Page 10 of Dusty and Dented
He stood outside the bathroom, listening until the water turned on, then pulled out his phone and dialed as he headed for the kitchen.He needed to see what she had in the house before he could get someone to bring them what they needed.
In the kitchen he looked in the cabinets, then checked the freezer and fridge again while he talked to Taylynn.She’d put together a list of what he needed and send one of the mamas to the store with one of the prospects then have him deliver it.He could have called the prospect himself, but he would have ended up with less than half of what he needed, and he’d probably end up going himself.
With Andy’s mental state, he didn’t want to have to do that, at least not until she was a little more stable.With any luck, in the next day or two.Right now, she was in the middle of a depression, and understandably.His hope was that she’d go through it and improve, but as deep as she was right now, he couldn’t trust that she wouldn’t just fall deeper into the pit in her mind.If something happened to her, if she gave up and tried to join Panther, and his being here could have prevented it, he would have a hard time living with himself.
It would be even worse if she attempted to join her brother and succeeded.Dagger was determined that wouldn’t happen.Hell, if he’d known how badly she was handling things he would have been here before the funeral.His only excuse was that he hadn’t known, and in his mind, it was a damned thin excuse.
Looking around the place while he waited for her to finish in the shower, he noticed it was a little messy but not dirty.Like it was normally kept very clean but over the last little bit, likely since Panther had died, things had gotten away from her.He didn’t know about her, but for himself, he knew he felt better if he kept things cleaned up, so without thinking much about it, he started picking up.
The few dishes on the counter went into the sink to be washed later when she wasn’t using the hot water, as well as a couple of glasses and coffee cups he found in the living room.He even ventured into her bedroom to check there, then gathered up the clothes draped across the chair in the living room and took them into the bedroom.He wasn’t sure if they were clean or not, so he left them on the foot of the bed.
By the time the shower shut off, he had the place pretty well cleaned up, except the dishes, which he ran water for and was in the middle of washing when she reappeared.
“What’s up?”she asked, looking around.“You’ve been busy.Thank you.I haven’t felt like doing much.”
“Understandably.”He turned and looked at her.She looked better.She had a little more color in her face, though she still looked tired and drawn.She wore a faded pair of sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt that must have been somewhere in the back of the trailer, because she hadn’t taken anything in with her and she hadn’t gone past him into the bedroom.“Does anything sound good for dinner?”
She shook her head.“I’m not hungry.”
“You still need to eat,” he said.“I’ve got someone bringing some supplies and some things for me over, but I’m not sure when they’ll be here.”He turned and went back to washing dishes.“What do you normally do when you’re not working?”She was quiet behind him, prompting him to turn and look at her.
Andy stood just inside the kitchen, where she’d been when he turned to do the dishes, staring at him with her mouth hanging open.
“What are you doing?”she asked after a moment.
“What does it look like I’m doing?”He frowned but turned back to the sink.Her asking questions was good, even if the answers were obvious.
“Okay, so I can see what you’re doing, but why?”
“Because I’m trying to help you feel better, and I don’t know about you, but I feel better when my space is picked up and neat.From the looks of this place, you usually do too.And it was either do it myself or have one of the prospects do it.I didn’t think you’d be up for another stranger invading your space.It’s not like there was a lot to be done.”He shrugged as he set the last of the clean dishes into the drainer.He didn’t bother turning to look at her before draining the sink and wiping down the counters.When he’d rinsed out the cloth and hung it on the edge of the sink, he turned to face her again.“What do you normally do?Watch TV?Read?Go out?”he asked again.
He wasn’t trying to change her or take over her life, just make sure she was okay and even a little taken care of for a while, at least until she was able to get back on her feet and take care of herself.He didn’t plan to abandon her once she was back on her feet.
No.She would still be his brother’s sister and he and the rest of the Angels would make sure she was safe and that she had what she needed.Panther had kept his life with her and his life with the club separate, Dagger didn’t know why or if they could continue that if the club was making sure she was okay, but he’d cross that bridge when they got to it.In the meantime, he had something else on his mind.
Andy shrugged then went to the recliner and flopped into it.She sat with one leg thrown carelessly over the arm and stared at the floor somewhere in front of the chair but didn’t say anything.
Dagger watched her a minute, trying to decide what to do to engage her, to get some kind of reaction.Right now, he’d take anything over the automaton that did what she was told but had no life, no spark.
“How do you feel about sports?”he asked, knowing they tended to be polarizing, especially with women.They either loved or hated them.He found the TV remote and turned on the TV.
“I don’t have cable.Just a couple of streaming platforms,” she said, speaking without prompting for the first time since asking what he was doing when she’d come in from the shower.
“That’s okay.I can make it work.I can always sign into my own streaming stuff too, if it’s different from what you have.You want to watch something?”
He’d barely glanced at the TV.Instead, he watched her.She shrugged but didn’t look up or say anything.Maybe he needed to try another tactic.
“Talk to me a little.Tell me what you like?”He wandered around the main room taking in the place.He’d already noticed she kept the place clean.There was some kind of blanket made with string over the back of the couch.Was it knitted maybe?He knew there were different ways to make things like that, and they had different names, but he didn’t know enough about either one to know how it was made.There was a similar blanket on the back of the chair where she sat.Both were in dark blue and a brownish yellow color he wouldn’t have put together, but he had to admit they looked good.
There was a bookshelf on one wall, filled with books, which was why he’d asked if she read when she’s on her own.On the shelf in front of the TV was a small shield looking thing with a black bird or maybe a crow on it.Upon close inspection, he realized there was a ribbon looking thing underneath that said Ravenclaw.So maybe it was a raven and not a crow, though he wasn’t sure what the difference between the two was.
On the other end of the shelf under the TV sat a small figure of a pointed hat that reminded him of the kind usually seen on witches around Halloween, except this one was tattered and worn and instead of standing up straight the top was bent at a weird angle.He looked at the two little figurines then over at where Andy still sat staring at nothing.But the blanket on the couch behind her caught his eye.He realized it was the same blue as the shield thing and the yellow was the same color as the ribbon thing under the shield.This was clearly something important to her.Maybe it could help him pull her from this funk she was in.He picked it up and carried it over to her.
“Tell me about this.”He held it down where she could see it.She sat unmoving for a minute, and he thought she was just going to continue to stare off into space but after a moment she blinked, then her eyes focused on his hand.
“That’s my house.”
“Your house?”he asked, even more confused now.
