with the other businesses, I got by okay. I have my savings and I’m going to think about what I want to do now. I really don’t want to continue with photography or the designing.”
“Look, Pais, you don’t need to work. I make more than enough for us. When the cabin is built, we won’t have a mortgage around our necks. Take your time and think about what you want to do, and if you don’t want to work, you don’t have to. Helping with your Swap Shop business is enough, and you’ll get a salary from that now Sentry is running the place because he’ll have things selling everywhere in no time at all.”
“I never wanted the Swap Shop to earn much money. It was always about being there to help those that need it. I don’t want it to become a business for a lot of profit.”
“Okay. That’s not a problem. Just take your time deciding what you’d like to do and don’t rush into anything. What about traveling? You obviously enjoyed that.”
“No, not really. That was just a means to an end. It was always about the photoshoot. Most of my travels were to Africa, anyway. There was the odd trip to Europe, one to Australia and New Zealand. I just don’t know what I want right now.”
“There is one thing I’d like to talk about. Might as well get it out in the open and done with.” I feel like now is the time to discuss keeping secrets from each other, but I’m not sure how Pais is going to react to this.
“I don’t want us to have secrets between us. I want us to be open and no matter what happens, we tell each other everything. No skeletons in the closet or any of that shit.”
“Jesus Christ, TwoCents. That’s rich coming from you! Our entire relationship was built on a lie. As if that wasn’t bad enough, you kept digging yourself deeper.”
“That wasn’t my fault. I had to look after you and that was the only way the damn doctors would tell me anything. Then your past started catching up with us and made things even worse.”
“How could it be worse? You falsified a marriage, a certificate and everything.” I can’t hold back the eyeroll that happens.
“That was Axel and Specs. That wasn’t me, Pais. I just fell for you all the way. You just became someone I couldn’t do without.”
“So, you didn’t want to be married to me? Is that what you’re saying? We can soon turn this round. I know a good divorce lawyer.”
My head’s in my hands and I don’t know how this went to shit so fast. “Pais, I was referring to you shooting that guy in Africa. It wasn’t a warthog, was it? It was a man.”
“Yes. It was a man. A man with a goddamn BIG, SHARP, MACHETE. He was gonna slice me up like pastrami. Should I have just stood there?”
“No, of course not. When you remembered though, you could have told me the truth.”
“TwoCents, at what point do you suppose I knew what the truth was? I didn’t have my memory, remember? Maybe if I’d known the truth about us, maybe I wouldn’t have been so confused. I spent half my time trying to remember something that never happened because of your lies. It may have been for the right reason, but do you seriously think me trying to remember a husband and a wedding that never happened was a positive at that time?”
“No. I don’t think it was. I just don’t want any more lies between us. That’s all. I love you, Paisley Ann Wilson.”
“Well, it’s about time you said it.” Pais looks at me with enormous eyes.
“What do you mean, ‘about time’? I’ve told you before.”
“Nope. Not once, you ass. That’s the first time you’ve used those words, and it was about time, too.”
Standing up from the desk, she walks to me and kisses the hell out of me. “I love you too, TwoCents,” she whispers.
We spent the next few hours moving around the club, checking different areas, and helping where necessary. We had a lull, so I got a couple of sodas and went back to the office. That’s when I got another bombshell dropped on me.
“I’ve been talking to Mia. You know she has a Harley Davidson trike? Well, she showed it to me, and I want one. I don’t think I’d be good with two wheels, but I reckon I can do three.” Paisley is giving me a huge grin, and I can see the excitement on her face.
“Well, I’ll be happy to get you one, but…” giving her a serious look, “I’ll teach you and you take this seriously. It’s not a game.”
“Oh, thank you.” Paisley jumps up and wraps herself around me like a clinging monkey, but I’m not going to complain.
I have to admit that we have easily flowed with being married. It’s like we should always have been together. My life is more than a little enhanced with Paisley in it. I love this woman and I’m glad I finally got round to telling her, although I thought she knew. But for her to tell me she loved me in return was pretty damn awesome.