by Bijou Hunter
“Does it hurt?” Chevelle asks.
I squat down, so we’re at eye level. “Naw. Looks worse than it feels.”
“Are you here to see Daisy?”
“Yep. Is she around?”
“Her cats were fighting so she went inside to dope them up with catnip.”
Grinning, I glance at Daisy’s trailer where Harmony stands at the doorway. I wait to see the face I can’t get out of my mind. Daisy pops her head out and stares at me. I see the horror in her hazel eyes even from this distance.
Daisy hurries to me and reaches to touch my face. Changing her mind, she pulls back her hands.
“What happened?”
“I had to put some people in their place.”
A hint of a smile touches her face and then is gone. “Are you okay?”
“Sure.”
Daisy hears something in my voice because her concerned expression shifts and she rolls her eyes.
“Male bravado,” she mumbles, turning to look at her family now playing cards. “I’m ditching you again.”
“Be sweet to the boy,” Betty says, shuffling cards. “He’s had a rough day.”
I hear the women and Billy chuckling. In their minds, violence is part of who I am. I doubt Daisy feels the same way.
Taking my hand, she leads me to her trailer. I walk inside and inhale her fruity scent. I’ve been curious about Daisy’s place for months. I glance around and take in everything I can.
Daisy sure digs patterns and not only on her outfits. I notice a rug with brightly colored spots on the living room floor. Her table lamps are black and white striped while her dark couch is covered with polka dotted throw pillows. One wall in her small kitchen is painted bright pink. Another is pale blue with pink circles and swirls. There’s no doubting the trailer belongs to Daisy Bourbon Crest.
“What happened for real?” Daisy asks, letting go of my hand and walking to her small kitchenette.
I realize what her distance means. If I tell the truth, she’ll let me get close. If I lie, well, I’m on my fucking own.
“This is my punishment for ditching a club meeting.”
Daisy stares at her hands, and I know she’s wondering the same thing I am. Can she live in this kind of life?
“Which cat is this?” I ask, glancing down at the black and white creature rubbing itself against my leg.
“Seoul.”
“Like heart and soul?”
“No, like the South Korean capital. I’m trying to learn the language, but I couldn’t get Chinese and Japanese right.”
“Why?” I ask, leaning down to pet the cat that seems hotter for me than its owner.
“They’re hard languages,” she says like I’m an idiot. “Spanish, French, English have common sounds and words, but Asian languages are entirely different beasts. Harmony and I are learning Korean together, so I don’t plan to give up this time.”
“For Keanu?”
Daisy nods, and I think about her part Korean nephew. He’s a cute kid with his dad’s coloring and Harmony’s facial features. Keanu owns his mom’s smile.
“I like your place,” I say like a fucking dweeb. When I stretch slightly, my hands scrape the low ceiling. “But I’m sitting down.”
Walking to the couch, I kick off my shoes and get comfortable. If Daisy wants me out of her trailer, I don’t plan to make it easier for her.
“Do they have Korean names too?” I ask, gesturing to the two cats sitting on the back of the couch.
“No. One is Hong Kong and the other is Tokyo. They’re Seoul's sons.”
“How did you end up with three?”
Daisy watches me from the kitchen. Her tension rolls off her in waves and finds me across the room. I want to say something magically capable of fixing her bad mood, but I’m no miracle worker.
“Seoul and her kittens were under an empty trailer. Billy found homes for the other kittens, but no one wanted the mom or her two black and white boys. So they wouldn’t end up at the shelter, I adopted them.”
“You’re a good person to take on three.”
Daisy walks to me, and I notice she’s barefoot. I don’t know why this realization makes me smile, but I grimace from the motion.
“Tell me you’re in pain,” she demands.
“I’m in pain, Bourbon Babe.”
Daisy’s angry expression eases. “Have you taken anything for the pain?”
“Popped a few Tylenol before I came over.”
