by Sam Crescent
Lily growled. “Yes, he could refuse. What is with him?”
“It’s fine. Really.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll deal with it.”
“It’s fine.” She walked past her mother, kicked off her sneakers and curled up on the sofa.
Lily joined her, putting the book and glasses on the coffee table. She pulled Chloe into her arms.
“We’ll get you a pair of those boots tomorrow after school. I’ll pick you up.”
“We don’t have to.”
“Honey, you’re a good girl, and you’ve been patient with all of this. You’re getting new boots.”
“Can we even afford it?”
“I’ll get some money off your father tomorrow. Trust me. He can afford it.”
“Will we have to sell the house?” she asked.
“No. The house is all paid for. I can support the two of us, Chloe.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, sweetie. You will always come first.” She closed her eyes as her mother stroked her hair. “I love how blonde your hair is. I bet girls are envious of these long locks.”
Chloe giggled. “Sure.”
“Would you like to get it styled? We could have a girly spa day this weekend.”
“I’m good on the haircut. I like my hair long. The spa day sounds cool though.”
“I’ll arrange it. Another gift from your father, believe me. How was school?”
She thought about Alfie and it was on the tip of her tongue to tell her mother, but then she decided against it.
“It was okay. Same old, same old.”
“It does get better. I promise you.”
“Did you love high school?”
“I had your father, so I loved everything about it. Even though my parents hated him. He made me feel special. I always imagined growing old with him. I never for a second thought it would end like this.”
Chloe opened her eyes. “It doesn’t have to end. He’d come back, you know that?”
“I know, but that’s one of the reasons why I’ve got to end it. He’s bad for both of us. When you find a guy in your life, you’ll understand. You’ve got to learn to walk away when you spend more time hating your life together than loving it.”
“Do you think you’ll date again?”
“One day, maybe. I’m not looking to date anyone right now.”
****
The following day Lily made her way into the clubhouse. She was going to get money for Chloe’s boots but also for the spa day. Entering the main room, she wrinkled her nose at the stench. It was disgusting, and surrounded her.
Kurt had yet to find a place to stay, so this had to be where he was living for the time being. She wouldn’t put it past the club to actually force him to live in the basement, and because he was chasing their approval, he’d do it.
Her man could do so much better, but he’d never believed her, never listened. All he wanted, his every waking moment, was consumed by this club, and how they saw him.
It sickened her.
Several of the club whores were naked, legs splayed with men all around them. They looked like they were in desperate need of a shower.
“Lily, what are you doing here?” Eagle asked, coming out of his office. He was the only one who didn’t look like he’d partied last night. “Is it about my boy?”
“No. I’m here to see Kurt. Where is he?”
“In his room, second floor on the left.”
“Thanks.”
“I don’t think you want to go up there,” Eagle said.
“Why not?”
“He had a lot to drink last night. A couple of girls from the strip club returned with him.”
Pain shot through Lily. “Women? When he was supposed to be spending time with our daughter.” She had to see this. No matter how painful it was. She turned on her heel and walked to the second floor. There was only one door on the left. She knew it was an old storage room.
She didn’t give herself the chance to second-guess what she was doing. She gripped the handle and opened the door.
Tears filled her eyes as she saw what lay before her. Kurt was naked, the evidence of his betrayal even more so.
Used condoms were on the floor, and there were three naked women in the room.
He was starting to wake up as Lily took a step back.
“Lily,” Eagle said.
Kurt opened his eyes and stared right at her. “Lily, baby, morning.”
The tears fell down her cheeks, and he clearly remembered what he’d done, because he shoved the girls off him.
“This is not what it looks like.”
“I shouldn’t care, but this is what you did, rather than spend time with Chloe. You call me, leave endless messages on my answering machine how you’re a changed man, and yet, this is what you’d rather be doing. Did you do this before? When you were with me?”
“What? No. Of course not. I wouldn’t do this.”
“I can see with my own eyes. I need to leave.” She pushed past both men, rushing out of the clubhouse.
Before she left, she did hear Eagle and Kurt fighting, but she didn’t know what about. Did it really matter anymore?
There was no way she was going to get over this kind of humiliation.
What if he’d been sleeping with other women before? She’d have to get herself tested. It had never entered her mind to ever doubt him, and now, her entire life felt like a giant, fucking farce.
She wanted to scream. This wasn’t how she intended for her life to end, not like this.
“Lily. Lily. Lily. Don’t go. You don’t need to leave,” Eagle said.
“I do. Has he always been like this? Has he cheated on me before? Do you know?”
“No. I don’t think he’s ever done this before. With the divorce, I guess he figured you guys were over.”
“Are you kidding me right now? No, I’m not over. It’s not ever going to be over. I can’t even think of this right now. I thought … I’ve yet to see a lawyer.” She ran fingers through her hair. Had she hoped to finally wake Kurt up to see what he was losing out on? She didn’t know anything anymore. “I only came to ask him for the money for Chloe’s boots and a spa day.” She sniffled. “I’ve got to go.”
