Lights to My Siren

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “Whatever. Guess I won’t eat.” I sniffed.

  The metal spoon Sebastian was using hit the side of the pot with a clink when he dropped it. He’d turned around, crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at me.

  “Don’t pull that pitiful shit on me. What’s your fucking problem?” He finally asked.

  I didn’t want to tell him I was feeling emotional. Didn’t want to tell him that the last three days had been horrible. I’d missed him terribly, and my being on the most dreaded time of the month didn’t really help matters, either.

  “What’s your problem?” I shot back.

  “My problem? You really want to go there?” He finally asked.

  My back straightened at his tone of voice. “Yeah, I really want to fucking go there.”

  Then I felt instantly bad because Sebastian’s child was at the table behind me. Or he had been. Now he was on the floor underneath the kitchen chair sleeping. I wanted to laugh, but I was in too good of a snit to stop it now.

  “My problem,” he said, stepping so close that my hips bumped against the kitchen counter as I tried to step away from his advance. “Is that you keep fucking jumping to conclusions. You took three torturous days to decide that you wanted to be with me. Now that I think about it, I’m not really sure if you chose me on your own free will or if it was because someone called to tell you I was hurt, and you felt the need to be there for me. Oh, and I’m fucking horny!”

  I stopped retreating at his asinine assumption and pushed forward. “I’d put the vest on even before I got your call. I was coming to see your ass at the station. This is the first day that I haven’t felt like utter shit. I’ve texted you a ton in the last few days!”

  “Property patch. And what could possibly have bothered you that much that you couldn’t come to me?” He growled, leaning closer.

  “Oh, just, you know...a period! They aren’t very forgiving for me. I get weak and sick to my stomach. The blood loss isn’t anything to sneeze at either. I don’t even work those times of the month. I have to call in sick.”

  Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to tell me that because you were on the rag you couldn’t come see me?”

  I ground my teeth together to keep from shouting my head off at him and risk waking up Johnny. “Yeah, I’m telling you it was because I’m on the fucking rag that it took me three days to come see you. I sure didn’t see your ass at my front door. I invited you over!”

  “I was busy. I couldn’t just drop everything to come see you, even though I wanted to. Why is this so bad for you, when millions of other women function with their periods every damn day?” He said, caging me in with his arms.

  Was he being serious, or was he provoking me?

  Did he want to fight about this? Because I was about to oblige him.

  “You remember when I fell and scraped my hand? Or how about when I poked my finger? Imagine that times about ten. Except for, you know, lower.”

  The conversation got harder to speak about after that. Needless to say, by the time I was finished explaining, he felt sorry for me and wanted to buy me a cupcake and even offered a backrub.

  “Now, go wake that kid of yours up and let’s try to get him to eat.” I instructed, placing Johnny’s plate on the table.

  Sebastian yelled at Johnny to get up while he fixed his own plate, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “Hey! I could’ve done that!”

  I hadn’t meant to, but I was laughing. It felt so good to laugh with him again. Even if it made my ribs ache.

  The sound of Sebastian’s phone had his smile dying from his face as he dug it out of his pocket and answered it with a frown.

  “Yeah?” He answered as he walked stiffly into the hallway, and then beyond to his bedroom.

  His voice was muffled after that, but I could tell he was pissed.

  Knowing he wasn’t going to get off the phone in the very near future, I woke Johnny up, fed him, and got him in his pajamas before I sent him to his bed.

  “Will you read to me, Monster?” Johnny asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

  I wrapped my arms around him, pulled him close, and rubbed his hair. “Your daddy calls me Monster when I’m not around, doesn’t he?”

  Sebastian, who’d just finished his phone call, smiled unrepentantly at me.

  “Oh, yeah. He called you his bitch the other day, but he told me not to repeat that. He said you’d get upset.” Johnny told me in his little boy voice; it was so cute I couldn’t keep the smile from overtaking my face.

