Page 17 of Joker's Ghost
“Are you all right?” Daisy calls through the door.
“Yeah.” My weak, whispering voice surprises me. After another few minutes, I struggle to my feet using the sink for support, then I gaze into the mirror.
The image staring back at me is fuckin’ scary. My normally tawny complexion is the color of ash, accentuating the scar along my jawline. My eyes are sunken and hooded like the bad old days when I’d been on a coke bender.
All in all, I look like shit.
I splash ice cold water on my face, suck in some deep breaths and try to look normal so I don’t scare my pregnant wife.
“Holy shit, you look like death.”
So much for fooling my wife.
“You must have that stomach bug going around.” She takes my arm, leading me to the bed, and I don’t resist. “Deana’s whole class had it last week.”
“Yeah, Cobra said that too.”
“You were sick earlier?” She removes the mountain of decorative pillows, pulls down the comforter, then sits me on the edge of the bed. “Take these clothes off and get into bed.”
“I have a feeling you don’t mean those words exactly as they sound.” I try to pull off a sexy grin, but it feels more like a grimace.
“Just do as I say and stop being a wiseass.” She goes into the closet and returns with my worn Harley t-shirt and a pair of soft gym shorts. “Change and get under the covers.”
“Awful bossy for a pregnant woman.”
She rolls her eyes. “Between taking care of you, Derek,Deana and this baby pressing up against my bladder all day, I have no other option but bossy.”
“I’m calling Derek and telling him to bring home ginger ale and Gatorade. You need to replace your fluids.”
When she turns to retrieve her phone, I stuff the box and talisman from Warrior in the drawer of my end table. I wasn’t up to getting into all of it, especially since it was all bullshit anyway. Right?
Daisy ends her call with Derek, then points to my clothes. “Get changed.”
I do as she says, then she props the pillows behind my head, and I have to admit it’s the first time I’ve relaxed all day.
“Don’t move, and try to relax.”
Yup, my woman is amazing. She grew up in poverty-stricken West Virginia with nothing. When I met her, she was running cons in South Beach. We basically saved each other, and then became a family. She treats Derek like her own, and after being kidnapped by an obsessed lunatic, she gave me our beautiful Deana. Plus, she runs my custom motorcycle shop and keeps a hard-ass like me in line. Not easy.
“We gotta get you feeling better. We don’t want to miss the club Halloween party tomorrow night, right?”
I swallow hard as another wave of nausea hits, then draw in some deep breaths, and thankfully the feeling passes, but not the deep ache in my gut.
Halloween Morning
Joker
The next morning, I wake from a fitful sleep, but I’m able to force down some much-needed coffee without hurling. Good times.
Daisy loved pampering me even though it should be theother way around, but I still couldn’t shake off whatever the fuck is wrong with me.If anything the nagging pain in my gut is worse. Must be a bug like Cobra and Daisy suggested, along with the stress of the Nomads and all their mumbo-jumbo.
On Saturday, Derek comes to the shop with me after his morning karate class and spends the day rebuilding, restoring and tricking out the constant flow of orders. The kid rides as well as me and genuinely likes working here.
Aside from my family and my brothers, owning my own business is the accomplishment I’m most proud of. I love having Derek by my side as he learns the business and him enjoying it is an added bonus.
I treasure our father-son bond at the shop, but I never let it come before his studies at school. The kid is crazy smart, especially with numbers, and there is no way I would let him waste his talent. I’d promised his mother before she was taken from me I would always keep him safe and put him first, and so far I’ve succeeded.
With the help of the Serpents sending me business, and the suits from the casinos, whose mid-life crises compels them to buy Harleys they know nothing about, the shop is always buzzing with activity. We recently expanded to car maintenance, which ensures we’re busy non-stop.
