Wrecker

by Winter Travers

  Yippee.

  *

  Chapter 3

  Wrecker

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making a bowl of ice cream.”

  I glanced at the clock above the stove. “It’s fucking ten thirty in the morning, Boink.”

  “Not sure what your point is, Wrecker, but I don’t like what your tone is intending.”

  Dumbass. “Well, when you are done eating your ice cream, I need you to pack.”

  “For what?” he mumbled.

  “Can you please wait ‘til I’m off the fucking phone before you start shoveling your face full?”

  He gulped loud and belched. “Only for you, bossman.”

  I rolled my eyes. Boink was a fucking idiot. He was never serious and always shoving his face full of food no matter when he had eaten. “Pack.”

  “For how long?”

  “Pack enough shit for a week. You’ll be there longer than that, though.”

  “Where the hell am I going? You shipping me off to summer camp?” he chuckled.

  “If summer camp is watching The Ultra for the next few weeks while I get some personal shit ironed out, then yeah. It’s fucking summer camp, Boink.” I was dealing with idiots. Each day, it was like I was trying to herd cats into a box. Except they kept tipping the fucking thing over and coming home with female cats to add to the fucking chaos.

  “What personal stuff are you dealing with?”

  I grabbed my cup of coffee from under the maker and blew on it. “Personal, Boink.”

  He aahed. “I get ya.”

  He didn’t get me, but I wasn’t going to say anything. “I’ll be back to the club in a couple of hours.”

  “Where are you?”

  I wasn’t going to do this. No one asked me where I was or what I was doing. “Personal.”

  “Damn, brother. You on the rag or some shit?”

  “Be ready when I get there. If you’re not, I’m going to kick your ass.” I ended the call and tossed the phone on the counter.

  I was still at Alice’s. After I woke up alone and saw her car was gone, I made a cup of coffee and called Boink.

  Last night, before I fell asleep, I started to form a plan in my head. Boink was going to have to start taking a little bit more responsibility in the club. I had been spending most of my time watching Raven while she infiltrated The Ultra, but now, something more important had come up.

  My phone dinged, and I hoped it was Pipe with an answer to my question.

  The Diner. Five blocks from her house on West St.

  I fired off a quick thank you. Pipe knew how I operated. He knew if I was asking a question, all I wanted was the answer and not a question about why I was asking it.

  Alice was gone, but I figured she was at work. On my way out of town, I planned on taking a little drive past the diner to make sure she was there before I headed back to Weston. I would be back before nightfall, but I wanted to be sure she was fine until then.

  Since she so rudely left me without a goodbye this morning, I helped myself to her coffee and leaned against the counter.

  There was more going on with Alice. She may act all goofy as shit and wear weird as fuck clothes, but it was all a cover. A cover for what, I wasn’t sure.

  “Fuck.” Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she was just goofy as shit and that was it. I had only spent barely an hour with her plastered to my back when I gave her a motorcycle ride a couple months back, and she hadn’t spoken much then except for the occasional gasp and startled cry when I gunned the engine.

  I dumped the rest of the coffee down the sink. I needed to get out of here and feel my tires hit the pavement. I did my best thinking when there wasn’t anything between me and the open road.

  I shoved my phone in my back pocket, grabbed my cut off the back of the kitchen chair, and headed out the front door. I threaded my arms through the holes, locked the door behind me with the spare key I had dug out of her massive junk drawer, and threw a leg over my bike.

  She had somehow managed to maneuver her car out from in front of my bike, which was surprising. I glanced at the flower pot that was tipped over and split down the side. She obviously hadn’t made it out smoothly, but she had made it out.

  I backed my bike around so I was facing the road and fired it up. The motor rumbled beneath me, and a peace settle over me that I only felt when I was riding.

  Shit with Alice was fucked up, but I was going to figure out what the hell was going on. Hopefully, it wasn’t going to take that long, but I was prepared for however long it took.

  *

  Chapter 4

  Alice

  “Why the heck didn’t you answer the phone yesterday? Or the two days before that?”

  Because my mother was dying, and then I was trying to bury her. I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder. “Um, I was just really tired. I slept most of the day.” I jabbed the key into the lock and pushed the door open with my foot.

  “Karmen had the baby.”

  “Shut up,” I gasped.

  “Nope. We were drinking and then it happened.”

  “I hope you all weren’t drinking.”

  Nikki scoffed. “Of course, Karmen wasn’t. Cora and I were drinking her share.”

  “Well, spill the details, woman.” I closed the door and tossed my purse on the couch.

  “Baby Cole came blazing into the world three days ago, weighing in at a whopping nine pounds, seven ounces.”

  “Holy cannoli, that’s a big baby. She push it out on her own?” I kicked off my shoes and padded into the kitchen in search of what I had been looking forward to my whole shift.

  “Oh, yeah. When I say he came screaming into this world, I actually mean the screaming came from Karmen.”

  I chuckled and reached into the freezer to pull out a large bottle of vodka. “I bet she wished she was drinking when she went into labor.”

  “She did ask for a bottle of rum to activate her inner pirate halfway through. I think that was the first time Nickel had actually said no to her.”

