Arrow of Time (Marauders)

by Andersson, Lina

  He didn't put much faith in Dawg being able to fix it if the girl took off to fucking India to get rid of him. He could push the right buttons to get a girl in bed, but once that was over, he didn't know shit about them and until now he'd never seemed interested. At the same time, it was probably good to try to be encouraging.

  “If she's worth it, you need to fight for her. Can't give up now.”

  “Happy headache,” Dawg mumbled and instead of asking what he meant by that, Hawk took the bottle from his son to get drunk right along with him. That was something he was actually good at.

  -o0o-

  Friday, September 28th

  BRICK WALKED INTO THE clubhouse and immediately noticed Dawg sitting by the bar. He’d been away for about a week. He called in, letting them know where he was and that they could call for him if they needed him. Then his dad, Hawk, called to make sure it was okay, since Dawg apparently didn’t say much about why he was there. He walked up to him, and put a hand on the kids shoulder.

  “Come with me.”

  Dawg looked at him and then nodded. They walked into the chapel and Brick closed the door. Once inside Dawg was just standing there, looking at him, probably waiting for the blow.

  “If I wanted to beat you up I’d take you up in the ring, not into the fucking chapel,” he pointed at a chair. “Sit down.”

  Brick wasn't fully convinced that this was the right thing to do, but at the same time, he figured that what he was about to do was the best for both Dawg and Edie. Because no matter what Mel said, what Dawg had done wasn't just to get into Edie's pants. He never bothered to get to know women before tapping them. What he and Edie had was more. And Dawg needed to know why he couldn't pressure Edie and why Mel was acting the way she was.

  Dawg did as he asked and then looked at him. “Look, I know I...”

  He didn’t let him finish.

  “You’re gonna shut up and listen to me and what I tell you don’t leave this room. You don’t talk to Mel or Edie about it and you do not tell anyone else. You are going to shut up and listen to me and not say word before I tell you that you can. Is all that clear?”

  “Yeah,” Dawg said and looked a bit confused.

  “On the morning of Edie’s eighteenth birthday, she walked up to her sleeping dad, put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.” He could see Dawg open his mouth and held up his hand. “Remember the deal, you shut up and listen.”

  Dawg closed his mouth again and nodded. Brick picked up his smokes. He was going to need his smokes for this story, and he kind of wished he’d brought a bottle of whiskey with him. This story had been hard the first time Mel told him about it and now, when he knew Edie, fucking loved her, it was hell. Pure fucking hell.

  “Their dad was an utter asshole and a complete psychopath. He treated Mel bad, horribly, controlled her twenty-four seven, but that had all been practice compared to what he was like to Edie. By then he’d perfected his shit.” He sighed, he was closing in on the things that were the core of the problems between his wife and her sister. The thing they needed to talk about. Or one of the things. “Mel moved away the day she turned eighteen. She felt bad about leaving Edie there, but didn’t have much choice. Edie wasn't even four years old. She kept an eye on her, but Edie’s very good at hiding her feelings, so Mel never knew how bad it was. She knew it was bad, just not how bad.”

  Mel had told him that she’d packed her bags and on the morning of her eighteenth birthday, she took them and walked out. That she’d never felt so relieved in her entire life. A few years later she moved down to Arizona to start up a new life, something to offer Edie when got away from the house.

  “With Edie, he wanted her to obey everything. He even told her how many times she could chew the food before she swallowed it. I’ve seen pictures of her, I don’t think she weighed much more than ninety pounds, looks haunted, her eyes were fucking dead. Compared to that she looked sparkling after Vasco’s death. So Mel knew it was bad, just not how bad, and even if she had known, there wasn’t much she could do about it.”

  He shook his head. Again, those pictures had been bad before, but seeing them now and comparing them to that lively girl playing around with Eliza. The woman his baby girl idolized, they gave him nightmares.

