Kristy breezed through the back of the store, she had just went uptown on an office supply run and was back with new sales stickers. She was loading the pricing gun and tossing things at Destiny.
“What’s your problem? You and Fabio drink too many last night? Houston was home at a decent hour,” Kristy said.
“Not exactly,” she grumbled.
“He better have wrapped it. Alec and Eric will be furious if they end up with a grandbaby out of wedlock.”
“Yuck!” Destiny said in reflex. “That is one of the most disturbing suggestions I have ever heard.”
“How far off was I?” Kristy asked, pulling out a file of papers listing new prices.
“It wasn’t the distance from the mark, just the way it was coming out of your mouth. No matter how old you get, hearing your mom talk about your sex life is just weird…” Destiny absentmindedly flipped through the paper Kristy handed her. “Stephan didn’t sleep alone last night, I don’t think. But it wasn’t next to me.”
“And since when do you call him Stephan? I have heard you say that all of a dozen times in as many years and most of them have just been for effect of yelling his full name.”
Destiny picked up a pricing gun loaded with stickers and adjusted it just so and started marking a stack of microfiber shining cloths. “Aunt Kristy, Aunt Kristy, I think I’m leaving.”
She heard Kristy set her pricing gun down behind her. “Leave and go where?”
“Back to Fort Worth; things will be rough there now that Leto is gone. Maybe join Houston for a while, till I find another chapter. Just here… Sweetwater doesn’t feel right just now.” Destiny felt the hot tears biting at her eyes.
“No,” Kristy replied.
“What?”
“I said no. You want to tuck tail and run back to Fort Worth and claim you’re there to help with things in Leto’s memory, that’s your own prerogative. But you are not riding out these city limits with Houston, you hear? I put up with a lot of shit from this family for going on thirty years! I have been promised retirement away from this godforsaken place. From this patch, from these damn bikes, if just for a little while! You think Alec will leave if you do? Do you think I could flit off to Europe and enjoy myself if I know my best friend’s only daughter, my only daughter, was off gallivanting across the state of Texas and then some? On her soul-searching ride? On her freedom trip? While she drinks half the Rio Grande and buddies up with every man who ever rode a horse or hog?
“You’re not a man for Christ sakes, Destiny, you’re a woman. That means a little something more. You don’t get to run away from your shit like a pussy. I saw Wes and Austin, God rest their souls, and Houston, stare down a lot of dangerous and deadly beasts in their lives. But none of the three could face the beast that was themselves. That cost me a brother and my eldest. Houston is off doing heaven only knows, trying to figure out his shit. You don’t get to run and hide. It ain’t fair and maybe it ain’t right, but it’s the way things are.
“Take a day or two and get your shit together if you need to, but don’t you dare request a transfer out of Fort Worth unless it’s here. I’ll be dead and buried before you take that Nomad patch. Nomads have no home. And you do, you have a perfectly good one right here. Figure your shit out with Stephan. We both know it’s damn past time you do.”
Kristy turned and stormed away and Destiny stood in shock. She had been on the receiving end of many of Kristy’s rants and lectures. But this one ranked pretty high up there. Leave it to Kristy to ensure a thick layer of guilt on her if she got it in her head to split town.
“Did you know you talk in your sleep?” Anastasia said, walking through the back.
“No I don’t. Where’s Brooks?” Destiny said, shaking away the cloud of her and Kristy’s argument.
“Stella. And you do. I couldn’t tell between the moans of Trent and Stephan, who I can only assume is Fabio, don’t know what’s up with that, exactly who you were wanting between the sheets last night though.”
“I hate you,” Destiny shot back.
“Here’s your topic of conversations you are allowed to have. Sex, mainly who you have been having it with, Trent, Fabio or both. And that fight you just had with Kristy. There is nothing to be said about your club business, your Harley, your guns, or any conversation that strays from girl talk zone.”
“Refer back to the previous statement.”
“As your oldest girlfriend, and, may I add, you’re only girlfriend, you need to take a break and get your shit together. Some girl time will be good for you, trust me.”
Destiny sighed. “Have you been talking to Kristy?”
“Of course I have been,” Anastasia said, leaning across the counter, her chin in her hands.
“Kristy won’t approve me leaving to go on a girl day booze cruise,” Destiny defended.
“Of course she will. KRISTY! Taking Destiny out to talk shit over and get her act together!” Anastasia shouted.
“Only bring her back fixed!” Kristy yelled in response.
Destiny groaned and knocked her head on the counter.
“Don’t act like spending a girls’ day with me is that harsh. And don’t ruin it for me either. Girls’ days with a babysitter come few and far between. Come on. Lunch on a grill patio and drinks and then we can cruise down the road. Remember that guy from high school I used to date, Kevin? He’s got a place down the highway, little hole in the wall bar. The best Sex on the Beach.”
“The drink or the actual sex?” Destiny asked.
“The sex I can find anywhere. However, I never did find someone who can make a drink like him. Come on, let’s take my car back to the house. Shed that cut, get you in something girlie, you can bring a gun if you have to but you don’t have to wear that cut everywhere.”
“Fine, let’s go.”
