Page 3 of A Twist of Fate

A giant sigh heaved itself from my chest. There was no going back now though. I’d made the dumbass decision, and now I had to fish it out. I mean, stick it out. Damn tuna! Only, when I got closer to the studio, there were two bikers blocking the entrance. One of them looked like someone just shot his dog and the other seemed to be consoling him. I slipped off to the side, standing in front of the shop window. I could see Zeke and Kane standing there as Ever spoke to a third biker-man inside. When I glanced back over, the younger of the two bikers outside looked completely stricken. The color drained from his face, and I’d swear an invisible phantom must have just ripped his heart out right there as he stood on the sidewalk.

It was only then that I realized Ever’s voice had been raised and was drifting out the still cracked-open door. “You weren’t there when the only way out was a fuckin’ bottle of pills, that I couldn’t even manage to get myself to swallow, when not even my family would show up to celebrate my sixteenth birthday. None of them were there! None of them gave a shit, not even my brother, not for a long time. None of them cared until the truth came out, and even after that… you see how it goes. Just like today. I’m still in the wrong for feeling the way I do about people who made me want to end my life. I promised Lucy, my fuckin’ therapist, and myself that I would never allow people to take me back to that point again. So, I’m sorry if I don’t want to jump right back in and set myself up for that particular failure, okay? I was happy today for the first time in a very long time, and now it’s gone again because the Aces High MC came walking through that door and stole it from me, even if that wasn’t their intention this time.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Zeke demanded. The door to the shop shut tight, cutting off anything else that might have been said, and the young man I’d just witnessed having his heart wrenched free of his chest, he was openly sobbing right there in the middle of the sidewalk, for all to see. The bad ass biker in his denim and leather, with menace and swagger dripping from his essence was pulled to pieces and shredded while not giving a single fuck who witnessed it. It had something to do with Ever. She was one of the sweetest girls I knew, but in that moment, I wasn’t concerned about her. I knew the boys would have her back. Right then, I wanted to go hug the shit out of the boy whose heartache I had inadvertently witnessed.

It wasn’t long before the third man came out of the studio looking like the whole world just took a piss on his shoes. They spoke softly with one another, making it impossible to hear from where I stood. I figured that was my cue to quit gawking and get back to work. It wasn’t difficult to slip by the men unnoticed, and into the store. I thought it had been unnoticed anyway until I turned back and locked eyes with the man who wore his crushed soul in plain sight. I swear, it took everything in me not to go to him. I didn’t know what I could do to make an ounce of difference in his life, but whatever he needed, I could do that. Except that I couldn’t because he was a stranger and that would be weird.

Instead, my feet took me, by rote memory, to the front desk where my purse was quickly stowed away in the cabinet underneath before groaning out a heavy sigh as I slowly stood to my full five-foot, three-inch height that my current shoes allowed. I came face to chest with Sully and glanced up to see his brows pinched tightly together. “Man, one of those guys must have had sushi or something before coming here. Smells like the catch of the day over here!”

Fuck. My. Life!

I clamped my lips shut tight and just nodded my head vigorously. Better to blame the bikers for the smell than my poor lunch choice. Sully shrugged it off as he glanced at the calendar. “Okay, well, that was my last appointment of the day. I’m off for the night,” he reminded me. I nodded my head and smiled a tight-lipped smile. He tipped his head to the side, studying me a little as I tried to appear preoccupied with getting the computer back to the point of sale system we used to check people out when they purchased merchandise from the store portion of the studio. “You doing all right?”

I nodded again, leading Sully to just shrug and take a couple steps away. Thankfully. I was able to breathe out normally again without fear of tainting someone else’s air. Only, I breathed too soon, as it turned out.

“Damn, girl! That was you this whole time?” Sully questioned while laughing at me. “Here, you need this more than me,” he said as he dropped a tin of cinnamon flavored breath mints on the counter next to me. “What the hell did you eat, anyway?” Then his eyes rounded out really big in poorly faked shock, “Don’t tell me! It was that new girl at the bakery.”

I stood, stunned, tuna-breath wafting from my gaped mouth before I could pull it together, narrowed my eyes on the pesky bastard that was the bane of my existence today, and I let him have it. “I’m not a fucking lesbian!”

“Really? Could have fooled me. I’ve had the bakery’s catch of the day, and I’d say,” he leaned in and sniffed. “Yup, that’s about it.”

“Ew!” I screeched out. “You are not just the run-of-the-mill kind of cock weasel, you’re a rotten dicked, foul beast of a cock weasel.”

