by A. J. Downey
He nodded and let out a harsh sigh, “I know what you’re talking about.” He sounded sure of it. As sure as the knowledge that the sun would rise in the morning, so that meant my work was done with these cards.
“Good, if you know then knowing is half the battle. You can go and fix things. I get the distinct impression that the suit of swords coming up first wasn’t an accident. That even though the Knight of Swords isn’t you; that the suit is… Swords is the suit of intellect and cunning but also action. I’m confident that whatever this card is,” I tapped the final unrevealed card denoting his future, “you already have a handle on it. Are you ready?”
He looked grim but finally nodded. “Do it.”
I turned it over and smiled, “See, that’s not bad. That’s not bad at all. The Empress upright.”
“Yeah, I’m reserving judgment until I know what it means,” he said and I smiled.
“The Empress in her upright position stands for a lot of things. In this case, I get the impression that she represents a person. She can stand for beauty and abundance and typically relates to fertility but I don’t get that she’s doing so in a physical sense this time. She’s a rockin’ omen for a good and stable relationship, so that tells me that you definitely aren’t taking this lightly and have every intention of taking some action here and heeding the warnings.”
I tapped a fingernail at the base of the present’s cards and Reaver nodded emphatically. I smiled and said, “Pick another card. I’ll see if I can get anything else for you, this one feels like it’s just laying the groundwork; like there’s something more to tell.”
He drew the final card from the fan in front of him and handed it over. I turned it and nodded, “See, Strength in the upright position. This screams that whatever is going on right now with your relationship to her, it’s going to be fine. Strength like this reinforces the final meaning of The Empress which is harmony in the home. Strength upright like this points to compassion, endurance, patience… all the things a long-term relationship thrives off of. Bottom line, this card is telling you that you have the power to make the changes necessary to ensure survival but it’s encouraging you to do it with love rather than force.”
“When it comes to a woman, is there any other way to do it?” Trigger asked.
“Nope,” Reaver stated and leaned back in his seat. He was seriously mulling it over, his icy blue eyes roving from one card to the next to the next, head bobbing slightly as he considered each one in turn.
“Thanks,” he said finally, shaking himself as if waking from a dream.
“Hope it helps,” I murmured and gathered the cards up letting the edges slide between my fingers into a neat stack once more. I silently thanked them for their service and glanced to Trigger and asked mostly out of politeness, “Want to have a go?”
He shook his head and I nodded. He seemed to be at solid peace with himself and his life. Like he had it together. I honestly didn’t think that the cards had much to tell him. I put them away and sighed.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Now, we wait,” Trigger said and I sighed.
“These kinds of things,” Reaver said, dragging the edge of my pocket knife through oil against the stone. “You spend ninety-eight percent of your time being bored.” He closed one eye and looked down the edge of the blade with the other, testing it with his thumb.
“And the other two percent?” I asked.
Trigger answered, “Wishing you were back to being bored.”
I smiled and shook my head, pulling my newest sketch book across the table towards me and retrieving my roll of pencils from falling off the edge of the table and onto the floor.
“Good thing I was an only child,” I said. “I have no shortage of ways to keep myself entertained.”
“I know that’s right,” Reaver said and Trigger looked at him over the edge of the book in his hands again.
“You grew up with Shelly, motherfucker.”
“So. I was still technically an only child. She’s my cousin.”
I shook my head and opened up to a blank page and listened to their affable bickering. The atmosphere a little lighter since the reading. I didn’t know what to make of that, but I would take it.
16
Data…
I returned to Point Nowhere with food enough for myself and everyone there. It was late; much later than I wanted it to be. Not my first choice, not by a long shot, but the clubhouse’s security needed a little more attention than I thought it did. It’d fallen into a little bit of disrepair in the last year after a couple of hardcore storms had swept through and toppled some branches that’d held cameras and downed lines.
Everything was up and running smooth as butter now, but really, what needed the attention was Point Nowhere. That was the next project over the couple of days or so. Once that was accomplished, it was going to be a long haul of springing the trap and slamming energy drinks to make sure that our prey was lured in hook, line, and sinker.
Mali was standing in the doorway, practically humming with the need to come out into the dark and touch me and I couldn’t get the fucking bags of teriyaki off the back of the bike fast enough to get to her.
“I told you not to wait up,” I called and reveled in the smart-assed little smirk that painted her lips as she shot back, “And I do what I want.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” I said softly pulling her into my arms and kissing her intently.
Her arms twined around me and I felt like given a chance she would climb me like a fucking tree, and fuck if I didn’t love the shit out of her passion… Not to mention return it like a thousand-fold.
“Dude, is that food? I’m fuckin’ hungry!” I heard Reaver call out and I held out the two bags of Styrofoam clam shells out past Mali through the door. The weight of the plastic grocery bags was lifted from my fingers and I took the sudden freedom to fill both hands with Mali’s ass, hauling her tight up against me. She smiled and laughed where her mouth was pressed against mine, the giggle making my heart soar and I don’t know how long we spent like that, suspended in our self-made moment of happiness.
