Page 37 of The Devil's Scars

“If the guys start seeing me as theirs, and then word gets around that I’m doing a step class with one of them, the assumption will automatically be that I’m up for it with any and all of them. I’d be fair game.”

“Bull s-h-i-t,” Willa declared, meeting and matching Zoe’s withering glare. “Wolf would never let anyone treat you like a pineapple and nothing more.”

“Of course not. He’d tell them to leave me alone,” Zoe said, ignoring that fact that she’d just totally contradicted herself, scrambling to get the feet of her argument back under her. “But it’s more… uhhh… more about how I’m seen and thought of.”

Willa stared at her some more. Yeah, Zoe knew that look: it was the one that her friend leveled her with when she thought Zoe was talking shit, but she wanted to see what else Zoe had to say. It was Willa’s ‘I’m gonna give you all the rope that you need to hang yourself with, you idiot’ look.

“I mean, I’m going to be running the tattoo parlor where three of the guys work,” Zoe said, back on firmer conversational ground. “I can’t have them looking at me and thinking that I’m exercising with one of their brothers. That can’t be the way they see me, it can’t be one of the first things they think about me. They have to respect me, Willa, take instruction from me, and being a woman, I’ve got a big enough challenge with that as it is. I just can’t be involved with one of The Road Devils. Believe me… it’s a terrible, terrible idea.”

“Actually, yeah.” Willa sighed. “Yeah. That makes sense.”

“Right?” Zoe said. “I moved here to start again, to make a better life for this little girl. To earn a decent wage to save up a bit for a car, and be able to buy Keira some clothes as she grows, make enough for me to live off more than Kraft Dinner and Mr. Noodles. Thanks to Wolf, I’ll make enough to be able to hire a babysitter for Keira instead of sticking her in some awful death-trap daycare like I did back in Fargo, because I had no goddamn choice in the matter. It’s just – this is a chance. A real chance. I can’t mess it up… not for anything, or anyone.”

“Hey, Zee.” Willa spoke softly. For all her joking and teasing and pushing, she knew where Zoe’s heart and priorities lay – and that place was sitting right there at her feet, cooing at a patch of sunlight. “I get it, alright? I mean, I wish you’d find a good guy who could make you happy, but I know that’s not where your head is right now. That’s OK. You did real good, moving here and making the choices that you have. I think it’ll be great for Keira and for you to be back in Denver. Despite all that shit that went down back then, despite being back around the MC… you’re back with Wolf, and after everything you’ve told me about him, he’s a true friend. He’s going to look out for you.” She looked down at Keira, who was rubbing her eyes, a sure sign that afternoon nap-time was approaching. “He’s going to look after both of you. You’re going to be OK here. Happy, even. I know it.”

“Thank you,” Zoe said in a low voice. “For everything – for having my back for all this time with Keira, for taking care of her for free all those days I took a double shift, for bringing her to me today. For taking time off work and taking care of her until I find a babysitter here. You’re a true friend, as much as Wolf is, and I’m damn lucky to have two people like you in my life.”

“Bah,” Willa said, a bit embarrassed at all the naked emotion. “I’ve never done anything for you that you wouldn’t for me in a heartbeat, if the roles were reversed. And besides…” She smiled at Keira. “I love her. I love you. You know that, Zee.”

“I know. I love you, too. And I promise, I’ll find a babysitter as fast as I can, so you can get back home. I’m meeting three potentials tomorrow after work, so maybe I’ll get lucky.”

“You think I’m in a neck-breaking rush to get back to flipping Fargo?” Willa snorted. “Nah, babe. Take your time sorting out the child care. Do it right. I’m happy to stay here, hang out, look at the mountains.” She grinned. “Maybe check out your step instructor… and Wolf. Maybe even bed a hot bad-boy biker before dragging my ass back to the drudgery of ringing up sales for grumpy customers at the local Costco.”

“B-i-t-c-h.” Zoe grinned back, knowing full well that Willa would never make a move on Scars or Wolf: she was a woman who understood the meaning of both friendship and sisterhood. “Have some more coffee while I put Keira down for her nap.” She scooped up her amazing, perfect daughter, gave her a kiss on the nose. “C’mon, sweet baby. Come see the pretty present that the bikers bought you.”

**

Scars shut the front door and knelt down, his ams open wide. His three-year-old niece Cindy squealed and tore at the speed of light down the hall to him. A big part of him still couldn’t quite believe that she wasn’t fazed or freaked out by his scars, especially the ones on his face, but to nothing but his eternal relief, Cindy was fine with how he looked.

Oh, of course she’d asked, pretty early on. She’d touched the shiny white marks on his cheeks, his forearms, his hands, and she’d asked him if it had hurt him when he’d gotten them. For just a second, maybe two, he’d flashed back to the feeling of being burned alive, of his flesh melting off his bones, of how it had smelled to be on fire. God, the smell of his skin burning – that was what haunted his dreams still, even more than twenty years later.

But he’d just smiled at Cindy, and said, “Yeah, honey. It hurt when it happened.”

She’d nodded solemnly, and in a gesture so sweet that it had fucking knocked the breath from his chest, she’d raised his right hand to her mouth and kissed the biggest scar on it. And that was it… Cindy never asked again, and God knows, she never shrank back or looked at him like he was a freak. Instead, every time she saw him, she launched herself at him like she couldn’t wait to give him a hug.

“Uncle Vic! Uncle Vic!”

“Hey baby face,” Scars said as she ran full-tilt into his chest. His arms closed around Cindy and he stood up, cuddling her close. “How’s it shaking?”

She giggled. “Shaking good.”

“Atta girl.” He looked over Cindy’s dark head and nodded at his younger brother, taking the time to get a good look at him. “Hey, Sam.”

“Hi.” Sam’s brown eyes were tired behind his glasses, and Scars saw dark purple half-moons under them. His dark hair was tousled and messy, like he’d just rolled out of bed despite it being pretty late on Sunday afternoon, and his clothes looked a bit thrown-on-in-a-rush. Then again, Sam was raising Cindy on his own, and balancing insane shifts at the hospital, and somewhere in all of that chaos, he had to eat and sleep and shower.

Oh, Scars was doing his part, as best he could. He babysat often, took Cindy to her therapy sessions once a week, sometimes twice, and brought Sam take-out when he had to rush from work back home in the evening, and Scars figured that cooking dinner after a sixteen-hour shift in the E.R. was too exhausting.

Not that Scars was alone in supporting Sam, of course: he smiled as Annie Matthews appeared carrying a tray of cups, saucers, a coffee pot, and plates of cookies.

“Hey, Annie,” he said, walking down the hall, still holding Cindy close. “How’s you, darlin’?”

“Good, thanks,” Annie replied, heading into the living room at a rapid pace, giving him a tiny smile that had more than a hint of nerves. “You?”

“Yeah. Good. Glad to see you guys.”

She nodded, started pouring out the coffee without further comment and with far more concentration than was strictly required –especially considering that the woman had worked full-time as a diner waitress for going on twenty-plus years. Scars let the conversation stop there, though, and with no real hard feelings.

Scars let it lie because he knew damn good and well that Annie wasn’t totally relaxed around him yet, and he didn’t blame her much. He knew what he looked like, what he sounded like, what kind of rep he had as VP of The Road Devils. To be fair, though, her daughter Sarah had just married Jax Hamill – owner of Dangerous Curves bar, Scars’ second-favorite drinking spot on the planet – and according to Sam, Annie had welcomed Jax into the family with open arms.

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