Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3)

by Lina Andersson

  “Wonder what her feet look like,” Edie said. She too kept her eyes on the TV. “Have to be a damn mess.”

  In fact, they looked pretty bad, and Anna still claimed they looked great now compared to what they used to do.

  On the screen, she was on her toes and held her leg straight up along her side. He’d once pushed her legs straight out to the sides, stretched in a split, and she didn’t bat an eye. With his hands on the inside of her thighs, he’d fucked her with determination, just blown out of his mind that it was even possible. He’d also had her leaning face down over a table, with her leg resting on his shoulder, bent in a way that shouldn’t even be possible, and she’d come, hard! Which of course meant he did, too.

  “Do you think she’s watching?” Vi asked.

  “No,” Lisa shook he head. “Not a chance in hell that she is. She doesn’t even wanna talk about dancing. I’ve tried but it’s still too sore.”

  Suddenly, Anna turning over and saying she was tired when he asked about dancing was explained. Fuck, it must really have hurt her. He felt like an ass.

  “She must miss it,” he said.

  “Probably, but she’s still avoiding it. She just can’t and she should.”

  He heard sniveling and realized that Vi was crying again.

  “Honey,” Mac chuckled. “Come here.”

  “It’s just so sad,” Vi cried and moved closer to Mac. “Look! She’s so beautiful on stage, and you can see how much she loves it.”

  On the screen, Anna held her arms around the fag dude’s neck, and that’s when it hit Mitch like a gut punch: he didn’t like it! In fact, that had been in the back of his mind since the very beginning of this; every time she looked at a dude like that, almost kissing them, he didn’t like it. Which was disturbing as fuck because getting possessive of Anna had not been the plan at all.

  “What the fuck happened now?” Bear asked a while later, while Mitch was still in a panic about his feelings for Anna.

  “When he was married to the other woman, the gods punished them by tearing down the temple, and everyone died,” Eliza said, and then moved closer to Mitch, taking his hand. She used to do that as a kid when she was upset about something she saw on TV. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer, thankful for the interruption. “Now she greets him in heaven and they dance. I don’t like this part at all.”

  “Why?” he asked and looked at her. “Is this some feminist crap?” he added to tease her.

  “Yes,” she said and hit his arm. “He totally abandoned her and married that other woman, probably knowing she’s the one who’d killed her, so why would she forgive him?”

  “Forgiving is divine,” Mac said and pushed their little sister with his foot. “Isn’t it, baby?” He looked down at Vi who was resting against his chest. “Are you still crying?”

  “Yes,” she said and blew her nose. “Imagine if you’d been practicing riding since you were, like, eight—”

  “Six,” Lisa interrupted her. “She was six, probably younger. I’m guessing her parents had her practicing even before that.”

  “Six, then. All the time and all the things she gave up, and then you couldn’t ever do it again.”

  “That’s fucking rough,” Sisco mumbled. “But, damn it, she’s hot.”

  “I’m not saying it’s not sad,” Mac said after a glare at Sisco and then one at Mitch before turning his attention back to Vi. “Just saying you’ll get dehydrated if you keep crying like that.”

  And now Sisco’s comment was getting to Mitch as well. This wasn’t good. After a glare at Sisco, he looked at Lisa, who was giving him a knowing smile. Mac knew he was seeing Anna, simply since Mac knew everything about him. If Mac knew, Vi knew, and then there was Lisa and Eliza. Besides the slip to his mom, which didn’t really matter, that was it. There hadn’t really been anything to tell anyone. She wasn’t the first fuck buddy he’d had, and he’d never bothered to tell anyone about them. Like he’d once said to Mac, regarding another one of his fuck buddies, ‘I don’t bring my spunk rag to family dinner.’ Which was a bit harsh, maybe, but nonetheless true. There wasn’t much point in introducing a girl he had no intention of starting a relationship with.

  Once the show was over, Edie started laughing. “I just have to point out that I’ve spent Thanksgiving with the better part of a biker club, and we watched ballet. No one would ever believe me.”

  “I’d have to kill you if you told anyone,” Dawg said and gave her a kiss.

  “You’d never kill me, you luuurve me.”

  “That is true,” he laughed, “but a man’s gotta protect his rep.”

