Livin' on the Edge (Kings of Vengeance MC Book 6)

by Winter Travers

  “He’s gonna wonder what you’re doing here.” Same as I was.

  Zephyr shrugged. “Just helping you out, darlin’.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m very much capable of bringing my dad his pills and eating dinner with him.”

  “You’re capable of doing it, but there’s no reason why you have to do it by yourself.”

  I tipped my head to the side. “Stop shrinking me, Zephyr.” I was the one who was supposed to have words of encouragement and be the wise one.

  “It just seems like common sense to me. If there is someone who is willing to help you, let them.”

  “So you’re saying I should just shut up and get my ass in the apartment?”

  He chuckled low. “Yeah.”

  I turned on my heel and stomped up the steps to the apartment complex. “For the record, I would like to state that this was your chance to run.”

  I reached for the door, but Zephyr’s hand was there before mine. “You’re kind of stuck to me like glue.”

  He pulled open the door and motioned for me to go in. “Just helping you.”

  I huffed and walked in. Typically, I was the one who was always helping. It was weird as hell to have someone there to help me. Especially when I didn’t need it. Or at least, I didn’t think I needed it.

  Zephyr followed behind me as I climbed two flights of stairs. I tried not to think about the fact that my ass was basically in his face the whole time. I was a member of the big-butt club thanks to my addiction to pistachio ice cream and those oatmeal cream pie thingies.

  “What floor is he on?” Zephyr asked.

  “Second,” I mumbled. “I wanted him to get a place on the first floor, but they were all taken. I get my cardio in whenever I come here since they don’t have an elevator.” Low-income housing for the elderly wasn’t quite up to having an elevator. At least, not the places in Whitmore.

  “You helped him get his place?” Zephyr asked.

  I managed to climb the last few stairs without panting heavily. “Yeah. When he got…” I cleared my throat. “When he needed a new place, I helped him.”

  He also had nothing left in his life after getting out of rehab for the fifth time, and I had to beg and plead with the landlord of this place to get him an apartment. And also put my name on the lease.

  “Must have missed that trophy you have for being the best daughter,” Zephyr drawled.

  “Hardly,” I muttered. It was a good thing no one could read my mind because they would find out a hell of a lot of things they would have never thought about me. “If you want to leave anytime, just go ahead. I can always steal Dad’s car to get home.”

  I stopped in front of Dad’s door and raised my hand to knock.

  Zephyr grabbed my hand and turned me to face him. “I don’t know what you think about me, but it sure isn’t a lot if you think I’m just going to split on you at the drop of a hat.”

  He dropped my hand and sighed. Zephyr looked defeated, and I was the reason he felt that way.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  His eyes connected with mine. “Then what the hell did you mean? You’re giving me every chance to leave, and I keep telling you no. I’m not leaving, Lynn.”

  “I just mean things are weird with my dad right now, and I would totally understand if you want to leave. I don’t want you to have to go through this mess. You don’t need to go through this mess.” ‘Cause God knew things were a mess right now. Mainly in my head.

  “How about you let me decide what I want to go through, yeah?”

  I shook my head. “It’s your possible awkward evening.” I shrugged and turned back to the door. I raised my hand, but the door swung open before my knuckles even hit the door.

  “Lynn,” Dad called. “You’re here.” He held open the door wide, and his eyes moved to Zephyr. “And you brought your boyfriend with you.”

  “He’s not—”

  Zephyr cut me off. “Good to see you again, Walt.” He held out his hand to Dad and they shook. “I hope we’re not too late for dinner. Lynn had to work late tonight.”

  Zephyr moved around me and stepped into the apartment.

  “If I would have known you were coming, I would have ordered more. I only got enough for Lynn, Steph, and I.”

  I stepped in and closed the door behind me. “I’m not that hungry, and I doubt Steph will be here.” I pulled Dad’s prescription from my pocket and moved into the small kitchen.

  Dad made his way to the dining room table where a bag of Chinese takeout sat. “You don’t know that. I left a message on her machine.”

