by Kiki Leach
"So." Jane stood to the left of me and leaned back against the counter, then crossed her arms over her chest and eyed me with curiosity while crinkling her pencil thin brows. "Do you mind telling us just what the hell was going on with you out there?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked her.
"Please don't play dumb with us, Colette, it's not really becoming of you. That biker literally had his hands all over your ass out there and you looked pretty satisfied after jumping off the back of that thing too. I'll give you that he was sexy as hell, but in front of the kids and their parents?" She soured and wagged her head. "They're all going to be talking about you showing up here with one of those Hell's Angels."
"He's not a member of the Hell's Angels," I snapped.
"I saw the cut that he was wearing," she replied. "It was something across the top with 'California' underneath in big letters..." She stopped and grimaced. "And the picture of a skull with a knife through its head in the center of it."
I sighed. "He's a member of the Wild Reapers."
She nodded as Avida and Merna glanced at each other and lifted their brows in either shock, awe, envy or all three. "Hm, well, he looked pretty wild and reaperish to me, so I guess that fits." Jane giggled. "So what's up with him?"
I turned back to my reflection in the mirror and continued detangling my hair. "He's Jeremiah's brother, Roman."
"Jeremiah?" asked Avida, her voice lifting in question as she took a step forward and pointed at me. "You mean your Jeremiah?"
"He's not exactly my Jeremiah." I peeked at her in the mirror. "And never really was, honestly. He's probably someone else's by now anyway. Maybe. I don't know, but the point is that we're not together anymore, and--"
"Oh my God!" Merna shrieked. We all turned to look at her. She pointed at my left hand.
When the yellow diamond in my ring caught the light just above the mirror, Jane stood straight and dropped her arms down to her sides. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head and her mouth dropped open. "Holy fucking shit!"
I brought my hand down from my hair to stare at the ring and bobbed my head. "That's exactly what I said when I first saw it--"
"That thing is the size of a crater on the moon! Is it real?" she asked, sounding almost like a hopeful child, though I wasn't exactly sure what she was wanting or expecting for my answer to be. I glanced at her and sneered. "I only asked because there's a chance it could just be glass, Colette--"
"Well, it's not," I said.
"Wait," Avida interjected, "are you really engaged to this guy already? When did all this happen?"
"We're actually married," I told her, my tone slightly sheepish. At the same time, I felt somewhat proud in being able to say the words aloud to someone else for a change.
"Married?!" They all spoke at once and twisted their heads left to right.
I sighed and placed my hands on top of the counter. "It's a long and complicated story that I don't really have time to go into right now."
"It can't be all that long and complicated considering you weren't married to this guy on Friday... were you?" asked Jane.
"No."
"Okay, so the story about it can't be all that long, just like I said. You married him over the weekend and now... what? You two are just together and that's that?"
"Now..." I waited a moment and shrugged. "We're seeing how it goes. In the meantime, I need to start getting to class before my students show up and their parents start asking where I've gone."
"Maybe they'll all think that you stepped out to make out with your new hot biker hubby," she replied with a laugh. I cut my eyes away from her and moved over to the couch to grab my things. "Don't honestly think you're getting off all that easily now that we know the deal."
"We'll see you at lunch," said Avida.
"And when the kids go to recess!" Merna called out just before I finally managed to escape the bathroom only slightly unscathed. I leaned back against the frame, closed my eyes and deeply exhaled.
When I heard Jane's muffled voice through the door mumbling to the others that I had only gotten married this quickly because I was 'completely pregnant' (as if I were a high school senior whose quarterback boyfriend only gave her a ring as an apology for the condom breaking during their first ever), I knew that news of my marriage to Roman would no doubt be out to every breathing person within the school before 10am.
By the time I finally made it down to my classroom, I still had at least six minutes before it was officially time for class to start. I placed my purse and bag on top of my desk, then grabbed my planner from atop my calendar and moved over to the whiteboard to write out the morning and afternoon lessons for the day. A few students began trickling in with their parents not long after, the latter of whom greeted me with smiles and quick 'hellos' despite the obvious question I could see rolling around inside their eyes about not only my ring but who the hell I just so happened to be sucking face with right in front of their children in the parking lot.
When my last student, Abigail, finally rolled in just after the first bell, her dress nearly flying up behind her as she raced to her seat, I reached for the knob on the door to pull it shut. Unfortunately, I was stopped from even tugging at the thing after someone tried jerking it back from the other side. I frowned and stepped out the room to look around it and was startled by the sight of a grown man nearly three times my size standing to the left of it.
He was an older man wearing a charcoal grey Armani style suit that was crisp and clean from head to toe, along with a set of black alligator shoes and matching socks. His shirt was a white button down with a thick collar that wrapped around the neck of his jacket. His tie was a smoky grey color that almost reminded me of the color of Roman's eyes. He wore a tight ponytail at the back of his neck, which was probably for the best considering his hair looked dipped in black motor oil (it was obvious the man wasn't immune to box coloring). And he had strong features, an oddly angled jawline and thick nose with a bubbled tip, though the bridge looked as if it might have been broken once or twice over the years by someone else. His lips were full and dark pink with a small slit in the center of the bottom one, offsetting his slightly wrinkled tanned skin, which just so happened to look about as natural as Cherry's breasts. And then there were his brows, which were thick, black and heavy looking like a set of caterpillars on his face that were told to remain in place or else.