“Why did you come over?” she asks, crossing her arms.
“I missed you.”
Daisy deflates before my eyes. Her arms relax next to her body, and her anger disappears.
“I missed you too,” she mumbles. “Can I sit with you?”
Patting the couch next to me, I wait for her to make her move. Daisy looks at me and where my hand gestures, but she won’t budge.
“I’m not fragile,” I say.
“You’re not indestructible either.”
“No, but I can handle you wrapped around me.”
Daisy stares at me, and I have no idea what she’s thinking. All of these months, I thought about her until I believed I knew her. The truth is she remains a stranger in a million damn ways.
“What are you thinking?” I ask.
“I think you’re gorgeous even with your face kicked in.”
“That’s very shallow, Daisy,” I say, trying not to laugh.
Rolling her eyes, she sits on the couch but keeps her distance. “Your club did this.”
“I broke the code by not putting them first.”
“So you could break it in the future and get hurt again?”
“Life is full of pain. I can’t avoid it all,” I say, reaching out to caress her cheek.
Leaning into my hand, Daisy sighs. “I hate pain.”
“Don’t cats trip people? You said one of yours caused you to fall against the dresser, right? Well, why have them if you don't want pain? I think you know certain things are worth the suffering.”
“What rule did you break or is that a secret?”
Though the truth will likely freak out Daisy, lying isn’t the answer either. “I left a meeting so I could make our date.”
“Oh, well, then I understand,” she says, giving me a smile and patting my hand. “Are you hungry?”
“Just like that, you’re okay?”
“Well, you had a good reason to ditch the meeting. I couldn’t handle getting stood up. I’m very emotionally fragile,” she says, pulling her knees to her chest and grinning at me. “I’d get beat up for you. I’d also whine so very much about it afterward.”
“I’d baby you,” I whisper, caressing her bottom lip with my thumb. “I’d kiss every boo-boo and ouchie. Even the hidden ones.”
Daisy's smile brightens. “Nice to know they didn’t damage your nads.”
“No, they did not. Though I made sure Dayton will cry while pissing for a while.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“No,” I say, noticing how Daisy’s nervous again. “Let me see those giant feet you were complaining about.”
Even sharing my smile, she doesn’t move, so I tug her feet forward until they rest in my lap.
“They’re dirty.”
“Do I look like I give a shit?”
“A little. I sense you’re very concerned about cleanliness.”
Smiling at her teasing, I caress her feet. “You’d think big feet would help you balance better, not make you clumsy.”
“Yeah, but I never learned to control them. Big feet run in my family. I seemed to get all of my mom’s worst qualities and none of her better ones.”
“How do you figure? Sally’s a good looking woman, and you’re sexy as fuck.”
“Well, sure, I have the sexy thing down,” Daisy says, blushing to my surprise. “I just mean she has an easy confidence. She’s fearless too. Mom moved to the US from Brazil when she was seventeen. She taught herself English. She did it all on her own. I’m not independent like that. I’d
prefer to have things handed to me.”
“Wouldn’t we all?” I tease, running my thumb along the arch of her left foot. “We’re not so different. My father built the club while my mother comes from a wealthy connected family. I’ve already had so much handed to me. All I need to do is not fuck up what they created.”
“That’s why you needed to take the beating, right?”
Nodding, I see tears fill Daisy’s eyes. “It’s not that bad.”
“If I was hurt, would you shrug it off?”
“No, I’d fuck someone up.”
Daisy struggles not to cry. “You want me to be okay with this, right?”
“I need you to learn to be okay with it, yeah.”
“Then you have to promise me something. No more of that male bravado shit. You can do it with other people, but with me, you tell the truth if you’re in pain. I need to know you’re square with me.”
“In my defense, I didn’t know how you’d react, and I wasn’t taking a dump on our new relationship.”
“Charming.”
“Well, relationship talk makes me uncomfortable.”