  I rolled my eyes. As if leaving a message on her voicemail meant Steph was actually going to grace us with her presence. “Did she call you back?” I grabbed his pillbox and flipped open the one slot I didn’t fill.

  “Well, no, but you know she is busy with her important job,” Dad defended her.

  I popped open the bottle and dropped in a pill. “Yeah, working the cash register at the gas station is super important.”

  Zephyr smothered a laugh with the back of his hand.

  Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t making fun of the fact that Steph worked at a gas station; it was the fact that she acted like she was the Queen of Sheba who didn’t have thirty seconds in her day to call Dad.

  “Is she still taking classes?” I questioned. I snapped the container shut and dropped the bottle of pills with the others.

  “She decided to take this semester off.”

  I dropped my chin to my chest and sighed. What in the hell was Steph thinking? She was less than a year away from being an RN, and she decided to take a semester off?

  “You’re kidding.” I turned to Dad and folded my arms over my chest. It looked like Zephyr was going to have to deal with my family mess right off the bat.

  Dad shrugged and sat down at the table. “It’s just a semester, Lynn. She said she wanted to take a break for a second before she gets an RN job.”

  I grabbed a stack of plates from the cabinet and set them on the table. “She’s dumb,” I grunted. “She has the world at her feet right now, and instead of finishing school, she’s taking a semester off to work at a shithole gas station.”

  “Did you go to school?” Dad asked Zephyr.

  My eyes snapped to Zephyr.

  “Uh, well, no. I wasn’t really the smart kind. I was happy to have graduated high school.” He pulled out a chair next to Dad and sat down. “If I had the smarts, I would have gone to college.”

  Well, that was an okay answer. All except for the part where he said he wasn’t smart. I knew that higher education wasn’t for everyone. Graduating high school and jumping into the job pool was more than okay. But that didn’t mean the people who skipped college weren’t smart. “You’re smart.”

  Zephyr looked up at me. “If you say so, darlin’.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You are. Trust me.”

  “Because you went to school and have a college degree?” Zephyr chuckled.

  I pointed my finger at him. “This isn’t about you. It’s about my sister making bad decisions because she’s afraid.”

  “Afraid of what?” Zephyr asked.

  Dad shrugged and started pulled containers from the bag of food. “She’s young. She has her whole life in front of her to work. One semester isn’t going to hurt.”

  I wasn’t going to argue with Dad about this. Hell, Steph didn’t want me to be a part of her life, so I didn’t need to stress myself over what she was or wasn’t doing. I grabbed an eggroll and plopped down in the chair next to Zephyr. “Anything exciting going on around here?”

  Dad may live in lower-income apartments, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t much happening.

  “Marg from two doors down has a mixer thing on Friday. We’re supposed to wear clothes from the seventies.” Dad opened the two containers of lo mien and stabbed forks into them. “I’m going to go to the thrift store and see what I can find to wear.”

  “You don’t have anything in
your closet?” I watched Zephyr grab a plate and spill a bunch of noodles onto a plate.

  “Nah.” Dad shook his head.

  “You want me to come with you?” I asked.

  Zephyr looked up from his plate at me. “Lynn.”

  I reared back. “Uh, what?”

  “You’re pretty busy with work lately,” Zephyr reminded me.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m always busy with work, Zephyr.”

  Zephyr shook his head and forked a huge mound of noodles into his mouth. “I can go to the thrift store with you, Walt. I’m sure I can get a couple of the girls to come with, too.”

  “Girls?” Dad asked.

  “What?” I gasped. “You’re not taking my dad to the thrift store,” I protested.

  “It’s not like I’m taking him to grab a fifth of whiskey and head to the strip club, Lynn,” Zephyr laughed.

  I glared at him. What in the hell was Zephyr trying to prove? I was busy, but that didn’t mean he had to step in and do everything with Dad. We had spent one night together, and now he thought he could just take over my life?

