Smiling, because she’d said what I’d been thinking too, I rattled off my number for her. She keyed it in to her phone and then thanked me one last time before leaving to go to work. I was really looking forward to Sunday now; meeting Madison’s family and friends would be fun if they were even half as nice as her. Her boyfriend, J, intrigued me; I wasn’t sure what he did for a living or why he was away for so long, but the way that Madison talked about him made me think he was a nice guy.
S
cott
Juggling a tray of steaks, a tray of sausages and a huge bottle of tomato sauce, I strode through J’s front door and down the hall towards the back of his house. Out of the corner of my eye, I vaguely took in the paint tins on the floor near the back door and the pile of paint chips on the kitchen table. Madison must have gotten her way; she wanted to repaint the house but I knew that J hadn’t been keen. She had him wrapped around her little fucking finger.
I placed the food on the kitchen bench and surveyed the back yard where they had everything set up. J had a large undercover area outside; it was usually where we liked to drink and shoot the shit but now that Madison was around, I could see more of these barbeques happening.
“Scott, you made it,” Madison said as she approached the back door from outside. “Did you bring the meat?”
“Yeah, you want it outside now?”
“Not yet. Why are you late?” She slid the door open and came inside.
“I had to deal with Lisa’s cat again. That fucking cat has a death wish and it doesn’t help that Michelle couldn’t give a shit.”
Madison started pulling food out of the fridge and then said, “God, I dislike that woman so much. What happened to Monty now?”
I leant against the counter. “He got out of the house when he should have been inside. Then he climbed a fucking tree and I had to get him down.”
She started laughing. “You climbed a tree?” she asked.
“Yes, I climbed a tree. The fucking cat jumped down so it was a waste of time. Anyway, Lisa caught him and got him back inside. So, crisis averted, but I had strong words with Michelle. That bitch really needs to get her shit together.”
Madison went quiet and I knew what she was thinking. I reached out and lifted her chin so she was looking at me rather than the floor. “You’re nothing like her. You’re working on your shit, handling it; she doesn’t give a fuck. And she should because she’s got a kid. Okay?”
Nodding, she said quietly, “Yes, but I still feel like she just needs someone to help her; someone who cares enough to show her what she’s doing.”
I shoved my hand through my hair. “Christ, we’ve done that. Nash, Griff and me... we all tried to get her to own up to her shit before we fired her. The thing is, if someone doesn’t want help, there’s not much anyone can do. She needs to hit bottom before she’ll see it. Either that or she’ll be dead without ever seeing it and I hope to God that doesn’t happen for Lisa’s sake.”
“But at what point do you give up on someone? Would you have given up on me?”
“No, but you wanted help and took it. And you’re my sister.”
“Doesn’t Michelle have any family who are looking out for her?”
“I don’t know, but if she does, they’re not around. I’ve only ever seen her junkie friends hanging around her house.”
“Maybe I should go over and see her; try and get her some help.”
My sister had always been a bleeding heart. “Sure, but don’t be surprised when she spits in your face or tries to screw you over.”
She finished getting the food out of the fridge and I was just about to help her take it outside when Nash came through the back door. “Hey, motherfucker, where you been?”
“Getting meat for your sorry ass,” I replied, taking the beer he passed me.
“Stoney’s brought some girls along and they seem ready to party, so you need to get outside because you’re a cranky fuck when you go this long without a hit of pussy.”
I took a long swig of my beer and scowled at him. “I’m not interested in any chick that Stoney’s brought with him. Fuck knows what’s been up in that.”
“That’s why you wrap it brother, and fuck, so long as there’s tits and ass who cares who brought them?”
“Guys, do I really need to listen to this?” Madison glared at me with that look of hers that said to shut it.
Nash smirked at her. “Sweet thing, you live with J. Seriously, you can’t tell me you don’t hear him talking like this. That fucker’s mouth is dirty.”
Now she glared at Nash. “It might be dirty, Nash, but I don’t have to listen to him discussing screwing other women like they’re a piece of meat.”