***
An hour later Destiny sat down at an outdoor patio table across from Anastasia with a plate of jalapeño and cream cheese poppers and a chicken breast sandwich and a beer. They had yet to make it to Anastasia’s ex-boyfriend’s place for his infamous Sex on the Beach.
Anastasia had talked her into a nice, loose, blue flowing top, earrings and a necklace to pair with her jeans and boots. She had on a much heavier dose of makeup than normal and her long hair was down. She felt naked without her cut and it was a strange feeling to almost be womanly. She hoped not to run into any of the guys, except, well, maybe Fabio.
“So Kristy was pretty pissed when I got into the shop. Want to talk about it?” Anastasia asked, biting into her chicken Caesar salad.
“I would say not really but I don’t think you will let that fly.”
“You’re damn right I wouldn’t. So start talking.”
“I told her I was thinking about leaving Sweetwater. Going back to Fort Worth or Nomad until I found another chapter to settle with.”
“Guess that didn’t go too well?”
“She basically told me to go straight to hell. I knew she wouldn’t like the idea but I didn’t expect all of… well, that,” Destiny trailed off and dunked a popper into a side of ranch dressing.
“How long you been thinking of tucking tail and running?”
“About sixty seconds prior to telling Kristy. I just… I don’t know. I know I will stick things out here and figure out what’s going on and who’s the rat and deal with that. But afterwards I don’t know. I’m being me and screwing things up right and left.”
“Things with Fabio, you mean?”
“It’s not like he’s just another patch brother. Someone I can stay away from until things cool off. For fifteen years we have been such a part of each other’s lives on a different level. When I’m away from home, we’re OK. We talk occasionally, I definitely stay in touch with him more than anyone besides the aunts. More than my brothers, even. I just… I don’t know. He’s my best friend, no offense.”
“None taken,” Anastasia tossed in.
“Do you love him?” she prompted when Destiny didn’t
say anything else.
“I don’t know. I think he loves me. But that’s not a reason to love someone…”
“So you admit there is something there?”
“Of course there’s something there. There has been something there since I hit puberty. But with the exception of one night, it had always been Trent. Then I left and I haven’t been back long enough, aside from the accident, to figure out if what is really there is… well, real.” Destiny took a drink of her beer and closed her eyes.
“I can’t think of a time in my life where Fabio wasn’t there. In the wings just being. He saw me off to basic, rode in to say goodbye when I left for the Middle East. Was there the day they brought me back stateside after I got blasted to hell. Pushed me to therapy and helped me back on my bike. Moved me to Fort Worth and then hung around to see me get my prospect patch… drove in to party when I got my real patch. He held me up when I fell to pieces when we buried Austin… even when we buried dad and I was just a girl, he was there. Fabio has always been there. That’s what is so confusing. I’ve thought about it a million times. I think about that damn box trailer and about all the what-ifs. But I can’t do that! I can’t think about the what-ifs because if I do that, then I start to wonder if every decision I have ever made that took me away from home and away from him was the right one!”
She stopped and chugged her beer. “I think he loves me, like, is in love with me. He’s all but told me so. He talks about marriage and kids and the what-if I had stayed and what-if there had been no Trent and what-if we got together, how it could work. Hell, I tried to get him to hook up in Fort Worth and he said no. Because some people have emotions and don’t want just a hook-up.”
“You realize you have to marry him then, right? I mean, he’s Stephan Fabio Ames and he didn’t want to hook up because he’s caught feelings.” Anastasia laughed.
“Don’t say that shit,” Destiny yelled. “I can’t tell if you’re serious.”
“Oh I am totally serious. With the kind of men you have a taste for, he’s the best one you are going to find. He owns his own house for crying out loud!”
“You know he never even told me he bought the place? Least not that I can remember. I just figured he rented. I mean, Fabio, being the homemaking type?”
“He’s changed a lot the last couple years,” Anastasia said. “In good ways. He has started really looking for the missing piece. I mean I’m sure he’s still slutting it up, but he really is changing.”
“He’s a better man than I deserve. Last night was so bad, I never even thought about how it would bother him, me throwing myself at Trent. It was for information for the club but still… I couldn’t even find him last night and, believe me, I tried.”
“That brings us to my next question. Trent.”
“Damn Trent. He’s just unfinished business.”
“And how do you plan on finishing it?”
“I don’t think I am,” Destiny replied softly. “It was just a lot to take in, coming home and seeing him again. A lot of hurt just re-surfaced. We never said goodbye, I never got to tell him to go to hell for leaving me the way he did. He was just gone.”
“So what are you going to do about Fabio?”
Destiny flagged down a waiter for another beer. “We’re going to drink on it.”
26
The cab driver pulled up to the outside of Fabio’s house. Scottie and Rocky had gone back to Fort Worth today. Destiny knew so because Rocky had called her a few hours before to say goodbye and tell her they were just up the road if she needed them. When Rocky called, the girls had been more than a few drinks in and had finally made it to Kevin’s bar. They were feeling very good and were more than happy about the fact that his place was less than fifteen minutes from home.
