“Edie! I know you're in there hiding under the cover. Come and open this fucking door.”
I knew that I was screwed because I knew him; he wasn't gonna let me get away with this, so I crawled out of bed. I found my yoga pants, and then I tried to find a semi-clean t-shirt.
“Edie. I'm not fucking around, I'll give you to the count of ten and then I'm kicking down this door. One!”
“Hang on! I'm on my way!”
Unfortunately, years on a very loud Harley had ruined Vasco's hearing, so he just kept counting.
“Two!”
“Fuck!” The t-shirt I had in my hands had a big stain on it, since I'd spilled last night's boiling hot tea all over it. I ran into the bathroom to find another one among the dirty laundry. I already knew there weren't any clean ones.
“Three!”
I emptied the hamper and found one that only smelled a little bad. Not sure what it smelled of, but I didn't have time to be picky, because Vasco was still counting.
“Four!”
“I'm on my way!”
I ran towards the door and in full force, rammed my foot into the doorframe between the bedroom area and the living room area. And just like always when that happened, my vision blackened and I was about to throw up. Un-fucking-believable that such a small piece of the body could hurt so bad. I was convinced it was broken and folded over to not throw up or pass out.
“Five!”
I started to half limp, half crawl, without being able to see, and I was trying to tell Vasco that I was on my way, but the only sound that came out of my mouth was a pathetic whimper.
“Six! Edie, I am not fucking around!”
In extreme agony, I reached the door, unlocked and then sat down, holding my foot.
“Shit,” Vasco said with a laugh as he crouched down in front me. “What did you do?”
“I hit the doorframe when I tried to run and open the door for you, since you threatened to knock it down.”
I was whispering, with my eyes still closed. When I finally looked up at him he laughed again.
“Wiggle your toes.” When I did he nodded. “Don’t think they're broken. You smell, though.”
“It's my t-shirt. I couldn't find a clean one. I was gonna do my laundry tomorrow before work and I was gonna stay in bed today, so it didn't matter.”
I looked up from my foot to Vasco who was holding it, and he was still smiling. Wide.
“You're not gonna stay in bed today. You're gonna come with me and do your laundry, and then you're gonna celebrate your fucking birthday with me. I hadn't planned on the laundry thing, but I'm not gonna drag you around while you stink of weed and,” he took a sniff, “is that stale beer?”
“Vasco...” I was about to cry. Over the toe, the day, and that I knew I wasn’t gonna get away with pretending it wasn’t my birthday. “I can't. I don't celebrate my birthday, you know that. You even know why.”
“I know why,” he nodded. Then he stood up and pulled me up from the floor. “But I don't give a shit. It's your day, the day you were born, and since I think you're a pretty fucking awesome person, I'm gonna celebrate that with you.”
I sighed. “Just you and me, no surprise parties or anything like that.”
“Just you and me.”
“Not even Lanie.”
I couldn’t deal with her today. I loved her and I knew she loved me and that all those things she did were to protect me, but she'd be unbearable today. I was capable of dealing with her overprotectiveness most days, but not this day.
“No. I told her this was just you and me.”
I looked at him and nodded. “Okay, if it's really just you and me, no birthday cakes and no singing, then I'm on.”
“I don't sing, wouldn't torture you like that and I'll settle for a birthday steak, maybe a piece of pie if you're okay with it.”
Twenty minutes later, we were at a laundromat and I was sitting next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder while we were looking at the clothes in the washing machine. He wasn't talking; just like always, he knew when I needed him to be quiet and not talk. Once the laundry was done he helped me to fold it.
“I'm gonna have to tell Dawg about this,” he chuckled.
“About what, doing the laundry with me?”
“Nah, that I've touched all your panties.”
I laughed. “As long as you don't tell him what kind I have, I'm fine.”
“You kidding?” Vasco laughed. “If you don't want him to know you have to stop open the front door wearing nothing but your panties and a t-shirt. Oh, yes, like you did this morning.”
“Touché!”
I hoped we were going to leave Dawg behind, and I was in luck. He actually dropped it. When we were done we walked out together, and once by the car I looked at him.
“Vasco.”
“Yes, love?”
“If there's a bunch of people in my flat waiting with a birthday cake and singing, I'll kill you.”
He took shook his head. “Kiddo, I would never do that to you.”
-o0o-
Vasco had taken Edie to a café and they had coffee and lemon meringue pie. Mel had told him that it was Edie's birthday and that she didn't celebrate it, that she hated it and didn't want anyone to even mention it. He wasn't all that surprised about it, but even if he could see why, there was no fucking way he'd agree to that shit. The girl had to claim her birthday back, but they’d do it the slow way, just the two of them. The only goal today was that she wouldn't feel like shit about it tomorrow.
So after the laundry they'd gone out for a proper steak dinner, and now they were having dessert. She looked okay, better than okay. She was smiling and laughing, and he felt pretty fucking pleased with that.
Once those things were over, he helped her inside the truck, but instead of closing the door he pushed her over and got into the driver’s seat himself.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Time for your surprise. And no worries, it’s still just you and me.”
