Page 15 of Legacy of Smoke
“I do remember that. Does your mom still live on the bend of river down there?”
“Fuck yeah. We don’t party there as much now because…fucking-A.” He held out his hands and spun slowly in a large circle showing off the house, the dock, the lake, and for almost as far as you could see, he and his wife owned this.
“Man, I envy you. And, you deserve this.” All the shit he and his family went through. No one deserved it more.
“One year. Then we cut you in as full partner. That’s the deal. Part of this, it’s yours.”
Unspoken was the rest of the deal. Stay clean. Stay out of trouble and do good work for the club. While I had earned my cut, I wasn’t there when this launched. I had the same stipulations any prospect had on the money. A minimum of one year eating their shit, living like a pauper to be a king someday. If I didn’t screw up.
I wouldn’t. Not because I wanted the money, but because Sprout believed in me. I’d do it without the promise of a share. But I’d be an idiot to turn this down. Worse of one to fuck it up.
5
PUT A BELL ON
POPPY
Friday, the magical day when Lily would pay me back… came and went. By Sunday I was worried. She always crashed at my house on weekends. It spared her from her mother’s constant trail of men. I knew her mom was a hooker. And I knew the club tried its best to keep her busy at the club, but Jewel was a bitch. A conniving, lying… I squashed the anger down and tried to stay positive. “I’ll go to the club. Maybe if Jewel’s there, Lily will be at the trailer, and okay.”
Plan made, I swung by the trailer first to see if Lily’s car was parked on the weedy gravel pad. It wasn’t, and the windows of the mobile home were dark. Plan B. Find Jewel.
I pulled into the junkyard where the club was. The prospect at the gate didn’t want to let me in, so I had to wait for him to call the main building, get authorization, and then weave through the stacked rows of squashed and wrecked cars until I was close enough to the main building to park safely. As I stared at the husks of vehicles, I wondered which RV Austin was sleeping in. None in range looked remotely habitable. I felt awful for him. If it were my father, he’d have a home… family. “Enough. Find Lily, forget about that kiss.”
“You talking to yourself?” Sprout leaned on the pillar ten feet down.
“Put a bell on or something.”
His grin glinted in the dark. “Where’s the fun in that? You looking for Smoke?”
“No, my sister.”
“She ain’t here.” His humor dropped like a stone and his reply was quick.
I looked at the lot. Bike after bike lined up in front of the building. Near my car were a few vehicles. Some nice, some almost worse than the salvage cars smashed into alleys beyond. “Is Jewel here?” I didn’t know what she was driving lately.
He groaned. “Yeah. Upstairs. Want me to send someone up?”
I debated the inconvenience. “I can wait until she takes a break. I just want to know if Lily stopped by her house is all.”
He peeled off the post and wrapped an arm over my shoulder. “Come on. We’re doing this.” Despite using the word, “we,” Sprout deposited me at the bar, tucked into the corner, warning everyone in earshot that I was Pinner’s little girl and there would be dismemberment if anyone breathed on me, then he stomped up the stairs two at a time. He came down about forty seconds later.
“She says she hasn’t been home.”
Home. The word rankled under my skin. Lily had a home with me. I wanted a drink. I wanted my sister. I wanted a lot of things.
“Hey Poppy.” Austin sat down on the stool next to me and signaled the girl behind the bar for a beer. While he waited, he acknowledged Sprout and asked me how I was doing.
He’d been a great listener this week during lunch breaks, and even went as far as waiting with me while I wrapped up loose ends long after the crew left. I’d gotten over the rejection of our scorching kiss then his subsequent retreat. Mostly. I knewthe men feared and respected my father. It was to be expected, right? But I was not alright. “Lily’s missing.”
He glanced at Sprout.
“Jewel says she hasn’t been home.”
Austin’s brow lowered. “How long has she been gone?”
I shook my head. “I gave her sixty dollars on Monday That was the last I saw her.”
He waved off the beer and stood up, collecting his jacket. “Sprout, ‘you coming with?”
