Page 42 of Lady Sings the Blues

“Maybe one night with you wasn’t enough.”

“It’s going to have to be. You of all people know why. I’m not spending my life as a club whore.”

“Have me or Blood or any of the brothers ever treated you like a piece of ass?”

“Yes, when you fucked me when I was eighteen, and I never heard from you again. And don’t even get me started on Blood.”

“Hey, Blood loves you.”

“He talks to me like our father did. His mom wasold lady, mine was club whore. Half the time I wasn’t even sure why the fat fuck acknowledged me as his daughter. That man didn’t give two shits about me. I work phone sex because I’m good at it, and it pays the bills while I’m in school. But I’m not that girl, despite who my mother was. That was her, not me, and you won’t drag me down into that life.”

“Didn’t know you felt that way about the club.”

“Well, I do.”

There’s a long pause in the conversation, long enough for me to readjust and close my eyes, hoping to finally get some shuteye. Unfortunately, Chaos ain’t done.

“Best not be saying anything to scare off Elise. You have your opinions, that’s fine.”

“Yeah, when is it fine for a woman, no less a piece, to have an opinion in the club? I won’t say anything, though. My opinion on club life, that’s a fight for the two of them. She’ll see. Or maybe she won’t, she’s an old lady. She matters.”

Liv is right. She does matter.

“Night, Livvy,” Chaos says softly.

I see where she’s coming from. If I’d been raised in her shoes, as the kid of a whore and not the kid of an old lady like her brother, I guess I’d have animosity toward the brothers, too. But what’s most interesting is what she dismissed.

When it’s just the two of them, Chaos wants her to call him Gage, his given name. There’s only one reason for that. The same reason Elise is the only one to call me Beau. Got a feeling a shitstorm’s about to unleash onto the club. Looks like Chaos and me need to have a talk.

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