“Caroline, the phone has been ringing for five minutes straight. Are you okay?” Ryan looked equal parts concerned and annoyed.
“I'm sorry. So sorry.” She reached for the phone that wasn't ringing any longer. “Shit.” Caroline felt her face turn red. Great, first she didn't do her job and now she was cursing in front of her boss. “Sorry. I shouldn't have said that.”
“I've heard worse.” Ryan just looked amused now. “You're working too hard. Go home.”
“Like I'm fired go home?” Caroline asked.
“No,” Ryan laughed. “Like it's Friday and already after five. Get out of here.”
“Thanks, Ryan. I can come in tomorrow if you need me.”
“Nope. I don't need you. I've got it covered.”
“Okay, I guess I'll see you Monday, then.” Caroline was actually a little disappointed he didn't need her to come in, because she wasn't quite sure what she was going to do with herself.
“You need a lift?”
“I'm not going home. I've got to go and check on my garden.”
“I can still drop you off if you promise me fresh veggies,” Ryan offered.
“Deal.”
<#<#<#<#
It was just getting dark when Caroline got home. She was pretty dirty from her time in the garden. She'd need to soak her pants to make sure that the grass stains didn't set. Next time she went straight from work she needed to remember to bring something to kneel on.
The sporty little red car in the driveway told her that Jillian had company. If it was Jake's, Caroline's suspicion that the man was overcompensating for something would be confirmed. She walked inside, smile in place, but found Jillian alone. “Hey. I thought you had company. Did one of the neighbors park in the driveway again?”
“No.” Jillian looked up. Caroline could see that she'd been crying. “That's my car.”
“Wait, what?”
“Jake got it for me. He said that it's not safe for me to walk everywhere. So, when his sister decided to get a new car, he got the old one for me. He bought me a fucking car.” Jillian's voice cracked and she looked down at the floor. “He calls me during the day to make sure I got to work okay. He's really...” She inhaled deeply. “I'm lucky to have found someone who cares about me so much. I'm being silly not taking the car and just saying thank you. Right?”
“I don't know. I've never had anyone give me a car before.” Caroline sat down next to her friend. In truth, she thought that the gift was too much too soon and bordered on creepy, but she held her tongue.
“What if Buster gave you a car?”
Caroline let out a snort of laughter. She'd had some time to stew while she gardened and she was back to being pissed. “Yeah, I can't see that.”
“Did something happen?” Jillian asked. “You haven't been mentioning him lately, and I guess I've been missing him when he's here.”
“You haven't been missing him. He hasn't been here.” Caroline swallowed hard. She'd been avoiding the subject of Buster with Jillian because she couldn't take hearing her friend say I told you so. “I haven't really seen or spoken to him.” She shrugged her shoulders as if it didn't matter. “I'm starting to think I was fucked and chucked.” And it hurt more than she could even describe.
Something had sparked between them. She'd felt it, especially the last day she'd seen him, when he'd fucked her against the warehouse wall. That whole time, the shooting and the fucking, had replayed on a loop in her mind. At first, they'd made her warm and tingly. Now, they made her feel used up and dirty.
“I'm sorry.” Jillian reached out and grabbed her hand. Caroline held on to her friend. Shut her eyes and told herself she wouldn't cry. Too many tears had already been shed over something that was her own fault. She'd let herself fall too fast, too deep. “Are you okay?”
“You're not going to say I told you so? Because if you are, let's get it over with.”
“No. I'm not. Actually, I thought that Buster was different or that he could be different. I thought that...” Something hardened in Jillian's eyes as she spoke. “You know what? I'm taking the car. I'm lucky to have a guy like Jake in my life. And we're going out. Whatever you want to do.”
“I'm dirty, Jillian. I was at the garden. And I'm tired,” Caroline protested. There was something suddenly too bright in Jillian's tone “Besides, don't you have to be at work like right now?”
“No. I don't. Go. Shower. At the very least we're taking a ride in my new car and getting something to eat. You need a burger, with bacon and an order of onion rings. Tell me that doesn't sound good.”
