Devil May Care: Boxed Set (87 page)

“Yeah, he is.”

Johnny was my warrior and I loved him for it. He’d protected and saved me from more things than I could count anymore, but I was starting to feel like that wasn’t enough. There had to be more to life than all of this constant fear and worry.

Deciding that I needed to quickly change the subject, I brought up one of the many things that were bugging me, and one of the only ones I felt actually comfortable telling Emma about. “Do you remember that guy Specter?” I asked her.

Emma thought for a moment. She knew most of the guys in the club, but since Worm had only just been officially initiated, she hadn’t been formally introduced to much of anyone beyond Johnny. But she’d met a few and seen more beyond that. After a moment, she nodded. “He’s the bald guy, right?” she asked, looking as though she were trying to picture him.

I nodded. “Yeah, the bulky one who…” I trailed off thinking about how he’d kicked Worm in the stomach long after the invitation was over. I wanted to describe him as malicious, but decided against it. I didn’t want her having problems with Specter right off the bat. He was a dangerous man. So instead, I filled in lamely with, “…definitely looks the part.”

“Yeah, he really does. I’ll be honest,” she said, leaning closer to me as she lowered her voice, like there was anyone to overhear us, “he kinda freaks me out.”

I had to agree. Biting my lip, I considered what happened that day in the office. His hand sliding down my arm, his
concern
for my safety…I wasn’t buying it. “Can I tell you something?” I asked her, suddenly feeling like talking to her about this was maybe a bad idea.

“Of course,” she told me easily. “In fact, if you’ve gotta ask me that, then you
should
tell me. Immediately.”

I smiled weakly at her, but nodded. “Okay. It’s about Specter and I need you to not tell Johnny about it, not yet.” At this request Emma frowned, looking apprehensive about the whole thing. To ease her sudden worries, I told her, “I just need to figure out what’s going on and I can’t do that if Johnny goes off halfcocked.”

That was mostly the truth, too. I knew that if Johnny reached the point where he was really angry with Specter, then things would go pretty bad. They’d be explosive, as a matter of fact, and I wasn’t sure that would solve anything. Especially if it landed Johnny in jail for murder. But what I wasn’t telling Emma was that it was also because I didn’t want to start up waves over something that potentially didn’t matter. Who cared if Specter was a creep? If we left,
when
we left, it wouldn’t matter at all. We wouldn’t be around for him to bother anymore. And if Johnny picked a fight with him, then maybe we’d get in real trouble. Maybe suddenly we’d have trouble leaving.

“Okay, what happened?” Emma asked in a softer voice, suddenly looking concerned.

I realized that she was probably assuming the worst, so I quickly put her at ease. “Nothing like that,” I told her quickly. “I mean, nothing as
bad
as that.”

Her shoulders eased slightly and she nodded at me. “Okay. Then what?”

I explained to her about the office and about the night before. I could tell that she wasn’t really seeing the problem—she didn’t know what had happened when I was only fifteen and she didn’t know that Specter had already made a pretty noticeable pass at me before. I wasn’t about to talk about what happened when I was a kid; no one but Johnny knew about that. But I could tell her about the time Specter made a pass at me.

“It was after a club meeting,” I explained, picturing the day. It had been back when my dad was still alive and well. I’d been with Johnny for six years already and it didn’t look like that would ever change. I was madly in love with him, the way high school kids were in love or the way that people were in love in those damn romantic comedies. I was so wrapped up in him that I couldn’t even imagine how other men might apply to me. But dad had told me that I ought to broaden my horizons.

I remember being shocked, because dad was one of Johnny’s biggest fans. He worked at the auto shop and was damn good at it, but he’d also joined the club relatively young, almost right out of high school. He had to wait until he was at least eighteen, but he started working on my dad before that in hopes of making a smooth transition. He’d succeeded easily. But there was a difference between liking Johnny and approving of him. Dad had been on one of those kicks about how you couldn’t know what you wanted until you’d tried different things. I wasn’t too stupid to understand the metaphor, but I pretended like he was being asinine, because I was angry that he would even try to get me with someone else.

I still didn’t know if Specter was part of dad’s ridiculous idea of “trying new things” or if it was just a coincidence, but either way it didn’t sit well with me.

The club meeting was over, but it was one of the days where dad insisted on a barbeque. It was summer and he wanted to grill outside while it was still nice. Mom had been thrilled. She’d been feeling pretty down at the time; something was definitely eating her. But that day she’d been in high spirits and so in love with my dad that everyone who looked at the two of them together knew it.

I always imagined that was how other people saw me and Johnny, but I didn’t know how anyone saw us now.

So we were all crammed into the backyard. A bunch of bikers and their old ladies, my mom drinking fruity pink drinks that were spiked with vodka, my dad laughing and putting away beers like he couldn’t even taste them. Johnny was there, too, though he was inside with some of the other guys. They were talking about the future, plans for the club and for the shop, and I stepped outside to say hi to my parents. I didn’t get along with a lot of the old ladies since they seemed to be a different breed than I—they came for the danger and adventure, whereas I was born into it—so I avoided them mostly.