  “How did that go?”

  “She screamed. More.”

  I reached into the cabinet, pulled out a glass, and dropped a few ice cubes from the freezer in it.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Uh, getting a glass of water.” I grabbed the pitcher of orange juice from the fridge and filled the glass halfway.

  “You’re better than I am. I already had a pineapple with rum, and Pipe is making me another one.”

  “Such a good little biker,” I chuckled.

  She cleared her throat. “So, did you have a visitor last night?”

  I rolled my eyes. Her laugh tinkled through the phone, and I twisted the cap off the bottle of vodka. “Yes.”

  “Annnd?” she drawled.

  “And he was here, and then he left.” I filled the glass to the rim and set the bottle on the counter.

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, that was it, Nikki.” I wasn’t going to tell her anything more than the bare minimum facts.

  She huffed. “Well, that wasn’t the excitement I thought you were going to tell me. So, when are you going to come visit baby Cole and me?”

  “Um, I have to work the next few days. Hopefully soon.”

  I could hear her roll her eyes through the phone. “Girl, don’t let Bos work you to the bone. He needs to get someone in there to replace me. It’s been over two months.”

  “We had Mariah for a bit. Or was it Michele?”

  “The fact you can’t even remember her name just goes to show how shitty she was.”

  “That’s because no one can replace you, Nikki.” We went around on this every time we talked. I worked too much. Bos needed to get off his ass and hire someone. Blah, blah, blah. Normally, she was pacified by me saying she was irreplaceable.

  “You’re right, but Bos is going to have to try a little harder to get someone to help you.”

  I grabbed my glass and plopped down on the couch. “
I’ll tell him that tomorrow morning.” I took a sip. The cool concoction slid down my throat, and I welcomed its numbing effects.

  “Why don’t you come down this weekend?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “I want you to do more than try.”

  If I went, there was a possibility I would see Wrecker. The same man who I was ninety-nine percent sure I had made a fool of myself in front of. “If I’m not working, I’ll be there.” I was going to beg Bos to let me work.

  “If not, I’ll send Wrecker after you again.”

  Ha. I was going to keep the door locked and barred the whole weekend. “I’ll see what I can swing, Nikki. If I can’t, maybe Pipe and Nickel will let you and Karmen come for a visit.”

  She blew a raspberry into the phone. “You know Nickel isn’t letting Karmen out of his sight. She popped that baby out three days ago.”

  “We do have a hospital if anything would happen.” It was a small one, but we had one.

  “Kales Corners could have a state of the art, best hospital in the world, and he still wouldn’t let her or Cole out of his sight.” Pipe yelled for her in the background. “I gots ta run. My biker man is calling me. I’ll see you this weekend.”

  “I never pro—” The line went dead before I could remind her that I made no promises to come to Weston this weekend.

  I wanted to see Cole, but if I was being a truthful jealous bitch, I didn't want to. I didn’t want to do a damn thing besides drink what was in my glass and then drink two more just like it as soon as it was empty.

  Those were the only plans I had for the next few days and the weekend.

  Work.

  Get Drunk.

  Repeat.

  Starting right now.

  *

  Chapter 5

  Wrecker

  All the lights were on.

  I had planned on getting a hotel room for the night since it was much later than I intended on rolling into town, but when I drove past Alice’s house, I stopped. The house was lit up like a Christmas tree so I decided, since it looked like she was still awake, I would stop to check in on her. I knew she wasn’t going to be happy to see me, but she was going to have to deal with it.

  I stayed on my bike, watching the front window.

  She was dancing.

  Or having a seizure.

  It was hard to tell, but from the sound of music coming from the house, I figured it was dancing. Bad dancing, but still dancing.

  I lit the cigarette hanging from the corner of my mouth and inhaled.

  She was drunk again. A glass hung from her fingertips as she spun around recklessly. She took a long drink from it then spun around again before banging into the coffee table. She hopped around holding her shin and yelled at the table.

  She was crazy.

  I took one last drag, tossed the butt onto the driveway, and ground it out with my heel as I swung off the bike.

  The music faded in the house as I climbed the steps and knocked on the front door.

  Alice swung the door open and leaned heavily against it. “Wrecker, how are you delivering pizza on your bikey?”

  “Bikey?”

  She nodded her head in the direction of the driveway. “Yea. Did you put a basket on the front?” She pushed past me and stumbled onto the porch. “I wanna see the basket. You should put streamers on the handlebars too.”

  I grabbed her arm and yanked her back into the house. “Woman, where in the hell do you think you are going?”

  “Oh!” she yelled. “You should put the cards in your spokes.” She waved her hand in my face. “That way it’ll make like…a…” She made a farting noise and sputtered, peppering my face with spit. “I bet I’ve got a deck of cards in the kitchen,” she slurred, unaware she had spit all over me.

  I raked a hand down my face and wiped it on my pants. “It’s a motorcycle, Alice. Not a bikey.”

  She laid a hand on my shoulder and leaned into me. “What I really need to know is if you brought the pizza and if you want my deck of cards to make the—”

  She pursed her lips to blow another raspberry, and I laid my hand over her mouth before she wound up and let her spit fly again.

