Page 40 of Powerless
"I'm not confused," I assured him. "Reaper and I are over."
He cocked an eyebrow, propping his head up with an elbow. "Is that so?"
I nodded. "It's still fresh. I mean, it'll take me a little while to move on. And he has so,somany great qualities, but—“ I paused, letting it sink in that I was technically in bed with Reaper's best friend while gabbing about him.
"But he's Reaper and he's kind of exhausting," I finished.
Jandro looked at me curiously. "He never told you how relationships work with him, right?"
"All he said was he didn't do traditional relationships. I just figured that meant he liked to play the field." I ran a hand through my hair. "I thought I was okay with that but I guess not."
"I see," Jandro mused as if I had somehow answered wrong. "Well," he straightened his arm so his head flopped back down, "as much as I'd like to stay here all day, we gotta get moving."
"Ugh." I buried my face in his chest again, bracing my arm against his back to hold him in place.
He just chuckled as he dropped a kiss to the top of my head. "I'll bring you coffee." His hands stroked my hair and back as he made his offer.
"Fine," I grumbled, reluctantly letting go.
Jandro rolled away from me lazily, pulling on his jeans and boots but didn't bother with a shirt.
I watched him leave the tent, basking in the warmth of the spot he just left. He didn't make this weird, which he easily could have. I cried and lamented my heartache over his best friend all while basically spooning with him. Then I spent the night in his arms and in the morning, we talked about me and his best friend some more.
He made it all seem so...normal. Just being in his presence felt soothing and like a safe place to get things off my chest. It made me wonder how many people came to him with their problems. How many people who had no one, and like me, he took them under his proverbial wing.
I was still fully dressed except for my boots, so I pulled those on and pushed open the tent flap to see who was up.
Jandro was talking to Shadow, who was in a short-sleeved T-shirt for the first time that I saw. The texture on his forearms made me do a double-take.
Rows of scars crisscrossing and overlapping ran from his wrist and disappeared under his sleeve. They were pale and thin, clearly several years old, and looked like self-harm scars. Which wasn't that unusual but there wereso many.
"Un cafe para la Mariposita." Jandro pulled my attention away as he approached with two cups of coffee.
"Gracias."I accepted the steaming tin mug from him and cupped my palms around it. By the time my attention returned to Shadow, he pulled on his signature black long-sleeved shirt and was shrugging on his cut.
"Looks like Foghorn and the girls made it through the night." Jandro bent over the cages still affixed to his bike. All four birds appeared calm, either sitting or preening themselves. "Don't worry, you guys will be out before the end of the day."
"When do you expect to reach Sheol?" I asked.
"Before nightfall," he answered. "In plenty of time for a homecoming barbecue but I think everyone's gonna want to crash at home tonight. We'll throw a party tomorrow night." His eyes brightened as he looked at me. "Feeling homesick?"
"A little, yeah," I admitted.
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. "For Texas or Sheol?"
"Sheol," I clarified. "Texas changed so much in the last few years and I've been away for so long," I shook my head. "It's not my home anymore."
"Well, I'll be damned," he smirked. "Bet you never thought you'd consider a biker club home, huh?"
"I know," I laughed. "I miss Noelle and Tessa. I'mdyingfor pregnancy updates! I miss the little medic's office." My fingers drummed on my cup with a thought that popped into my head. "Do you know if the kids in the club are vaccinated?"
"They're not. A lot of the adults aren't either." Jandro sipped from his cup. “Even flu shots haven't been affordable for normal people in at least ten years."
"I'd like to start vaccinating everyone in the club then, if that's okay," I said. "I have a small stockpile of the essentials, but maybe Gunner can get me more. With the lack of medical care and rise of preventable diseases, I'd like to give the kids a chance at a higher quality of life."
"That's fine with me. I'll bring it up at the next church meeting." He grinned at me. "You are inmuchbetter spirits today,Mariposita."
"I feel better," I admitted. "And I owe a lot of it to you." My eyes fell to my coffee, a rush of shyness taking over. "Thanks for being there, Jandro. I needed someone just to lean on and listen, and there you were."
