Susie woke Angela up an hour before she was to meet Justin, and Angela couldn’t help but glare at her. She was tired and didn’t want to get out of bed, but she knew she had to if she wanted to get a shower in and not smell like an ashtray. She got out of bed with a groan and stumbled towards the bathroom, sighing in relief when the warm water cascaded over her and she felt the grime from the bar wash off her. Knowing she couldn’t stay under the water forever she quickly washed and dried and rushed back to her room to finish getting ready. She had about fifteen minutes left and she knew she was pushing it. Then again she was known for being habitually late so he might as well get used to it.
When she finally got dressed and had her makeup put back on, she said a quick goodbye to Susie who was reading on her bed and rushed out. She knew she was almost fifteen minutes late, and hoped Justin was still waiting for her. Apparently he wasn’t surprised that she was late and he was calmly sitting on a bench near the entrance when she walked out. “Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s alright, I’m not in a hurry. There’s a little cafe around the corner if you just want some coffee but you look like you could use some food?”
“Would you mind going somewhere that still serves breakfast? I haven’t eaten since dinner last night and that was at like six.”
“Quite elementary not to drink on an empty stomach. Are you hungover?”
“Maybe a little but not too bad. I think some food will help.”
“First time drinking?”
“No, but first time I’ve had more than one or two. You know our parents well enough to know they’d never accept me coming home drunk.”
“Not really. Remember I was twelve when I left.”
“True enough I suppose. Look, you don’t have to tell me everything right away, but did you leave voluntarily?”
“No, I didn’t. It’s a hard part of my life and I’d rather not talk about it until I’m ready. I came to the LA area when I was eighteen and have been here since. By then I assumed you had all moved on and I didn’t want to stir things up. After getting into some trouble Mark set me straight and I found a new family here.”
“Nobody ever forgot about you or moved on. Every year on the anniversary of your disappearance there was a small memorial service to pray for your return. Every year on your birthday mom would bake a cake and celebrate you turning another year older, hoping that you really were having another birthday somewhere. It’s one of the reasons I moved so far away for college, I wanted a life where I wasn’t the younger sister of the boy who disappeared without a trace. And now here you are.”
“Here I am. Are you disappointed since you were running away from me?”
“No, and I wasn’t running away from you. I was running away from the reminder of what happened. I had a good childhood and never wanted for anything, but there was always this shadow over everything.”
They had arrived at a small diner that had a sign indicating it had breakfast twenty four hours a day, and soon they were seated in a booth looking over their menus. “Good morning, can I get you some coffee?” the waitress asked with a polite smile.
“Yes please,” they said in unison, before Angela started giggling at that.
“Are you ready to order?”
Angela nodded and so did Justin, so they both gave the waitress their orders. “She likes you,” Angela commented once the waitress had left.
“The waitress? She just likes the looks. There’s something about being cute and wearing a leather jacket that attracts women. I’m not interested if you’re worried about that.”
“At all or in her?”
“In her. Angela, I can’t take my eyes off you and haven’t yet if you didn’t notice. Aren’t you supposed to date a lawyer or doctor or something equally respectable?”
“Probably, but I don’t care. I like the leather jacket and I like your bike. So what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a mechanic. Mark taught me everything I know, and he’s making me finish High School. I’m supposed to be at home doing homework right now, but I wanted to see you.”
“Wherever you were didn’t send you to school?”
“No, but they homeschooled so I know most of it. Basically I just have to catch up on what I’m missing. Mark is homeschooling me, and I should have my GED by December. I plan to go to school to become a certified mechanic after that. Until then I earn a decent living working in Mark’s shop. I live at his house, so I don’t have many expenses so I can focus on school. He has been really cool.”
“It sounds like he really took you in.”
“He did. When I first came here I didn’t have anywhere to go and I stayed in homeless shelters for the most part. I earned money but it wasn’t always legal, and after seeing me at the jail twice when picking up someone from his biker group he bailed me out and took me home. Everyone in that group owes him something, which is why everyone respects him as the leader. He has helped them all get jobs, and they all stopped breaking the law. If one does end up getting arrested they are more worried about his reaction than what the cops might do. He used to get into trouble with the law all the time, and now that he has a respectable business he helps others. He lectured me on the way my life was going for a good three hours before telling me what my new life was going to look like which meant finishing school and learning a trade or going to college. He has been there for me when nobody else was, and he has been amazing.”
“But he still lets you guys hang out in front of bars, and harass girls walking by?”
“No, he doesn’t. The guys had drank a bit too much and we were hanging out until we were sober enough to drive home. I didn’t drink anything, Mark would kill me if I drank more than one or two. I had to tell him about you when I got home because I was much later than he expected. He said he’d like to meet you, especially since you’ll be in the area for a while. He also wanted to talk to you about walking the streets alone at night, after drinking at a bar you don’t belong in.”
