Page 22 of Dodge

The Viking god smiled and nodded, then crossed his arms and stared pointedly at Chase. I swear I heard his unspoken question:“You’re still here?”

Chase cradled his arm as he was put on the spot. A part of me felt sorry for him, as it was obvious that he was outnumbered. Outmanned, too, as in outmanned. I guessed anyone would be when faced with such prime examples of male perfection; however, my pity for him evaporated at his next sentence. He couldn’t leave without one last shot.

“You’re gonna fail, like you do with everything else in your life.” He pointed and spat the words at me as he walked backward to his car.

My rejoinder wasn’t exactly eloquent, but I wanted to say something back. “Wanna bet, asshole?”

“Sweetness, he ain’t worth the trouble. We gotta get goin’,” Dodge said as Chase retreated. “We’re gonna unload tonight and be back tomorrow afternoon to help arrange stuff where you want it.” He didn’t wait for me to answer, just raised a hand in the air, making a twirling motion with a raised finger. “Let’s go.”

The other four men nodded at each other as they moved toward their bikes.

“See you at the restaurant, yeah?”

God, how I love the color of those eyes!“Yeah. I need to get my car and I’ll follow you.”

He smiled and squeezed my shoulder before walking over to the huge box truck and climbing in.

Macie clicked his tongue twice. “Girlfriend, I don’t know about your bistro, but there’s something definitely cooking in Bryson City.”

* * *

Dodge climbedthe steps to his apartment with heavy, tired feet. His back was sore from all the moving he’d done this morning, then the drive from Asheville to Bryson City. They’d parked the truck near the restaurant and made plans to finish moving in over the weekend. Fauna had worked alongside them, lifting and shifting boxes as they loaded. Her gorgeous eyes had glowed with excitement all day long, and her sweaty face beamed at each piece of equipment like she’d found buried gold. The urge to take her in his arms and kiss her silly grew with the passing hours as they worked. She declared she would treat everyone by cooking a three-course meal after setup. That would be one welcome bright spot in his future.

Mallory’s constant texts had been the only distraction. Even the brief encounter with Fauna’s asshole ex hadn’t been as bad as the constant demand of his phone. He’d thought about turning the damn thing off, but he was waiting to hear from the spider client and had to keep it on.

Mallory: Where are you?

Mallory: What time are you coming home?

Mallory: I need to talk to you.

Mallory: Why don’t you answer me?

He swore each time he answered.

Dodge: I told you, I’m helping someone out of town for the day.

Dodge: I don’t know.

Dodge: We’ll talk later.

Dodge: Mallie, I’m busy.

One text came from his father asking about when he could schedule some work on the roof. Dodge started to wonder how much longer his shoulders would stay attached as he was pulled in so many directions.

He entered his dark apartment. He could see the pile of dishes in the sink had grown during the day, but he was too damn tired to wash them. Out of habit, he opened the refrigerator and found real food in there. Mallory must have taken the money he left her and gone grocery shopping. At least that was something nice to see. He picked up his favorite beer and popped off the cap.

When they lived together previously, she had several sporadic bouts of obsessive homemaking and organization. Periods of absolute chaos usually followed where she would let everything fall apart around her. He thought at first it was a mental thing, but he figured out it was her pattern of trying to get something from him. Her thought process of “make him happy so I can have what I want” kind of behavior. He used to fall into that trap, but it didn’t take long for him to catch on to the game.

He tipped back the bottle and took a long cold drink.Why the hell am I letting her stay here again?

He found her asleep in his bed, the sheets pulled down to show her naked breasts.

He’d told her the night she showed up that he’d let her stay a few days. Those few days had turned into weeks, and there was no sign of her moving out. She’d tried to touch him a number of times, but so far he’d resisted. It bothered him that she’d gone as far as she did the night she showed up at his place. He didn’t want to call it an assault, but in essence that’s what it was. He felt violated and still did, but he kept that information to himself.

He wasn’t sure from her text what she wanted to talk about. Work or money, most likely. The job at the grocery store lasted two weeks before she announced that she’d quit. She found another one at a home improvement center. That one lasted a few days. Same thing with the coffee shop and the book exchange. No explanations other than she didn’t like her bosses telling her what to do. Dodge had refrained from saying that’s what bosses did. She claimed to be looking again, but no one was hiring. He found that hard to believe since there were plenty of seasonal jobs all over town, but he guessed that word had gotten around that she was unreliable.

Several MC businesses had some spots open. Table was looking for a part-time receptionist at the tattoo parlor, Psalm needed counter help at her store, and Tambre had mentioned sometime back about a chair opening up at her hair salon. Mallory didn’t have a cosmetology license, but Dodge offered to help her go to school if that’s what she wanted.

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