by Zara Teleg
We both walked over to the men.
“What are you doing? You got what you wanted.”
“Not exactly.” Ledge clocked the whiny guy straight to the nose. Bone crunched and blood sprayed. He followed it with a gut kick.
“And you, Diesel, broke my fucking rib. It’s only fair to return the favor.” He gave the man a swift hard roundhouse to the ribs. Both men were now rolling on the floor, still attached to the radiator, crying in pain. Ledger spat at them and gave them a brief lecture about poker etiquette.
“Now, we can go,” Ledge said.
“Get the car ready.” I tossed him the keys. “I’m going to cut her loose,” I said, talking about the girl.
“Alright. Hurry up, I’ll be out front.” Ledger began to walk away. “Bye, boys. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you. I hope Vicious won’t be too hard on you,” he taunted.
I approached the girl, who looked scared. “I’m going to cut this loose.” I went behind her, cutting the gag from around her mouth.”
“Thanks,” she whispered. She held up her wrists; the skin was dark red, strangled by the fabric.
My blade sawed across the material until she was free.
“You got someone to call?”
“Sure do, thanks.” She rubbed at her newly freed wrists.
I smiled at her, hoping she would get out of here and straighten her life out. But then she quickly grabbed the broken mirror and swung it across my shoulder. Slicing through my shirt and causing a long bloody gash. Distracted by the wound, I didn’t see her going for the gun. I dove out the bedroom door as she fired a shot.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled. “Fuck!”
Another shot whizzed by as I stumbled out the back door. I ran to the car and Ledge opened the door.
“Go!” I shouted as bullets sliced the air.
She fired at the car again, hitting one door.
“Kai, do you need to go to the hospital? You’re bleeding pretty bad.”
“No, just get me home. I’ll stitch it there myself.” I pulled off my cut and shirt and wrapped it tightly around the wound.
We made it back to Sugar Maple in record time. We didn’t talk most of the way back.
“How are we going to explain this to Colt?” Ledger asked as he parked outside my house.
“We’re not. Maybe he won’t find out,” I groaned and let myself out.
“Kai, let me help you.”
“Nah, man, I’m good, I got it. All I need is a bottle, a joint, and some clean needles. I’ve done it many times before.”
“Are you sure?”
“Fuck, Ledge, just get out of here. We’re even now.”
“Alright, but if you need me, just text.”
I climbed up the steps and painfully fumbled for my key. My arm throbbed under the blood-soaked T-shirt. With my right arm, I chugged down a good bit of whiskey before pouring some on the wound. I found the supplies I needed and lit the gas on the stove. I ran the needle through the flame, sterilizing it. I threaded the needle and took another long swig from the bottle.
The first puncture through the flesh was a bitch. When I pulled the needle through, it was a little too deep. A piercing pain shot down my arm and I roared in pain.
Paige
Avoiding Amber had not been easy, and it felt like the longest shift ever. I didn’t want her to know something was wrong, but I couldn’t hang out with her either. Every time I looked at Amber, I pictured her and Kai in bed. I hated to think of him and Angelica, but he and Amber bothered me more.
I reached into my purse to get my phone, needing the flashlight. Kai’s lazy ass still hadn’t replaced the bulbs that had been out for two weeks.
A notification was on my screen: a new voicemail from Gavin.
I gripped the bag of dinner I took home. My stomach leaped as I raised my phone to my ear and played the message.
“Paige, it’s Gavin. Please call me. I need you to verify a few things.”
I swallowed down my excitement and dread. My hands shook as I placed the key in, twisting it to open the main door.
A shriek came from Kai’s apartment when I was halfway up the steps. He was probably inventing some new sexual position. Then I heard it again as I got closer. It sounded like a wounded animal.
“Motherfucker!” he cried out again.
I knocked before entering, afraid of what I might walk in on. “Kai? Are you alright?”
“Tink. Thank God. I need you to pull this needle through my arm.”
My blood felt like it had instantly drained to my feet.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I dropped the bag of food and ran to the table covered in bloody towels, whiskey, and bandages. He held a needle that was two stitches into a gaping wound in his left arm.
“You need to go to a hospital.”
“No, Tink, I need you to help me.”
“Seriously, I only had one year of nursing. I did take EMT classes and can stitch, but—”
“Please, Tink,” he begged with those puppy eyes of his. My nickname rolling from his tongue melted my heart. “Please,” he whispered.
I huffed. “Fine. What happened?”
“It’s club business. Even if I did tell you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Can you move? I have a full medical kit I can use and much better light at my place.”
“Yeah, whatever you need.”
It was a strange sight, watching the man who seemed larger than life, like nothing could hurt him, in obvious pain.
“Take these.” I placed two prescription-strength pain meds in his hand. I laid out the kit and turned the light to his arm that was still bleeding.
I thoroughly cleaned the wound and tightened his skin before digging in the first butterfly stitch.
It wasn’t long before the gash was clean, closed, and no longer bleeding. I covered it in ointment and a thick sheet of gauze before carefully wrapping his enormous bicep. I clipped off the gauze wrap and taped the end down.
