Page 34 of Through The Woods

Chapter Ten

August

“Did you wash your hands?” The men at the table gave me puzzled looks, as if I was speaking a foreign language. As if we hadn’t had this exact conversation every night for the past month. “Hands,” I pressed. “You can’t eat with dirty hands.”

Rooster glanced down at his. “Mine aren’t that bad.”

I swatted his arm. “Up. All of you. No supper until you’ve washed up.” I looked at the empty spots at the table as the men began standing. “Where are Charm, Gunner, and PD?”

Guardrail paused with his hand on the back of the chair. “Gone. It’ll just be us.”

I frowned, feeling let down for some inexplicable reason. This was the problem with reading the damn journal. I’d ignored reason and immersed myself in Charm’s world, thinking I was going to gain insight into what made him tick. Instead, I found myself looking forward to seeing him at the end of the day. He’d make some insulting comment and I’d throw one right back at him.

I’d made him smile twice, so we were making progress.

Toward what I still wasn’t quite sure. After what I read that night in Charm’s study, I’d gone back to the beginning, refusing to skip ahead again. Today’s entry left me feeling even more confused than before though.

I caught her with Bobby today. They were out behind the old pumphouse. She claimed it was just an innocent kiss and that it didn’t mean anything, but I didn’t see it that way. Bobby and Billy both enlisted, and shockingly, the club allowed it. They even decided to throw them a farewell bash before they leave for boot camp tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Bobby was going to be sporting a nasty black eye for his first week.

The funny thing was that he didn’t even fight back. He just took it like a man. Billy said that he’d deserved it and Bobby had agreed. We were good after that, but she swore in front of everyone that she hated me and would never speak to me again. The words were like a sucker punch to my gut.

AJ tried to reassure me that she didn’t mean it, but I’d seen the hateful glint in her eyes. I bet she wished it was me shipping off to boot camp so that she could cozy up to Bobby without interference.

The club had the beer flowing and no one paid much attention as we helped ourselves to it. I was feeling a lot better about things after a few cups and was actually considering whether or not to take a club whore back to my room. I was angry and I wanted to take my frustrations out somewhere. Luck said those girls could take anything and would just keep coming back for more.

Thankfully, the decision was made for me. She got drunk and saved me from making a horrible decision. I made my way over to her and was immediately pelted in the face by a nearly full cup of beer before Bobby stepped in and offered to take her up to her room. She accepted his offer and flipped me off as he led her up to the clubhouse.

“There’s always been this unspoken rule when it comes to her, but you know he loves her, right?” Billy observed as he handed me a towel. “You’ve got some shit to figure out while we’re away.”

I was losing her and I didn’t know how to fix it.

She cheated on him and he’d made it apparent that he had wanted to cheat on her too. And Billy was absolutely Gunner—it just fit. I wondered if the cheating was why his twin was no longer around. Had he been sent overseas after boot camp? Had he died in war? It would certainly explain why Gunner was always in such a foul mood.

“Where’d they go? Will they be back later?”

Rooster called over the running water in the kitchen. “Club business, Darlin’. They won’t be back for a few days.”

One by one, the men washed up and then came back to the table. I sat morosely near the end and picked at my mashed potatoes, hoping that the club business had been important because mashing the potatoes by hand had done wonders for the pain in my side.

“Somethin’ wrong, kid?” Twitch asked through a mouthful of food.

I shook my head. “Just tired. Eat up. I’m just going to head upstairs and get some sleep.”

Doc’s chair scraped loudly against the wood floor as he moved to stand up. “I’ll come with you—I need to change your bandages and see if we should do another round of antibiotics.”

I gave him a forced smile and headed toward the stairs with him right on my heels. Never mind that I was looking forward to some alone time. Time spent in a hot shower, weeping over the path my life had taken.

I still hadn’t let myself dwell on Twitch’s words. There was no way I was ready to face that yet. The journal had provided the perfect distraction. I would focus on the ghosts of Charm’s past, while ignoring the demons from my own.

“Neve?”

I looked back at Doc before opening my bedroom door. “Hmm?”

The men got keys, while my room remained unlocked when I wasn’t in there. I mean, it wasn’t like I had anything of value, but it would’ve been nice to have the privacy regardless.

“I asked if you took it easy today. Did you feel any sharp pains?” His brow was furrowed in concern.

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