Page 5 of Walker

“That’s bullshit.”

“What the fuck?” He snapped back at me.

“It’s bullshit. You can’t be the judge. Only the person who chooses to be with you can judge that. Besides, you carried the burden of the consequences of your actions. That tends to change a person.” I pointed out his bottle of water. “For instance, you know drinking doesn’t make you a good person, so you no longer do it. If you ask me, it sounds like you’re a man capable of learning from past mistakes.”

Walker grinned at me. “Thought the party line for women was ‘once a cheater, always a cheater’.”

“Nah. I believe circumstances play a huge part. It’s true for some people. For others, I think there’s a catalyst to start the behavior and another where they learn from their mistakes and never want to repeat them.”

“Sounds more like wishful thinking,” he argued.

“My late husband was an addict. Wishful thinking got me through the last two years of our marriage.” It was a truth I rarely admitted to myself. “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Seems to be what we’re doing tonight – sharing secrets or maybe skeletons.”

“I was going to leave Josh anyway. I’d given him the ultimatum, but while he was gone, I was packing up. That’s the real reason his parents hate me. They think I sent him on a fool’s errand, and he died for no good reason. They didn’t know about the gambling. I think they assumed I had someone else on the side. It was pretty obvious when no man manifested over the past two years that their theory was wrong, but whatever.”

“So, you decided he was stuck in the cycle and wouldn’t learn?”

“He was. I didn’t have hope that he’d pull back out of it. His friends encouraged his behavior, and they became more important than me, my opinions, or our family. With them, he had enablers. With me, he had a nag of a wife. He placed importance on the people who made him feel the best.”

“I see.”

“That’s how I know you are the latter type of man – the one who learned lessons.”

“How do you figure?”

“The woman you turned down earlier. She offered to make you feel good. The bar you sat in front of, full of liquor that could make you feel better and make bad decisions feel right, was ignored. You chose to take the path with the most resistance in both cases. There may have been a time when you didn’t deny your impulses and base needs, but you had no qualms about doing it tonight. I guess, where I’m sitting, it looks like you’ve already grown past your mistakes.”

“Reesa!” My head snapped around toward the voice of my friend, Trinity.

“Trinity?” She wasn’t one to hang out around the MC because one of the members rubbed her the wrong way every time they interacted. “What are you doing here?”

“Fucking Shaina!” She hurled our other friend’s name out like it was a curse. “At least she’s a good enough friend to send me to check on you.”

“She ditched me the minute we got here.”

“That bitch. She told me she was taking you out to have a good time and then she couldn’t even leave that asshole, Wash, alone for five fucking minutes to see to your happiness or safety?”

I laughed at my friend who was indignant on my behalf. “No harm done. Walker and I were swapping sad-sack stories with one another.”

Trinity wrinkled her nose up as if she smelled something foul. She had been around the MC a lot over the past decade because her mom dated one of the older members. “You ready to head out?” She asked.

“I guess I better go. My sister won’t be happy when she finds out her Friday night babysitting gig was because I was out living life rather than working.” I turned to Walker. “I really enjoyed getting to know you.”

“Me too,” he offered back as his eyes continuously shifted between Trinity and myself.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around.” I started to walk away while silently hoping he would call me back and ask for my number. To my disappointment, he didn’t. His eyes tracked me all the way to Trinity’s Jeep, then he continued to watch as she pulled out of the parking lot.

“Didn’t anyone warn you about Walker?” Trinity asked as we both settled in for the ride home.

“Yeah. He did.”

2 - Nonexistent

The taillights of the old Jeep CJ-5 pulled out of the clubhouse compound and turned toward Young Harris, the tiny town just east of Sierra High. I stared into the space as the lights moved out of sight, wondering how in the hell I’d just spent an entire night with a woman who didn’t either hate me on sight or want what my patch could get them.

“Someone finally catch your attention?”

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