Even so, he was in no way unattractive; women probably fell to his feet like an emperor at the snap of his fingers no matter when or how he called them. However, in comparison to Roman, he may as well have been the ass of a donkey.
"May I help you?" I asked him, my grip on the door tightening by the second.
He smiled at me like an over eager gorilla that had just seen a banana for the first time and when I caught a glimpse of his teeth, they looked as if they had been dipped in bleach. Then he raised his hand and pointed toward the room. "The little girl that just walked in there," he said; his voice was hard and thick with no accent on the surface as I was expecting.
"Yes, what about her?" I knit my brows and eyed him up and down. Who the hell was this guy and why the hell was he asking about any of my students?
He placed his exceptionally large hand over his chest and bent forward. "She's my daughter," he told me.
"Oh." It took a moment for me to process. "Um, what?"
"My daughter," he said again.
I yanked my hand from the doorknob and flicked my thumb out behind me. "Abigail Scranton is your child?"
He chuckled. "I know it might not seem like it because we don't look anything alike, but--"
"No, no," I said, eyeing him up and down again. Granted he was right in that they looked absolutely nothing alike -- Abigail was a petite, fair skinned child with eyes as blue as the ocean and blond hair that almost looked white -- but him admitting to being her father isn't exactly what shocked me. "I'm just used to seeing her mother, that's all. And to be perfectly honest, she's never said a single
word to me about you before, Mr..."
He raised his hand to me and said, "Bourne. You can call me that or by my first name, Lorenzo."
"I think I'll stick to Mr. Bourne." As I took his hand, he stared directly into my eyes and gave me a loose handshake, both of which made me somewhat uncomfortable to the point that I released quickly and took a step back from him.
He then cleared his throat and dropped his hands inside the pockets of his slacks. "I'm based out in Miami for the most part with some time spent in Vegas with regard to my work. Abigail's mother is her primary guardian but I do my best to try and see her when I can. This weekend was a nice one out there for us but time seemed to get away from our fun a little too quickly which is why she ran into your classroom after the bell rang instead of before it. And why I'm bringing her in today instead of her mother."
"I understand," I told him. When the second bell rang, I turned back to my classroom and noticed every student sitting at their desk and coloring in the books I had placed on top of each one just before the first bell. Then I turned back to Mr. Bourne and plastered on a smile. "Is there anything else?"
"No," he said, wagging his head. "I just wanted to let you know who I was and why Abigail was a little late this morning."
"Okay--"
"I might be picking her up this evening too, just in case."
"That's fine. And if you don't mind, I'll be calling her mother to make sure that everything you're telling me is accurate. Security purposes and all that."
He nodded while allowing his eyes to travel across my body. I wasn't sure if he was sizing me up or checking me out. Either way, I was completely skeeved out. "Should I get her from the classroom?" he asked.
"Sure. Abigail normally hangs around here with a few other students until about 3, helping me pick up things around the room or coloring until her mother comes."
"I should be back here before then. I have a few business meetings within the area, but..." He trailed off and sucked in a breath. "What time is the class finished?"
"2pm," I said. He nodded again and looked aside. Awkward silence ensued between us until I cleared my throat. "Is there anything else?"
He grinned. "Not at the moment, no."
"Okay then, I'll see you this afternoon." I wrapped my left hand around the door to pull it shut and he whistled, which stopped me in my tracks.
Then he pointed. "That's a pretty nice rock on your finger there," he said. I stared down at my left hand for the second time in less than thirty minutes and brushed my thumb across the diamond. "Whoever gave it to you must've been set back a pretty penny."
"I guess." I lifted my eyes back up to his and he pinched his brows.
"How many karats is it?"
"I don't know exactly," I lied.
"Huh. Well, any idea where your... I'm assuming fiancé, happened to pick it up from?" he questioned. I remained silent for a few seconds, unsure of his motivation for even asking about it. And then he chortled. "The thing is that I'm planning to propose to my lady soon and I'm betting that she would probably love something just like that for herself. Perfect timing that I managed to catch a glimpse of it before you headed back inside. Even more that I was able to show up here to see you today instead of my ex."
"Sure. Um..." I paused. "Congratulations to you on the soon-to-be engagement, but -- and I hate to burst your bubble on this -- but just as I don't have a clue about the karats, I also have no idea where my now husband picked it up from."
Slowly, he raised his head and stared me straight in the face. His upper lip twitched and his jaw tightened. I swallowed hard, confused by the action and his reason behind it. "Your husband," he repeated, his tone flat and suddenly dark.
"Yes." When one of the students called for more markers and crayons, I breathed a sigh of relief. All signs pointed to this awkward as hell conversation between us needing to end ASAP. "I'm sorry," I told him, my voice more anxious than I was hoping to let on, "but I should really get back in there and start my lesson for the day."
