by Wood, Lauren
He agreed, but I could see he still wasn’t sure. I wanted to know what he was doing now, so I would know how to spin it to him. Money was what I had to spin now, that and brotherhood, but the house was nice that I was in this morning. I needed to find out where he was at with that, so that I would know how to hook him. Justin had always been down, but he needed a reason and the jacket wasn’t going to do it. I had to offer him more than a cut. He had the girl, the nice house, there had to be something that he wanted, and I could offer him.
I pulled him into my old bedroom and wondered where this conversation was going to go. It was clear that he was still mad at me, no matter how much I didn’t want him to be. We had to get through the Gemma thing before anything else could happen.
“So, what’s up man? You got a lot of new faces here. I don’t think that I know half of them.”
“I’m setting up shop here. The Reaper are here to stay in Hartford. I noticed that you got a little SUV now. Does that mean that you don’t ride?”
Justin agreed that it wasn’t the case. “No, I still got a bike, but I don’t use it that much.”
I didn’t like to hear that, and I had to know where his mind was at. We hadn’t talked about much last night while we were getting blazed.
“Your old lady loves to ride. Used to get her all hot…”
I stopped because I realized what the hell I was saying. It was hard for me to do this, pretend like I hadn’t licked every damn inch of Gemma’s skin. She used to get hot to trot every time she was on the bike. She said it was me, but I was still sure that it was the idling engine.
“Never mind. Let’s get a drink and I want to show you something. I’m hoping that I can get you to change your mind about getting back on the bike. I need you as my second here because I trust you.”
Justin wasn’t sure what to say and since he wasn’t as excited as I was, I was going to have to make him excited.
“So what kind of work do you do now?”
“I’m an accountant for the city.”
“Wow, that could really come in handy.”
I was already thinking about how we could use someone in the courthouse to our advantage. There was always paperwork that had to be filed and sometimes it wasn’t as up to code as it should have been.
“So, what is the pay with that?”
“I don’t know if I want to get into specifics.”
“Under fifty, yeah?”
He agreed, and I knew that money was going to be part of the hook. There had to be another part of the hook and I was going to use what I knew about Gemma to make it happen. I hated to think about how that was going to play out, but he wanted Gemma. Impressing her was on the back of a bike.
“Why don’t we go to your place and see how the bike is doing? We are riding to check out a couple of places and I want you to come.”
He looked around at all the people and asked me what I was going to do with all the people there.
“They’re going to be fine without me. There’s booze and girls. That makes the majority of them stay. They weren’t here for me for a long-time man.”
Justin chuckled and looked around at the half-naked ladies.
“How is your mom cool with this?”
“She’s at work. I told her that I would have them cleared out before she gets home That’s later, so we’ve got plenty of time. Come on, Justin. Let’s go for a ride.”
He agreed, and we ran to his house to get his bike. I had to pick mine up at the impound, so he followed me over. He looked good on it, whether he was riding that much or not. I knew that Justin was going to be a good second and he was giving me hope that I was right.
When we got back to his house to drop off his truck, I didn’t go in because seeing Gemma was not going to end well. I was going to say something I wasn’t supposed to or something of that nature and then I was going to be at ground zero with Gemma. It was simple math.
I saw her at the upstairs window and she didn’t wave at me. I wanted her to. She didn’t do anything to acknowledge that she saw me, but I know she did. I saw her, and she saw me. It was just like it had been before, but this time she would have snuck out her window and came down to meet me. She would get on the back of the bike and put her arms around me, holding on tight. I missed that.
Gemma left the window and then a few minutes later the front door opened, and she came out with Justin. Gemma was wearing knee high boots with heels over tight jeans. The top was a little low and the dark glasses with rhinestones completed the look. She was still fine as hell and I got a little hard thinking about her. It almost went down when I saw her get on the back of Justin’s bike. Of course, she wasn’t going to get on with me, for obvious reasons, but that didn’t mean that I was all that happy about it. I wanted her behind me where she belonged, but that wasn’t going to happen. I had to get that through my head. If she was with anyone else. Just not Justin.
“Hey, I’m going to take her to work. Follow me over?”
I said I would and wondered where the hell she was working at now. Justin was an accountant, for the government no less. I wouldn’t have seen that coming. But I was almost relieved when we turned in front of Bowey’s Bar and Grill. Why did her working at the bar make me smile? Did it feel like she wasn’t so far out of my league after all?
It also made it clear that we were still more right for each other, than her and Justin. It was odd ends of the spectrum and Gemma, would always be Gemma.
Chapter 4
Gemma
Something came over me when I heard the sound of the bikes coming up. It was the sound of the engine or something. I don’t know. It always did it to me and it was hard to deny the instant result that it had on my well-being. I was getting wet before Justin even made it through the door.
When I looked outside, I saw Frank and all those old feelings came back, but then Justin came in and I kissed him.
“What are you doing by the window?”
“Just seeing what all the noise was. When did you decide to start riding your bike again?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Frank wanted to. He wants me to get into his club with him.”