“When I fuck a woman, the last thing she feels like is a piece of meat.”
The back door slid open and J stepped into the room as Nash spoke. He looked pissed. “Nash, why the fuck are you telling Madison about your sex life? She doesn’t need to hear that shit.”
The room was full of tension now, with J and Nash having a stand-off. Madison threw her arms up and declared, “Okay, enough.” She pointed at Nash, “You, outside, back to your skanks.” Then she pointed at me, “You, go with him and take these.” She piled plates with cheese, dips and other shit on them in my arms. Lastly, she pointed at J, her face softening as she gave him her attention. “You can help me in here.”
Nash grumbled something I couldn’t catch, and then did as he was told. I followed him, leaving J and Madison alone. From what J had told me the other day, they needed some time together to sort their shit out so I wasn’t keen to interrupt that.
The chicks that Stoney had brought with him were exactly what I expected. There were three of them, each with bleached blonde hair, overdone makeup and the shortest and tightest dresses you could imagine. One was sitting on Stoney’s lap; the other two looked expectantly at Nash and I as we approached.
Stoney lifted his chin at me. “Hey, VP. I brought some friends.” He rattled off their names but I wasn’t listening. Nash was all over them though and thank fuck for that because that meant they were leaving me alone.
I spread the dips out on the table, sat down and kicked back with my beer. Besides Stoney and Nash, there were some other couples here who I didn’t know. I figured they were friends of Madison. They were sticking to themselves and didn’t seem interested in talking to us. Again, fine by me; I was enjoying being left alone. It had been a long week dealing with Indigo and other Storm business. Blade was still pissing Bullet off, and in return, Bullet was breathing down our necks to pull him into line. Dad was fucking around with the whole thing; leading Storm into dangerous territory because when Bullet was pissed off, he had a nasty way of dealing with it. On top of that, we still hadn’t found a manager for Indigo.
As I contemplated all the Storm shit going on, the chicks that Nash had been occupying got up and went inside. I watched them go and then looked over at him. “What’d you say to them?”
“Nothing, they’ll be back in a minute,” he answered and then suddenly sat up straight in his chair, eyes trained on the kitchen. “Holy fuck, look at that fine piece of ass.”
I glanced in the direction he was looking, not really interested because, let’s be honest, Nash and I had totally different tastes in women.
“Well, I’ll be fuckin’ damned,” I whistled under my breath. Standing in the kitchen, talking to Madison, was none other than Harlow, the hot blonde from the vet.
Nash twisted his head to face me. “You know her?”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, she works with the vet that I just donated a shitload of money to.”
“Fuck, I want to tap that,” he said as he stood.
I quickly stood also, and grabbed his arm to stop him. “She’s not your type, Nash.”
“I don’t have a type, brother. She’s got a hot ass, a great rack and I bet there’s a sweet pussy to go with all that; I’d say that’s my type.”
He shrugged my hand off his arm and walked towards Harlow. I sat back down and observed. Harlow was wearing a short denim skirt and a tight black tank top with a shitload of necklaces again. I could do without those necklaces; they blocked the view. While Nash chatted to her I took in the way she twirled her hair between her fingers as she listened. He would have her under his spell within minutes; he was a smooth motherfucker. She laughed.
Yeah, brother, home run
.
As they continued to talk, Madison and J came outside, carrying the meat I’d brought with me. J looked at me and jerked his head towards the barbeque to indicate he wanted my help. I met him there and muttered, “Madison doesn’t intend on having these things too often, does she?”
“Fuck, I hope not. The last thing I want to be doing on a weekend is entertaining her stuck up work friends but you know what your sister is like; when she wants something to happen, it fucking happens.”
“Time to put your foot down, brother, and say no.”
“And risk getting cut off? Not fucking likely. I’ve been cranking the shank for long enough.”
“You’re a pussy.”
“You wait till you rely on one woman and then let’s see how quick you are to ever piss her off.”
“And that’s a good reason to never rely on one woman, J. Relationships aren’t for me.”
He chuckled. “One day, brother. One day you’re gonna fall and I can’t fucking wait to see it.”