“I think we’re good here,” I said.
My heart slowed back to a normal pace as I looked up at his gorgeous face. A sheen of sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “You don’t look so good?”
I brushed my hand across his forehead, then he grabbed it and kissed it.
“I’m much better, thanks to you.”
“Well, maybe you’ll think twice about trying to stitch yourself up.” I offered him a smile. He smiled back but looked at me with sad eyes. And then he shook his head, and it was gone. He turned his attention to the bag I brought home from work.
“What did you bring home from The Ridge? I’m starving. I haven’t eaten anything other than an awful breakfast sandwich that left me with a stomach ache. And that was before I nearly bled to death,” he said, wrapping his arms around his waist and pushed out his bottom lip, attempting to look utterly pathetic.
“Ugh, fine.” I rolled my eyes. “Enough with the theatrics. I guess I’ll share it with you.”
“Share what?” Now he was all smiles.
“Chef Johnny’s vegetable pot pie, extra-thick crust, and a giant side of mashed potatoes.”
“Aw, Tink, you’re the best.” He flashed that smile that got him anything he wanted.
I was such a pushover for Kai. He could always make me smile no matter how hard I tried to keep it in. He was like a snake charmer. He only had to say Tink—and, well, almost bleed to death—for me to ignore what a jerk he’d been the last month.
I scooped up the last of my potatoes and watched him use his finger to clean the gravy off his plate.
He pushed out his flat belly, rubbing it. “That was great.”
“Well, I need real sleep so I guess you better head to your place,” I nervously cleared my throat.
An awkward silence fell between us. After all, despite sharing a meal and me stitching up his arm, there was still the New Year’s Eve elephant in the room.
“Look, Tink, about New Year’s…” he began.
“Kai, don’t. You need to go the hell home and let me get some sleep. I’ll check your bandages tomorrow.”
Sleep had been sporadic lately. I kept thinking about the mystery surrounding my birth. I kept myself busy all morning. Kai’s apartment was still quiet when I took the trash down to the dumpster. The clock read 12:10 pm when I finally mustered the courage to call Gavin. I felt claustrophobic as I roamed the apartment waiting for him to answer. I moved to the fire escape for some air. The phone rang twice; my body felt like Jell-O. I took deep breaths, willing the anxiety away.
“Hello?”
“Gavin, hey. I got your message.”
“Hey, Paige. How are you?”
“Good, nervous. Did you find anything out?”
“I did. But we need to confirm a few things.”
“Like?”
“You said your father grew up in Louisiana, correct? And your grandmother still lives there?”
“Yes, but our family has not spoken to my Meme since I was about twelve.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. We used to visit her often and spend every summer working on the same mission, helping in the community. Then one year, they got into a huge fight, and they stopped speaking to her.”
“I see.”
“I cried my eyes out many times. I missed her and wanted to see her, but every time my sister or I brought it up, my parents ignored it. I do know that Meme was a strong woman, spoke her mind, and never really liked that my dad was so involved with the mission. She hated when they moved to Tallahassee to be close to my mom’s parents.”
“Well, according to everything I have found, all roads lead to Louisiana.”
Butterflies filled my stomach, and a strange tingling ran through my hands.
“You think my Meme knows something?”
“Well, you were a home birth. There are no hospital records. You said there were no pictures of your mother holding you when you were born like she had your sister.”
I turned at the knocking on my door. Kai was walking in with an empty mug, pointing to the coffee maker.
Shit, I must have left the door unlocked when I ran down to take the trash out.
I nodded my head and hoped he hadn’t been there long.
“Gavin, um, can I call you back?”
“Yeah, of course, but Paige, if you want to know the truth, it starts in Louisiana.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll call you in a few.”
I ducked back into the window.
Kai was leaning against the counter, sipping his coffee.
“What was all that about?”
I couldn’t look at him. I just reached for a mug and poured my coffee.
Kai
Paige was on the fire escape, pacing back and forth. When she came back in, she refused to make eye contact with me. She hid behind her coffee and began nervously cleaning.
“So, about New Year’s.”
She froze mid-spritz of the cleaning solution that she was using to scour the already clean counter. She turned to look at me but still said nothing.
“Tink, I’m sorry for being such a dick to you.”
“And?” She tapped her foot, waiting for more.
“Tink, I don’t know what you were expecting. That night we were both kinda drunk… It was a mistake.”
She ground her jaw, and a crimson flush rose from her neck. She balled her fists and took a deep breath before she spoke, “First of all, Kai. I’m not a child.”
“I know—”
“I’m tired of hiding what I think and how I feel around people. I just wanted to enjoy the night, indulge in the passion of the moment, lose myself for once in my life. But no, for the first time in your life, you grew a conscience and decided I wasn’t good enough or whatever.”
“Tink, I’m sorry.” I sighed. I understood she felt hurt and rejected. “There are some things that you don’t understand, things I can’t discuss, but they have nothing to do with how much I wanted you.”
“You,” she pointed in my face, “are a coward.”
