Page 15 of Saving You Losing Me

Not only a home either, the business comes with it and our intention is to operate a motorbike repair shop to help pay our bills. Billy is a great tattoo artist and has done most of our ink and he is setting up shop in the clubhouse, which will bring in more money.

I have big plans for The Darkside as it will be known and with Clara in my corner we stand more than a fighting chance. I will finally have everything I want in life and the fact she’s a rich kid going places doesn’t concern me at all. She can make her own decisions now and I must work my darnedest for that decision to be me.

I grab a few hours’sleep before I’m heading on my bike to meet Clara. I’m not nervous. Why would I be? I’m meeting my woman and I’ve waited a long time to do that. If anything, I’m excited and I don’t get that feeling very often.

I reach the privileged street where she lives and cut the engine under the streetlight. I’m guessing if anyone sees me, they’ll call the cops.

I don’t belong here. Men like me are usually considered being here for one thing only, illegal activities.

At five past two, I hear footsteps and my mind is blown when Clara runs to my bike looking like every wet dream I ever had.

The broad smile on her face settles any nerves I may have had, and as she slides behind me, she whispers, “Let’s get out of this place before anyone sees us.”

I’m not about to argue with that and as her arms slide around my waist, I pull the throttle on the second most important lady in my life.

I do not hesitate to take Clara to my home, which is my grandparent’s house on the south side of the town. I inherited it along with their life savings and I’ve placed the house up for sale so there is enough to buy the new club house.

The only other person who lives here is Tanya, and she is out working at Singles, a dubious strip club on the other side of town. I have long given up trying to set my sister on the straight and narrow. Sometimes it’s important to realize that some fruit is rotten to the core.

We pull up in the small yard and Clara whispers, “Where are we?”

“My home.” I reply simply, not wanting to witness the disappointment in her eyes when she realizes just what she’s signing up for.

I take her hand and pull her with determination from the bike and as we head inside, I am strangely nervous.

The place is as old-fashioned as you’d expect and definitely not a place for a lady like Clara but it’s one up on the ruin I took her to earlier.

We head into the kitchen and as I flick on the light, I’m embarrassed by the heap of dishes lying unwashed in the sink and the remnants of Tanya’s attempts to make herself eat.

This isn’t me. I left it clean and tidy and my heart sinks.

Clara says nothing, and I’m compelled to offer an explanation.

“My sister isn’t what you’d call domesticated.”

“She’s here?”

“No.”

“So, um, what happens now?”

I love how adorable she is as she bites her lower lip and hovers in the doorway.

“That’s up to you, angel.”

“I see.”

She hesitates and I feel bad. This isn’t how I imagined us. Surrounded by dirty dishes and in a house that belonged to my grandparents. She deserves better, and I obviously never thought this through.

On the spur of the moment, I nod toward the door we came in from.

“I have an idea.”

If anything, she appears relieved about that and as we head off into the night again, I have the perfect destination in mind.

This time when we stop,it’s with a very different view and her breath catches as we sit on the bike staring across the top of the mountain. It’s cold up here but the stars are in abundance and I cut the engine and whisper, “This is enough. We are on the top of the world with nothing to bring us down. Up here we are free.”

“You’re a strange man, Atom.”

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