I ignored him and moved on to discuss Indigo business. J had lined up more manager interviews for next week; we were desperate to find someone for the job so we could spend less time fucking about with the day to day running of the joint. When Storm bought Indigo, it was purely as an investment opportunity; there was a manager in place and we wanted nothing to do with running it. We just wanted to collect the cash at the end of each month. Now it had turned into one gigantic headache.
We finished cooking the meat and I carried it over to the table where Madison had set the food up. Stoney was deep in conversation with the three chicks he’d brought with him, although one of them was distracted by Nash and Harlow who were still standing inside talking.
“Nash, time to get your ass out here and eat,” J called out to him. Harlow turned her head and surprise crossed her face when she saw me. She quickly gave her attention back to Nash but after saying something to him, they both looked at me. I decided to join their conversation.
Walking towards them, I said, “How do you know Madison, Harlow?” I slid the door open and took a moment to appreciate the curves that Harlow was made of.
“My eyes are up here,” she said. I ignored the tone she took with me.
Meeting her eyes, I said, “You didn’t answer my question.”
“That’s because I like to look someone in the eye when I’m speaking to them. Madison is a customer at my Mum’s café. She loves the coffee. So does her brother.”
What the fuck
? “I’m her brother, sweetheart.” I hadn’t realised that Madison and Blade were spending that amount of time together. “Blade’s our half brother.”
She looked like she was connecting dots in her mind. “So you’re the brother who owns restaurants and is best mates with J. Yes?”
“Shit, let me guess, you know our entire family history too.” Why did women feel it necessary to share so much with each other?
Nash chuckled. “Madison likes to talk, brother.”
“No, I don’t know your family history. What’s wrong with knowing a couple of things about a friend’s family?” She was peeved.
“I just don’t understand why women talk so much about private shit.”
“It’s because we like to get to know each other. I don’t understand why men don’t talk at all.” She folder her arms across her chest and I dropped my gaze to take in the cleavage on display.
“We do; we just don’t waste breath on bullshit.”
Her face was ablaze with annoyance. It was hot, and it fucking turned me on.
“Are you always this much of an asshole?”
“Oh, baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Nash snickered.
“No actually, I think I’ve seen enough.” Her voice was coated in ice. She gave me one last dirty look before pushing past me to go outside to Madison. I zeroed in on her ass as she walked away, imagining what it would look like without that skirt covering it.
“Fuck, I’ve never seen a woman dismiss you like that before. She either hates you or totally wants to fuck you. I’m going with the hates you option because I’m betting she actually wants to fuck me, not you,” Nash surmised.
His words faded into the background as I continued to track Harlow’s movements. Nash was right; women didn’t fucking walk away from me. But more to the point; I didn’t chase them, so I diverted my gaze away from her and looked at Nash. He was watching me with a smirk on his face.
“What?” I demanded.
“Like I said, I’ve never seen a chick walk away from you, but I’ve also never seen you make the effort to check one out. You got a hard on for that one?”
Scowling, I said, “Highly fucking unlikely. She’s got a hot ass but there’s plenty of hot asses out there for the taking.”
He laughed. “Whatever you say, brother. Whatever you say.”
I ignored him and looked at J who was motioning for us to come and eat. “Let’s go and eat and get this over with. The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned.”
***
“M
adison told me you’re still dealing with that cat and Michelle,” J said midway through lunch.
“Yeah, the bitch is high all the time and has no idea what’s going on with her daughter or her cat.”
Madison leant over to Harlow who was sitting next to her. “That’s the cat he brought into your work.” We’d worked out the connection between us all, but Harlow still looked confused. She was sitting across from me and was eyeing me strangely. It looked like she had something to say but wasn’t sure how to say it.
“Spit it out,” I said gruffly.
“Spit what out.”
“Whatever the fuck is running through your mind right now. Looks to me like you’ve got something to say.” Jesus, she’d been shooting me filthy looks all lunch and my patience was wearing thin. I lived my life one way; if you’ve got something to say, then fucking say it.