I made a beeline for dad, wanting to ask him something that I forgot the instant he stepped up to me. I was walking across the lawn wearing a red and strappy sundresses  with boots so that I could go riding with Johnny after. Dad was several feet ahead of me, lounging in a lawn chair, sipping on his beer and talking with a couple of the guys. I had him in my sights, but then Specter stepped into my path. I came up short of running into him, but just barely.

That was when Specter still had hair, before he’d shaved it all off and made himself look a little too much like a white supremacist for anyone’s liking or comfort. His hair was dark and a little long, but it didn’t hang past his ears. It was constantly in his eyes, which were that dark color that looked almost like pools of oil.

He was only thirty-four or thirty-five then, but it still put him at almost fifteen years my senior. Still, I’d thought he was attractive, if maybe not my type. And he was one of dad’s trusted men, damn good at his job and loyal as any man could be.

“Charlotte, honey, nice party,” he told me, giving me a quirky smile that barely lifted one cheek and almost left the other one alone completely.

I had forced a smile, trying to be polite, but he made me uncomfortable. “Yeah, it is.”

I motioned towards my dad on the other side of him and made a move to step around him, but he didn’t let me. When I stepped, he stepped, effectively blocking my path. That was the first thing that really started to make me nervous.

“I wanted to say how pretty you looked,” he said, sounding almost shy about it. “That’s a…a very pretty dress.”

I glanced down at my dress, suddenly aware that my cleavage was in plain view and that I was showing more skin than I felt comfortable with around him. I wished Johnny was there so that I could put his arm around me and let his strength and protection pour into me. But Johnny was still inside and no one else seemed to notice the two of us talking.

“Thanks. It’s a present. From Johnny.” I hoped that mentioning Johnny would remind Specter that I wasn’t available and tell him that Johnny wouldn’t stand for anyone harassing me. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t, but if it did, Specter didn’t seem to care.

“Nice of him,” he commented blandly. “I should thank him.”

I folded my arms across my chest.
I
didn’t think he should thank him at all. “I’ll pass that along.”

Specter nodded once and silence fell between us. For a brief, hopeful second I thought that Specter was done and that he’d let me walk, but as I made another attempt to get around him, he once again stopped me. This time he did it by reaching out and grabbing my arm.

I froze as I remembered that day in the alleyway when the man reached for me. He’d been so much stronger and I’d been powerless to stop him, just as I was then with Specter.

A scream bubbled towards my lips, but something stopped it.
Scream again, bitch, and I’ll kill you.
It died in my throat.

“Look, I’m not very good at this, maybe,” Specter said, looking suddenly nervous and younger somehow. Like a teenager asking a girl out for the first time. Except that his hand was still wrapped tightly around my arm and I was still in that dark place in the alley and there was no question that Specter could do whatever he wanted to me and I couldn’t stop it.

“Let me go,” I said, but it was so quiet, barely even a whisper that he didn’t even hear me.

“But I think you should give me a chance. Johnny’s Johnny and there’s nothing wrong with that, but he didn’t hang the damn moon, you know?”

I stared at him with wide eyes, waiting for the conversation to stop. Praying that it would before things got bad all of a sudden. My throat was dry, even as I tried to say something, anything to make him go away. My lips parted, but still no sound slipped from between them.

“I could make you really happy, Cherry,” he told me in a tone that might have been soft or just really quiet.

The use of my old high school nickname was enough to make me jerk away from him, breaking his grasp on my arm as my face flushed with anger and indignation. With a voice that was much smoother and stronger than I felt, I said, “I’m with Johnny. I love him and that’s not going to change any time soon. I’m…I’m sorry.”

With that, I turned away and headed quickly back inside. I didn’t even bother talking with my dad; nothing seemed all that important as far as that was concerned anymore. I went straight to Johnny, interrupted their conversation, and pulled him away to one of the back rooms. We fucked until he came and when he asked why, I told him, “A reminder for why we’re so good together.”

When I finished my story, Emma was sitting back with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open just a bit. “Wow,” she said, and for a second it was all she could say.
“Wow.”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything else. I really wanted to know what she thought, what her take on it was before I dove in with my own theories. It took a while and I had to wait in agonizing silence, but eventually she spoke again.

“I can’t believe that happened,” Emma said, but she was more thoughtful than concerned or outright indignant about it. “Did he make another pass at you after that?” I shot her a look that said,
Weren’t you even listening?
She waved me off. “I mean besides today.”

I frowned, thinking about it. I made a point of not being alone with Specter, so that had a lot to do with it. I didn’t want to risk another moment like that and definitely didn’t want a repeat of that day in the alley. Even thinking about it still gave me the shivers. Finally, I shook my head. “No, not besides today,” I admitted to her.

“Well…maybe, and I don’t want you to take this the wrong way or anything, but maybe he really didn’t mean anything by it?”

I blinked at her.
What?
I thought about my story, replayed the events of that day with Specter. He’d grabbed me, just like that other guy had, and I panicked. I’d been
terrified
. And she was trying to say he didn’t
mean
anything about it?

“How can you say that?” I demanded, working hard to keep the hurt and the anger out of my voice. Emma was supposed to be on my side after all. “He came on to me and—”

“It was definitely not a ‘I just wanna be friends’ moment,” she told me quickly, interrupting me before I got absolutely furious with her. “But I don’t think it sounds like he was, you know, trying to
do
anything. He was just hitting on you. Guys do that.”