Page 6 of Broken By It

“Fuck! Seriously, Anna, don’t do this shit again. It’s not a motherfuckin’ gang. I won’t keep going over this with you.”

“I said what I said, Dillon and you know I’ll stand behind it.”

Frustrated, I don’t know what else to do. “Anna, you don’t know what you’re asking of me. And you won’t like the outcome.”

She laughs in my face, “No! You won’t like the outcome. I have your son. If I say drop your little friends, you drop them. This is our family!”

Fucking crazy. How did things get so out of control between us?

Entering the room,I take it all in. The weather here isn’t as stifling hot as back home. Deal’s Gap, North Carolina is a small town that isn’t an official town. I think the zip code comes out as Robbinsville, North Carolina. Not that a zip code matters. Deal’s Gap isn’t known by many. It is a starting point to riding The Tail of the Dragon for the Hellions MC. A ride everyone wearing this cut takes with pride.

The hotel is nothing special and I swear the curtains and wallpaper are from the eighties, maybe even the seventies. It’s a place to crash for tonight. Tomorrow, we ride.

Tomorrow I am a Hellion. Ride until I die.

I look at my phone, hopeful. The blank screen stares back at me cutting me deep. She isn’t calling. She isn’t coming.

A knock on my hotel room door takes my attention away from waiting for my phone to ring knowing deep inside I know it won’t.

Opening the door, I’m shocked to find Maritza on the other side. Stepping back, she enters my room.

The woman is gorgeous there is no denying her beauty. Her dark hair is braided down her back, her jeans fit just right, along with her red tank top accentuating her golden skin. I don’tthink she’s wearing makeup, if by some chance she is, then it’s minimal.

“Hey,” I greet.

“Hey, I was lookin’ for my buddy.”

I nervously wipe my hands down the front of my jeans. “Yeah, Anna thought it best they stay home.”

“Okay, I’ll head back to my room. Just thought Hollis was here and I was gonna have him crash with me so you and Anna could have time together.” Maritza smiles before turning away to the door.

Instincts take over and I find myself reaching out to grab her. “No, stay. I have nothing to do tonight.”

She turns back to me with a half laugh, “Dillon, you’re a Hellion. There is always something or someone to do.”

I raise my hands in surrender, “not for this man.”

She smirks, “is that so? I’m young, but I’m not naïve. I know this club life. I’m not saying go bang a bar fly, but the boys are all gonna be out drinking. Go have a beer with your brothers.”

I shake my head. “Don’t drink anymore.”

“Really?” she asks genuinely surprised.

“Long story, but yeah, quit that shit practically as soon as I started. Anna didn’t like it.”

She studies me stepping further into the room. “Do you always do what Anna wants?”

I move to sit on the end of the bed, with my elbows on my knees and hands clasped together in front of me, I stare at the floor. “There was a time, I didn’t, but with every passing day, those memories become more difficult to hold onto. Things weren’t always like this. She wasn’t always like this.”

Maritza moves over and sits beside me on the bed. “Marriage is hard, Dillon. Divorce is hard. You choose your hard. It’s commendable the way you stick by her.”

I let out a halfhearted laugh, “commendable, nah. Dumb as fuck, more likely. And who the fuck knows what it will be when I get back to Haywood’s Landing. I seem to make one dumb decision after another for years now.”

“I don’t think any of it’s dumb. I think love is hard. I think commitment is harder. Relationships are far from easy.”

“Sounds like you speak from experience.”

She is the one to give a half laugh, “I’m young, but I can be dumb too. I thought I had love; it was not. My parents, they make it look so easy. Love and commitment are two different things. You can love someone and fail to endure the test of time together. People grow and change. If the relationship doesn’t change alongside it, then it’s doomed to fail.”

---