He heard the first tune of the country music and smiled. It got bigger when that other waitress, Shauna, came over with two beers.
“Where's Dawn?” He asked Edie when she came out with the bucket and mop.
“She had an earlier shift.”
He noticed Shauna give Dawg an appreciative smile, but for once he didn't seem to notice. His eyes were fixed on Edie, who was half dancing, half walking around the bar, singing along while mopping the floor. He mentally added Edie to one of the things they needed to talk about.
Then his thoughts took an extra turn, and he realized that she might not be something that he needed to add to the things they needed to talk about. She might be the very reason they needed to talk. The more he thought about it, and the more Dawg kept staring at her, the harder it was for him to make up his mind how he felt about it.
-o0o-
Dawg looked at Edie as she jumped off Vasco's bike. After giving the old man a kiss on his cheek, she gave him a wave before running inside the house.
He'd watched her for thirty minutes, slowly swinging her hips while she mopped the floor, singing along to the country music. All this in a white, tight shirt that did amazing things to her boobs and a short black skirt that hugged her ass. Her bare legs ended in a pair of bright orange plastic slippers. They did ruin the image a little, but not much. She was still hot as fuck.
And now he watched her jeans-covered behind as she ran up to the house before he followed Vasco on his bike. He was slightly surprised when Vasco seemed to head towards his apartment, and he tried to remember how clean it was. Not that Vasco would mind the mess. He would, however, mind if there wasn't anything to drink, and he knew he at least had a couple of beers in the fridge. Possibly some whiskey, too.
Once inside, Vasco dropped down on the couch and, after getting them some beers, Dawg sat down in the armchair opposite him. He was a bit on edge, not sure what Vasco wanted to talk about.
“So, kid, wanna tell me what's crawled up your ass?”
“Nothing, really. Just... I don't know.” He looked at Vasco and smiled. “It's not like I'm terminally ill just 'cause I'm not feeling for some pussy a Friday night.”
“Beg to differ,” he answered, but he was smiling. “Don't go there unless you're sure.”
“What?”
“Don't play with me, you know who I mean.”
He knew who he meant. Edie. It might be possible to deny it, but on the other hand he'd just spent a good thirty minutes staring at her, and it wasn't likely that Vasco had missed that. There were very few things that man missed.
“She's a good girl,” Vasco continued. “Got a lot on her mind and lot to deal with, and she needs some fucking peace in her life.”
“I know and I'm not...”
Vasco interrupted him. “Don't give me shit, kid, 'cause I ain't chewing it down. You know that. This is me you're talking to and you know the drill. We talk straight or we don't talk at all. No fucking bullshit.”
Dawg wished he could tell Vasco differently, that he wasn't hitting on her, but he knew he kind of was. He was at least getting a feel of her and there was no point in denying he'd nail her in a second if she just gave him a shot. If it didn't mean Brick would beat the shit outta him. And by the looks of it, Vasco would have a go, too. So he nodded and looked up at Vasco.
“I'll stay away.”
“Kid, that's not what I said. I said that if you're not sure, don't go there. Not saying you should ignore her, just treat her as a fucking person. Not pussy.”
Something just then hit him that had gone over his head while they were talking. Vasco saying she had a lot on her mind, and those two were close.
“You know why she took off, don't you?”
“Yeah. And that's none of your business.”
“Okay.”
He hadn't really thought he'd find out, but it was rather to confirm what he suspected: It wasn't just her wanting to travel a while that had made her leave.
“She'll tell you if she wants you to know, but you don’t fucking ask her.”
“I wasn't going to.”
“That's not something for you to use to...”
This time he interrupted Vasco, since he was starting to piss him off.
“I got it. I'm not gonna go there. I just...”
“Then get to know her, like she's an actual person. Think you could do that?”
“Very funny.”
The two men glared at each other for a while and Dawg was actually pissed. Jesus! He wasn't some horny teenager, he could stay away from a girl, not like he'd dry hump her leg like some fucking dog just 'cause he thought she was hot. He knew the difference between her and the other girls who came to the club just to get a piece of the action.
“So what did crawl up you ass?” Vasco said after a few moments of silence.
“Nothing,” he shook his head. “It was nothing.”
“Hey, kid. If this is already more than just wanting a taste then...”
“It's not,” he interrupted him again. “Don't go there, 'cause it's not.”
Vasco eyed him and then nodded. “Fine. I’m not gonna go there, this time.”
Well, that had an ominous tone to it. He hoped Vasco waited for a while, at least until he’d figured out himself what it was with Edie.
He understood why Vasco was worried, though. He knew he wasn't famous for caring much about the women he fucked. He didn't treat them bad, he just didn't bother to get to know them, not even enough to get their name. He didn't have to. Being a Marauder ensured a steady flow of women. They owned a chain of strip clubs for fuck’s sake. That didn't mean he was stupid about women and how they worked.
At the same time, he would like to get to know Edie, as a person, as Vasco so elegantly put it. She seemed like she really would be worth the effort to know. For a lot of reasons.
CHAPTER FIVE:
No Pony?