Eagle grabbed her before she climbed into the car and hugged her. It was the first time he’d done anything like this with her.
She didn’t read anything else into it, and simply held onto him, holding him as tight as she could, hoping more than anything that the pain she was feeling would go away.
“Let me take care of you and Chloe, okay?” Eagle pulled out his wallet and began to count bills.
“No,” she said, putting her hand over his wallet. “This is not your concern, and I won’t take your money.”
“I want to treat you girls. On behalf of my son and the club.”
“Not going to happen. You’re not responsible for us. Thank you for the thought though.” She let him go and climbed into her car.
She would never take club money, or that of another man.
Chapter Four
Today on her locker was “fat-arsed slut,” spelled exactly like that. Chloe tilted her head to the side. If she had magical powers, she could just swipe the nasty words away, but it looked like she was going back to the good old approach of a cloth again.
People were watching and sniggering.
She didn’t look in their direction. Turning on her heel, she made her way to the janitor’s closet. He wasn’t around, as he loved his morning coffee, so she found the hiding place for the key, reached in, and grabbed the necessary tools.
As she spun around, she knocked into someone, making her drop the water, which didn’t topple over, and landed hard on the floor on her ass.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Alfie said.
The guy she’d run into was none other than the guy she’d been hoping to avoid.
“No worries.”
“Why do you have cleaning supplies?” Alfie hel
ped her up as he asked the question.
“The usual. I’ve got some nice comments on my locker. I’ve got to clean them off and, seeing as the janitor likes his mornings, I do it. It’s my locker.”
“There’s no way it’s on there again.”
“Come and see if you don’t believe me.” Not that she was inviting him to spend more time with her. That wouldn’t be what she was trying to do, at all, was it?
Alfie walked with her to her locker, and sure enough, the words were still there.
“See, welcome to my world.” She got started cleaning the mess and noticed no one was talking now.
Alfie moved her to one side.
“Alfie, seriously, you don’t need to do this,” she said.
“I know, but I want to, and now that I’m doing this, maybe they’ll think twice about writing on your locker.”
Again, the whispering started up, but Alfie held her hand as he washed off the insults.
She couldn’t believe he’d taken over and was doing this for her, when he really didn’t need to.
Once he was done, he stepped back. “Grab your books. We’ll take this back and go to homeroom.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Do you want to give me your locker combination or just tell me?”
“No, I’ll do it.” She stepped forward, making sure he didn’t know it.
Today, her locker wasn’t going to play nice.
She stepped back, and tissues fell out of her locker. She hoped none of them were used. They had done this to her when all the tissues were out of a trash can, and she didn’t want to think about what was on them. She’d bought new books, and written all of her notes in brand new ones so she could burn the old ones.
“This is new,” he said.
“Not today. I sometimes get one or the other, or both. This is a both day.” She shrugged. There were some rubber gloves the janitor left her. She put them on and got to work on cleaning up the brand-new mess.
She wrinkled her nose, but so far, no smell.
Alfie didn’t help her with this, but he did drag over the trash can.
She noticed a couple of people stood away from him, almost as if they were afraid of what he’d do.
Would it be too much for her to hope he’d defend her?
Putting all the tissues in the trash, she grabbed her books, closed her locker, and made a quick new combination. She didn’t know who kept figuring it out, but she was just going to have to keep changing it, maybe daily would help.
Alfie picked up the supplies to the janitor’s closet and urged her to lead the way.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
She didn’t say anything as she didn’t want an audience to her questions.
Following behind him, she waited as he put the supplies back.
Hands on her hips, she waited as he turned to face her.
“Wow, are you going to spank me or something?”
“What’s going on?”
“What’s going on?”
“Yeah, and don’t pretend to be all coy like you don’t have a clue what is going on. You know something, and now, I’m curious and when I get curious, I want to know.”
Alfie smirked. “You look cute when you’re nervous.”
“I’m not stupid, Alfie. Tell me what is going on.”
“Nothing. You ever thought I’ve learned my lessons?”
“Alfie, you’ve been bullying me for as long as I can remember. Now all of a sudden you want to be my friend. What gives?”
She wasn’t blind or stupid. Nothing had changed between them.
“Look, my dad knows you and your mom are having a hard time. Okay. It’s clearly rough at home for you, and well, I get it.”
“That’s it?” Chloe asked. She wasn’t buying his bullshit, but she’d figure it out.
“Yeah. You and I, we’re kind of the same.”
“How are we?”
“Our home life is not always perfect. We make the most of a bad situation, and it’s tough. Really fucking tough, and I get it, I do.”
Chloe pursed her lips, waiting, wondering. She didn’t for a second believe him, but she wasn’t going to tell him that, not right now. Not today.
“Okay, fine, I’m sorry.”