“It does sound good.” Caroline was suddenly hungry, which made sense because she hadn't eaten since lunch. “I'll be quick.”
“Alright. I'm just going to call Jake, tell him I decided to take the car. Thank him.” Jillian smiled. “But don't take too long. And don't lie down and fall asleep like the other night. We're going to have so much fun.”
“Don't get all chipper on me,” Caroline warned as she got to her feet. She heard Jillian on the phone before she was even out of the room. She wished that Jillian hadn't accepted the car or even better, that she'd never met Jake. And she knew that she should have lied when asked about Buster because that disappointment had been what pushed Jillian over the edge.
Caroline showered and dressed in comfortable jeans and one of her favorite tank tops. She slid her feet into sandals and threw her hair up in a ponytail. She was ready to go in less than twenty minutes. It took another ten for Jillian to hang up with Jake. They ended up getting food at a drive-through, eating in the parking lot and then riding around town. Caroline found herself relaxing, even feeling happy. Maybe Jillian's sudden enthusiasm was rubbing off on her. Whatever it was, she felt good and that was enough.
“Do you want to drive?” Jillian asked as she turned onto a dimly lit residential street. It was one of the neighborhoods that had been hit hard by the blight. If there were four occupied houses in a three block radius, she'd be surprised.
“No, I'm good. Where are we going?”
“I've got no destination in mind. I forgot how much fun driving is. I can get used to this. And I can get another job that's not on the bus route to replace Gino's.”
“Wait, what happened with Gino's?”
“His niece came back to town. She needed a job. I was the newest hire, so I was the first fire. I'm not upset about it. It wasn't the best job. I got out so late. I swear that someone was following me a few times.”
“You never said anything.”
“I felt silly. I told Jake, and he started coming to pick me up after I got out.” Jillian smiled. “He's great like that.” All night Jillian had been bringing Jake up, examples of what a good guy he was. It was almost like she was trying to convince not only Caroline but herself.
“Where is Jake tonight?”
“He had a family thing. Dinner with his grandparents. He's really close with them. I'm supposed to go to dinner with him next week, meet them. Imagine that, me meeting his family. And I said I didn't want serious.”
“Do you?” Caroline blurted out the question. “I mean, ever since I met you, you've been pretty vocal about loving being single.”
“Maybe I was wrong. I'm not getting any younger. Do I really want to be alone for the rest of my life?” Jillian shook her head. “I don't.” She leaned forward, turned the radio up louder. “I love this song.”
Caroline had never heard the song before. She settled back in the seat, watched out the window. It was nearly complete darkness, something she would never be used to inside of a city. A flash of light in the side view mirror caught her eye. She looked over her shoulder and saw the unmistakable light of a motorcycle pulling out of a deserted church's parking lot. It was followed by another and another. She reached out and lowered the radio.
From the rumbles of the engines, she knew that the bikes were Nightshade. Jillian did, too. She gripped the steering wheel hard. “This was such a nice night.” The lights were getting closer, the sound of the engi
nes louder.
“Just keep driving. They don't know the car. It's not like they're going to pay attention,” Caroline said. She kept her voice cool, but inside she felt anything but. Her heart beat hard and fast at the thought of seeing Buster. As much as she wanted to see him, she didn't want to be proved right that he'd just been out for a fuck. They stopped at a traffic light. The houses were in better shape, and Caroline caught sight of an all-night convenience store. They were back in what passed for civilization. The caravan of bikes came to a stop behind them.
The moment the light turned, Jillian took off like the hounds of hell were on her heels. It was the worst thing that she could have done, because it drew their attention to the car. They were about a block away when a bike came up alongside of them.
Caroline looked over, saw Edge looking back at them. To say that he was surprised to see them was probably an understatement. He reached out, knocked on the window and pointed towards the curb. “I think that he wants you to pull over.”
“Think I can outrun him? He's got to be a little pissed at me. I haven't been answering his calls.” Jillian let out a nervous laugh. “He looks pissed. Like really pissed.”
