Page 46 of Dash

The other two men nodded. “Whiskey is his man. He should know how the situation has progressed.”

“Odin’s Fury’s his club,” Romeo countered. “He needs to know of all the threats.”

“Fuck.” Dash clapped him on the back. “Really fucking proud of you, kid.” Wrapping his arm around the younger biker’s neck, he pulled and rubbed the knuckle from his other hand along the crown of Romeo’s head, giving him noogies. “You’re a damn fine SAA.”

“Goddamn children.” Clark groaned, walking passed them. “I need to call Monty and get some sleep.”

Chapter 22

Liz

The scent of lemon and garlic filled her kitchen as the chicken baked in her oven. Liz sliced a cucumber before sliding it into the bowl for her salad. Her mother droned on about her cousin’s new husband and how he lost another job. The weekly calls had turned into family gossip after her relationship with Richard ended.

“I really think Emma should leave him. Take the kids and just move in back home.” Liz could envision her mother holding her coffee mug to her lips as she announced her verdict. Her mother’s favorite two hobbies: drinking coffee and judging others.

“I’m sure Troy is doing his best,” Liz offered. Troy was a quiet guy who didn’t go to many family functions. Because of this, her mother often targeted him as not being a family man, therefore unfit to be a member.

“This is the third job in two years,” her mother reminded.

Shaking her head, she used the tongs to toss the salad. “Why are you keeping score? I’m sure Emma is doing the best she can for her family.” She hated these conversations.

“I’m just saying,” her mother tsk’ed. “It’s best to cut and run when the writing is on the wall. Like you did.” There was the rub.

Liz dropped the salad fork with a heavy sigh.

“You knew Richard wasn’t going to be a good family man. He wouldn’t provide for you and look what happened.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Liz did her best to calm herself. There was no point in going down this road. “Mom, can we not talk about him?”

“What? I’m being supportive. You got out before he took you to jail too.”

“I don’t need to be reminded.” She cut herself off. “How’s Dad?” She tried for a topic change.

“It was a felony, right? Two years is a long time,” her mother continued. “Your father?” she repeated as though thrown by the topic change.

“What did the doctor say about his last blood tests?” Liz straightened her posture, turned and checked the oven to see if the chicken had browned.

“Oh!” Recognition rang in her voice. “I’ve told him I’m not buying any more bacon. He said he’s filing for divorce.”

The two shared a laugh as the tension left her body. She hated talking about Richard’s identity theft conviction or how she’d briefly been an assumed accomplice. She’d almost gone to jail, lost her job, her life. Why her mother felt the need to rehash it on their weekly calls was beyond her. How she thought it was supportive boggled Liz’s mind. Maybe when she had a new guy in her life, her mother would finally let it drop.

PRK was a new guy in her life. With the oven at her back, she tapped the corner of the pot holder against her bottom lip as she considered bringing him up for the sake of her own sanity while her mother complained, in the most affectionate way one could, about her father and his high cholesterol.

Considering she didn’t actually know his real name, and they hadn’t truly been on a real date, she opted not to tell her mother about him. She didn’t think, ‘he likes to tie me up and beat me’ would be something her mother would appreciate. Then again, adding, ‘and I like it’ probably wouldn’t make any sense to her either. She’d just have to keep suffering through her mother’s attempts to make her feel better for being single at her age. Even though twenty-eight wasn’t exactly old to be single, she knew her mother meant well.

“Mom, I have to go,” she interrupted. “My dinner’s done, and I don’t have enough hands to keep talking.” She could have put it on speaker, but she didn’t have the energy to continue the conversation.

“Okay, sweetie. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom. Kiss Daddy for me.”

She hung up the phone and took out her food. She wasn’t the best cook in the world, but there were a few things she had mastered. Lemon garlic chicken with asparagus was one thing. Scooping some brown rice onto the plate, she added the rest of her food. After spooning salad in a small bowl, she added dressing and headed to her living room.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she turned on the TV and set her food on the ottoman. Sure, she could eat at the kitchen counter, but then she couldn’t watch Big Bang Theory re-runs. Humming to herself, she bopped along with the opening credits and cut into her chicken.

As she chewed, she eyed her bottle of water. The responsible thing would be to drink water. Stay hydrated. It had no calories. However, if a stressful call from her mother who brought up her felon ex-boyfriend wasn’t a reason to have white wine, well, then she didn’t know what was.

Taking a forkful of asparagus, Liz pushed to her feet and padded back into the kitchen. Wine. She had wine, didn’t she? Ane had been over the other day and brought two bottles, they hadn’t finished them. She was almost sure of it. She’d brought the enormous bottles.

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