We had to grab them while we could and exploit that shit for all it was worth. I don’t think either of us was keen on taking our mere presence within each other’s reach for granted. At least not anytime soon.
“I missed you,” she murmured and I trailed fingertips from her temple to her chin. She closed her eyes and kissed the pad of my thumb and my cock went from half-mast to all the way erect faster than I ever remembered it doing before.
“Yeah? The natives been restless?” I asked.
“A bit, but nothing I couldn’t handle…”
“Come and eat before this shit gets cold,” Trigger called and I reluctantly let her down from her toes to stand flat-footed in front of me.
“He has a point.”
“As soon as we can send them packing, I’m blowing you,” she said. I laughed and followed her into the building, despite the surge of surprised unease her proclamation gave me.
We sat around a card table that’d been erected, Mali shuffling her sketch books into a neat stack in the center of it to give us room. It looked like she and Trig had been drawing while Reave had been meticulously sharpening every blade in Mali’s old pocket knife. I gave a low whistle and reached across for it and he handed it over.
“Never thought I’d see this again, I’m kind of amazed you’ve still got it.”
“I didn’t get to hold on to much, just what I could carry, and you can never underestimate how much having a good knife can mean in so many situations.”
“On that, we can agree,” Reaver said with his mouth full and held out a fist to Mali to bump. She grinned, pleased and bumped knuckles with him. I handed the little knife back over.
“So what’s the plan?” Trigger asked.
“Got to get this place up to code with cameras and shit the next couple of days then I cast a line and see what we can hook.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Reaver said smiling a little too enthusiastically, shoveling more food into his face.
Mali, however, looked grim. She sighed and said, “I just want this to be over… Kind of can’t believe it’s going to be, you know?”
“You been livin’ it for seventeen years, babes. I don’t think there’s a light bright enough for the end of a tunnel that long.” Trigger gave a gusty sigh and she nodded, spearing more chicken on the end of her fork.
“Yeah, I hear that,” she agreed.
The rest of dinner went by pretty quiet, the gravity of the situation weighing each of us down, each of us for our own personal reasons.
Soon enough, the guys were done eating. Trigger gathered up their empty food containers and shoved them away into a spare plastic sack.
“Pack these out for you,” he said and I nodded.
“Thanks, man.”
“No worries. We’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going to have to leave part way and get back to the shop… I’ve got clients.”
“No worries,” I repeated him. “I appreciate everything you’ve done, everything you’re doing.”
“Ain’t nothin’ you ain’t done for me, brother. It may be easy for citizen motherfuckers to forget when they’ve been done a good turn but isn’t that part of why we’re in this life, to begin with?”
I nodded, “Too true, man, too true.”
“All right, get a good night’s sleep.”
“Not a problem.”
I embraced him and Reave each on their way out, the rush of water going off behind me causing me to look over my shoulder. Mali was drawing a bath, and I had to wonder if I smelled, suddenly secretly self-conscious about it. I’d been sweating my balls off just about all day resetting and fixing cameras around the club’s compound so it was likely.
“Enjoy,” Reaver said with a wild grin.
“I know that’s right,” I shot back and he ducked out. I shut the door behind them and it was like an almost physical shift, the way the energy of the building, the mood, changed. Like I’d suddenly just hermetically sealed me and my girl into some much-needed solitude together despite the clear rumble of the bikes starting up outside.
I went over to Mali who was running her hand through the water filling the trough. She straightened and let me pull her close. Her mouth still tasted of the sweet, sticky teriyaki sauce and I smiled against it.
“Need to brush your teeth,” I murmured.
“Fuck you, then you need to brush yours, too.”
“Hmm, grab our shit and meet me back here?”
“Yeah, where you hiding it?”
I chuckled, “Figured you would have gone through my things out of sheer boredom by now.”
“Hey, just because I have no shame or real expectation of privacy doesn’t mean I don’t value other people’s,” she argued.
“Fair enough, baby.”
She was right. She didn’t care what people thought of her and she had no need for secrecy when it came to material things. I knew that much and more about how she operated. She didn’t keep objects as secrets. All of her secrets she kept locked away inside of herself and if she didn’t want to share, she wouldn’t. Still, that being said, I didn’t ever remember a time she didn’t share her secrets with me. Up until she disappeared, that is.
I pulled my tee off over my head and kicked out of my boots. I felt naked without my cut, but it was locked away safe in the footlocker at the base of my bed in my clubhouse room. None of us liked going incognito, the Sacred Hearts had always been a force to be reckoned with and it felt disingenuous to all of us to hide our colors. Still, we had more to think about than just our own skins and if anything happened to the women or children…
I shuddered. I’d been a prospect when the shit had gone down with Tillie and the rest, and I didn’t ever want to see that kind of thing happen again. I got into the trough, easing down into the hot water, muscles starting to tighten up and get sore on me already. Mali dumped the last two bath bombs in and set the rest of the soaps and shit onto the stool to the side of the tub within easy reach.
