by Jayne Blue
“Bullshit.
“What’s the order then?”
I had done every damn thing by order of The Dark Saints. If I was to come in, and go back to Port Az for good, it had to be because the club ordered it.
“The order is come home. Unanimous. Permanent. Well, other than E.Z. being overly fucking cautious about it. The rest of us have been torn up having you out there. You need me to get Bear on this call. He’s napping. He might not like the interruption.”
I almost laughed at the idea of waking up a sleeping Bear.
“I hear you.”
“I better fucking see that ugly mug at Woody’s by Friday night or Benz and I will haul your ass home ourselves. You need directions back to Port Az? An escort maybe?”
“No need. No need. I remember the way.”
“Good, get your ass home.”
“Yep, okay.”
The call ended. Five fucking years out in the cold and poof! I could come back. I sat there and looked at the phone. I questioned the conversation. Had I really just talked to Maddox? Shit, Benz, Bear, Shep – all of my brothers were almost figments to me now.
But they were real. And I was supposed to back, be a part of the MC again.
I didn’t know how that was possible.
The only evidence against me was surveillance video.
There were no prints, no witnesses, and no case against me. I checked up on that as best as I could from the road. I scanned newspapers.
The initial discovery about the double homicide got news coverage. But then later stories reported that there was no evidence. And there was also no interest. No grieving families were pushing the police for justice. The story died less than six weeks after it was first reported.
There was nothing to link me to killing Dougie or Arnie. There couldn’t be, since I fucking didn’t do it. There was nothing to connect me but the video of me kicking their asses, twice.
Now, with no video, the only reason to run had evaporated. If what Maddox said was true?
I looked southeast. The sun was coming up.
I was headed back to Port Az.
I knew it wouldn’t be the same. I had left there and done exactly as E.Z. told me too. And no one got hurt. No arrests. No heat for the club.
Holy shit. The case against me had disappeared.
The reason I had to run was gone. I was having a very hard time letting that fact sink in.
I also wasn’t the same man who left Port Az.
Thousands of miles and dozens of jobs had put way more than five years on me.
I thought back to who I was at 22. Who I was when I left Port Az. I thought I was tough then. I thought I was hard. It was nothing compared to what I had become.
I was twenty-seven now, going on one-hundred.
The idea of seeing Benz, Maddox, Shep, Kade, Domino, Axel, Zig, Chase – shit, all of them! – kept me rolling toward Port Az. Maybe, with them at least, I could find something good.
Because nothing good had happened to me as a lone wolf for hire. There was no destiny but death and pain on the road I’d been forced to travel.
Maybe now, maybe with my MC, I could at least find something better than what I’d had.
Or maybe not.
I knew the best thing in my life were my days with Lyric. I knew that time had passed so fast it was almost like it hadn’t really happened. Was she just a dream?
The road had made me old. And bitter, knowing that a door with Lyric on the other side was closed to me forever.
But the MC. Thank God, they’d just opened a window.
I needed any ray of light that might bring to my soul, even if it was just a sliver.
11
Lyric
* * *
“On Behalf of the Port Azreal City Council I’m proud to present the Small Business of the Year Award to Lyric Wilde, owner of Bohemian Wraps City and now to her new business, Wilde at Home.”
There was a smattering of applause. My Papus was the loudest, of course.
Councilman Ted Perry wasn’t my favorite guy. I was friends with his ex-fiancé. And she said he’d been kind of a douche bag when they were engaged.
But I’d learned to put personal stuff away and get the job done. Councilman Perry had helped get the permits through when I transitioned Wilde Pawn into Bohemian Wraps City. And when I bought the adjacent building across Copper Street to open Wilde at Home, he was happy to see me contribute to the revitalization of Downtown Port Az. Councilman Perry used it as part of his campaign for Mayor.
He wanted to show how pro-small business he was. Fine by me; I had my permits and was ready to rock and roll!
Ted turned to me.
“Best of luck with the new venture. I have your support, of course?”
“Of course.”
I sure enough would vote for him. Hell, I’d let him put a sign in my window. Luckily, my friend Tracy was happily married and moved on so I could play nice with her Councilman ex. I needed to. Running a successful business was way more than putting together cool products and styling homes. You did deals, you made nice, and you pushed, pushed, pushed! I learned fast and expanded fast.
“It’s the young businesses and entrepreneurs like you that are really turning Port Az into the cool place to be!”
“Yeah, groovy, Ted.”
He gave me a thumbs up. It was cheesy. I didn’t care. I was beaming.
Plus, having him here meant I was getting news coverage on opening day. That would get way more people to the store than an ad. I knew it.
“I’ve got to get going. Congratulations again.”
“Let me know when it’s time to redo the mayor’s office.”
Most people thought Ted was going to win. It would be a cool gig turning the stuffy mayor’s office into a mid-mod mash up.
“Will do, Lyric.”
I was always thinking about the next project and how it could help grow Bohemian Wraps and Wilde at Home.
We smiled one more time for the newspaper photographer before he dashed off to some other campaign stop. We held the plaque in between us. I was damn proud of what I’d accomplished. I was proud of my stores. I was proud of my family.