“What?”
“Oh, I can’t, Rage would kill me.” Her voice was a high-pitched whine. “You whine like a little girl.”
“Did you just call me a little girl?”
“I did. That’s how you acted.”
“You know, I can’t figure you out. You move here, all innocent and shy. Then a few nights with Amber and you’re tossing your clothes out, dressing like a hooker, and running around town partying.”
“How would you know what I have been doing? You have been avoiding me for a month.”
“I know everything.” I pointed my finger at her this time. “Look, Tink. Maybe I am a coward. But I would prefer to be a coward and have you as a friend than not have you at all. I never really had a girl as a friend, and you are so much fun. I hope I haven’t ruined that too.”
Her face softened and her posture relaxed. And after releasing a sigh, she said, “No, you haven’t ruined it, not beyond repair. We can just start over as friends. But I’m no pushover, Kai.”
I pulled her in for a hug. “I know you’re not… But you will still cook for me, right?” I gave her my best sorrowful look as I held out my injury.
Paige pushed away from me and lightly slapped my injured arm. “You’re the worst.”
“Owww!”
I held the wrapped arm that was now throbbing. The painkillers she gave me last night were now long worn off. She saw my pain and realized I wasn’t faking it.
“As much as I want to continue this conversation and talk about whatever you were hiding on the balcony, I gotta get some weed to take the edge off this,” I said, holding my shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I gotcha covered.” She walked to the closet, looking for something. “I got something for pain that’s way better than that garbage you and Amber get around here.”
“Garbage? My weed is good.”
“Garbage,” she confirmed.
“What would you know about weed?”
“Kai, there’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she said in a most seductive way.
She reached high into the closet. The T-shirt dress she wore crept high up her thighs, revealing the globe of her perfect ass. Finally, she took out a hand-carved box that was a little bigger than a shoebox. She retrieved a tiny key from her desk, unlocked the box, and brought out a cloth drawstring bag.
“Is this treasure?” I laughed.
“It sure is.”
She emptied the contents of the little bag. A glass jar full of buds was the first thing I noticed. Then I watched as she unrolled a velvet cloth, and a pipe made of purple stone fell into her hand.
“I would have never thought you smoked, let alone had all this going on.” I waved my hand over the contents of the box.
She placed the pipe between her lips and used a giant lighter that read Everything’s Bigger in Texas to light the pipe. Inhaling deeply, she held her breath and passed it to me.
“It’s medicinal. You’ll forget your arm even hurts.”
This girl was just more of a mystery every day. I inhaled a smooth, almost clean smoke. I held my breath and shook my head, letting her know it was good. A few minutes later, a euphoric buzz began to take over, a feeling I don’t usually get from pot.
“Tink, where did you get this?”
“I grew it.”
“You’re kidding. You grew this?” I picked up the jar and looked inside.
“My hydroponic gardening class project. Of course, I didn’t report this, but the other herbs earned me an A.”
“Holy… I like it.” I started laughing.
“This will take you to Neverland!”
“I’m flying, alright. And a little hungry too. What ya got?”
She threw a pillow at me. “You’re always hungry.”
“Where did you learn to cook all this Cajun food?” I asked her as I dug into my second helping of dirty rice
and red beans.”
“My Meme. My dad’s side of the family is from a small town in southern Louisiana.” She placed the sweet tea in front of me as she sat buttering a slice of cornbread. “We used to visit her a few times a year and spend entire summers there until I was twelve.”
“Why did you stop going there?”
“My parents and Meme had a huge argument, and we never went again. I missed my grandmother and wrote her a few times, but she never wrote back.”
“What did Juliet say about it?”
“She was always closer to my mom’s side of the family. She wasn’t a fan of Louisiana, and she only spent two weeks of summer there and spent the rest with Nana, mom’s mom, back in Tallahassee.
I loved my Meme. She had this awesome wrap-around porch and a sleeping porch. She told me ghost stories about voodoo and Cajun folklore. We would get up early, before it was too hot, and pick fresh okra from her garden. Everyone says I’m like her. But really, I never felt I was like anyone in my family… You know what? I’m going to do it.” She stood, grabbing her phone, her beautiful purple eyes still dilated. “I’m going to visit Meme.”
“Right now?” I asked.
“You need to go. I have to make a call.”
Chapter Thirteen
Paige
“I think you are making a mistake doing this by yourself,” Kai said. He’d been lying on the bed, his arms above his head, trying to convince me not to go.
I don’t know why I let him back in so easily, but there was something about Kai that I couldn’t resist. I guess he was the only one I really felt like I could share things with. He and I had spent most of the past few weeks together. We shared meals and movie nights, and strangely, women hadn’t been parading around lately. He had begun to let down his walls and I could see the real Kai underneath all that big biker bravado.
“Kai, you made a solemn promise not to tell anyone.” I pushed his feet off the edge of the bed so I could continue packing my bag. “You are not to tell Rage, Juliet, Ivy, no one. If you do, I swear…” I folded the crop top and black jeans, then rolled them together and placed them in the bag.