"Of course." He flashed another quick smile, though something about it seemed much more devious this time, more sinister. "I'll see you again later this afternoon, Mrs...?"
"Coleman."
His entire face twitched and his head jerked back. "Is that your married name?"
"No, that would be Starvaski. But Coleman is what the students, parents and other teachers know me by, so-"
"Alright then, Ms. Coleman," he said, purposely interjecting before I could finish. "As I said before, I'll see you again later this afternoon." He immediately pivoted and headed toward the front of the building, exiting through the doors that lead straight out to the parking lot.
What a strange man, I thought before returning to my classroom. Something about his entire demeanor was completely off-putting despite his best attempt at appearing otherwise. I had hoped to keep from seeing him again this afternoon because he hadn't given me the best initial vibe for that reason alone. But I knew I wouldn't have such luck in this being our one and only time meeting over the course of the rest of the school year.
Chapter Fourteen
Roman
I moved around to the front of the car I had been working on, the seventh one brought into the garage in less than two hours' time earlier that morning, and wrapped my hand around the base of my chin while staring down at the parts beneath the hood. "I don't think I can fix this one either, brother."
Atom shook his head at me in the same way my old man used to when he was disappointed in shit I couldn't manage to get done on time, or at all, and groaned. "Shit." He took a swig from his third beer and muttered something else under his breath. I looked over my shoulder at him and grimaced. Then he pointed. "You realize if you keep fucking up like this today that Riggs'll put your ass back on the line at the junkyard with those dumbass prospects who still need help in being able to tell the difference between a screwdriver and needle buried deep inside the center of a goddamn haystack, yeah?" He paused and lifted his shoulders. "What the fuck is going on with you today, brother?"
I sighed and turned away from the car. "Nothin'." I pulled a rag from my back pocket and wiped the grease from my hands, then tossed it aside and headed in the garage for my own beer. Atom followed.
"Something, motherfucker," he hollered out from behind me, "otherwise you'd have had every single car finished before noon as usual. It's almost 1:30 and you haven't even gotten to that truck back there to bring home to ol' wifey like you say you promised."
"Yeah. I might still have time to get to that shit before the day is over. This other can wait 'til tomorrow."
"Yeah -- yeah, I'm sure Riggs'll be real good with that shit, brother. It's certainly what the hell he pays us for, slacking off and pushing things off to the side 'til the next goddamn day."
I wagged my head and cracked the lid on the bottle of beer, then tossed it in the trash and leaned back against one of the tables covered in tools and old biker mags, and gulped some of it back.
Atom took a step forward. "Start talking, motherfucker -- What's the deal?"
I shrugged. "I told you it was nothin'," I said again. "There's no deal."
"Jesus." He sighed heavily. "Alright, listen." He sat his beer down on top of a stool and folded his arms. "You may not realize this, but you've been acting like a real piece of shit since rolling in here this morning and hopping into that raggedy assed jumpsuit." I looked down at the brown coveralls I had put on over my clothes before getting started on the cars, then lifted my head to stare him in the face. "You're lucky the other brothers are out on business at the D&C with Riggs and hadn't seen you like this, fucking around with motors and headlights and shit instead of actually fixing what's broken while I supervise, otherwise what's going on around here right about now wouldn't be so goddamn kosher." I gulped back more of my beer and rolled my eyes up toward the roof of the garage. "Now start talking like I said," he told me, "or in about 2.9 seconds you're gonna be forced into defending your road name right her
e on the grounds of the club."
I lowered my eyes back down to his and yanked the neck of the beer from between my lips. Then I wagged my head and muttered, "It's this shit with Colette."
He shoved his brows together, confused. "What shit? She already getting on your nerves or something?"
I grunted. "No."
"Then what is it to the point of making you unable to do your goddamn job around here?"
I sat my beer to the side and dropped my hands inside my pockets. "You know I told you about her saying Jeremiah's name when we were out there in Vegas."
"Yeah? So? Is she also calling out his name when you two are fuckin' or something?"
"Jesus Christ, brother, no. Goddamn -- the shit ain't even like that."
"Then what the fuck is it?!" he asked me again, his frustration growing in spades.
"Alright, I told her this morning that I didn't want her having the key to my house anymore that he had given to her; I switched 'em out and gave her my key instead."
"And what, she was pissed or something?"
"No. She was happy about it, especially in knowing that she's the only woman I'd ever given one to."
He blinked up at me, then looked aside. "Okay, brother, I'm not managing to follow any of this shit at all. So far, everything that you're telling me has been a 'good' thing. So what's the deal?"
"The deal is that on the way out here after dropping her off at the school this morning, I got to thinking about how I still haven't told her anything regarding what really went down, the shit she can't remember in saying yes to my proposal."
"Rome," he said. "Does it even really matter all that much anymore now, brother? I mean with you being the one she always wanted in the first place over your brother? Who gives a fuck if she said his name when it's your ring on her finger and she's got no desire to take it off?"
I grabbed my beer again and held it tight inside my hand. "She might not take it off, but there's a chance she might start questioning shit if I let her know anything of what Cherry mentioned to me about Jeremiah the other night."