“I don’t like it either. I want everything easy, but I’m not an easy person. I overthink and over plan everything. I obsess until I freeze up. If you need me to adjust to this new stuff, you need to help me by adjusting too. I’m too lazy to do all the work alone, Camden Rutgers.”
“If you can scoot your ass closer and give me a kiss, I’ll adjust to anything you want, babe.”
Daisy wipes her eyes and maneuvers herself closer. When I pat my lap, she straddles me and stares into my eyes.
“Better?”
“I know I ain’t the prettiest thing to look at right now, but I’ve wanted to kiss you all day. I really prefer never to be denied.”
Smiling, Daisy tentatively presses her lips against mine. She’s so delicate and careful with her touch, but I’m starving for this woman.
Wrapping my arms around Daisy, I keep her body tightly against mine. My lips take control, and they’re anything but tentative. Desperate for her to accept everything I offer, I realize I’m falling for Daisy in a way she better be ready for.
Fourteen - Daisy
I taste Camden on my lips long after he leaves my trailer. His scorching touch distracts me from obsessing over his every bruise and swollen flesh. Until the next morning when I’m bored at work.
Imagining Camden’s father, brother, and friends beating on him, I don’t understand their reasoning. Why force Camden to behave like a sheep only to turn around in a few years and expect him to be a leader? The entire idea pisses me off, but I’m powerless to step in and protect him.
By the time I get home from work, I’m in a piss-poor mood. Harmony does her usual routine of trying to make everyone happy, so they don’t crap on her eternal rainbow and unicorn lifestyle.
“Dayton sucks,” I tell her as we sit outside her trailer and watch Keanu play with his trucks in the dirt.
“Of course, he does. All of the Rutgers do.”
I balk. “Camden doesn’t.”
“He messed with your car to force you to walk to work so he could force you to get a ride from him so he could force you to go out to dinner with him. Oh, and he called you a cock tease plus sabotaged your dates.”
Frowning hard at her, I mutter, “I thought you were trying to make me feel better.”
“I’m not going to lie.”
“You and your no lying crap. Can’t you just try?”
“No way. I don’t have a good enough memory to keep my lies straight. Best to stick with the truth and make people smile through positive vibes.”
“You might need to turn up your vibes since I feel worse now.”
“Why are you upset exactly?”
“You saw Camden’s face. They beat the heck out of him.”
“That’s his life. He beat the heck out of them too. Men like them fight a lot, and they don’t take it personally. If you want to be with Camden, you’ll need to stop taking it so personally too.”
“He was in pain,” I say, my voice breaking.
“I know, and you like to fix things, but there are lots of problems with no fix. Plus, Camden doesn’t think of what happened as a problem. He comes from that life. If someone from our family got busted up like that, the rest of us would go nuts. Remember when Betty was dating that guy, and he slapped her?”
After Betty had told Sally and Charlie what happened, the three women drove to the guy’s house and beat the shit out of him. I doubt my mother and her friends ever considered getting in trouble with the law. Not that the guy planned to call the cops and explain how he got beat down by three middle-aged women.
“True.”
“If I might irritate you more, is it possible you’re so upset because they harmed Camden’s physical appearance and you’re only interested in him for superficial reasons?”
“Why would that question ever irritate me?” I ask, unable to control my sarcasm.
Harmony begins laughing and keeps going until she’s snorted twice. “I heard somewhere you were sensitive.”
“So you think I’m so shallow I only want Camden for his looks?”
“Yeah, actually, I did consider that since you two have nothing in common. I mean, I’ve flirted plenty with Dayton, but I never pretend it’s because he and I are soul mates. I just like looking at his handsome face, and he does have a great butt.”
“You’re not me,” I mumble, crossing my arms defensively.
