Page 30 of Wait For Me

“Thought you were over that shit, and moved on to your rich bitch?”

“Whatever,” I called out and then glanced back over toward the bar where Grady was still lying on the floor. “Someone go pick the old man up, stupid bastard fell off his stool.”

“Oh shit!” Trench ran to do just that.

“Why didn’t you run to get him?” I asked Breakneck.

“Figured he pissed you off enough to leave his ornery ass there, no need for me to do him any favors.” I held my fist out for Breakneck and he dabbed it with his own. “You out for the night?”

“Yeah, be back Saturday for the festivities.”

Breakneck tipped his head slightly and stared at me. “Fuck man,” he hissed through his teeth. “See you then.”

“Something you need to say?”

“Nah, I think it’s better you see for yourself this weekend. Bit of a surprise and shit.” Breakneck chuckled and then took off toward the bar where Trench was struggling with a flailing Grady.

I pulled my phone out and shot a text off to Missy.

Bagger: Cookout Saturday at the clubhouse. Pick you up at noon.

Missy: Oh, I’m allowed to come on weekends again?

Bagger: Cut the attitude. You knew I was breaking the rules taking you to parties. It’s a family day event.

Missy: So, I’m family now?

Fuck, that felt like a damn trap.

Bagger: It’s just a name for an open day at the clubhouse, you coming or not?

Missy: Pick me up and we’ll talk about this family business when I see you.

I rolled my shoulders to try to relieve some of the tension in them after I read her last text. There was no need to respond. She was trying to get under my skin as usual. We both knew that’s why she’d started dating me – to get under her family’s skin. Now, I wondered if we weren’t still going strong just so that she could do the same to me. The woman lived for her drama.

11

Star

I got back home on a Wednesday, just in time to take Viv to her chemo appointment the next day. My aunt had always been such a shining light and beacon of strength, that seeing her body revolt against the poison they pumped into her system was devastating.

It didn’t help that the doctors were overly aggressive with their treatments because they thought they needed to be. That was the even scarier part. My guilt kicked in the minute I saw Viv. I’d spent years away from home, barely talking to anyone for the last two, simply because I was angry with the stupid men in my life. I’d inadvertently taken that out on my aunt too, and there was no way to get all that lost time back with her.

“Stop pouting like you lost your only puppy,” Viv reminded me when I got her cleaned up after the last bout of vomiting.

“You mean a lot more than that to me.”

“I know sweetie. I’m just nervous about getting to the point where I can have this surgery.” She glanced down where her breasts used to be. Anger filled my veins once again, knowing that I hadn’t been there for that. Uncle Mack had waited until they did the double mastectomy on her to call me home. No one had even mentioned her diagnosis until he sent that text to me.

“Don’t rush the surgery. There’s nothing wrong with the way you look right now, except when your head is in that toilet. That looks all kinds of wrong, but I won’t show anyone the pictures I’ve been taking secretly.” I winked at her, and she chuckled for just a minute, knowing I had been joking.

“Easy for you to say when you’re Tits McGee over there,” Viv whined and then stared down at herself once again. “Sorry for the overshare, but your uncle loved playing with my breasts. There’s nothing there anymore. I’m afraid he will never find me attractive again. Jesus, you know he’s the one man I never worried about. When everyone complained that they thought their man might be cheating over the years, most of them were right. I couldn’t sympathize though, because I knew that my man was one hundred percent mine.”

“Woman!” Uncle Mack sounded pissed. “I am still yours. Always and forever.” He moved into the bathroom and had no qualms about pushing me off to the side out of the way. Unfortunately, he blocked the door so I couldn’t slip past and give them privacy for the conversation they needed to have.

“You want to know the most attractive thing about you, Viv?” He asked her in a scary angry tone. Viv shook her head, as if she was afraid to know. “I’m telling you anyway because you need to get this through that thick fucking skull of yours.”

I wanted to step in there, but Aunt Viv shook her head at me when she saw that I was about to step in and put my uncle in his place. That was no way to talk to his wife, who was in the middle of fighting for her life. I’d show him a thick fucking skull when he got my boot to his head.

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