“Bottle of water there,” she said indicating it and the tooth brush and paste next to it.
“Get in here,” I demanded and she smiled.
“Thought you’d never ask.” She stripped down slowly and stepped in, gasping. “A little hotter than I expected.” She sank down between my knees and eased back against my chest, sighing in contentment as I put my arms around her, cradling her close.
I closed my eyes and just relished the feel of her in my arms. The tub filled slowly around us, wrapping us in warmth and soothing aching muscles. I don’t think a single one of my dreams compared to the reality. Not even close. She sighed lightly and relaxed completely and we didn’t have to speak. It was like all those times, under our tree. We would lay there for hours, listening to the leaves rustle in the breeze and never even had to say a word. Yet every time we got up to drag ourselves reluctantly home, I got up feeling like it was the best conversation we ever had.
She cuddled back into me and I smoothed my hands along her skin beneath the water. She groaned and sat up, turning off the tap before settling back against me and without the cascading sound of the filling trough, the echoing silence in the building resounded.
“It’s supposed to storm tonight,” I murmured and she didn’t say anything, just gave a faint “Mm,” in response. I smiled to myself and chuckled lightly, letting my hands sweep over her in a gliding touch beneath the surface, kissing the side of her neck. She sighed out but it didn’t sound like a good thing; if anything it sounded frustrated as all get out. I frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ahhhh,” she groped for what to say, and I kneaded her shoulders, patiently waiting her out. “You’re all grown up…” she said finally and I wasn’t catching whatever double entendre she was putting out there.
“And so are you…” I said tweaking a knot in her back. She gasped and made an adorable growly sound that quickly turned exasperated.
“Fine, I was trying to be subtle and save us both some embarrassment, but since you won’t get with the fucking program I’ll just come out with it!”
“Yes, please do. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Your fucking junk is bigger than my poor pussy can handle.”
I froze, and then couldn’t help myself, I burst out laughing. Mali growled again and that only made me laugh harder. She turned around and splashed me, irritated and I threw up my hands to fend off her onslaught.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s not funny, but oh man, it’s really funny!”
She was smiling to belay any notion that she was really irritated and I wiped tears from the corners of my eyes. I must be a little out of it with fatigue or something for this to be that funny, but I couldn’t help it. It just struck me as hilarious for some reason.
“Why do you think I was sayin’ I’d blow you?” she asked defensively, and the laughter died, right then and there, and I pulled her to me and kissed her soundly.
“You don’t need to go there with me,” I whispered against her lips and she broke eye contact and stared fixedly at the side of the tub.
“I want to,” she said and I studied her face. Everything about it said she did but that she was scared or nervous. Mali had been handed a shit hand in life, and a set of the cards she’d been dealt was that she’d been bullied hardcore in school. I usually was there to diffuse some of the situation. I mean, no one, for some reason, really had a problem with me… but Mali, being poorer, being from the proverbial wrong side of the tracks… She’d been stubborn, had fought back time and again. She’d faced suspensions, had even whooped some ass in some real scrapes but that hadn’t stopped the three ringleaders of her little bully squad from sexually assaulting her.
The twisted fucks hadn’t thought it was rape, I mean, they wouldn’t dare stick their dick in Mali’s crazy… at least not in her vagina. They’d beat her to within an inch of her lif
e during homecoming of Junior year and had forced her to fellate every last one of them. She’d spent a few days in the hospital and as far as her dad knew, it’d stopped with the beating… but like most secrets, Mali had told me all of it.
I’d gotten my cold hard revenge. I’d hacked into the public records department and set some nuclear time bombs in her three assailant’s lives. I’d set death certificates to issue for all three of them around their early twenties. It was sure to cause them no end of headaches, proving to various companies and government agencies that no, they were indeed still alive. Probably would fuck them out of graduating college on time, and I know, in at least one case, it was a years-long nightmare.
Still, it wasn’t enough. I was super disturbed that it still affected her this deeply, but sadly, not really surprised.
“You don’t have to do anything with me that makes you uncomfortable. You tell me to stop, I stop. It’s as simple as that.”
“I know that,” she said, rolling her eyes, but she stopped when I gripped her upper arms intently. Her gaze lasered in on mine but cooled the instant it met my stare’s intensity.
“You tell me to stop, I stop, Mali.”
“Okay,” she murmured and swallowed uncertainly. I didn’t mean to rattle her, but her knowing I valued her was important to me. I don’t think she’d probably had many lovers who did. I didn’t know. It wasn’t something we had talked about much, yet… the in-between time. So much about each other was left a mystery and I hated that, but if there was something I knew about Mali, she didn’t let people get close. Not like me, not like us… I didn’t know why I was the special one, but I thanked whatever powers that be that she had chosen me. I held myself to a lofty standard, and I knew she could trust me. Which is why the separation that was to come was killing me inside.