Papus was motoring over in his scooter. He’d waited until the politician has left, of course. He always said never to trust them. He still didn’t.
“I never would have thought this old pawn shop could look so good.”
He looked at my two shops and smiled.
“It wouldn’t have without you,” I replied.
“I just wish …” Papus didn’t finish. I knew. I agreed. I wished it too.
My mother, she would have loved this. I knew it was her financial planning that put me on solid ground even when the world caved in on me.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been over three years.”
I saw her in my mind’s eye. She would be here, looking beautiful, trim, stylish, and helping me wrangle all the details so I could shine. I swallowed hard. I missed her so much.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I don’t want to make you sad. Today is a triumph!”
Papus clapped his hands together. That’s when I saw trouble barreling toward him at a million miles an hour. Papus saw it too. He smiled and opened his arms.
“Hugo!”
My boy, my baby, was getting bigger every second. He was like a cannonball fired straight into Papus lap.
“Papus!” The two of them hugged.
“Hugo, Papus needs a little warning next time. You’re going to knock him over if you come at him like a stampeding elephant.”
My Papus put a hand on his nose and made some sort of ridiculous elephant noise.
“Hugo, you want to ride around the new store with me?”
“Can I, mommy?” Hugo looked at me like he was about to ride something cool at Disney World instead of an old man’s scooter. But my Papus was Hugo’s favorite person on the planet. The two of them were always up to mischief together. The universe had taken my beautiful mother but gave us
the life force of Hugo. I just wished we could have it all. All at the same time.
“Okay, but keep it under the speed limit, Papus.”
“Eh, you’re no fun.”
Papus and Hugo motored toward Wilde at Home.
I still had to pinch myself that I’d made Bohemian Wraps City a success. I’d started with clothes, on consignment. Then I worked in styling whole looks, and even some of my own designs, at the store. Business was good. Good enough that I could expand to home décor with Wilde at Home.
I’d beaten the odds on what a single mom with no education could do. Take that Universe! Of course, if my Papus could read my thoughts, shaking my fist at destiny and fate, he’d be doing every anti-hex maneuver his old superstitious soul could conjure.
But it wasn’t about luck. It was about guts. I had ‘em.
My pretty friend Tracy Maddox came up and put an arm around me.
We’d met when I’d first opened the clothing store. She wandered in and we were instantly connected. I loved her energy and generosity. And she trusted me to make her look so cool. And now she was letting me do the same with The Castle.
For the first year that I transitioned the pawnshop to a fashion consignment shop, people would come in trying to pawn their old jewelry, or television sets. Slowly I developed a clientele. Now customers came to BWC to get their cool looks, to find unique pieces and, in Tracy’s case, even a wedding dress.
“It was totally great of you to come, even with your ex being here.”
“Ted’s a way better ex-boyfriend than he was boyfriend. And he’d never make a scene. It’d be bad for his campaign.”
“I found a lamp you’re going to love for The Castle.”
Tracy lived in The Castle – the same place, the very same place I’d had my first time with Bo.
But Bo was a lifetime ago. I didn’t hold hit against her that she was married to a Dark Saint. In fact, I liked her husband a lot. Maddox had been funny and friendly the few times I’d run into him.
Tracy was one of the people who encouraged me to move from clothes to home furnishings. I was lucky.
As hard as the last five years had been, they’d also transformed me from a kid to a businesswoman, from a daughter to a mother, and from a love-struck fool to a badass.
“You don’t have to babysit me. I know you have a ton of people checking out both stores. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Thank you for being the best customer and friend. I’ll bring the lamp by after we close. That work?”
“Totally. Thanks! Such a great day for you.”
Tracy gave me a hug. She was right, I had a lot of new and old customers to attend to.
I looked around to check on Papus and Hugo. They were zooming around both stores, totally entertained by each other. Papus had moved into a mature living place in the suburbs, so Hugo and I had the place above the store to ourselves. There had just come a point where Papus couldn’t do those stairs anymore and there wasn’t an elevator. He liked socializing at his condo and I liked knowing there was always someone there it check on him.
I had eight employees including one assistant manager at each store. I was the boss and I took it seriously. I not only took care of Hugo and me, I took care of my staff. We were all going to succeed. I had no doubt.
I walked back to the leather section of Bohemian Wraps City. I had the best selection of vintage leather in the state. I was sure of that. And it sometimes meant I wound up with a Dark Saint in the place or other bikers with patches, symbols and stuff I pretty much ignored.
These were customers, not relationship material. I’d learned my lesson hard on that one.
Speaking of bikers, a decent looking one was currently looking through my selection. He’d been in before. He was turning into a regular customer. He wore a bird type patch with some sort of devil horns. His name was Hex, and he always paid with cash.
“You got anything I new in?”
“Hi there, Hex, so glad you could come today.”
I’d sold Hex a few things over the last few weeks.
“Here, take a look at this. I love the wear on it.” I picked up a short black leather pea coat shaped jacket.
“Nice.” Hex tried it. He nodded. I had to admit he wasn’t bad looking. And with my help, his wardrobe had gotten significantly better.