  Mitch was surrounded by couples and needed to get out; he gave Eliza a kiss and went upstairs and out on the porch. He lit a joint and sat down and leaned back to stare up in the sky.

  “You okay, son?” his dad asked as he sat down next to him. “Guess this isn’t the kind of Thanksgiving you’d like.”

  “It’s fine, Dad.” He turned and smiled at him. The door opened and Mac came outside.

  “If you sneak off, you take me with you.”

  “Sorry,” Mitch said and handed his brother a joint. “How’s the girl?”

  “Fine. Fed up, and I’m fed up with her being fed up.” Mac lay down on another recliner and lit up. “This is what I needed. You okay?” The last question was directed at Mitch.

  “I’m fine. Why the fuck is everyone asking me that?”

  “I was wondering since you just spent two hours very focused on a bunch of people prancing around in ridiculous costumes.”

  Mitch gave him the finger, but didn’t get away that easily.

  “Yeah, what the fuck was up with that?” Brick laughed. “Cuz you were really paying attention. Got a boner for Lisa’s friend?”

  He didn’t answer, only shrugged while avoiding looking at his dad. He definitely had a boner for her, but that wasn’t the confusing part. And he might be an ass who did his best to nail as many women as possible, but he didn’t brag about it, so he kept his mouth shut.

  -o0o-

  The phone was ringing, and it was the middle of the fucking night. At first he thought it was the alarm they’d set up on the server, and that the motherfucking hacker was at it again. Mitch’d been woken up two or three times a week by him, and it was definitely getting to him. But he soon realized it was actually someone calling him, and it was either bad news or Eliza who couldn’t sleep and wanted to go for a ride.

  “What!” he half yelled and tried to open his eyes.

  “Brother, I hope you’re ready for your godson, because he’s on his way.”

  “I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

  “No rush, it’s gonna be a while.”

  “I’m on my way.” There was no fucking way in hell he’d miss a second of this.

  When he came to the hospital, he met up with Lisa in the waiting area.

  “Wow! Is that what you look like without makeup?” he said, and she glared at him.

  “What?” she snarled.

  “Nothing. Heard anything?”

  “No.”

  They sat down, and then the waiting started. One by one, other members came as well. Everyone but Sisco, but he was never around for births. Mitch had a vague idea why, but he’d never asked about it. It wasn’t his business.

  Some left to get food or coffee, but the club members and families were still filling up the visitors room the entire day. Bear couldn’t even sit still. He walked back and forth in the hallway when he wasn’t walking back and forth outside while smoking.

  Around noon, Wolf, a former member who was enjoying his retirement in San Diego, came inside.

  “What the fuck?!” Brick yelled with a laugh.

  “Didn’t think I’d miss my little country girl having her first baby, did you?” Wolf answered and started handing out hugs.

  Wolf and Vi’d been the only ones in the club who liked country, and they were close, but Mitch had honestly not even thought about him coming. But there he was
. Wolf sat down and joined in on the waiting while talking to the older members.

  And then, at 3 p.m., Mitch saw his brother coming towards them, and he had a blue bundle in his arms. He stood up to meet him. Mac walked up to Brick and Bear first, holding up the kid.

  “This is Joshua,” he said with the biggest fucking smile Mitch had ever seen on his face. “Joshua Mitchell Baxter.”

  They’d fucking named the kid after him, and he felt like a fag when he choked up. Bear was holding Joshua, so Mitch took the chance and gave his brother a hug.

  “Fuck! You’re not naming him after yourself? Or Dad?”

  “Nope,” Mac smiled.

  “Thank you!”

  “No cruising for pussy with my kid, you hear me?”

  “No.” When Bear handed him Joshua, he looked at him. Besides the pouty mouth from his mom, he looked a lot like Mac, and he didn’t have a single hair on his head. “Hey there.”

  He leaned down to kiss his little bald head, and he smelled... amazing, so sweet.

  “He’s perfect,” he mumbled.

  “How’s Katze?” Bear asked.

  “Fine. You can go and see her soon.”