“I thought you having a loud countdown outside my door was the surprise.”
“No. That was the wake-up call. Got the best weed you've ever had in my inside pocket. Water, first class chocolate and blankets are in the back of the truck, so I'm gonna take you to my favorite place.”
“If there's naked women there, I'm really not interested.”
“No naked women, honey. You'll like it.”
He knew what his girl liked. She liked open spaces and she liked nature. On occasion she also liked pot.
“So tell me.” She wasn’t normally so impatient, but she was probably still worried, so he came clean.
“We're going out in the desert.”
“Nice.” She was smiling. He really knew his girl. “Too bad that we've already missed the sunset.”
“We're going so we can see the sunrise.” The even bigger smile on her face made him laugh. “Girl, expensive stuff really isn't your style, is it?”
Forty minutes later they were on the back of the truck on the sleeping bags and blankets, smoking the top class weed he'd brought with him. He looked at his watch.
“So, your birthday is officially over. How was it?”
“It was okay, which is a lot better than normal.”
“Tired?”
“No. I slept until you knocked on my door.”
He laughed and put his arm around her. “Then it’s time to talk, kid.”
“I might be able to sleep,” she mumbled.
“Too late. I know this is a shit day for you, but at the same time you know that what you did wasn't uncalled for, and you know I don't judge you for it. No one would.”
“I killed my dad on my birthday. That's fucked up and... I can't fucking celebrate on the day I did that.”
He sighed and hugged her closer. “Hun', really, we all get one day when we get to celebrate the fact that we're on this planet. No matter what other fucked up or bad things that happened on that day, it's still our day. This
is your day and even though I get why you don't want to celebrate it, you're not just keeping yourself from celebrating it. It's all those other people too. Like me. I love you, and celebrating your birthday with you is a chance to show you how much.”
“So what? You're telling me I'm selfish because I don't want to let people celebrate my birthday?”
“Well, like I said this morning, you're an awesome girl, I wanna celebrate the fact that you were born.”
She sat quiet next to him for a while. “That’s bull, Vasco. It's my choice if I want to do it or not. And I can't even think about this day without thinking about what I did, so celebrating it is a bit too fucking macabre for me. Doing it to let others celebrate when I'm feeling like shit is not something I'm up for.”
“You're doing it now.”
“No. I'm getting high and I'm about to watch the sunrise with a person I like hanging out with. You choose to see that as celebrating my birthday, I don't. That’s how I get through it.”
“Okay. Can I buy you a birthday present next year?”
“If it’s this awesome pot, then yes, you can.”
He loved her, a lot, but she was a stubborn woman. And especially stubborn when it came to punishing herself. In the five months they'd done this, talking, she'd told him most of it. At least it felt like most of it because the last month there hadn't been much new stuff.
The rest of the night it was light talking. She told him about places she’d been, other sunrises and sunsets. He told her about the early days of the club, people he’d met. The official versions, that was—she still hadn’t asked him about what the club business was, and he hadn’t told her. He wouldn’t. It wasn’t any of her business, and he suspected that she knew that much. Hence her not even asking.
Somewhere in the middle of the night, he followed her when she needed to pee as a lookout. He had no fucking idea what she wanted him to look out for, but he was standing there, waving the flashlight around. It was probably one of those female things, and she did mumble about not wanting to have things crawling up her pussy. Once they were on their back on the truck again they went back to talking.
“Tell me about your daughter, Vasco.”
He didn’t want to do that. She’d never asked him about Susanna. He'd told her he had a daughter that was around her age and that they didn't have much contact. He thought about it for a little while and then took a deep breath.
“She’s smart, really smart, like you. Pretty. Studying to become a veterinarian up in Michigan the last time I heard from her.”
Then he got quiet. He didn’t know what else to say.
“I’m sorry,” Edie whispered. “I shouldn’t have asked.”
“It’s okay.” He didn't want her to feel bad about it. “It’s complicated. Her mom and I... It wasn’t a nice breakup and she hated me, hated the club, all of it. Susanna was caught in the middle of it, and then I took off, came here, and it was easier for her to just believe in all that shit her mom said about me.”
“Do you ever see her?”
“Now and then. It’s... she’s a grown woman, it’s not...”
Edie hugged his arm. “You don’t have to. I’m sorry I pried in your private stuff.”
“Not like I don’t pry in your shit.
“True. But it’s not the same.”
There was another silence, and he thought about it. That he should call Susanna, she’d withdrawn and part of him blamed himself for letting her get away with doing that. Because of all the shit after the divorce, he came here, hid away from it all, and by the time he got his head out of his ass, it was too late. Just one of many mistakes in his life.
“She’s missing out, your daughter. Just thought you should know that you’re great.”
“Thank you, love.” Those simple words meant more to him that he’d expected. He took her hand.
She didn't answer that and for quite sometime and they sat in silence. Then it happened; the sun came up, and he could hear her take a deep breath, and he hugged her tighter. She really wasn’t about the expensive stuff.