  “No pizza, and I don’t need your cards.”

  She slapped my shoulder. “Well, thank God I didn’t give you a tip. You didn’t even bring the pizza, Beardilocks.” She threaded her fingers through my beard and sighed. “I bet you condition this.”

  I hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head back to look me in the eye. “How wasted are you, babe?”

  A goofy smile spread across her lips. “How did you know?” she gushed.

  I would have to say she was completely wasted. “Did you order pizza?” For all I knew, she was just craving pizza and thought about ordering it but never did.

  “Yeah. Talked to Jim. Or is it Tim?” She touched a finger to her nose. “Marco.”

  It was half-past ten. I doubted there was pizza delivery in Kales Corners after seven o’clock at night, let alone almost eleven. “How long ago did you order?”

  She hummed and squeezed the tip of her nose. “If I were to look at the wall, I would have to say at least a minute ago.” She shook her head. “I mean an hour ago.” A crazy giggle erupted from her lips.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You’re here again. I should put a bell on you.”

  I couldn’t keep up with her drunken thoughts. From tricking out my bike, to pizza, conditioning my beard, and then back to pizza in less than two minutes was more than I could handle. “Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll figure out where the pizza is.”

  “It’s with Jim-Timmy-Marco.”

  I guided her over to the couch and helped her sit down.

  She motioned for me to come closer.

  I crouched down.

  “Can I tell you something?”

  I nodded and hoped she wasn’t about to change the topic drastically.

  She sobered and tilted her head to the side. “My momma was the best person I ever knew. She loved me no matter what.”

  “Is that so?”

  She nodded. “Even when I got stuck in the cornfield over on Grim Road with Mark Allen locked in my trunk.” She sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “As soon as we got him out of the trunk and he dropped the charges, Momma told me she loved me.”

  That was where the problem came in with Alice being so wasted. I had no idea if what she was saying was true or was the alcohol talking. I wanted to believe the whole trunk thing had to be the multiple drinks she had talking, but the way she told the story so matter-of-factly made me think she was telling the story right. “Now, that is a good mom, babe.”

  A sad smile spread across her lips. “She was the best, Wrecker.”

  “I wish I could have met her.”

  “Me too,” she whispered. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the couch. “Can you get me pizza, Wrecker?” And now she was back on wanting pizza.

  “Is that what you really want, babe?”

  She nodded. “You can’t give me what I really want so I guess pizza will have to do,” she whispered.

  I patted her leg and stood up. “Pizza coming up, babe. You want me to put a movie on for you?”

  She opened her eyes and yanked a throw pillow from under her ass. “Yeah. I wanna watch Back to the Future. The third one. I don’t like the second one. Marty is sexy in the third one.” She fell on her side and shoved the pillow under her head. “I like one, though.”

  I couldn’t keep up with her random and wandering thoughts. My goal was to get her fed, have her swallow some painkillers, and hope she passed out during the movie.

  It took ten minutes to find the damn movie she wanted to watch. The opening credits of the movie rolled as I walked into the kitchen and tried to figure out what I was going to do about pizza.

  After two phone calls to the local pizza places, I was onto plan B of praying she had some frozen pizza. Luckily, when I opened the large chest
freezer she had tucked in the corner by the patio door, there was a treasure trove of every pizza under the sun.

  I grabbed a sausage and pepperoni pizza that boasted it was thick crust in big, bold letters. She drank a shit-ton if the more than half empty bottle was any indication. Thick, bready crust was good to help soak up all the vodka.

  “Wrecker?” she called warily.

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Oh, I thought you left,” she said quietly.

  “Not leaving. Just getting your pizza going.” I cranked on the oven, unwrapped the pizza, and set it on the middle rack. “Fifteen minutes and it’s all yours.”

  “Can you bring me my drink? I can’t remember where I left it.”

  I opened the fridge and spotted a bottle of sweet tea. “How about some tea?” I glanced in the living room to see her wrinkle her nose in disgust.

  “Uh, I said my drink.”

  “I think you had enough of that drink. Why don’t you try something new?”

  “Can you make the drink that turns Karmen into a pirate?”

  Jesus. “I’ll make you something special, how about that?” It wasn’t going to be any pirate punch shit she wanted.

  “A Wrecker Special?” she called.

  It was a damn good thing no one else was here, and I was pretty sure Alice wasn’t going to remember any of this come morning. If one of the guys from the club would have heard her say Wrecker Special, the jokes would have been endless. I grabbed the sweet tea, a jar of maraschino cherries, and an orange from the fridge. “One Wrecker Special coming right up.”

  I filled a glass with sweet tea, added a splash of cherry juice, dropped three cherries in, and garnished it with a wedge of orange. I held it up and nodded. It looked like a mixed drink, and Alice was so far gone, she wasn’t going to even realize she was just drinking tea.

  “Here ya go, babe.” I set the drink on the coffee table in front of her.

  “You made that for me?”

  “You asked for a Wrecker Special.” If anyone would have heard those words come out of my mouth, they would have thought I was being held at gunpoint.