  Mitch couldn’t take his eyes off the kid. He was a bit scrunchy, but so pretty. And it hit him, his brother was a dad. He had a son, and that was so mind blowing he couldn’t even comprehend it. The boy he was holding was Mac’s son! Mac put his arms around Mitch’s shoulders.

  “You’re gonna have to have my back on this,” he said.

  “Always got your back. You know that.”

  “Give him here. Vi’s gonna freak if I don’t come back with him soon.”

  “Tell her I love her,” he said and gave Joshua one last kiss. “And tell her that he’s a beauty, and that I’ll see her tomorrow.”

  He handed him over and watched his brother walk away with the kid. He knew they’d have a party later that night; they always did to get the new dad piss drunk. Hell, they all got piss drunk to celebrate another club kid being born. Even Sisco was in on those because it was a big thing to everyone, and he decided to go home and get some sleep, so he’d be able to stay up.

  -o0o-

  “Hey, isn’t that the flexible dancer?” Sisco mumbled and hit Mitch’s arm.

  Mitch looked up and saw Anna by the door; she looked around and smiled when she found Lisa. Not even mentioning how relieved she looked.

  “Aren’t you occupied with your friend?” Mitch asked and nodded in the general direction of the blonde Jane. She was Sisco’s friend from Seattle and had come to visit for a few days.

  “Hang on,” Sisco laughed. “What was that?”

  “What?” he asked and tore his eyes from Anna to turn towards Sisco.

  “I know that look, you’re tapping that bitch.” He shook his head with a laugh. “Should’ve figured that out when you were all of a sudden all into ballet.”

  Mitch had no idea how to respond, so with a, “Whatever,” he got up and went to find Mac, but he heard Sisco laughing behind him. Mitch pushed his way though the bar, untangled himself from a few sweetbutts, and finally found Mac, insanely drunk, leaning against the pool table.

  “My brother!” Mac yelled. When he noticed Anna coming towards them, Mac’s smile grew, and he put a firm arm around Mitch’s shoulders and turned towards her. “The ballerina!”

  “Congratulations,” Anna smiled with a slight blush. “Lisa called me, I hope it’s okay that I’m here.”

  “Of course!” he yelled. Mac always talked really loudly when he was drunk, and now he was making Mitch slightly deaf. “Did you know that you had half a biker club staring at a ballet performance during Thanksgiving? All of us! We were blown away!”

  “You watched?” she asked, and gave Mitch a quick look before turning her attention back to Mac.

  “Yup. Didn’t get much of it,” Mac said while trying to swallow a burp. He slammed his hand on Mitch’s back. “Mitch couldn’t tear his eyes off the screen. Wanna see a picture of Joshua?”

  “Yes!” Anna seemed as relieved as Mitch about the change of subject. She leaned forward and looked at Mac’s phone. “Joshua, it’s a very nice name.”

  “Joshua Mitchell Baxter. It’s a great name.”

  Anna gave him a surprised look and smiled. “You gave him your brother’s name?”

  “Yeah.” Mac was still smiling like a moron while staring at the picture of his son. “Named after his godfather and the best guy I know.”

  “Can I get you a beer or something?” Mitch asked Anna.

  “Beer is fine.”

  He signaled to a sweetbutt, and she immediately came with a beer. He took it and handed it over to Anna, and when the girl tried to put her arms around his neck, he pushed her to the side to indicate he wasn’t interested. It was still pretty fucking obvious what she’d done, and when he looked at Anna again, she gave Mac another hug and kissed his cheek.

  “I’ll come by with your present some other day. Thought it was better to wait with it.”

  “Yeah. And thanks!”

  Then she turned around and walked away. Mac slapped his arm.

  “You gonna let her get away?”

  He looked after her and then shook his head. “No, but I’ll give her a few minutes.”

  He gave her more than a few minutes. He gave her a few hours, and he kept watching her. She mostly stuck to Lisa but talked to Bear and Brick for a while. She stood next to Edie for a pretty long time, but when she sat down on a couch, he went over to her and sat down next to her.

  “All good?” he asked and handed her a beer.

  “Yeah,” she nodded. She was spinning her cane in her hand, and it looked as if she was avoiding looking at him. “So you saw me dance?”

  “Yes.”

  “They all asked me about it and pointed out I’d made bikers watch ballet.”