“Now, can we get to class? I’d hate for you to ruin your perfect record and skip a class.”
“Sure.”
Alfie went to grab her arm, but she flinched away from him.
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“It doesn’t matter. I can walk beside you.” Pushing her hands into the pockets of her jeans, she walked side by side, keeping an eye on him out of the corner of hers.
She was nervous.
Whatever Alfie had planned for her, she had to figure it out before he hurt her.
It would all be a little too easy for her.
“So, erm, did you hear what happened last night?” she asked.
“What happened last night?”
“Between my dad and me?”
“He left you alone in the diner?”
“Yeah, he did,” she said. “At least he paid for the food.”
“Did you eat it?”
“Went home. Hung out with my mom. Relaxed.” She wouldn’t give too much away but would stay cautious with him. She kept expecting to have Ian, Riley, or one of his other cronies listening in.
No one was around, so she didn’t know what to expect.
Arriving in homeroom, she went straight to her seat and Alfie joined her. This time Miss Hops didn’t come and intervene, but Chloe wasn’t happy with that.
She wanted Alfie away from her. She wasn’t fooled.
Yes, it was nice to have someone to talk to, and to even have a buddy to clean up the mess others created, but still, she wasn’t stupid.
Whatever Alfie had planned for her, she’d be ready.
****
By the end of the day, Alfie was exhausted. Ian and Riley were the only ones waiting for him.
They climbed off the bench, throwing their cigarettes to the ground as he approached.
“You fucked her yet?” Ian asked.
Alfie slammed his fist into Ian’s face. “Got pretty yet?”
“Chloe makes you want to be violent, that’s an interesting development,” Riley said.
“Look, it’s taking a lot longer than I planned, okay? She’s not trusting.” He ran fingers through his hair, irritated. She had pretended today to believe him when he tried to explain. He saw her complete lack of trust. She didn’t buy his bullshit, but then, he’d not exactly spun it right either. There was only so much he could train for, and clearly, he’d fucked up one too many times with Chloe.
“No shit. We didn’t say this was going to be easy,” Ian said. “I don’t think I’ll have my eyesight by the end of this.”
“Stop spouting shit I don’t want to hear and I’ll stop hitting you.”
“We don’t have to do any of this. We could just leave it,” Riley said.
“No. I started this, and now, I’m going to see it through.” He wasn’t going to back down. There was no way he’d look weak. If he looked weak this year, by the time he took over as club president, they’d never respect him.
“What do you think you need to do?” Ian asked.
“I’ve got to spend more time with her. It’s the only way for her to be convinced I mean business.”
“This is starting to sound like a lot of hard work.”
“You’re quitting on me?” Alfie asked.
“Hell no, I can’t wait to see her face when we do the big reveal. It’s going to be fucking incredible. She’ll rue the day she thought she could take us on.”
Alfie nodded. “Come on, let’s head back to the clubhouse.” It was the only place he’d be able to get some food.
His father was rarely home, and Alfie didn’t fancy himself a cook.
“Did you see the tits on Melanie today?” Ian said, putting his han
ds in front of his body. “I’m going to be bending her over my bike and showing her what a real man can do.” He grabbed his crotch. “She’ll like a big stiff one.”
“She was also hanging off the head of the football team,” Riley said.
“That’s what makes her so fucking juicy. It’s the chance of some easy pickings. She won’t dump his ass, but she’d love to ride mine, and I can have a taste of her whenever I want.”
Alfie smirked. “Until you get the taste of football cock.”
Riley burst out laughing.
“Damn, I didn’t think of that,” Ian said.
“Yeah, now who is the dumbass?” Riley said, laughing. “Besides, Melanie doesn’t have the best tits. Sharon does, and she knows how to suck a cock as well.”
“If we’re talking about bitches that know how to handle you, go with any of the club whores,” Alfie said. “They know a thing or two about taking care of the old wood.”
“I can’t wait until we’re members. I’m going to make sure there’s at least six whores to one guy at the club,” Ian said.
They arrived at the clubhouse.
Alfie spotted several of the club women in a huddle, smoking. They looked cold, seeing as they barely had any clothes on and the temperature was dropping for that time of year.
“What do you think is going on?” Ian asked.
They had stopped laughing as soon as they entered the parking lot.
It wasn’t just a couple of the club whores outside, but all of them, which was unusual.
Walking toward them, he asked for a smoke, and they all held one out. Ian and Riley took a smoke from them as well.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Kurt’s woman stopped by today. She caught him with a couple of the women from titties. It didn’t exactly end well. Eagle’s on a warpath with Kurt.”
“Why don’t they just get rid of him?” one of the women asked.
Alfie didn’t know her name.
He rarely knew any of the club whores. More often than not, they were getting their asses kicked out because they felt they had a prior claim over a brother than someone else, which was never the case.
“They like him. Kurt’s fun when he’s not trying to win the brothers over.”
Alfie had heard enough.