Page 21 of Devil's Work: Dark

“It hurts pretty badly.”

“But…” I prod.

She slowly shakes her head. “It’s nothing.”

I squat down so I’m closer to her head. “It’s not nothing if it’s making you cry.”

“It’s stupid…” She lets out another breath. “But it just… got to me. The tornado. Having you here to help… It just made me realize that until Lace turns eighteen, I’m the only one responsible. How would I have gotten the kids to safety and gotten to Miss Mable if you hadn’t been here? Something happens to me, my kids end up in the system. I hate Jim sometimes.”

“Rae—”

“No. It’s true. I hate him for leaving me to do this alone. I hate that for the rest of my life, I have to do everything alone.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe someday—”

“Get real, Dark. I’m a single mother. I’m broke. I’m damaged goods. I have nothing to offer. This is my life. Thank you for the pills.” She pushes up to grab her mug, takes a swig of hot brew, and pops both pills in her mouth. Then she sets the mug back down and turns away from me.

I get it, she’s done talking, but fuck… damaged goods? As I walk from her room, I’m scratching my head. She’s fucking hot. Some man is going to want her.

That thought just pisses me off.Some manain’t good enough for her. So… what? Beside guarding her now, I’m going to have to vet the men fucking her? I didn’t sign up for this shit.

When I drop down on the sofa, I pick up the remote to click the TV on. No signal. Christ, I remember that I have to use my phone as a hotspot just to watch a damn movie. How’d she live for so long without being able to turn on a damn show or jump on a computer? I open a search engine on my phone to type in the local cable company. If I’m staying here, we’re getting cable internet.

At the end of the call, I’ve got it set up for a tech to come out to set everything up. Ty wakes up before Rae, walking down the hall, looking disheveled. “Hi, Dark,” the kid says.

“Hey, bud. S’up?”

The kid scrunches his face at me. “Me,” he answers, and for some reason, that makes me laugh. “Where’s my mumma?”

“She’s sleeping. Why don’t you hang out here with me?”

“Can we watchSpongeBob?” he asks, but he doesn’t wait for me to answer. Walking over to the sofa, he drops heavy down onto a cushion, propping his head up with a hand resting on the arm of the ugly piece of furniture. The kid’s eyes are slits as he struggles to wake fully. He waits for me to turn it on and I do. I don’t even realize I’ve done the bidding of a five-year-old until it catches that he’s singing along to the damn theme song. Laughing at my stupid ass, I run my hand over my face, then with nothing for it, drop down onto the sofa at the other end from the kid and watchSpongeBobalong with him until Baby Girl starts crying and I see Rae get up to take care of her.

After a few minutes, she walks out carrying Lacy and even sleep-mussed, I lose my fucking breath when she smiles at me. I’m really going to hate vetting other dicks to sleep in her bed.

8

RAE

Dark had some errands to run. He took off a while ago. He’d surprised the hell out of me by having some of the club prospects show up to fix Miss Mable’s floor after it collapsed the day of the tornado. But since that day, he’s been a bit distant and I’m not sure what, if anything, I’ve done wrong to cause his distance. It’s been over a week since he’s sat down to talk with me. He shows up to most meals and spends the night, but other than that, he’s had Green up here with us.

I like Green. He used to date my sister. Although I don’t like the reason he broke up with her. That first day he showed up, I asked him point blank, “Why did you end things with Dela?”

From the look on his face, he hadn’t expected me to ask, but to his credit, he answered. “Got patched in. Lots of pussy at the club. Didn’t want to cheat, but I didn’t want to limit myself, either.”

Was it an asshole reason? Yes.

Was it honest? Yes.

I respect his decision.

Today, I have an actual job interview. In Middleboro. Since Dark is nowhere to be seen, I arrange for Green to accompany me. Mable has the kids again. Green gets a prospect they call Winky. It’s a rather emasculating nickname Green told me is short forWee Willy Winkybecause they say he’s got a tiny dick. What I’ve found about biker nicknames, before they get their ride name or the name they go by as a patched-in brother, the brothers will do their best to demoralize the prospect. It doesn’t matter if he has a small penis or not. The bitches who hang around the club won’t know because prospects aren’t allowed to sleep with the women who show to the clubhouse. That’s a privilege reserved for the full brothers.

It wasn’t an easy decision deciding what to wear. The position is for an Optician to adjust people’s glasses in the eye center at the Walmart. If I get it, I’ll be apprenticing under the current Optician while I complete the online training that they’re going to pay for. I can complete it in as little as seven months. Of course, I’ll have to buy one of their cheapest model Chromebooks to take the classes. That’s going to hurt my pocketbook, but I’m optimistic that this is exactly what the kids and I need. I’d decided on a fitted button-down with cap sleeves and black pinstriping with an attached, thin, yellow belt that ties around the waist and a pair of black slacks along with my black ballerina flats.

This will be my first interview in years. I’m so nervous. I walk out of the bathroom. My hair is pulled back in a ponytail and I’ve done light makeup. “Well?” I hold my arms out straight and turn around for Green to get the full effect. “What do you think?”

“Damn, woman… you look hot even in slacks. What’s a man have to do to get into your pants?”

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