  Sebastian had covered his face with both hands, and was trying gallantly not to laugh. He managed, but only barely.

  “I need to drive to the clubhouse for a few. Well, I need you to drive me. I don’t think I can drive by myself yet. And we’ll have to take my truck, because I don’t think I can manage to move his car seat over without hurting myself in the process.”

  He looked nervous as he explained his reasoning for needing me to drive, but I agreed, albeit apprehensively.

  “You’re going to have to help me. Make sure I don’t sideswipe any cars.” I bit my lip nervously.

  Twenty harrowing minutes later, and we were pulling into the driveway of the Dixie Wardens’ clubhouse.

  “Wow that was really easy to do. That back up camera comes in really handy!” I said gleefully. “I’m going to have to get one of those!”

  Sebastian chuckled as he carefully dropped down out of the passenger seat of his car. “Why don’t you go ask Normus if he can find you that?”

  I’d yet to meet Normus. Although, I’d learned, he owned a garage on the outskirts of Benton. He was the resident mechanic, and what I’d heard from Trance, the resident flirt with anything that had a working pair of legs. ‘Working,’ meaning they could spread them on their own, that is. He didn’t discriminate. Big, short, tall, old, young, he didn’t care. If they’d open their legs for him, he’d do them.

  “Do you think he has one?” I asked, being completely serious about the fact that I needed a backup camera.

  Sebastian ignored the question, and I decided that he was being serious, and I made a mental note to ask him when I saw him. Apparently, he wouldn’t be hard to find, from what Trance had told me the last time we’d seen each other.

  Just follow the sexual innuendos.

  I forgot all about Normus and his innuendos as soon as we entered what Sebastian liked to call the ‘clubhouse.’

  It was nothing more than a glorified saloon. There was a bar along the front wall of the room spanning nearly the entire room. Only a small open space at the very corner of the bar allowed anyone to go behind to the area beyond.

  Along the front, there were barstools made out of old motorcycle seats, even going as far as to have license plates on them.

  The rest of the place was a mass of mismatched couches, recliners, and loveseats.

  The wall closest to me was sporting a screen that dominated nearly the entire wall.

  Then there were the men.

  Only seven of them in all, but each and every one of them were intimidating.

  Two of them I knew. One was Trance, who was sprawled out on the closest couch, a finger curled around the lip of a beer bottle.

  He had a bowl of popcorn resting on his stomach, and his eyes moved to us as soon as we entered the room.

  As for the other man I knew, that would be Silas.

  He stood as soon as we got there, and went outside to retrieve the sleeping Johnny from the truck.

  Once he was back, he placed him on the couch in the furthest, quietest part of the room and covered him with a blanket before nodding to Sebastian to follow him.

  With one last glance towards me, he followed his father into a hallway behind the bar I hadn’t seen, and disappeared a moment later.

  Nervous as hell to be left in a roomful of men I didn’t know, I chose the recliner nearest Trance and sat carefully. It just happened to be the one Silas had just risen from.

  I fairly sank into the m
ost comfortable piece of furniture my ass had ever had the privilege of feeling.

  “Oh, Jesus. This has to be the best seat ever.” I sighed, sinking into the goodness.

  Trance snorted, and a man that was just to my right laughed.

  My eyes traveled from Trance to the man, and I just made out the name that was on the front of his cut.

  Loki.

  My eyes flicked to his face, and I had to control the wince that wanted to take over my body.

  He had a visible scar along his neck, from one side to the other that obviously indicated he’d had his throat cut.

  The scar itself looked old though. It was white, indicating that the accident had happened quite some time ago.

  His hair was dirty blonde and messy. If he didn’t’ have a scar on his neck, he’d look very much like the boy next door.

  His face was clean of blemishes, his teeth were white and straight, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of blue.

  He was sitting with his thick arms crossed tightly over his chest, bunching the leather of his cut so that just the name on front was visible. The scarred and dirty boot of one large foot was propped up on the edge of the recliner’s footrest, and the other was planted firmly on the floor.