  “You don’t need to take time out of your day to take Dad to the thrift store. I can take him when I get off of work, or I can even take him on my lunch break.” I would just have to move a couple of appointments around on Thursday and then work until eight.

  “It’s not a big deal. I don’t have much going on this week,” Zephyr explained. “And I have a feeling the girls would get a kick out of dressing your dad up for a seventies party.”

  I shook my head. “I really doubt that is a good time for Kimber and the girls.”

  Dad laughed loudly. “You had me at girls coming along. Pick me up at eleven on Thursday, and we can grab lunch on the way.”

  Zephyr nodded. “Sounds like a plan, Walt.”

  I had absolutely no control over any of this. “Why am I even talking?”

  Zephyr reached out and patted his hand on mine. “I got this for you, darlin’.”

  I looked at his hand and blinked. I didn’t know what to say besides being a bitch and telling him I didn’t need his help. Except I did need his help, and if I actually stopped for a second and thought about it, Zephyr taking Dad to the thrift store would actually help me a lot. “Are you sure?”

  Zephyr shrugged. “Yeah. I can take your dad by the project the club is working on after.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Project?” I had heard about one of the club's projects at a funeral home. A funeral home they were turning into a strip club.

  “Calm down, Lynn. We’re still doing the demo. Your dad won’t see anything that would corrupt him.” Zephyr chuckled and winked at Dad.

  Dad let out a full belly laugh. “Boy, back in my day, I would have been the one doing the corrupting. I’ve seen it all.”

  I shoved my eggroll in my mouth and growled. That was the damn truth. While Dad was out seeing it all, I was at home taking care of Steph.

  A knock sounded on the door.

  My eyes connected with Zephyr’s.

  No way.

  Dad stood and ambled over to the door. “I bet that’s Steph.”

  My breath caught when he opened the door and my sister stood there.

  Her hair hung loose around her shoulders, and she was wearing black leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. She looked exactly like Steph, but there was something different.

  Her eyes darted around the room and landed on me. Her hands fidgeted, and she bit her bottom lip. Her pupils were dilated and her eyes bloodshot.

  Steph was high as a fucking kite.

  “Hello, Daddy,” she drawled. “Am I too late for dinner?”

  Zephyr’s hand enveloped mine and squeezed.

  I felt the warmth of his hand, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Steph.

  My baby sister, who I had raised because our dad was either too high or drunk to even care for himself, swayed in the doorway. She reached out and put her hand on the jamb. “Is no one going to even say hello?”

  I was frozen.

  The world moved around me while I struggled to even breathe

  Dad stepped to the side and held open the door. “Uh, come on in, honey.” His words were breathy, and I could tell he was in shock. At least, I thought he was in shock.

  The thing I had always feared was happening right before my eyes.

  The addict father was looking back at his addict daughter.

  “You have company,” Steph chirped. Her bloodshot eyes moved to Zephyr, and a smile spread across her lips. “A present for me.”

  Rage ran through me. She had the nerve to show up to Dad’s high off her ass and then thought that Zephyr was a present for her.

  “Oh, Steph,” Dad laughed. “That’s Zephyr. He’s a friend of Lynn’s.”

  Steph laughed. “Right, Daddy. Like Lynn would be with someone like Zephyr.”

  What in the hell was that supposed to mean? Wouldn’t I be with someone as handsome as Zephyr? If she was insinuating that I wouldn’t be with Zephyr simply by the way he looked, then Steph truly didn’t know me.

  Zephyr moved closer to me and laid his arm over my shoulders. “Stay with me, darlin’,” he whispered in my ear.

  I turned, and my eyes connected with his. His voice was the thing that moved me from the stupor of my sister waltzing in. “Huh?”

  His hand cradled my chin. “I’m gonna kiss you.”

  I blinked slowly. “Huh?”

  A smirk spread across his lips. “Some shit I don’t know about is going on right now, but I have a feeling a kiss would distract you.” His lips were on mine, and the world melted away for five seconds. The anger, rage, and disappointment faded. His lips were some magic force that made everything better.

