Page 29 of Apex of the Curve

Chapter Eight

Fenris…

“The fuck you been?” my dad asked as I killed the motor on my bike.

“Out. Why the fuck you care?”

He shook his head and flicked the butt of his joint he’d been toking off of into the grass and said, “Believe it or not, no matter what you do and no matter where you go, you’re still my kid and I’m always going to care. No matter how much of a hard-ass you are.”

I smirked and bowed my head, laughing slightly, but then the reality of exactly where I’d been crept back in and curb stomped my smile back into a frown.

“Remember the chick I brought home from Mitch’s place a few weeks back?”

“Blond, pretty, got hysterical really damn quick?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah she did,” I said slowly and sighed at the memory. “She’s got her reasons and I hate to say, they’re good ones.”

“Coffee?” my old man asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded and got up off my bike, body groaning in protest for a lot of reasons – the damp, the chill, a piss poor night’s sleep in an unfamiliar bed, mind racing over her words falling from her lips with the weight of utter despair…

“I just don’t think I want to be alive anymore and I’m scared.”

Scared me, too, for a variety of reasons. None of which I could quite put my finger on. I mean, whydid I care? She wasn’t anyone to me.

“Alright, so what’s eating you, boy?” my dad demanded, sliding a full mug of black coffee across the kitchen counter to me. I motioned for the milk and he turned to open the fridge. I waited until he’d handed me the half and half carton and told him the truth.

“I kind of haven’t been able to get her off my mind since she was here,” I said.

“Seems to me the feeling’s mutual.” He nodded toward the mug in my hands and I frowned in thought, taking a drink.

“She called me last night, upset. I went to check things out.” I shook my head, feeling a little guilty for telling her secrets.

“And?”

“She’s suicidal,” I answered simply. “Doesn’t have anyone to lean on. She’s been through more shit than I can talk about in the last couple of months, man.” I shook my head and stared into my coffee, finally deciding I’d might as well go for broke. “Her mom died of a long illness, a month later – like a month to the day, her brother dies in an accident and the very next day after that she catches her husband cheating on her with other dudes. Now he’s turned into a real wank-puffin and is trying to take half her business that she built from the ground up all by herself. She’s done. Just run out of gas, and I can’t say I blame her.”

“Sounds like the husband’s a problem,” my dad said sucking his teeth and leaning on his hands against the counter across from me.

“She asked me not to do anything,” I said.

“You gonna listen?” he countered with a raised eyebrow and I gave him a look.

“For now, I’m going to try a different tactic first.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“Gonna get a shower, head down to the club, and see if Mav can’t put me in touch with the club’s lawyers.”

“They’re criminal law, Son, not divorce attorneys.”

“I know that Pops, but lawyers are their own weird little community. Bet they know somebody who is.”

“Got a point there.”

“Borrowing the truck tonight,” I said.

“Oh, you are now?” He looked amused.

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