“I'm betting this is better than trying to sleep the day away,” he mumbled.
“Yes. This is better, Vasco.”
“Glad to hear it, Kid.” He kissed her forehead. “Happy day after birthday.”
That made her laugh. “I think I could be okay with doing this next year as well.”
“Okay. Just you and me, hun'. And a boyfriend if you have one.”
“Is this about Dawg?” He could hear the teasing in her voice.
“I don’t know. Is it?”
“People don’t change, Vasco.”
“Honey, the only constant in nature is that everything changes. All of it, everything, down to the smallest cells are in constant change or transformation. People, too.”
“I'm not sure I believe that,” she mumbled.
“They do, Edie. Not in the blink of an eye, but over time they do. Sometimes the change is just too slow for us to notice. Especially when we're close to them.”
“I’m scared that if... I go there, with him... that it'll ruin it. I'm not sure I'd be able to trust that I'd be enough. Even for a short time.”
That was a sound fear when it came to Dawg, he had to admit that.
“Give him time. He’ll figure out that family is the important thing, not just to have around, but to have to come home to.”
“Like you did?”
There was a sharpness in her voice and she was right. He’d fucked that up, but before he could respond she spoke again.
“That was below the belt. Sorry.”
“It was, but even jabs below the belt can be the truth,” he admitted and gave the top of her head a kiss. “I did realize those things. I just did it too late. Even if I fucked it up, I do know what’s important now. I just had to lose it to understand it. And he’s young. Like I said, sometimes things happen and you figure out what’s important.”
“Are you trying to push me to try to get together with Dawg?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying you shouldn’t write him off just yet. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“You're two people I love, you like being together and I'd hate for you to not give him a chance simply because you're scared. Being scared is never a good reason to pass up a chance to have someone love you.” He looked at her and her eyes were turned towards the horizon. “I'm not saying you should. I'm saying that if you don't, you need a better reason than being scared.”
She smiled and turned her head towards him. “How did you become such a wise dude?”
“I fucked up. More than once,” he laughed. “Ready to go home?”
“Yeah. Next year?”
“Next year,” he said with a firm nod. “You can bet on it, hun'.”
-o0o-
Brick saw Vasco getting off his bike and coming up to him. The man looked like each and every one of his sixty five years.
“How did it go?”
“Fine. Got her out of the bed, to a restaurant and out in the desert. She’s fine.”
“Thanks, old man. Really.” He gave him a hug. “I know you’re tired, but I need you at the table. Got some info you all need to hear.”
Vasco nodded and walked into the clubhouse. The rest of them showed up while Vasco poured two cups of coffee down his throat to be able to stay awake.
He sat down at the end of the table and watched as the rest of them took their places. Dawg and Vasco were the last one inside, and Dawg closed the door behind them. He waited for them all to calm down and shut up.
The club’s main source of income wasn't the strip clubs or the garage. It was muling drugs and diamonds, both of those coming in from South America, passing through Mexico and smuggled over the border into the US.
Marauders had three charters close to Mexican border: Greenville, Presidio in Texas and Las Cruses in New Mexico. Cannabis made up the bulk of the drugs they pushed, but there were some of the heavier ones on rare occasion. Not often,
because the cartel preferred bigger players for that, players who could supply more manpower than the Marauders could. They also wanted to keep the heavy drugs separated from the diamonds because, as opposed to the attention cocaine and heroine got, diamond smuggling was hardly ever discussed in the media.
They’d opened up for it when the Kimberly Process certifyin was introduced to the world in an attempt to prevent blood diamonds on the market, and Marauders had jumped at the chance. The risks involved in smuggling diamonds were a lot smaller than drugs. Less money, but still good money for a club their size. Brick had liked the idea since it took them from the heavy things that really caught the attention of groups on both sides of the law.
A lot of the diamonds from conflict areas were passed through countries where they could get fake KP certificates and sold more or less legitimate. For example, despite not having an official diamond industry, Congo exported large amounts. But some were simply smuggled and sold to less picky traders. That meant a lot less hassle and more money directly into the smuggler's own pockets. It also let them circumvent the big official diamond dealers, who kept the sales controlled to keep demand and prices up. It was a little known fact that diamonds were actually more common in nature than a lot of other precious stones, but by controlling the sales they were still more valuable on the market.
It wasn’t much of a problem to sell uncertified diamonds; the only ones asking for certificates were the authorities. It was easy for shops to have legit diamonds on display and sell whatever shit they wanted to customers. Very few customers asked for a certificate; in most cases they didn't know about certificates existing or what blood diamonds were.
The problem coming up was that they had a double shipment coming in, both drugs and diamonds. Brick preferred to keep the two separated as much as possible, simply since they had very different delivery chains. The clientele for pot and diamonds weren’t exactly the same, to say the least. Also, the diamonds were just transported by them. When it was mixed with cannabis, something they repacked before distribution, it was a fucking logistical mess as far as he was concerned.
He noticed that the members had finally gone quiet.
Arrow of Time (Marauders) Page 12