  “Their dad knew that Edie was planning on doing the same thing as Mel and that it was the only thing that kept her even remotely sane. That she’d pack up, and the prospect of getting the fuck out on her eighteenth birthday was her light in the tunnel. So he took that away from her. He told her that since she was legal by then, he’d let his friends have her as a goodbye present before she left.”

  Dawg took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

  “Mel doesn’t think he was going to do it, that it was just another way to fuck with Edie’s head and I think she’s right. He wasn’t about physically torturing them, he got into their head, so that’s probably what he did. Fucked with her hope. He made sure she wasn’t looking forward to her birthday anymore. Thing was, Edie believed him, by then she probably thought he was capable of anything, so in panic she shot him. She took his gun and shot the fucker with it. If you ask me, that piece of shit got off easy. He didn’t deserve going out while sleeping. She called the cops and she was still standing by the bed looking at him when they came.”

  The cops had called Mel, too. It took her a while to get up to New York and when she arrived Edie was in a mental institution. She'd been sitting on a chair in a corner, staring blankly front of her. According to the staff and the cops, that's what she'd been doing since they put her in that room. It had been obvious to everyone that the girl wasn’t right in the head in any fucking way.

  “Once Mel, the housekeepers and three sets of shrinks had testified, Edie was free of all charges. They also found the dad's notebooks on his 'experiments' with Edie. Not even the fucking DA was all that keen on trying to get her locked up after that as long as she agreed on staying at the institution until they deemed her well enough to leave. Like I said, I’ve seen the pictures, don’t need more than that to see how messed up she was. She spent a year at a psychiatric institution and then moved in with Mel, stayed there for six months before she took off.”

  Dawg was staring in front of him, with empty eyes, and it looked like he was about to cry. Brink pushed the smoked towards him, and he lit one.

  “Mel blames herself, that she didn’t do more to get Edie out of there when she left. That’s why she’s so protective of her now. Their mom tried to contact them when she heard the dad was dead, and Mel threatened to kill her if she got close to them, since she hadn’t done more to get them out of there when she divorced him. At the same time she feels that she did the same to Edie as their mom had done to them. Left her there.”

  He could see that Dawg was shaken. When he moved his hand up to take of his beanie, it was trembling. He took some deep breaths and looked back at Brick.

  “Why didn’t she?”

  “Get her out of there?” He asked and Dawg nodded. “Their dad was a hot shot businessman. He could probably have bought and sold half of New York if he wanted to. I always said most businessmen have to be psychopaths to go on the way they do, and he was. In their mom’s defense, when she left he made it clear he’d bury her if she tried to take the kids with her or even contact them, and he probably would’ve. He was very clear with Mel as well, that if she didn't play by his rules, she wouldn't be allowed to see Edie at all.”

  “Guess seeing her a little was better than nothing,” Dawg said. “So her dad being a money bag, that’s how she got the money to travel?”

  “No, he didn't leave them anything, they inherited money from their grandparents. They both got quite a lot. I think Edie wanted to feel that she was free to do whatever the fuck she wanted to and that's why she left. Can’t blame her for that.”

  “Did Vasco know?”

  “I told him the basics and I'm pretty sure Edie told him the rest.” He could really do with a whiskey and by the looks of it, so cou
ld Dawg. “Wait here,” he said. Then he walked to the door and called the prospect to get him a bottle and two glasses.

  When he sat down again he poured Dawg a glass that he downed immediately. He refilled it but left in in front of him on the table.

  “I have no fucking idea what you did,” Brick started and then couldn't help the smile. “Actually, I have some idea, but I don’t know what happened, how you fucked up. But when she comes back, you back off. She comes to you, I’m fine with that, but you don’t pressure her, she doesn’t need that.”

  “Okay,” Dawg said and it was with a tired voice. All of him looked tired and Brick was pretty damn sure that whatever happened, it wasn’t that he’d just fucked her for the sake of it. It was more to it. A lot more. “Okay,” he said again.

