Page 83 of Zeke

I head up to the bar and sit down on the stool. The bartender comes over to me, and I mask my reaction before I end up looking like that cartoon wolf with his tongue out.

The girl behind the counter is fucking gorgeous. She’s tall, but not nearly as tall as me. Her body is shaped like a perfect hourglass, and she’s dressed in a way that accentuates her curves. She leans forward, and it takes all my effort to not speak directly to her tits.

“Hi,” she says, pulling out a pad of paper. “You’re new here.”

“Yeah,” I say, smiling at her. “My name’s Eli.”

“Nice to meet you, Eli.” She doesn’t provide me her name, but the way she speaks feels coy, like she’s fishing for me to ask.

But I know how to play, too.

“Nice place you have here,” I say, looking around. Truth be told, it’s kind of a dump. But most biker bars are.

“You think the décor is something special, you should try the drinks. They areveryaverage.”

I laugh out loud for the first time in… I can’t remember how long. I had a hard time telling if she was flirting with me, but now it seems likely. “Let me just get a beer, then. Pabst, please.”

“Coming right up,” she says, reaching below the bar and producing a bottle of PBR, which she pops open and hands to me.

“Thanks.” But before I tip my head back, I pause. “Do you mind doing a little toast with me? Your drink is on me.”

She shrugs and smiles. “Sure.” She turns and pours herself a mixed drink that I’m sure costs three times what my beer does, but I don’t care.

“To new beginnings,” I say, clinking the neck of my bottle against her glass. “And to learning to see opportunity where we find it. Even when we aren’t looking.”

EPILOGUE

Zeke

Eden sits at her desk looking glum. She’s been that way a lot the last few weeks, and to be honest, it is getting a little old reassuring her.

“Eli’s fine,” I say from the chair across from hers. “He literally just checked in yesterday, and he’s doing great.”

“Yeah,” she says, folding her arms and laying her head on them. “Great. Doing great out there alone, without us.”

I stare at her for a minute, then pat her on the head. “It’s okay to say you miss him, you know.”

“I do not miss him!” she shrieks, like I’ve electrocuted her with my words.

“Yes, you do,” I say, reading her mood like a book. “We both do, and that’s okay. But we miss him because we love him, which means we want what’s best for him, right?”

“And why do you think being with us isn’t best for him? We’re his family,” she says. We’ve gone around this merry-go-round once a day since Eli left, and it never gets any easier.

“Come on, Eden,” I beg her. “You have plenty of other things you could be focusing on besides our perfectly happy, healthy, and safe brother.”

She looks at me with a frown. “But what if something happens here and we need him?”

“Well,” I say, holding up the letter he left, which is looking a little worse for the wear after being handled so frequently by both Eden and me. “Like he says, he’s just a phone call away.”

“But he isn’t here anymore,” she complains. “His loyalty is God knows where besides here.”

“Eden, you’re being stupid.” I reach for her hand, which she lets me take. “Eli needs a break… badly. And if this is how he’s going to get himself back to being good again, we need to let him. Besides, if we called him with something we needed him home for, you know he’d come. Shouldn’t you be focused on your wedding planning?”

She scowls at me, then at the big white binder on her desk, which I know is full of wedding stuff. She and Savage got married in a quickie, impromptu ceremony here at the house, but they decided they wanted a more formal type of event for their first anniversary. She has to start planning now, apparently, since it takes at least that long to plan a wedding.

“Fine,” she says, reaching for the binder and pulling it toward her. “Speaking of that…”

I look down at my watch and notice the time. “Good looking out, sis.” I stand up and give her a kiss on the head. “I’ll see you later. Quit stressing about Eli. I love you.”

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