Page 5 of Disturbed Lucidity

Mouth placed two shot glasses on the bar, reaching for a top shelf whiskey. Pouring the dark amber liquid to the brim, he slid the shot glasses across the bar and stated, “She’s too fine a piece of ass for you. What’d you do, order her from a catalog or something?”

Mikie laughed, downing his shot, before slamming the glass back on the bar. “Fuck no. Ivy and I go way back. My girl may look all sugary sweet, but she has balls of steel, man. My girl can throw down with the best of them. Seen her take on a guy three times her size and didn’t even break a fucking nail. Girl is scrappy, man, so watch yourself.”

Mouth threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t believe that crap one bit. A stiff wind will blow that girl over. Nice try though, brother.”

Ignoring the laughing man, Mikie turned toward me and asked, “So, have you decided? Or is this a temporary visit?”

“I’m staying.”

Mikie grinned his signature goofy grin and nodded. “Fucking-A!”

“Mikie, we need to talk first. Is there somewhere quiet we can go?”

He frowned but nodded as he slid from the stool.

Doing the same, I bent over and picked up my backpack, only for him to take it from me. Grabbing my hand, he led me past the main room, down a corridor that led to a set of stairs. Heading up them, he said nothing when he turned right at the top, down a long hallway. This place was a fucking maze. Thank God Mikie knew where he was going, because I would have surely gotten lost.

Stopping before a door, he reached for his keys before unlocking it. Seeing a door at the end of the hall, I noticed, unlike the rest of the doors in the hallway, that the door was made of solid metal.

“Whose door is that?” I asked, wondering what—or who—lived behind that door.

“That door belongs to the Devil himself.”

“What?”

“Sorry, it’s a running joke in the club. It’s the president’s room. In fact, all these doors you see on this side of the building belong to the officers. Anyone trying to get to that door has to go through us first.”

“I don’t understand. Can he not defend himself?”

Mikie doubled over, holding his stomach as he laughed. “Oh, fuck me, that was funny. The Prez is the most dangerous, deadly motherfucker in the club. Nobody fucks with him, ever. His word is law. He gives an order, you jump. No questions asked.”

Stepping to the side, Mikie let me pass.

When I was inside, he closed and locked his bedroom door.

Curious, I quirked my head.

“Sorry, babe, you don’t want to leave doors unlocked around here. When you are in a room, any room, make sure to lock the door. It’s safer that way.”

Gathering up clothes off his bed, he threw them on the floor behind him. “Sit. You want something to drink?”

Shaking my head, I looked around his room and sighed. He hadn’t changed a bit. My best friend was still a slob and in desperate need of a maid.

Dragging a wooden chair towards me, he flipped it around before straddling it. “So, what did you need to discuss that couldn’t be said downstairs?”

Reaching behind me, I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and opened my picture gallery. Tapping on a saved picture, I handed Mikie my phone and said, “I found her.”

“Who?”

“My birth mother.”

Mikie’s head snapped to me and frowned. “Ivy, why the fuck have you been looking for her? I thought you were over that shit?”

“I was. Until I remembered something. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Then it became a compulsion. You know I only remember bits and pieces, but this memory was crystal clear, Mike. I couldn’t ignore it. And look at her. We look the same.”

“So where is she?”

“She’s dead. According to what I found out, she died when I was four.”

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