“He can’t lecture me!”
“You’ll find he doesn’t really care. All the other guys are currently picking up trash alongside the highway for their behavior from last night, and Mark wants to apologize on their behalf.”
“He punished them?”
“Not necessarily punished, more like make them see their behavior has consequences. If cops had been nearby they could have all gotten arrested, and another smudge on their record would make it harder to get a job or keep the job they have. Trust me, they are quite used to it. We are still bikers and all have a hard edge to us and we’ve all been through a lot. We’re the stereotypical bad boys if you’d like to put it that way.”
“Good. That’s the kind of boy I like so don’t you go all good on me. So basically he just makes sure you don’t break the law, even if you flirt with it?”
“Exactly. We can head over to meet him after breakfast if you’d like?”
“Aren’t you going to be in trouble for not doing homework?”
“Possibly, but I’m not concerned. Trust me, it’s not unusual for me to skive off homework and for him to force me to do it. I wasn’t supposed to go out last night either.”
“I have a bit of time so I’ll go over with you if it’s not too far? I do have to keep my studies up no matter what we do, because if I don’t mom and dad will make me go to school on the East coast.”
“Fair enough. So what do you enjoy doing in your free time?”
“I don’t do much really, just hanging out with friends. I was never one for extracurricular activities or sports.”
“Have you had a job?”
“No, I wasn’t allowed to work while in school. They wanted me to focus on getting good grades, not be distracted by a job. I didn’t mind too much though.”
“I imagine not. What is your major?”
“Undecided. I want to do pre-law and then go to law school, but I’m not sure. I have another year before I can take any pre-law classes so I have time to decide. So
you enjoy being a mechanic?”
“I do. I like working with my hands, and being a mechanic is different every day. Every car, truck or motorcycle has something different it needs and it not only provides variety, it also requires you to think and put your knowledge to the test.”
“I barely know how to drive a car, let alone how it works. It always sounds complicated though.”
“It’s not too bad. They want you to think it’s complicated so you’ll pay more to get it fixed, but in Mark’s shop we believe honesty gets customers to come back so we don’t try to make up things or try to make them sound difficult. Customers like that, they know they can get an honest opinion in our shop. If you’re done eating, do you want to head over to the house?”
“Sure. Let me pay for this please.”
“Not a chance. Put that wallet away, breakfast is on me,” Justin said, glaring at the offending wallet in Angela’s hand. She stuck out her tongue at him and put a five dollar bill on the table.
“Fine, then I get the tip.”
Demonstratively she stood up and walked towards the door while Justin put enough to cover their bill on the table and followed her, swatting her in passing. “Brat. Come on, the house is about a ten minute walk this way. I don’t ever want you to walk all this way by yourself, alright? I’ll come get you every time, it’s not the best of neighborhoods.”
“Fine by me. I’d get lost anyway, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve already done that since getting here a month ago. So is it just you and Mark?”
“Yes. The place is above the shop and it isn’t huge, but it’s big enough and I have my own room. Mark has more bark than bite, so don’t be put off by his appearance. He really is very kind-hearted underneath the hard exterior, but only certain people get to see it.”
“He has to be to take you in like that. Not many would.”
“No, they wouldn’t, which is why I will be forever grateful to have met him. He is the only person who knows what happened after I was kidnapped. He realized fairly quickly that there was something in my life that was holding me back, and one night he forced it out of me. I felt instantly better after talking about it, and knowing he wouldn’t reject me because of any of it. I promise one day I’ll tell you, but I can’t right now.”
“I’m not going to pressure you, don’t worry. Right now my main focus is finding out what you are hiding under that jacket anyway.”
“Ahhh well I might let you find out soon. Alright, you ready?”
“Let’s do this.”
Justin guided Angela into a shop where a large, muscular man with a bald head was talking to someone on the phone in the back. Justin calmly waited with Angela by his side and she correctly assumed this was Mark. Once Mark had ended the conversation he walked over to them, giving Justin a stern look before turning a smile towards Angela. “You are as beautiful as he described. It’s nice to meet you Angela.”
“It’s nice to meet you as well. I’ve heard good things about you.”
“Yes, well, this young man might change his tune on that soon. I would like to apologize for the behavior of the others last night, that wasn’t acceptable but when too much alcohol is involved it happens.”
“No hard feelings sir.”
“None of this sir business, it’s just Mark. I’m pretty sure I told you to work on homework today,” he said sternly to Justin.
“I had agreed to go to coffee with Angela, and I really wanted to see her again,” Justin answered easily. Angela could see there was no fear in his eyes and he didn’t flinch back at the reprimand which she saw as a good sign. Justin clearly knew how to respond to Mark, and he wasn’t afraid of him in any way.
“Well why don’t we close up shop and head upstairs. I could use some coffee myself, this young lady needs to understand the dangers of walking around in the middle of the night, and you need to start your homework.”