  “And I didn’t just tell you this. You don’t know anything about this.”

  “I know,” he nodded.

  “And for your own safety; stay the fuck away from Mel as well until she comes looking for you.”

  “Yeah. I got that.” Dawg looked at him and drew his hand over his face. “It wasn’t just about nailing her.”

  “Think I’d tell you this if I thought it was?”

  “No.” Dawg emptied the glass. “Can you tell her, that you told me to stay away, so she knows that I’m not....”

  “I’ll tell her.”

  That, if anything, told him that Dawg hadn’t just been nailing her. Usually he’d jump the chance at getting away, but now he wanted Edie to know that he wasn’t avoiding her, he was giving her space and he’d be there if she wanted him to be.

  Dawg nodded and got up and Brick stood up as well, giving him a hug.

  “Thanks, man,” Dawg mumbled.

  He didn’t answer, just patted his back and sat back down, watching Dawg leave. Then he remembered.

  “Hey! You owe a fine.” When Dawg turned around, looking confused. “You missed church, you need to pay it to Sisco before the end of the month.”

  Dawg nodded. They all knew that missing church meant they had to pay the fine unless they were away for club business.

  He wasn’t sure if this, telling Dawg all this, was such a brilliant idea, but Dawg only saw the girl who’d been around the world a couple a times and that wasn’t all there was to Edie. She wasn’t just a brave woman who could take care of herself, she was a lot more complicated than that, and if this would have any chance of turning out okay, he needed to know that, so he didn't hurt her more than he already had.

  -o0o-

  Bull saw Dawg leaving the chapel and decided to wait a while before going to find Brick. He turned to Bear sitting next to him.

  “Ten bucks says that was about Edie.”

  “Not betting against you,” Bear mumbled and looked at Dawg as he walked towards the dorms. “Got a twenty that says Dawg's got it bad, though.”

  “Whatta you mean?”

  “I mean, it's serious.”

  Bull couldn't help laughing. “You think he's really interested? Like, 'thinking about getting an Old Lady'-interested. Dawg?” He watched in amazement when Bear nodded. “I'm taking that bet.”

  “A while back I met him at a grocery store, buying chocolate enough for a small army and he'd rented a chick flick.” Bear turned his head and smiled. “It was for Edie, she was on the rag and he was... how did he put it? Gonna go and hang out with her.”

  “Fuck.” He took a moment to think about it. “Still not convinced.”

  “You'll see,” Bear said and stood up. “Let's go talk to Brick.”

  Brick was sitting at the head of the table looking into his glass. When he heard them he turned his head and then motioned for them to sit down.

  “What's up?”

  Bear started. “We've got the contractors ready, they're starting work on Monday when the cops release the scene. Said it should be done by December.”

  “Sounds good,” Brick nodded. “What else?”

  “My guy at the police station said they're having the bomb sent to a lab and gave me the preliminary on the scene,” Bull said

  It still bothered Bull that they hadn't been able to keep the cops out of it, but if a bomb went off in a populated area, that was unavoidable. They did in no way have the cops in their pocked, but it was a small town, not a lot of cops, and since crime, officially, was very low, they didn't get many resources. The bomb at the strip club was a problem for that reason as well. It basically put the city in the authorities’ focus again. The club in itself was always on their radar, but they'd managed to keep things going on in Greenville under wraps. Basically anything the club did was under wraps, but the bombing had cause the LEO's to once again take a closer look at the club.

  “What did he say?” Brick asked.

  “That the bomb's placement meant the main force of the blast was directed away from where Vasco was sitting, that's why he even survived the few hours he did. They think it might be something with how the bomb was designed as well. They'd know more when they got the report on the bomb, but that could take a while.”

  Once again, the limited resources meant that everything that included a lab or technicians took a really long time.

  “Okay, keep me updated.”

