Page 39 of Shame

I feel her eyes on me all the way to my bike. I wave, and so does she. When she closes the door, I strap on my helmet, start up my bike, and get to the club. I’m the last one to show. There’s a bunch of prints on the meeting table, and I glance at them as I sit down.

“Iron Runners struck again. This time they hit the fucking school,” Coyote spits out.

All of us are in agreement that you don’t fuck with kids, especially where they go to learn. They need that shit. Without it, what do they have in life? Fucking nothing. The Iron assholes are well aware of how seriously we take that shit, so they did this on purpose. They’re trying to make a point.

They think we’re weak right now and are using that to their advantage. They’re right to some extent. We definitely aren’t our strongest, but that doesn’t make us weak. Though we aren’t functioning properly as a unit, we will fuck some shit up on our own. We can pull our shit together when we need to, and now is the time.

“Fucking pricks,” Grizz mutters, leaning back in his chair.

“We’re going to hit up their place tomorrow,” Coyote explains. “Show them we aren’t playing anymore. They wannacome on our turf and fuck our shit up? We’re gonna do the same to them. I ain’t playing their games anymore. They’re going to learn the hard way that the Merciless Few aren’t people to fuck with.” He slams his hand on the table. “We ride heavy tomorrow. Seven o’clock, not a minute fucking later.”

The room erupts into sounds of agreement, cheers, stomping feet and hand-slapping the table. And I join right in because fuck those Iron pricks if they think we’re going to lie down and take their bullshit.

Chapter Twelve

Cora

The day drags. All I can think about is getting home and seeing Kaison later on. I appreciate that he’s going to fix my washer, and though that’s exciting because it’s been forever since I did laundry at home, I’m happier about seeing him. I haven’t found myself this happy over something in a long, long time.

Though the shift is dragging and I’m running out of patience, internally grumpy as heck, I can’t wipe the smile from my face.

We had such a nice night together last night. It was such a normal night, and I crave more of that. Someone to talk to, to cuddle with, to watch a movie with. I know we said we were doing the friend thing, but… seems we’re taking a different direction. I don’t hate it. It’s easy, it isn’t forced. It all feels right.

As stressful as things are with my father, I still can’t imagine him going to live in a home. Especially since the closest one is an hour away. But the normalcy of last night… Of a date with ahot man who couldn’t keep his hands off me? I need more of that. The reality is I don’t know how much more of that I’ll get. Dad sleeping through the night isn’t a common occurrence. It happens maybe three nights out of seven. But knowing that if Dad did wake up, Kaison would help me with him, made that burden less. Like I’m finally not in this alone. Yes, I’ve had the nurses helping me, but they do that because they’re paid to. It’s different. Kaison is doing this because he wants to. I’m not even sure I would do this for that reason. I do this because he’s my father and I love him. But dealing with this for any other reason? Well, I don’t think I’m that good a person. I struggle being nice to customers at the diner sometimes.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” I ask the twins.

“How about some tea on that man of yours?”

I huff out a laugh. “There isn’t muchteatospill.”

How these women, who are old enough to be my grandmothers, have more information on the latest slang is unknown to me. They teach me at least one new word a week.

“You mean you haven’t jumped his bones yet?” Betsy asks with a knowing smile.

My jaw drops, but I shake my head. “No, I haven’t, thank you very much.”

“Well, all right then,” she says, raising her chin. “Just the check, I suppose.”

She looks at her sister and shakes her head, her face full of disappointment. Do they discuss my sex life? That’s weird. I don’t even discuss my sex life. Or lack thereof, I guess. I handthem the check and laugh as I walk to my next table to see if they need anything.

When I go on my break, I ask Christian to make me an egg sandwich. He does it up just the way I like, with a folded scrambled egg instead of a fried one. I take it out back and sit at the old picnic table while I eat, staring at my phone.

Kaison and I don’t do the texting and calling thing, not really. I consider texting him now, wanting to tell him I miss him, but maybe that’s too much for him. Maybe he’s busy. What if he’s in the middle of something dangerous and his phone going off distracts him? Could that happen? How dangerous is his job? Is it even a job? Does he get paid for it? How doesthatwork? Where does the money come from?

He’s told me a little about the MC, but I’m not sure I understand the whole thing. I know it’s a club; I know they make money for doingcertainthings. I’ve heard stories of what they’ve done for the town over the years. Dad was a big fan when I was younger, but I guess my brain didn’t retain any of that information. Probably because I’m too busy thinking about angioplasties and heart attacks. Speaking of, I need to talk to Irene about that and get her opinion on it. There are three nurses who rotate working with Dad. Not that he remembers any of them, but of course I do. Irene is the one who works with him the most, and the one I’m closest with. The other two are great, but Irene and I click better. I trust her opinion on things because even when I don’t want to hear what she has to say, she says it. I appreciate people’s honesty.

I pick up my phone and call my house.

“Davies’ residence,” Irene answers on the third ring.

“Hey, it’s me. How’s Dad?”

“He’s okay. Watching the Price is Right.”

I smile. “He’s always loved that show,” I say more to myself than to her. “I was just calling to talk to you about something, if you have a minute.”

“Of course I have a minute, honey. I’m here all day,” she says with a laugh.

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