“We’ll get the coffee started while you close up,” Justin said as he started to guide Angela towards a door. “I told you he’s not that scary.”
“He sounded angry at you.”
“I’ll get scolded later but as long as I get the work done that’s all it will be. Now if I don’t finish it by Monday morning I’ll probably get extra chores or something. He just wants me to do my best, not waste away this opportunity and he’s right. Sometimes I need a kick in the butt to get me back on the right track when I start to slip off.”
“I think we all need someone like that. Someone who lets us have fun and enjoy life but makes sure we don’t end up in jail or the poorhouse.”
“Exactly. Do you want more coffee or do you want something else?”
“Coffee is perfect, thank you. Can I help?”
“No, it only takes a second to do. Go ahead and sit down in the living room if you’d like.”
Angela walked towards the living room but when she noticed an open door to the right so gravitated towards it instead. She could easily tell it was Justin’s room and she was intrigued to find out more about him and his life. The room itself wasn’t anything special, just a bed and dresser with a closet to the side. No desk, she noticed, and she assumed he used the kitchen table for his work. There was a small bookshelf that held a variety of books including his schoolbooks, but otherwise there wasn’t anything personal about the room. No pictures, no little souvenirs or knickknacks. Just basic necessities of life and that was it. She thought it said a lot about him and his life, and she felt a pang of regret that she had grown up with so much more while they should have grown up together.
When she walked back into the living room, Mark and Justin were sitting on the couch with Mark giving her a stern look. “It’s impolite to snoop, surely your parents taught you that?”
“They did. I’m sorry Justin, I should have asked. I was curious about your room.”
“There’s nothing important in there, just ask next time.”
“Alright, Justin go start your work while I talk to the lovely Angela. Don’t worry, I won’t break her.”
The look on Mark’s face indicated this, but Angela still felt her stomach tighten slightly as she knew she was in for a lecture. She hated getting lectured and here a man she barely knew was about to tell her how foolish she had been. The only thing she hoped was that he didn’t ask how she’d gotten alcohol.
Chapter 3
“How did you get served alcohol?”
Angela tried very hard not to glare at Mark, but knew she was failing miserably when he raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“Look, I know you are Justin’s stepsister. I know your parents are on the opposite side of the country and you just want to have some fun. It is very clear you are attracted to each other so you’ll be seeing each other a lot. He’s not allowed to drink as he had some problems with it in the past, and I don’t think you should be either. It’s dangerous, you lose control of your senses when you drink too much. On top of that you and your friend decided to walk home, by yourself, at two in the morning which is definitely not safe in any way. You might be from a small town but this is LA, this is a big city, and you are not familiar with it. You could have ran into a group that wasn’t nearly as friendly and things could have gotten out of control very quickly. Now. How did you get served alcohol?”
“I pretended to be twenty one.”
“Hand me your fake ID please.”
“No.”
Mark raised an eyebrow and Angela heard a sharp intake of breath from the kitchen, where Justin was clearly listening to their conversation. She quickly scrambled to grab her purse and pulled out the fake ID which was hidden in a side pocket, handing it to Mark. The look on his face indicated that was the right thing to do, and she knew that if she was going to hang out with Justin she wouldn’t need to go to bars to meet guys anyway. And if she did, she could always get another one.
“Wise choice. Look, I don’t mind breaking rules here or there and getting into general mischief and trouble.
I draw the line at breaking the law though and that’s what you were doing. No more of that young lady, it sets a dangerous precedent.”
“Fine. May I go?”
“Justin will walk you back. I hope to see more of you around here, it’d be good for the boy to have someone in his life.”
As soon as they were out of the building, Justin stopped and leaned against a wall laughing until he was crying. “You just told Mark no and lived to tell about it. He likes you. He genuinely likes you.”
“I didn’t get that impression.”
“You don’t understand,” Justin said when he had finally caught his breath. “Even if you had given him the ID, if he didn’t like you he would have taken a belt to your behind. Nobody tells Mark no, absolutely nobody, and ever considers doing it again. He honestly likes you. Come on, I’ll walk you back. Can I see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I’ll be in my dorm room studying. Just come by whenever.”
They walked back to the dorms in relative silence, and when Justin said goodbye he gently kissed her. “Tomorrow.”
The word was said laden with a lot of promise, and Angela almost forgot how to breathe. She had to go talk to Susie and make sure she knew to disappear when Justin came by. She put her finger to her lips, still feeling the slight tingle from his kiss and walked into the dorms with a dazed look.
The next day Angela could barely focus on her studies, knowing that Justin would be coming by and anticipating the visit. Susie had been excited for her and had agreed to leave for a few hours when Justin got there, just to give them privacy. The only thing she wanted in return was details afterwards, and Angela knew she would have given them regardless of the stipulation.
Professor next Door Page 46