-o0o-
Thursday, June 7th
IT HAD BEEN LESS than a week since I talked to Brick about a car, but when I walked into the compound and saw Brick waving me over I hoped that he'd found one. I almost skipped towards him.
“Ready to see you ride?” he asked and put his arm around my shoulders.
I knew I had a big stupid smile on my face when we walked into the garage and it stayed there up until the point he proudly waved towards a big, blue truck. A fucking truck! I kept staring at it. Was this a joke? I couldn't drive around in that monster! I was trying to think about something to say that didn't make me sound extremely... rude or ungrateful.
“How much am I supposed to pay for it?”
That was the only thing I could think of saying. Which I realized sounded both rude and ungrateful. I heard a familiar laugh when Dawg walked around from behind it, wiping his hands on a rag.
“It's a classic, Nibbles. And you'll be safe when you practice driving this thing. You'll tear through other cars like tissue paper.”
I stared at Brick and he nodded in confirmation.
“I'll kill people,” I tried.
I'd been driving in New Delhi for chrissakes. There, bumping into cars was how you got people's attention!
“Don't give a shit about 'people', doll. Give a shit about you and my kids and you'll all be safe in this thing. And you're not paying for it.”
It looked like a heap of shit, and I sighed. Between the emails from Lanie and actually getting to know him, I knew for sure that he was a determined guy, and that was the diplomatic way of putting it. In plain English, he was a stubborn motherfucker used to getting what he wanted. He wouldn't get me another car, no matter what I said. Wasn't giving up on the paying for it, though, even if I had a hunch that he'd simply refuse to take my money. I sighed again.
“Does it even run?”
“Dawg has made sure of that and we'll keep it running for you. Just make sure you hand it in now and then.”
“I'll even install a stereo for you,” Dawg said and smiled.
I w
ould've actually expected a wink or wiggling eyebrows to that comment, but he looked... normal. Wasn't flirting at all, and I wondered what that was about. But he looked nice and honest so I smiled back.
“Thanks, but...” I turned back to Brick. “I'm paying for it.”
“No you're not.” He kissed my cheek and turned to walk away. “Have fun kids.”
“Ready to practice?” Dawg said with another big smile. Which was a bit more like his usual smiles.
“With him?!” I yelled after Brick while pointing at Dawg.
Brick didn't even turn around, but I could swear I saw his shoulder shaking as if he was laughing. That fucker!
“I'm not gonna bite, and yes, with me.”
I glared at him. “What are you up to?”
“Babe, absolutely nothin'.”
“How did you convince him to do this?”
“It wasn't that hard. Told him I'd behave and that I'd inform you that if I was out of line all you had to do was tell him and he'd take me up in the ring.”
The ring was their boxing ring where they now and then beat each other up. I did notice that Dawg looked a bit surprised, and I couldn't help myself.
“Admit it, you're surprised, too, because you know what you're like. And I'm not gonna be able to focus if I need to fend of your... advances.”
“Advances?” He laughed. “Nibbles, I'm flat out hitting on you or I'm not, I don't advance.”
“And now you're not?”
“I'm not. You’d know if I was.” He opened the door on the driver's side. “Get in.”
-o0o-
“Jesus fucking christ, Nibbles. You weren't kidding when you said you were a bad driver!” Dawg yelled and grabbed the wheel with his right hand while at the same time trying to remove her hands from it with his left. “Brake!”
When they were safe at the side of the road, he was hyperventilating and turned when he heard Edie mumble next to him.
“Can we go out to some big area? I'm not used to this car.”
Dawg took a few deep, calming breaths. “You're not used to any car, lady. You're not used to driving. Period!”
He noticed her big eyes becoming shiny, and he was about to curse out loud, because Dawg was not good with crying women. At all! And it certainly looked like Edie was about to cry. Then her lips parted in a smile and she started to laugh. It totally blindsided him.
“What?” He asked, not yet fully laughing.
“Lady? You called me ‘lady’?”
“That's what you got from that? I've called you loads of shit.”
“I know.” She took a few deep breaths and dried her cheeks while still giggling. “Just... 'lady'? I'm a lot of things, but no lady. And you made me feel like I’m sixty years old.”
“What?” He couldn't stop laughing now. “Sixty years old?”
“Yeah. 'Lady' is like one step from 'ma'am'. Makes me think of blue hair and menthols.”
That's when Dawg lost it. He couldn't fucking stop laughing. It was the combination of Edie laughing, that he just a few minutes earlier literary saw his life flash before his eyes, and the panic he'd felt for quite some time before that. And then Edie, just laughing. She was very beautiful when she laughed, and she didn't do it in a feminine way. The woman was half screaming when she laughed. She even snorted, and her reaction to that was to slam her hand over her mouth and laugh even harder.
So he leaned against the dashboard, laughing his ass off.
“Oh, come on!” Edie hit him in the side, but he still couldn't' stop.
He could hear the door on the drivers side opening and a few seconds later the one on his side. She was pushing his side, trying to get him to move over.
“Slide over and drive somewhere safe.”
“Safe?” He asked and dried his eyes, sliding over to the driver’s seat.