  The guy Bull knew at the police station was an old army buddy, and he'd promised to keep them informed about what the technicians found. Bear had an old football buddy in the DA's office who'd give them some info from that end as well. So far they weren't coming up with more leads than the club was.

  “Roberto called. He wants a meet,” Brick said and filled up his glass again.

  Roberto was their contact in the cartel, and if he wanted a meet, it usually meant trouble. He wasn't much for showing himself anywhere even near the US border if he didn't have to.

  “I'm guessing that it's not a good thing,” Bear said with a sigh.

  “No. He's concerned with the bombing and want's to 'talk' about it.”

  “Great,” Bull muttered. “We should probably have something to tell him to calm him down. When's the meet?”

  “He's getting back to us. Hopefully not too soon, so we have some good news.”

  -o0o-

  Tuesday, October 2nd

  MELANIE WAS IN THE library and was reading Edie's latest email. She'd kept her promise. They kept coming regularly and were completely different from anything she'd ever written before.

  She was in Calangute in north Goa, visiting friends who lived there, and by the sound of it, she was having a good time. It was monsoon season, which meant there weren't that many tourists there. She assumed that Edie was very happy about that. She'd also mentioned in passing that she'd cut off her dreads.

  Dawg was not mentioned at all. Not once, and Melanie hadn't asked, either. She wasn't sure she wanted to know exactly what he'd done.

  She hadn't seen Dawg since that day in her office when she yelled at him. He'd wisely been avoiding her since. She'd talked to Ella about it, but not much. She didn't want to gossip, but at the same time Ella wasn't stupid; she knew something was up, and she hadn't missed Dawg and Edie hanging out. The fact that Eliza told anyone that wanted to hear about their 'girls' nights' meant that the entire club knew about it to some extent.

  Melanie shut down the computer and walked out to the living room. Mac, Mitch and Eliza were sprawled all over the couch.

  “Was there an email from Edie?” Eliza asked. She loved hearing about them.

  “Yes.” She sat down next to her and took her in her lap. “She said she was coming home soon.”

  “Yay! Think she'll buy me a present?”

  “I'm sure she will.” She looked over at Mac and Mitch. Mitch was looking at the TV while Mac kept his eyes on the computer in his lap. It was a Mac, of course. His long talks about how good those computers were compared to PCs had earned him his nickname. This was his latest toy, and he kept it with him constantly. “How about pizza today? I'm not in the mood for cooking.”

  Mac tore his eyes from the screen and stared at her. “You o
kay?”

  One of the things that had made her hesitate about starting up something serious with Brick was the fact that he had kids. She'd always said she didn't want to deal with the mess of trying to raise another woman's children. That she'd met him because Mac stole her bike hadn't really made her more eager. It still surprised her that it was Mac who'd done it; he was the calm one, the really nice guy. Mitch was the smart, easily bored rascal, but she loved them both. They both had good hearts, Mitch was just a lot more carefree. And now her heart swelled when she saw Mac looking at her with a concerned face.

  “I'm fine. Just not in the mood to cook. Besides, I know you all like pizza.” She stood up and gave Eliza to Mitch.

  As suspected, Mac followed her up to the kitchen where they kept the menus.

  “Is she okay?”

  “Edie's fine, I'm fine, I just miss her,” she said and smiled when the tall lanky boy put his arm around her and gave her a hug. “How are you?”

  “Good,” he shrugged, every inch of him screaming teenage boy. “Just.. you know. A lot going on.”

  He jumped up to sit on the counter. He often sat there and watched her cook while they talked about what was going on in his life.

  “How's Katie?” She was a girl he'd been seeing the last few months. “I haven't seen her in a while.”

  “We broke up,” Mac said and scratched his head. “Or... I broke up.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Naw. She's... you know.” He shrugged again while reading the pizza menu. “Just didn't work.”

  He looked up and handed her the paper.

  “I'll have the same as always. Thanks.” She watched him jump down and walk towards the living room.