“Just be careful Justin. You know how Frank is. He likes to live outside of the law.”
“Is that why you were with him?”
I didn’t know where that was coming from, but it certainly had something to do with it. I’d always liked the bad boy side of him, far more than I was supposed to. I wanted him for many reasons, some I couldn’t tell Justin, but I did tell that it was a long time ago.
“I’ve changed. that was the young girl that wanted to rebel. That’s all Frank was.”
Justin didn’t look so sure, but I could tell that he was thinking about that sort of thing now. I was going to have to push it out of his mind. Frank had left me. It was just that simple. Justin would never do something like that. I knew that he wouldn’t, and I needed that sort of knowledge to stay sane. I didn’t want to constantly have to worry if he was going to jet again. It wasn’t a good feeling and even though the skies had opened after seeing him again after all of this time, at the end of the day, bad boys hurt people. It was just the way it was.
“Well give me a ride to work. I haven’t ridden with you in a long time. It will be nice.”
That got Justin smiling, and it was enough of an answer for me. I was trying my best not to let it all get to me. I didn’t even look at Frank when I got out, but I could still feel his presence. He was like a burning ember next to me that I could feel, but I couldn’t see. I knew it was there and I was doing my best not to let it get to me. I was doing a very crappy job of it at the moment.
I got on the back with Justin and though it wasn’t the same, it was close enough. He felt different because he wasn’t as stout, but I loved Justin. I’d been with him for over a year now and just because Frank was back in the picture, didn’t mean that anything had changed. I didn’t want to make it that way.
<
br /> “Hold on baby. I will have you there in no time.”
I held on and closed my eyes, leaning my head on his shoulder. I missed this. I missed riding and whether Frank being back was good news or not was still up in the air, but at least he had Justin back on a bike. I know that Justin liked it and missed it like me. I still wasn’t sure why he’d stopped.
When I got to the bar, I kissed him and didn’t linger because I knew that Frank was watching us. I felt weird with that knowledge and the more I tried to ignore it, the worse it was. The control that came to not check him out when I was walking up was monumental.
“Hey girl. Glad you’re here.”
I looked around and it wasn’t that busy, but Genevieve looked like she’d been through the ringer. I didn’t have to ask what was wrong because she launched into a narrative about her boyfriend cheating. It wasn’t something that she had seen or had proof of. No, this was the gut variety and I kind of let out a sigh. She was always thinking that Scott was cheating on her, but I doubted that he actually was. He loved her, like Justin loved me and men like that don’t cheat. And they don’t leave.
“You got to stop thinking like that Geni. You’re going to chase him away. Why do you think he’s always cheating?”
“Because he is doing something. He’s gone all the time working.” She put the word in air quotes and I had to laugh.
“He sells drugs. I don’t think that’s really working, but he brings it home, you know that.”
She agreed, but I could tell that she wasn’t happy. I wasn’t happy either. I was always hearing about how he was cheating. I knew Scott well. He wasn’t. Geni was just a little crazy because the last boyfriend cheated. She really believed it though and she would somehow tie one thing to another. Last week he’d put the seat down and she was convinced that another woman had taught him that. It was laughable if she didn’t really believe it was true.
We served a few customers and she got her story out. I tried to point out the right way to look at it, the sane way, but she was still all worked up and there was no talking to her. She finally just wore herself out worrying about it and she went to grab a smoke in the back. When she came back, I knew
that she’d talked to Scott. He was coming up to the bar to see her and she was all aflutter. Apparently, they’d made up.
The two of them were confusing, but it made me think of me and Frank. We’d been the same way. I had been a little crazy over him and when he bounced, it had threatened to break me. It almost did. I knew the level of crazy that sort of love could render a person, that’s why I didn’t try to fight it so much. I had felt that way before and the person that I’d gone crazy for was back in town. I just knew that it wasn’t going to end well.
“So, what are you staring off in the distance for?”
I shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just been a strange twenty-four hours.”
“I hear that. What’s been going on with you? I was just rattling off my problems and I didn’t even ask.”
“It’s no big deal. Frank’s back in town. Him and Justin are off riding right now. I saw him this morning and he kissed me coming out of the shower. Justin seen it, freaked out a little bit. Flashed them both. They made up and now they’re best buds again.”
Her mouth was open, and I smiled back at her. It was the look I was expecting because the last day had been crazy as hell. It wasn’t what I was expecting when I got off work yesterday.
“Wow.”
I agreed and poured another beer for Charles at the bar. He was checking me out and I just ignored the glares. It didn’t bother me too much and he always tipped quite well.
“So, you kissed him?”
I laughed. “That’s what you got out of all of that, huh?”
“Well you know that I want the dirt first. That’s always the best part.”
“Yeah, we kissed.”
“And?”
“And what? That’s it. We just kissed. Nothing else happened. Well, my robe came open and all that, but that was just a coincidence. Justin didn’t like it all that well.”
