Page 29 of Absinthe Dreams
“That there is our road captain, Cypress.” A man with a neck as thick as I’d ever seen lifted his chin in acknowledgment of my presence.
“You know Chainsaw.” Chainsaw simply ran his eyes over me from my head down to the table and back up. “Over across from him is Axeman. An’ last but surely not least, that’s Collier there.”
“Nice to meet all of you. I’m Genesis Bordelon. Please no formalities – just call me Genesis or Gen. I’m Doctor Bordelon at work.”
Hex laughed, and several of the other men broke their frozen expressions with a slight quirk of lips into a smile or a light chuckle.
“Cut the shit,” LaCroix said firmly but not necessarily unkindly. “You called Chainsaw. Why?” he asked.
I took a fortifying breath and told them everything about Lucas Levi Belmar. About how I’d caught him killing innocent patients, how he’d been fired, but how the hospital and local PD had basically, by all appearances to me, chosen cover-up over justice, and how I’d been tossed right under the wheels of the bus in the offing.
“They told me to buy a gun if I was so worried about it, and to call them when something actually happened. They basically said there wasn’t enough evidence that it was Luke who was stalking me, but who the hell else would it be? It’s not like I have much of a social life or any angry ex-boyfriends. I’ve tried really hard to become a healer, and I don’t know that I could pull the trigger if hedidcome after me. And if I can’t? I’m not one hundred percent sure I’d survive.” I swallowed hard.
“I grew up in the life, and I think that’s what made me hold on to Chainsaw’s card in the first place. When I got home last night and saw what he did with the cats, I took the chance and called him. I have too much work to do saving lives to lose mine at the moment. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Fuckin’ useless-ass pigs,” Saint muttered.
“Word,” Chainsaw said, and he was staring off into space, gaze fixed on a point somewhere none of us could see out over the table as he thought about things.
“You need a hand? You let me know,” Axe told him, and Chainsaw, while he didn’t change where he was looking, he nodded slightly, and his lips quirked into a smile.
“Bet,” he intoned.
“Thanks for your candor, Gen,” Hex said. “If you wanna go on for a minute, we’d like to discuss.”
“Of course,” I said, and rose from my boardroom chair, edging carefully between the table and the altar behind me.
When I passed behind Chainsaw’s chair, he stood, and I admit, I jumped or flinched some, especially under LaCroix’s dark scrutiny.
Chainsaw escorted me out, giving me a wink as he closed the door behind me, shutting all the men inside.
I shook my head, my heart thundering against the inside of my ribcage, and in a slight daze, went back the way we’d come and back to the garage.
In all my existence in and around club life, that was the one and only time I’d ever been brought into a chapel during church, and I knew what an auspicious occasion that was.
Wild.
“You good?” Alina asked, and I blinked and looked her way, giving a nod. She nodded and exchanged a look with Cor and Sandy.
“First time?” Alina asked.
“Going into church like that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Sandy said.
I nodded.
“None of us ever has. The vibe I’m getting is ‘scary as fuck,’” Sandy said.
I nodded, mutely.
“Maybe it’s a good thing they cut us out,” Cor said, and I nodded quickly.
“I grew up in the life. My dad was club since before I was born, and my mom never left him or the club, even when he was in prison. Trust me when I say, the less you know, the better when it comes to a lot of things.”
“We already know too much,” Alina said, and I nodded.
“We always do,” I said. “Even as a kid, listening to my mom and the other old ladies – you overhear things you shouldn’t when your dad and uncles are drunk and talking and think you’re upstairs and asleep. I tried to put a lot of it behind me when I left for college, but it’s… I don’t know… It’s like once you’re marked by it.”