  Dad cleared his throat, and Zephyr’s mouth left mine.

  “As if that is going to last,” Steph blabbed.

  “Breathe, Lynn,” Zephyr whispered against my lips. “I’m right here.”

  I leaned back in my chair and sighed. “Okay.”

  “Knock it off, Steph,” Dad scolded.

  I looked at Zephyr for one last second and then turned my attention to Dad and Steph.

  It was crazy how much they looked like each other. Steph was a dead ringer for Dad when he used to come home after a three-day bender. She hated when he was like that, and now, here she stood, doing the thing she hated.

  “I don’t know why you’re yelling at me,” she slurred. “I was invited here, wasn’t I?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Hi, Steph.”

  Steph rolled her eyes in return. “Is there any food left for me? I haven’t eaten all day.”

  “Did you drive here?” I asked.

  Steph plopped down in Dad’s chair and grabbed an eggroll. “I got dropped off by a friend.”

  Her friend who probably helped her get high.

  Zephyr stood and offered his chair to my dad. My heart skipped a beat at the chivalrous gesture.

  Dad sat in the chair, and Zephyr stood behind me. He laid his hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “You want a drink, darlin’?”

  “I’ll have a Coke, thanks.” Steph fluttered her eyes at Zephyr and licked her lips.

  “Eat some food, Steph,” Dad gruffed.

  I scooted my chair back and shot up from my chair. “I can get my own drink,” I chirped. I grabbed Zephyr’s hand. “But you can come with me. The ice might give me a problem.”

  The kitchen wasn’t far away, but it was not right next to Steph. I pulled Zephyr behind me and marched to the fridge. Zephyr stood in front of it and opened the door. It partially blocked my view of Steph and Dad.

  “You wanna clue me in on just what is going on here, darlin’?” Zephyr asked quietly. “I can sense shit is not good right now.”

  That was a damn understatement.

  I took a deep breath and scooted closer into the fridge, which also put me closer to Zephyr. “I don’t think I can condense everything down for you, but the gist is my dad was an addict for years when I was younger. I raised my
sister, who now hates me for reasons I kind of understand, but I kind of don’t.” My eyes darted in the direction of the table. “I haven’t seen my sister for months, and she just waltzed in high off her butt.” I looked up at Zephyr. “Those are the highlights of my train wreck life.”

  Zephyr chuckled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. “Hardly a train wreck, darlin’.”

  “There’s a lot more, Zephyr, but I don’t think we should hold the refrigerator that long. I just hit on the high points.”

  “So, you wanna get out of here or try to ride this out?”

  Run, motherfucker! I closed my eyes and tried not to scream that out loud.

  “Lynn,” Zephyr whispered.

  I cracked open one eye. “We should probably stay and try to figure out what is going on. To say I’m shocked that my sister is high right now is an understatement. For twelve years, we both watched our dad ruin his life and our life with drugs. For Steph to be doing drugs, something has to be going on.” At least, I hoped something was going on. Somewhere Steph had gotten lost, and as much as we didn’t get along anymore, I had to try to help her.

  “I’ll let you take the lead, darlin’, but if things get out of hand, I’m stepping in.”

  My eyes bugged out. “What do you mean out of hand? It’s my sister. How bad can get this?” It was pretty stupid of me to think nothing bad was going to happen. Daily, I sat front and center before addicts, recovering addicts, and their families. If shit didn’t go sideways, I knew we weren’t making any headway. “I take that back. Things are going to go sideways. Just…I don’t know.” I had become an alcohol and drug counselor because I wanted to help people who were like Dad. I didn’t think my sister would be just like my father. “Maybe this is her first time, and it’s a fluke.”

  Zephyr’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Darlin’.”

  One word, and I knew what he was saying.

  “So this probably isn’t her first time, and she needs help.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, and I think that means she’s going to need someone to help her who isn’t you.”

  I reared back. “What?”

  “You trying to air-condition the house with the fridge open?” Dad crowed from the table.