Destiny had set the phone down and relayed to her friend that Fabio was back with an empty house, and then she giggled. It was a good idea but it was bound to become a better one the more they drank. So they decided to drink until it was a great idea.
“Are you sure about this?” Anastasia asked her as Destiny pushed open the door to the cab.
“Yes. Positive.”
“I still don’t think it’s smart.” Anastasia had certainly became more cautious since she had become a mother.
“I never said it was smart, well, sober me doesn’t. Drunk me thinks it’d be a fantastic plan,” Destiny said, giving Anastasia a little wave and tossing a few bills at her for the cab ride back to her house.
It was eleven-thirty at night and Fabio’s hardly driven truck was in his lean-to garage and his bike was parked right behind it. The porch light was on as well as the living room light. Destiny fluffed her hair for the millionth time. They had fixed her makeup before she left the bar and she had re-applied lipstick in the back seat of the cab. Drunk her was convinced it looked good, but she had beer goggles on.
Destiny had a key to Fabio’s front door but she thought twice about using it as she remembered his feelings about sneaking into Trent’s and getting shot at.
So she rang the doorbell and pulled the girls up and the shirt down.
Fabio opened the door and hung his head with a sigh and a small smile. “Well aren’t you a hot mess.”
“Well, hot I would hope.” She spun around. “Anastasia says I almost look like a woman.”
“The melons on your chest don’t let you be mistaken for anything but, darling.”
“You know what I mean.” She smiled.
“I haven’t seen you out of a cut since you got it.”
“What do you think, honestly?”
“Darling, the only thing that would shock me more was if you showed up in a dress.”
“A wedding dress?”
“That would make me think I was tripping on ecstasy. Any dress in general.” Fabio chuckled. “You look wonderful, D. You always do, you know that.”
“I hoped you would like it.”
“Since when do you care what other people think?”
“I just care what you think. Now are you going to invite me in? It’s chilly out here.”
Fabio held the door open and let her slip past him. He shut the door behind them and she took him by the hand. “What the hell you got in mind, Destiny?”
“I been thinking all day.”
“Thinking or drinking?” Fabio asked her.
“Not sure there’s a difference.” She laughed.
“There is.”
“I started the day thinking. And then that concerned me, so I started drinking. Then I kept thinking and the thoughts and the alcohol—and Anastasia does not do a good job of keeping me from doing stupid shit by the way—led me here.”
“And?”
Destiny reached up and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into her. Once he started kissing her back, she started walking backwards toward the direction of his bedroom.
Fabio pushed her against his closed door. He grabbed her under the ass and pushed her up the door and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He held her with one hand while he turned the knob and pushed the door open. In one movement he tossed her onto the bed and she laughed, sitting up and ripping at his shirt. He pulled it over his head and she kicked off her boots. Fabio’s lips met hers in a feverish kiss as his hands traveled up and under her shirt. He pushed it up over her head, leaving her in a revealing dark blue lace bra.
Fabio’s lips traveled down her neck and over her shoulder as he collapsed atop her. She tugged at his belt and he broke skin contact. Their eyes met for a long moment.
Slowly he pushed back the covers to the bed and finished shucking his belt and lay back down next to her. She started kissing him again and he broke away from her and pushed her back onto the bed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. He pulled the blankets on his bed over them and lay on his side, facing her. He slowly brushed the hair out of her face.
“I told you once not to come to me like this. One day I won’t be able to stop what happens between the tw
o of us and when you get sober the next morning you might regret it. I can’t let that happen.”
“Why not?” she asked with a half laugh, half groan.
“For reasons you know but just haven’t thought through yet. Come to me this horny and sober and you know I will take you anywhere. Here, the strip club, Alec’s chair at the table. Kristy’s dining room table at Sunday brunch. I have zero rules when it comes to this, except the one. And it’s the same rule you always keep breaking.”
“I hate you right now.” She kissed him and pressed her body to his. She could feel their skin almost sizzle where it touched and could feel him press against her.
“Right back at you, D,” he muttered between kisses. He pulled his lips from hers and pulled her into him. “Come here, you hot mess. Let me hold you. Just close your eyes and let me hold you.”
Destiny obliged him quietly. She cuddled her head down on his chest and wrapped her arm around him and tangled her legs up in his. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brushed his thumb back and forth across her bare arm. She looked through her all of a sudden very heavy eyelids and the forest of mascara eyelashes at the tattoos that coated his skin.
In this moment she felt… peaceful. Safe. She smiled, it surprised her. Although it shouldn’t have. Fabio… Stephan… whoever he was, had always made her feel safe, secure. No matter what train-wreck had been piled up in her life, he always made sure she was OK. Oh she was sure as hell pissed at him for leaving her all hot and bothered twice now this week, but she couldn’t blame him. It’s just the way he was. Fabio really wanted her. More than just for the night, and he wanted to make sure that, come morning light, they stayed on the same page.
***
Destiny woke to the ear-splitting sound of her cell phone ringing and vibrating on the end table next to Fabio’s bed. Before her mind could register answering it, Fabio stretched out and grabbed for it and glanced at the readout and pressed the green button and put it to her ear.
The Devils Bastards MC: Destiny Dallas Callaghan Page 18