She was just looking at me like I was gipping her. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about it if I was honest. They two of them were acting like they were back to right. I wasn’t though.
“I guess not. I just don’t know what to say right now. There is so many things going through my head. I mean, Frank was ‘the one’, right?”
I sighed at her air quotes and wished that she wasn’t flapping her hands around as much.
“Yes, I guess I thought he was the one for a long time.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m with Justin.”
Her brow went up and I ignored it. I tried to love Justin. I really did, but there was always something missing and that something was, he wasn’t Frank. It didn’t help me at all that I told Geni too much. She knew what Frank being here meant. This ‘love’ I have for Justin is going to be tested. I was going to find out if I really did love him or not. The kiss wasn’t helping matters.
“Yeah, so you felt nothing when you kissed him?”
Now I was the one shooting daggers. She was just stirring the pot and I wasn’t going to go for it.
“It was a shock more than anything else. I didn’t know he was there and then he was just pulling me in for a kiss. It was just like it used to be.”
It was perfect then and it was perfect this morning. I had felt far more than I should have, but I would never admit it out loud. I didn’t even want to admit it to myself, because that meant that he had power over me and I didn’t want that.
“Well I guess that it is good that you’re with Justin. Frank never was good for you. He makes you crazy.”
“Like Scott makes you?”
She smiled in a far-off way. “Yeah.”
That’s what I was afraid of.
We dropped the conversation for a while when the bar started to pick up. People were starting to get off of work, though there were a few die-hards that were already pretty drunk. I got my head out of the clouds and into my work. I had a lot to do and the more I had to do, the better. It would keep me from thinking about the past.
I was wiping down one of ten tables when I felt arms go around me and I knew it was Justin. He made me shriek a little and that embarrassed me. I hit him on his shoulder and told him to put me down.
“Come on baby. You smell so damn good and you know how those boots get me going.”
I was giggling because he was nuzzling my neck. It looked like he was in a really good mood and I liked the way he was acting. It had been a while since he’d been this loose.
“Why don’t we go to the back and make a little love?”
“No, I have customers and I need the tips.”
“You won’t have to work much longer Gemma. I know that you don’t like working here most nights. You’ll be able to stay home and do what you want, start that business you’re always talking about with your sewing. Everything is about to change for us.”
I didn’t know where it was all coming from and I pushed back so I could see his face. Frank had been in town for a couple of days, not even a full one and he already had Justin convinced to go back on everything that he’d worked for. This was typical of Frank and I wanted to tell Justin that he was being an idiot.
“Are you high or something right now?”
He grinned, and I knew he was. “A little.”
“I thought you didn’t smoke anymore?”
Justin shrugged and kissed me again. “Me and Frank…”
“Stop right there. I know all I need to know. Frank is a bad influence on you.”
He chuckled and agreed. “Probably.”
I just sighed and pushed him away towards the table. “I’ll get you some coffee.”
Justin didn’t put much substance in his body and he was feeling it at the moment. I could tell by that goofy ass grin on his face. Then I looked up towards the door and there was the culpr
it.
Why the hell did my heart just skip a beat?
Chapter 5
Frank
Seeing Justin kissing on Gem about crushed me. I didn’t like to see it and even though I knew that they were together, I didn’t have to like it. I told myself that I was going to have to stay away from her, but the fact of the matter was, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to. I didn’t know if this was how it was all going to go down, but in a way, I welcomed the inevitable. As it played out in my head. I was going to get the girl. I just had to figure out a way to do it without losing my oldest friend.
Then I saw her look my way. Something jumped in her eyes that had me stopping in my tracks. She looked at me like she had so many times before. She had need in her gaze, but it was gone in a moment as she turned back to the bar. It was only for a second, but that second was enough. I was already fighting this draw to her internally. I didn’t know how else this was supposed to go down.
When I got to the bar, the blonde served me instead of Gem. I’d always preferred brunettes, but the other chick was cute. She was flirting with her eyes, whether she knew it or not.
“So, you’re Frank.”
She said it liked she knew who I was, and I had to figure that she’d gotten her information from Gemma. I liked that Gem had mentioned me. It just made it seem right. Like this was all supposed to happen. It wasn’t just a coincidence that she was still here, and I’d found her number at the jail. I liked that Gemma was the first person that I talked to when I got back to Hartford.
“Yeah, that’s me. I know you?”
“No, not really. I’ve heard about you over the years though.”
“Good things?”
The little blonde had lust in her eyes and it was clear that she’d heard about some of mine and Gemma’s escapades. We’d done some crazy shit in our day and no matter how long I was away from her, I’d never met another woman like her.
“Oh yeah.”
“I see.” I would have asked her if she was single, if this was another place and time. I wasn’t with Gemma, far from it, but I wasn’t going to hit on her friend. It would be payback, but I didn’t have anything like that to think. I didn’t want her mad at me. I wanted this to work out and that meant snubbing the hot little blonde. I would bet that I could get in her panties if I wanted to.
