Page 56 of Mac
"We haven't had a lot of time since you got here to spend together so tell me how you've been?How’s Hannah and her parents?"She drew Dave into conversation.They spent the rest of dinner talking about her brother and his wife.Hannah was holding down the fort with her parents, who didn’t need a lot of care, but did need to have someone around just in case.They also talked about what he'd been up to and what he planned to do while in town.
CHAPTER23
Mac didn't know what to say about Elyse's mother.There were a few things he could say but they weren't kind, and he decided he'd best keep his mouth shut.
"You two go talk for a few," Dave shooed them from the kitchen once they'd finished eating."I'll take care of all this.You don't have much time before he has to leave anyway, and I don't want to see you hanging all over each other."He turned away and started picking up after the meal.
"Come on."
Mac let Elyse urge him from the room.
"I'm really sorry about Mom."She shook her head."I had no clue she was going to show up like that.I never would have invited you if I'd known.Not because I'm ashamed of you.It's her."Elyse shook her head again and her face turned pink.
Mac felt bad for her.He couldn't remember ever feeling that way about his parents and in that moment he wondered if he ever would have if they'd lived longer.Somehow, he didn't think so.His parents hadn't been perfect, but they hadn't been overtly mean to anyone and that's exactly what Elyse's mom had done.
"Come on.She doesn't matter."He tugged her through the living room and onto her small front porch where he sat with her on the porch swing and watched the lights in the sky of the cool evening."Let it go.I don't blame you for her, and I never will.She's not the first close minded old biddy who can't see past the tattoos and the bike, and she won't be the last."
Elyse made an odd noise he couldn't place.He looked down at where she sat tucked under his arm and he couldn't believe his eyes.She was laughing and trying not to let it show.Why would she do that?He felt his brow furrow as he stared down at her.
"Old biddy."Elyse let the laugh out and laughed until her face was red and she gasped for breath."That's a great one.I'll have to remember it.She'd die if she heard it which only makes it better."Her laughter came back, and all Mac could do was wait for it to pass."I'm sorry."Tears ran down her face now and Mac had come to value the time he spent with Elyse.
It was a chance to be himself.With her, he didn't have to worry about keeping up his image or maintaining his position in the club.Yes, she knew he rode, yes she knew about the club, at least a little.But those weren't the things she cared about.As he sat with her in the rapidly cooling night he wondered for a moment what his life might have been like if he hadn't joined the Souls.
He probably wouldn't have landed in Tucson.He might not have ended up as a mechanic, and he would never have met Elyse.He tugged her closer and took a deep breath, inhaling her scent and doing his best to memorize it.
"You're quiet," Elyse said after a while.
"Sorry, I was just thinking."
"Must be some heavy thoughts."She dropped her head back against this shoulder.
"It kind of was."He debated telling her, then decided to be honest.He opened up, telling her most of it, leaving out the details of why he'd joined the Souls and what they did."I can't regret any of it.I can't second guess my choices because changing any of them, even the ones that didn't turn out so well, much less something as small as going right out a door instead of left.Because something that seems small at the time might have huge ripples I wouldn't know about, and it might mean never meeting you, or maybe not being someone that you would give the time of day, if we did meet."He fell silent, wondering how she would react.
She didn't respond right away, making him wonder if he'd done the wrong thing by spilling what was on his mind.
"Not what I thought would be on your mind but thank you for sharing.I feel the same way."She was quiet a moment then continued, "I used to wish I'd been born into a different family.Which one changed with what was going on in my life and at home.But a few years ago, I realized that without my family, my choices and my experiences, then I wouldn't be who I am."She turned and looked up at him until he looked back down at her."It's taken me a long time, but I like who I am."She sighed and went back to staring out in to the darkness."I struggled with trying to be someone else to please other people, my mother being one of them.But not all that long ago I realized that no matter what, I could never make her happy.She is the only person who can do that.My responsibility is me.I think that's part of why Mom is so ugly about everything and everyone having to do with me.She probably thinks I've done things to spite her or to hurt her, but it's not true.I just stopped doing everything to make her happy with me and started focusing on what made me happy."
Mac could only squeeze her tight a moment to reassure her it was okay to do things for herself.He wanted to say something, but she spoke again.
"Anyway, all that was to say I don't care what she says about you.You make me happy.No, that's not quite true.I do care what she says, but it's because I won't let her do that to you.I will be talking to her about being rude to my guests in my house.That was taking her temper tantrum too far."
The front door opened, and Elyse's brother stepped out.
"There you two are.I didn't mean to run you all the way out here."
"I needed some fresh air," Elyse said without stirring."Besides this is a good place to talk."
"I'm done inside, you want me to grab a chair and join you out here?"Dave asked.
"You can have my seat," Mac said after checking the time."I've got to run.I’m not sure when I’ll be home so don’t wait up."He stood and dropped a kiss onto Elyse's upturned lips before crossing the lawn to his place.They called goodbyes after him and he waved over his shoulder as he ducked into the house.He didn't know what time he might get home tonight and he had a couple small things to do before heading over to the clubhouse.
"Iwant these assholes out of our city.I don't care if that means behind bars or in a hole in the desert where they'll never be seen or heard from again.Either way, I want it fixed so they never hurt another woman or child again," Ghost spoke between clenched teeth.
Mac could tell the man was struggling not to punctuate his words with his fist against the huge table they all sat around.Mac couldn't blame the guy, he felt the same way but had enough experience to know that to do things right, it wouldn't happen fast.
Macwas okay with not doing things right on this one, but it would draw attention to the club, the kind they didn't want, or need, so they had to go carefully, or they could end up in prison, or worse, dead.While any one of them might make that choice for themselves, they wouldn't do it for their brothers, much less the increasing group of innocents surrounding them.
He leaned back in his seat, his eyes scanning the room as he took in who might be willing to make the same sacrifice, and trying to gauge if anyone else, aside from their sergeant at arms, was so impatient to get it done that they might be willing to go rogue and endanger the rest of them.No one was happy that Tuck had said they didn't have enough information, not yet but only Ghost was as outspoken about it.