“Oh for fuck's sake, just pull over before you piss him off more. And for the record, they'd have never even noticed that it was us if you hadn't taken off like that. And why haven't you been talking your brother?” Caroline knew that there was no way to get those questions answered in the amount of time that they had, but they spilled out anyway. It was something to distract her from the fact that Buster had to be there.
“Because,” Jillian replied. “You didn't want to hear I told you so earlier, right? Well, I didn't want to hear his shit about Jake. The second I say that I'm seeing someone, it's all bitching, pissing and moaning from my baby brother.” She pulled the car over to the curb. “This should be fun.” The moment that the car came to a stop, the motorcycles blocked them in the spot. Yup, that sounded just about right.
“Unlock the door.” Edge rapped his knuckles against Jillian's window. “Now.”
“Just do it,” Caroline told her. “Get it over with.” She undid her seat belt. Edge did look really angry. Too angry. The moment that Jillian unlocked the doors, hers opened, and she looked over to see Train standing there with a grin on his face.
“Hey, Train.” She smiled at him. “How'd you like the last batch of cookies?”
“Double chocolate chunk? Delicious. To die for. I actually told people they'd die if they touched them.” Train held out his hand to help her out of the car. “Why don't you come on over here? Give those two a little time to talk.”
He'd only led her a few feet away from the car when Buster came over to them. Of course, he looked as good as he always did. The bastard. She'd never seen a man sexier than he was in jeans, a tee shirt and his cut. “What the fuck is going on here? What were the two of you doing in this neighborhood? At this time of night?”
Caroline hadn't been sure what to expect when he'd walked over, but this particular line of questioning wasn't it. Was he actually serious right now? “We were plotting world domination. What the fuck do you think we're doing? We were taking a drive, which is perfectly legal. Or at least it was the last time I checked.”
“Answer the question, Caroline. I'm not fucking around.” Buster stepped closer. Caroline was essentially trapped between him and Train, yet she didn't feel any real fear. Maybe that was a mistake. She hoped not.
“I'm not fucking around either. I already answered the question. You want to tell me what the problem is?” Caroline looked over to where Jillian and Edge stood a bit away from everyone else. The body language suggested it wasn't a pleasant talk. “What else could we have possibly been doing?”
“Following us,” Buster replied. “Following us in a fancy car that neither of you can afford. Whose car is that?”
“Fuck you, that's whose car it is.” Caroline retorted. “Let me point out that you came up behind us. We were just driving, minding our own business.”
“Whose car is it, Caroline?”
“It's my fucking car!” Jillian shouted from where she stood. Caroline's head snapped towards her friend. “It doesn't matter where I got it. It's mine.”
“Oh, it matters.” Edge replied. Caroline gasped with surprise and horror when the man lunged at Jillian. He slapped her across the face, hard enough to cause her to stumble. Danny was the closest, and he grabbed Edge but not before Edge took hold of Jillian's hair. “Let me go. She's going to tell me where she got the fucking car!”
“What are you going to do, Eddie? Gonna beat it out of me? Like father, like son, right?” Jillian was back on her feet, her hand pressed against her cheek.
“Fuck me.” Buster sighed. “I've got to deal with this.”
“Yeah, that might be a good idea.” She went to step forward but he shook his head.
“You stay here. Let's not make this worse than it already is.” Buster turned and strode towards the car. “Edge, calm the fuck down. Now, take it easy, Sweetheart. No one is going to hurt you, Jillian. We all need to calm down, stop making a scene. We need to take this somewhere more private, for conversation. Edge, if you go after your sister, I'm going to put you down, hard. Am I clear?”
“Fuck you. Fuck private.” Jillian snarled the words. “I'm leaving. Keep him away from me. In fact, all of you stay away from me.” She looked around. “Caroline, are you coming?”
“Now, we both know that's not a good idea.”
“You don't tell me what to do,” Jillian snapped at him. “Caroline, let's go.”
