Page 14 of Dozer

This was my mom, not Pippa. My dad wasn’t here to protect her, but I was.

“Kevin!”

“Fuck, call me Dozer.” Even my dad called me by the name I’d had since I fell in love with my first yellow Tonka Truck.

My mom grabbed onto his arm, tugged him to her side, and then positioned herself between us. “This is none of your concern. Come back in an hour, and I’ll be ready to go.”

I shouldn’t have come here at all. I loved my mom when I didn’t have to spend time with her.Keep me stupid.What I didn’t know couldn’t hurt.

“I’m done. Tell Dad I’ll see him next week.” I flicked my cigarette into the grass as I stormed out of the house. She could get her boyfriend to go with her. I straddled my bike and clipped on my helmet.

“Kevin.” She stood on the porch, clutching her robe closed.

I twisted the throttle, drowning out her words.

My gut tightened. I knew where I was going before the thought truly took hold. I wasn’t sure what I’d say to Pippa, but I didn’t want her pissed. I wanted her bright, laughing, and happy because I wanted to see her sink into my darkness again…and again.

Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into her driveway. The neighborhood was quiet. Trees whistled in the light breeze. Contrails streaked the pale blue skies among fluffy white clouds. I dropped the kickstand and slapped my helmet onto the handlebar.

I jogged up to the front porch and knocked. I checked my phone for the time. She’d mentioned classes today. I tried the door. Locked. Shit. I slipped around the corner of the house and hopped the fence into the backyard. The rear door was also locked. Cupping my eyes, I peered into the window.

I went to the windows of the garage and tested each one to see if they were locked. Fuck. Add felony to my list of F-words. I slid the window open, muscle-upped onto the ledge, and slipped into the garage.

Once I opened the garage door and rolled my bike into the far side, I closed the automatic door, and entered her house.

Pippa

An incoming call from Gabi disrupted my in-car performance. A secret not many people knew, but I had pipes. Five years in choir killed any love of singing in a band. Now, I limited my live shows to times in the car and occasionally in the shower.

I hit the talk button on my steering wheel. “Hi.”

“Care to tell me why Vance’s friend is breaking into your house?”

“What?”

“Shaved head, Heller patch on his cut, tried the doors, went in through a window in the garage, and is now sitting in your kitchen smoking a joint and drinking a beer.”

Dozer was in my house. After his declarations last night, I didn’t think I could talk to him and not imagine the raunchy things he’d claimed he wanted.

“The security company called. I told them not to send the police. I know how the Hellers hate law enforcement. Do I need to send Vance over?”

“No. I’ll talk to Dozer.”

“Pippa, why isn’t it Romeo sneaking into the house?”

“It’s complicated.” More complicated than the human brain with its hundred billion neurons.

“I don’t want to turn off the security system, but I don’t want to know anything more about what you’re up to. Pip, this is dangerous.”

I snorted. “Gabi, your boyfriend chains you to the bed and whips you.”

“Yes, and even he thinks hanging around and hooking up with the guys in the MC is dangerous.” She sighed into the phone. “Just be careful. And remember there are cameras so maybe stay out of the kitchen and the hallway.”

I smiled. Like Dozer, Gabi had seen everything there was to see between me and Romeo. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I drove home. Dozer’s bike in the garage made my heart hammer.

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