“No, I’m not. I can enjoy a meaningless relationship, and I’m not afraid to have my heart broken. You need things to mean stuff and to feel like you’re making the right decisions. You can’t just be. It keeps you from enjoying stuff. Like how you got upset at the very idea of dating Camden for his looks. The guy is frigging hot as hell. There’s no shame in wanting a sexy man at your disposal. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that, but you’re pissed at me now.”
“I care about Camden.”
“I never said you didn’t. I only said your interest is superficial, and that’s okay, and you think it isn’t.”
“Well, it isn’t.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s demeaning toward him, I guess.”
Harmony bursts into laughter again, and Keanu looks back at her. He’s unsure if he ought to laugh too. His mom is giggling her ass off while I’m frowning like someone died. She waves at him, and he waves back before returning to the world of trucks and blocks.
“Camden doesn’t need you to protect his giant ego,” Harmony says, wiping her damp eyes. “You know that too. This isn’t about him, but your need to make everything meaningful especially your first time. That’s the real reason you freaked out at Hannah’s party. Popping your cherry should involve rose petals and violins playing, not grunting in someone’s guest bathroom.”
Frowning darker, I consider Harmony’s words. She scoots closer to me on the bench.
“Don’t be sad.”
“You make me sound shallow and stupid.”
“No, you’re twisting my words into saying you’re shallow and stupid. I think it’s okay for you to want things to be a certain way. I just want you to know that you feel that way and not to make everything bigger than it is. Why can’t you enjoy Camden without feeling he has to be your one true love? It’s not like women in our family ever find that guy. Or when they do like Ruby, things don’t turn out right. So enjoy Camden and his good looks without feeling guilty. After all, he isn’t feeling guilty for enjoying your good looks.”
“Yeah, butter me up with the compliment thrown in at the end.”
“Worked, didn’t it?” she asks, nudging me.
“Well, I do enjoy hearing I’m good looking. I guess I am shallow.”
“Everyone wants to feel desirable.”
“I guess you could be right about my interest in Camden being completely looks-based.”
“Well, not completely. He is pursuing you and buying you flowers an
d making you feel special. It’s not like he’s horrible, and you’re only enduring him so you can look at his handsome face.”
“He is sweet. I didn’t expect him to be.”
“He’s pushy too which is good since you’d never get anything done if someone didn’t kick you in the butt.”
“So I’m lazy now too?”
“No, you’re indecisive.”
“That’s true.”
“I know.”
Loosening up, I want to change the subject. “Would you say yes if Dayton asked to have sex?”
“What makes you think he hasn’t asked?”
“Because you haven’t said yes.”
Harmony grins. “I’d probably say yes. Depends on how he asked. I’m perfectly happy with my vibrator. I always go to bed satisfied while I don’t know if Dayton would care as much about my pleasure. He’s never had to put someone else first.”
“They are spoiled.”
“Not their fault. They were raised that way. Plus, they were blessed with good looks and money. Nothing’s been hard so they can’t know how spoiled they are.”
Hearing kids getting off the bus nearby, I know the sexy talk will need to end soon.
“I like Camden, and I want him to be my first. I have made out sex to be a big deal. I’m not sure anyone will be good enough after all my daydreaming.”
“No matter what magical moves Camden possesses, it’ll still suck the first time. He’s a big guy, and you’ll be tense, and that means you’re tight down there. It’s bound to hurt some, and you’ll feel weird and scared. It’ll suck, and that’s normal. Don’t make it mean more than that.”
“Any other pointers?”
“Say his name a lot and make sure to look at him. Camden makes you feel good so remembering you’re with him will help with your nerves. If you close your eyes, who knows what might pop in your head.”
“Smart.”
Harmony pats my hand. “I want you to have fun.”
“I have too much of my dad in me. I wish I were more like Mom.”
“I like you the way you are. I want you to accept yourself rather than trying to be someone else. There’s nothing wrong with Daisy Bourbon Crest.”
“That means a lot coming from Harmony Tequila Slater.”
“It should. I’m pretty awesome. I mean, look at what I made.”