“I'm not letting her get in the car with you like this,” Buster answered. “So, you need to calm down.”
“And why do you care? She's just another conquest, isn't she? One of the challenges.” Jillian snarled the word like it was a curse. “Caroline, let's go.”
Caroline didn't know what Jillian was talking about as far as challenges went, but she realized that she probably didn't want to know. Jillian's face told her that much. She walked over to the car, to where Jillian stood. “I'm driving.” She held out her hand.
“Fine.” Jillian handed over the keys and moved to get in the passenger seat of the car.
Caroline looked over at Buster, expected him to say something, but he was distracted by Edge, who was flipping out once again. She didn't want to keep Jillian waiting any longer, so she got into the car, started the engine and headed towards home.
By the time that she got Jillian calmed down, Caroline was so exhausted that she couldn't even think, but she couldn't sleep, either. Instead, she grabbed a bottle of wine, a glass and headed out into the small back yard. It was late, too late to be drinking but she still planned to finish the bottle.
During the ride home and while she was getting Jillian to settle, her friend had explained what a challenge was in great detail. See, apparently the never-ending stream of willing pass-around pussy wasn't enough for the virile men of Nightshade. Sometimes, they didn't want it easy. Sometimes, they'd set their sights on a woman who wasn't falling at their feet, work them until they were more than willing. After that, there was no more challenge and no reason to stick around.
Jillian hadn't cried a single tear as she spoke, not even when she admitted that she'd been a challenge to Ace. A week before they had their big fight, they'd had another fight and made up in a very different, passionate way. Edge had walked in on them. Days later he'd come to her, explained what Ace had been up to all along. Edge had begged her not to tell he'd told, so instead of letting Ace cut her off, she'd done it herself. Told him she didn't want him, that she never had, during the fight that Caroline had overheard. She hadn't said anything about what she'd shouted about her father, but she was quite clear that she was done with her brother. Done with Nightshade and that Caroline should be too.
The first glass of wine was gone in one long swallow. She did the same with the second. As she poured the third she heard her phone chime in her pocket. Caroline slid it out, saw it was a
message and that it was from Buster. She silenced the phone and for good measure turned it entirely off before she reached for the bottle again.
She felt stupid. She hated feeling stupid. Hated not being able to see the obvious when it was staring her right in the face. Just like she hadn't seen it when Ronald, her ex, had started seeing someone else. Caroline had obliviously continued to plan their wedding even as he fell head over heels with his other woman, who was also her best friend. The shock was too much. The pain something she couldn't even begin to describe. During the dark days that followed, she thought that she'd simply wither away and die. And she'd never wanted to feel that way again.
She felt that way now, not to the degree of crawling into bed and staying there, but there was an ache deep inside of her that made her feel empty. Caroline was unsteady when she got to her feet. The wine had wound its way through her system quickly, no doubt helped along by the roller coaster ride her emotions were on. It was her own fault, really. She'd let herself fall for a man she barely knew. There was going to be plenty of time for picking up the pieces.
Chapter Nine
Buster rubbed his hands over his eyes. It had been one fucked up night so far. They'd come back to the bar. Edge had another meltdown. Rock, his lifelong best friend, took him upstairs, where he'd ended up asleep after a few drinks, which was a little suspicious. The thought that Edge had been high had crossed his mind, but the man had denied it.
“You should get out of here, Buster. Go and see Caroline. I'll stay here, keep an eye on Edge. I always knew that he had a temper. Never seen him like that before.” Ace leaned back against the bar, looked around.
“Jillian ever tell you that Edge did this before?” From the woman's reaction, he'd say it wasn't the first time. The revelation about the abuse explained a lot about Jillian. Also about Edge.
“No,” Ace replied. “I knew that someone had hit her, she was skittish. Figured it was her father. Guess I was right.”
“I thought I was going to have a problem with you tonight. Thought that you'd have tried to take his head off for attacking her.” It was one of the reasons why Buster had rushed over. Ace had never even moved forward.
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