  Finally meeting his eyes after my perusal, I was surprised to see a smile on his face.

  Looking back at Trance, I noticed that he, too, had a smile on his face.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “You should ask Silas if you can take it home. I’ll bet he’d let you.” Loki said from beside me.

  Chuckles filled the air behind me, making my extremely curious

  Trance snorted. “He won’t let you. But you could always ask. Couldn’t hurt.”

  Shifting to the side, my leg pressed against the side of the chair.

  Then the TV started emitting moans, groans, grunts, and squeals.

  I looked up to see two men screwing a woman on the large screen. One was in her mouth, and another was in her vagina.

  My eyes widened at the sight.

  Hoots and hollers echoed through the room and I could feel the blush overtaking my face.

  I turned wide eyes to Trance, and he was looking at me expectantly, like he expected me to freak out.

  Well, I would prove him wrong.

  Turning back to the show, I watched with my arms crossed tightly against my chest as the two men went on to fuck the woman.

  “Do you think her boobs are real?” I asked absently, watching the woman’s chest stay perfectly still after each thrust.

  “No, definitely fake. Normal boobs shake and jiggle when you fuck.” Loki supplied helpfully.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. That guy’s dick is kind of small.” I noted.

  The beer Loki had been drinking sprayed at my comment, and he looked at my incredulity.

  I just shrugged.

  It did look small.

  At least for porn star standards.

  “Is this a favorite channel for you guys?” I asked the room at large.

  “Nah,” Trance said taking a sip of his beer. “This is Normus’ channel. We don’t usually watch this in the main room. Must be a special occasion.”

  “Normus lives in the clubhouse. He also pays the cable bill, which means he can get whatever he wants.” Loki concluded.

  “Hmm.” I said in answer.

  Finally, the show ended, but was quickly replaced by another porn. One even cornier than before. This one was loosely based on the popular movie, Blair Witch Project. Except this one was called Bare Bitch Project.

  “Wow, this one is quality stuff, right here.” I laughed.

  Setting the footrest up on the recliner, I kicked back and tried not to get turned on in a room full of men I didn’t know.

  Instead, I focused on the fake orgasms the woman was having, and the hair stubble on both the man and the woman.

  “She’s running through the woods naked. Why on earth would she be doing that for fun?” I asked the room at large.

  “Maybe she’s looking for some wild animal lovin’.” An older man said from the doorway to the clubhouse.

  I turned to survey the old man, and as he got closer, I finally realized that this was the infamous Normus I’d been hearing about.

  “If she tried that around here, she’d be catching that big bush on all the thorns and vines. Can you imagine poison ivy on all those private parts?” I asked him.

  He grimaced. “Nah, that I can’t.”

  Thirty minutes later, I was well on my way to being drunk, and cackling with the members of Dixie Wardens, bonding over Blair’s big bush. Normus was a hoot, and he reminded me a lot of my daddy. He was sweet and cuddly, like a big old teddy bear.

  “I see you met Dixie.” Sebastian observed as he came to a stop beside my chair.

  I looked up at him, confused. “Who’s Dixie?”

  Sebastian nodded his head in ‘Dixie’s’ direction. “Dixie? I thought your name was Normus.”

  He laughed. “It is. Dixie’s my road name. Normus is my real name.”

  Then I couldn’t hold in the laugh anymore. Seriously, my ribs ached like a son of a bitch, but really, who wouldn’t laugh? “You’re Dixie Normus?” I wheezed.

  Sebastian, Normus, and everybody else in the room got in on the laugh.

  “Oh, yeah. Want me to prove it?”

  That was when I realized what I’d said. “Uh, no thank you. That’s quite all right. I’ll take your word for it.”

  Chapter 18

  Did a cartwheel the other day. Found out it is most definitely not like riding a bike.

  -Note to self

  Baylee

  Two months later

  I woke up to screaming.

  It was the type of scream that meant pain.