“Yeah. Where it's safe for me to drive.”
That made him laugh again. “You want me to drive to the Sahara?”
“Shut up!” She hit him again. “It's a big car.”
“Baby, it's a truck.” He turned the ignition while looking at her. She was still smiling. He really liked her smiling. “It's designed to be big.”
“Why couldn't he just give me something small? Like a Beetle or something else that's cute.”
“He wants you safe. It's safer to drive around in a cardboard box than in a Beetle. And lady, you need a safe car.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“It's a quarry. Loads of room for you to get comfortable with the truck.”
She was quiet for a while and then turned to him. “Thanks, Dawg, this is really nice of you.”
“No problem, Nibbles.”
“Why did you really want to do this?”
“I'm the patient one.”
She sat still and then started to laugh. “Wow! Considering how you went off back there, anyone else would probably have killed me if you're the patient one.”
He considered it for a while and then made up his mind. “Actually, I asked for it because I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
“With you violently hitting on me?”
“Exactly. I'll behave and maybe the others'll stop glaring at me and Vasco might talk to me normally again.”
“And you won't get blowjobs in my room?”
“No. I'll behave.”
“Good. Not saying you can't have blowjobs, just not in my room.”
“I got that, Nibbles. And I'm getting blowjobs whether you like it or not.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“I'll tell you if...”
She wouldn't let him finish. “If I tell you what I have on my back. You said you weren't going to flirt with me.”
“I said I wasn't going to hit on you, but that's not what I'm doing.”
“It's not?”
He turned and smiled at her. “You might've noticed, I'm pretty fucking interested in ink, and what people have on them means something. At least if you only have one.”
“What makes you think I only have one?” She did an annoyed face when he raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay, I only have one. Still not gonna tell you and if I do, I'd rather get your first name.”
She turned her head back towards the road without saying anything else.
“You're not gonna tell me?”
“No.”
There was a twitch on her lips and he turned his eyes back to the road as well. Sooner or later he'd find out. Hopefully before she killed him while driving her truck.
-o0o-
Tuesday, June 22nd
DAWG HAD STARTED TO text me. It started with texts from him just telling me when we were going to practice driving. Pretty soon he texted random stuff, and I quickly figured out he had the humor of a twelve year old boy, but my sense of humor wasn't all that mature, so I liked it.
“i'm outside your window”, was sent to me one night.
I was reading in bed and wondered what the hell he was up to and got up to look outside. I didn't see anyone.
“No, you're not.” I texted back. It took about five minutes and then he got back to me.
“my invisibility cloak is working!”
I started laughing out loud and felt a bit silly about falling for something so stupid and obvious and decided to get back at him.
“You should use capitalization and punctuation. It's pretty important.”
“Text. Messenger. Nazi!” Was all I got back.
“It's the difference between 'Helping your Uncle Jack off a horse' and 'helping your uncle jack off a horse'.”
“I'll get you for horses nibbles. Go to bed! Driving tomorrow!”
“Are you gonna give me a pony?”
“shut up and go to bed.”
“No pony?”
“Hello?”
I didn't hear from him again that night, and he didn't mention horses until three days later, when I came to the compound for practice and he had painted a white My Little Pony on the side of my truck. I was
n't sure how to get back at him for that, but I was gonna get him.
-o0o-
Thursday, June 25th
VASCO NOTICED THAT IT was Edie driving into the lot this time and Dawg was sitting next to her. Obviously she was getting more comfortable with driving the truck. After the first catastrophe, Dawg hadn't let her drive within two miles of populated areas.
Vasco'd told Brick that she wouldn't like that big thing, but Brick wanted her and anyone she drove in it, mainly Eliza, safe. And she did seem to like it now, despite that big fucking pony Dawg had painted on the side of it.
He'd seen Dawg sitting and talking to Vi, Bear’s youngest daughter, and later the same day the two of them standing on the side of the truck painting something. When he came up to them, Vi looked nervous, so Dawg made him swear he wouldn't tell Edie that Vi had been in on it. She was apparently a bit nervous about it, but Dawg had persuaded her, since he wanted the horse to look good and Vi was good at drawing.
The Dawg and Edie thing had turned out better than expected. Dawg was making an effort to get to know her, and as far as Vasco could tell that was working out really well. She liked it, too and they got along, seemed to have fun together, but he wasn't sure... if it was more than just the two of them being friendly. He hadn't completely figured those two out, and it bugged him. He had a feeling they wouldn't be able to be just friends.
Edie came up to him and sat down next to him, looking pretty pleased.
“He let me drive in town today, on the main roads. Where other people drive!”
“Were his knuckles white?”
“No!” She laughed. “He was not petrified.”
He noticed Dawg walked by behind her and he nodded with big eyes, miming 'I was'. When Edie turned around and looked at him he straightened his face and smiled.
“Anyway,” she mumbled when she focused on him again. “I though I'd go and buy a bed and some other things so I can move in today.”
She'd found an apartment in Old Town. Old Town was cheap, and her place was cheap even for being in that area. It was a small apartment above a Chinese restaurant that smelled more than a little bit funky.
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