  She still wouldn’t look at him, and he had a feeling he knew what it was about. She didn’t like talking about it, and for some reason she wasn’t comfortable with him having seen her dance. He noticed Mac half sleeping in an armchair and pointed at him.

  “Wanna help me get him to bed?”

  “Sure,” she said and stood up.

  They walked over to Mac, and Mitch pulled him up, throwing Mac’s arm over his shoulder and hoisting him up with the help of an arm around his waist.

  “Come on, Mac. I’ll take you to bed.”

  “Thanks,” he muttered. “Key’s in my pocket.”

  “I know.” He started hauling him towards the dorms. “Nice that it’s the other way around for once,” he muttered.

  “What do you mean?” Anna asked.

  “It’s usually him carrying me. It’s been a while since I had to help him to bed. Probably before Vi.”

  “My wife is awesome,” Mac slurred. “And she gave me a son.”

  “I know.” He found the key in his pocket and unlocked the door while propping Mac up against the wall. “She’s great. You’re a very lucky man.”

  He dragged Mac inside, pushed him into the bed, and pulled off his shoes.

  “You all have rooms like this?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah.” He patted Mac’s cheek. “Night, bro.”

  Anna was standing by the door, and he put his arm around her waist. “Wanna see my room?”

  “Really? That was your best pick-up line?” she laughed.

  “It was that or ‘wanna fuck me in my room?’”

  “That would’ve worked, too.”

  He shook his head with a smile and walked her out of the room to the next door and unlocked it. He had her undressed and in his bed not five minutes later.

  -o0o-

  Anna was resting on his shoulder, and he turned around to his side to face her. Her eyes were still closed, but he could tell she wasn’t sleeping.

  “Why don’t you like that I saw you dancing?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.” She didn’t even open her eyes. “I just don’t.”

  “I’m sorry I asked you about it
last time. I know I hurt you.”

  “No.” She shook her head and finally opened her eyes. “You did, but... I don’t know. I should probably talk about it.” She was at least smiling, so she wasn’t pissed. “So ask me.”

  “What do you miss most?”

  She closed her eyes again, like she was trying to visualize it. “Prepping my shoes.”

  “Prepping your shoes? How do you do that?”

  “When we get the pointe shoes we have to prepare them. It’s two identical shoes, so I always started by deciding which was right and which was left. I tore out the inner sole, stomped on the box—”

  “The box?” He didn’t get it. “Why the fuck would you stomp on the box?”

  “To make the edges softer.”

  “We’re not talking about the box they came in, are we?”

  With a surprised laugh, she opened her eyes again and looked at him.

  “No,” she smiled and stroked his cheek. “The box is the hard part at the front of the shoe. The edges are hard, so I stomped on it to shape it and to make the edges softer and follow the foot better. I scratched the soles, bent the shank to shape it after my foot, and then sowed on ribbons and elastics.”

  “I’m guessing a ‘shank’ has a completely different meaning in your world than it does in mine.”

  “It’s the inside sole of the shoe.” She cocked her eyebrow in surprise. “What is in your world?”

  “A prison shank. Homemade knife to shank someone when you’re inside,” he answered and gave her a kiss. “Didn’t you get bored with those shoes? Lisa said you used a lot of shoes. That they died?”

  “The shank eventually loses its support, it breaks, that’s when the shoe dies. There are stages of a shoe. Some shoes are just a little too soft, so we still use them for practice, but I always had new shoes for a performance. That’s when I needed really firm shoes with a lot of support. And it didn’t bore me. It was almost a meditational thing I did before each performance. A part of getting ready.”

  He’d never heard her talk like this. With such ease and passion at the same time. She really missed dancing, and this time she actually seemed to like talking about it, so he wanted her to keep going.

  “So she was right, you had new shoes for each performance?”

  “It’s not as if we use one pair until they die. Like I said, there are stages, and for the performance I always preferred the new, hard shoes because they gave the arch of the foot the best support. So sometimes I went through two pairs, but I used those pairs for practice later.” When she put her arm around him, he drew her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Sorry if I’m rambling, but the shoes are such a big thing for any ballerina, and we never forget our first pair. At the ballet in New York, we all had shoes hand made especially for us by one maker.”