  Johnny.

  Lifting up, I rolled off the couch with the next breath, and ran down the hallway towards the screaming boy.

  I heard larger, more prominent footsteps rushing from the opposite direction at much the same pace as my own.

  We both met at the porch door, Sebastian going out first, rushing towards the screams that still hadn’t abated in ferocity.

  He vaulted the railing, landing lithely on his feet, before he rushed to Johnny who was curled up in a ball at the base of the trampoline.

  By the time I made it down the steps and around to them, Sebastian was on his knees next to Johnny on the ground, holding him in place. “What’s wrong?”

  “My arm!” Johnny wailed.

  It was obvious to both of us that his left forearm was broken. It wasn’t aligned correctly, with one edge of a broken bone pushing against his skin forebodingly. “It’s broken. Go find me a magazine and some tape.” I instructed Sebastian.

  Once he was gone, I went about calming his son. “Hey there big boy. It’s all right. I know it hurts, but if you keep flailing your arm around like that, it’s just going to hurt worse. Shhh. It’s okay. I promise. There’s a good boy. Did you hurt anything else?”

  Johnny’s eyes came from Sebastian. With the tears swimming in his eyes, as they were doing now, they looked almost exactly like the golden brown of a Miller Genuine Draft. They were gorgeous on Johnny’s tanned face. His hair was a snow-white blonde that stood out greatly, compared to his golden skin.

  He sure was a cutie though.

  Dirt smudged his face where he must’ve hit his head when he’d fallen as he tried to get out of the trampoline. “Hold me, Lee.” Johnny sniffled.

  Not able to refuse that sweet face anything, I gathered him up carefully just as Sebastian returned with a magazine and a roll of silver duct tape.

  The next ten minutes were spent stabilizing Johnny’s arm, finding him shoes, and then driving to the hospital.

  We were seen quickly, due to Sebastian’s notoriety in the Benton community, as well as the cut that was riding over his shapely back.

  The first stop was the X-ray room where Johnny started flipping out when they tried to put him on the table. Since he was i
n my arms at the time, I tried to calm him; he clung to me like a scalded cat while Sebastian looked on helplessly.

  “Ma’am, you can hold him, just bring him over here.” The x-ray tech instructed, indicating a small stool with the x-ray machine in front of me.

  As they brought the metal vest over to me, they started asking routine questions.

  “Is there any chance you could be pregnant?” The tech asked.

  Pfft. Yeah right. Sebastian and I had been using birth control ever since we’d first had sex. Well, most of the time, but my period hadn’t indicated anything yet. Nor did I feel like I was pregnant. “No.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  When I hesitated, they persisted in that line of questioning. “What type of birth control are you on? Are you sexually active?”

  My mouth opened and closed like a guppy. “Well, condoms. And yes. Why does this matter?” I wondered.

  “If you do happen to be pregnant, this could harm the fetus. It’s against hospital regulations to perform this x-ray with someone that could potentially be pregnant. They always make us ask.” The tech explained.

  “Just let me have him. I’ll do it. I can’t be pregnant.” He teased, but his expression was still dazed.

  I passed the weeping Johnny over to Sebastian, and backed out of the room, coming to a stop at the edge of the wall and sliding down to my knees.

  “What the hell?” I muttered.

  However, the more I sat and thought about it, the more I started realizing a few things.

  One, I hadn’t had a period this month.

  Although it was unusual for them to be off, I’d attributed the change in period to the accident that had held me from work for nearly three weeks.

  But now, I had to wonder...could I be pregnant?

  Would I be happy if I were pregnant?

  I was happy now.

  Ever since I had taken Sebastian’s property patch, things had changed.

  Sebastian was more open about everything that was going on.

  I found myself flooded with information about the club, and not all of it was even from Sebastian. Trance spoke to me. Loki spoke to me. Porter spoke to me. Porter’s wife, Minnie, spoke to me. Hell, even Silas spoke to me.