“Here, give it to me. I’ll ring it up.”
He smiled and gave me a nod. A good customer was a good customer and I treated good customers well.
We walked to the register.
“How we doing?” I asked Michelle, one of my newer sales associates.
“So busy!” She smiled at Hex. She was into him. I could see that. He had a dangerous look about him. I totally got the attraction. Bikers were sexy. Boy, did I did I know it. But to me Hex was a customer, an acquaintance. Nothing more. I was done with that shit. Bikers, accountants, bartenders, or mechanics, I didn’t need any man in my life except Hugo and Papus.
It had been an amazing day. And before I knew it, was closing time for both stores. I locked up at BWC and then found Papus and Hugo at Wilde at Home.
“I think it’s time for someone to get to bed.”
Hugo was usually down around eight and we were passed that now.
“Yeah, I’m beat,” Papus said and Hugo laughed at him.
“I was talking about this one.”
I swooped Hugo up. It was no small task: he was so big! He squeezed my neck.
“Oh, the kid? Got it. I think he’s still full of piss and vinegar!”
Papus’ joy when he was with Hugo helped me remember how to be happy. Hugo’s life force was a palpable thing and it was contagious.
It took cancer one year to take my mother, and it was the same year I learned I was going to have Hugo. My belly grew at the same time we watched mom fade away. That was several years in the past now. It was one of the most cruel and beautiful seasons of my life. I knew it always would be.
Papus was my rock, I was mom’s and the three of us welcomed Hugo to our little family. He arrived in time for her to meet him. She held him, she watched his little fingers squeeze hers. She knew he was as strong as an ox. And then she was gone.
I hated that Hugo wouldn’t remember her.
Her legacy was Hugo, but also these businesses I was building.
When I found out I was pregnant, there was some debate. Could I go to college with a new baby? It seemed pretty impossible.
And then she got sick. And while she had insurance, nothing covers the devastation or all the bills of that savage cancer beast.
My mom had saved a lot of money in preparation for my going away to a fancy school. She wanted it for my future. We had to adjust our sales and handle the storm the best we could. We managed her care, her pain, and my future with the money she’d spent a lifetime socking away.
My college fund turned into my business loan, with mom’s blessing, and Bohemian Wraps City was born right along with Hugo.
This wasn’t the future I’d envisioned. But I hadn’t given in to the despair of losing mom or the heartbreak of being left by my first love.
I would never give in, dammit. And I held tight to the people who’d stuck with me. Papus was number one on that list.
“Sunday dinner?” I asked Papus, and he nodded.
“It’s a date.”
He zoomed to his car and packed up his own scooter. He could stand for short periods and was fighting to be independent. He was in his eighties and it was a struggle some days. I said a prayer that we’d have him a while longer. I wanted Hugo to have him in his life. He’d be the only male father figure my son had.
I got my metal from Papus and my mom. Papus was going to fight to be around and active as long as he could be to give Hugo those scooter rides.
“Come on, bruiser.”
I put Hugo down and we held hands as I closed the door to the store. I made sure to grab the lamp I’d selected for The Castle. I wanted to see it in the space.
I
had been helping make sure that the vintage pieces for The Castle looked right. It was a huge honor to get to bring that house back to life. It was also turning into a showpiece for a lot of my work.
“Is Bri Bri coming over?”
“Yep, she’s upstairs now. I’ll only be gone a few hours.”
“She’s going to play Mario Kart with me.”
“Cool!” Brianna helped me with Hugo and worked in the store. She wanted to go to fashion school but couldn’t afford it yet. I saw myself in her sometimes. Hugo loved her. She was only three years younger than me, but I felt like her mother, or maybe her cool aunt.
That’s what being a single mom at eighteen did I suppose. I have way more responsibility than most people, no matter what their age.
Bri Bri, as Hugo had named her, was fixing some food. He ran over and gave her a high five.
“Only one post-dinner cookie today, okay?”
I looked at them both and knew they were going to totally ignore that suggestion.
“Let’s get that Mario Kart going. I’m Peach!” Bri Bri told Hugo and he lit up.
“I know! You always are.”
Bri was so good with Hugo and so good in the store. I may be a single mom but I had the best friends, family, and employees. They all made it work.
“I’ll be back before ten. You can crash here if you want, as usual.”
“Thanks.”
My apartment was a revolving door of friends, employees, Papus, Hugo’s play dates; it was kind of a zoo. I totally needed more space, even a yard, but that was all on the back burner. I needed to make a go of business number two before I thought about a new place to live.
I got in my car with the lamp I’d selected and some fabric samples for Tracy.
The Castle was a showplace, and when it was done, I was sure we’d get a spread in a design magazine. It would be another way to take Wilde at Home to the next level. Online orders worked for Martha Stewart and Joanna Gaines, so they could work for Lyric Wilde! A magazine spread could make that happen.
I had pretty much open access to the house. Maddox, his dad Sarge, and Tracy were used to me popping in and out.
I walked in through the service entrance, through the foyer, and to the sitting room where I thought the lamp and the new fabric should go.