“Nah! I think that smells more like your deal, today.” On that note, he spun on his heel, cackled out a gleeful laugh, and left the store. “Later, sweetness!” He called before the door could hit him in that perfectly tight ass of his.

Kane came back up to the desk shortly after I took advantage of the mints on the counter. “Is Ever okay?” I asked him.

“You were here for that?”

“No, but I came back in the middle of it, I think. There was a biker outside breaking completely down. I mean, he was bawling his eyes out, and another trying to make him feel better. Then,” I swallowed thickly. “I heard a little of what she said at the end, about the pills.”

Kane moved in close to me then, and leveled me with serious eyes. “You will not repeat that again. If she wants you to know, she’ll confide in you.”

“Oh… Okay, I just, I only wanted to make sure she was okay,” I finally managed to get out. I’d never heard Kane sound so intense about a person before.

He nodded. “We have her. No need to worry.” He crossed off his next appointment, who must have cancelled, and then moved back toward our employee lounge area in back.

The tortured biker that I had seen out front that day had been Ever’s brother, Toby. It wasn’t the last time I saw him either. I supposed after the revelation that day, he was looking for anyway to make things up to his sister. I didn’t know everything that had gone down between them, but I’d heard enough over the course of her working in the shop that I had a pretty good gist. He had chosen sides once before, and it hadn’t been hers. It was obvious he had some pretty hardcore regrets about his actions, and the pain they had caused his sister, but I don’t think she was quite able to see through the years of hurt and torment she suffered to notice that it was genuine.

I was surprised to see him when he opened up the shop door and came sauntering into the lobby. He took everything in before heading over to where I sat behind the front desk. “Is there something I can do for you?” I asked the question while staring straight into his baby blue eyes. I could just fall right into those eyes and get lost, they were so mesmerizing. It wasn’t until I turned my attention to the rest of him that I noticed the cocky-as-fuck grin he was sporting. Tipping my head to the side, I narrowed my eyes at him and cocked a brow as if to ask, “What?”

“My sister done with J-Bird yet?”

I didn’t have to answer because the man in question came out of the back area looking somewhat doom and gloom, if I had to describe him. He just kept staring at his forearm like it was going to implode or something. Hell, considering all the turmoil he’d caused in Ever’s life, I could understand why he might be worried.

“Don’t suppose you have time for us today?” He asked after shifting focus from his friend to his sister. That was the first moment I realized he hadn’t come into the shop alone. There was an older, slightly greasy biker there with him, about 12 kegs past a pot belly, and leering in my general direction. I did not get warm and cuddly vibes from the guy. He seemed far more like a predator, and if I was being honest with myself, he was what I’d always pictured as the stereotypical biker-dude. He looked mean, dirty, and not like someone you wanted to mess around with.

“Actually, I have an appointment in 30 minutes,” Ever informed him, and before I could think better of it, I blurted words out of my mouth that I wished I could take back.

“No you don’t! That guy just cancelled. Something about being afraid of your boyfriend,” I informed her as all eyes moved from me to Ever. Hers stayed locked on my own for a minute, and if she could shoot daggers with them, I’m sure I would have been shish kabobbed right then and there. I shrugged my shoulders, smirked at her and added, “Pussy!” to describe the yuppie idiot in order to lighten the mood.

I didn’t notice if it helped with Ever or not because her brother turned those beautiful gem-like orbs of his on me, and the heat in them practically melted my panties right off my body. Okay, I wasn’t actually wearing panties since I was in faux leather, skin tight pants today, but still… That look would have demolished them if I had been. I quickly turned away, and went back to foraging up some supplies in World of Warcraft. I did it to take the attention off of me so that Ever wouldn’t get pissed, but it backfired a bit.

“A gamer chick, too?” Toby asked me as I continued ignoring him. I didn’t miss the way he adjusted himself. I smiled inwardly at the thought that I caused him some discomfort in those jeans of his that fit far too well already. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of room for growth, if you know what I mean. I knew what I probably looked like to him today. I was total biker-babe eye candy. I wore my faux leather pants with an electric blue tank top that had Permanent Marks logo on it. It went well with the blue streaks I had dyed into my otherwise golden blond hair. My four inch heels matched the shirt and made me top off at about five feet, four inches rather than the fact that I barely managed a solid five feet without them.

It was Ever’s response to her brother that finally drew me out of my thoughts of having Toby take me, right here on the front desk, damn whoever wanted to watch.

“If you ever learn some manners, you might actually get a girl,” she explained to her brother. The other men laughed at his expense.

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