Page 14 of Madison
I can’t help the laugh that comes out of me. “Yeah, I pretty much suck at lying. I couldn’t ever do anything really bad growing up’cause my parents would see right through me. My face always shows what I’m thinking. It’s a curse.”
We arrive back at Anna’s and all pile out and rush into the house to find her. As soon as I open the door, I call out “Anna! You home?”
She answers almost immediately. “In the kitchen!” As soon as we all walk through the doorway into the kitchen, Anna looks up from the table where she’s sitting with a book and a bowl of string beans. “You’re hollerin’ like Mayson or Asher. What’s got you lot all worked up?”
I sit down across from her before I drop the bomb. “You have any guns I can borrow for the afternoon?”
Her eyes bug out as she drops the green bean in her hand. “Of all the questions that I thought could come out of your mouth, that one wasn’t even number one thousand and one on the list. Why the fuck do you need guns? Are you asking for just you or the three of you? Not that it makes the question any less crazy.”
Christy, who just walked in with a pair of boots in her hand, says, “For all of us. I really hope you don’t kick us out after you hear why.”
She sits down next to me and starts putting on her boots as I tell Anna why we need guns.
I’m almost done with my story and not sure if she’s sold yet or not when Mary appears in the hallway holding a picture frame. Anna’s expression makes me turn and look at her in the doorway. Mary is white as a sheet and her hands tremble. She walks over to Anna and hands her the picture. She points to a person in the photo and asks with a shaky voice, “Why do you have a photo withhimon your wall?”
I look back at Anna and the color drains from her face. “I wouldn’t have that bastard on the wall if it wasn’t the only picture I have with my parents and me in it. That fucker is my brother.” Mary intakes a breath when she hears Anna’s answer. Anna continues with a question of her own. “How do you know him? I haven’t seen or heard from him since I was twenty years old.”
Mary is anxiously twisting her shirt. “That’s my father. He did… he did bad things and needs to pay for all of them.”
Something passes between them. Anna stands up and starts giving us orders. “We need to get going to have a head start before anyone realizes where we’ve gone. I’m gonna get my boots on. Mary, you too. We’ll take the truck in case we need to haul any of the trash back with us.” She starts to head out of the room to get ready. “You got your guns, girl. Some of them up there need their ticket punched for a direct ride to their eternity with Hel, and you better be damned fucking sure that I’m gonna help a few of them start their ride as soon as fucking possible.” Well, hell. Here we go.
CHAPTER 6
Mick
I just finished up on my last client today. He’s gotta come back for at least one or two sessions to finish his piece. It’s large and he’s not good at sitting still for long periods of time. Luckily, he knows this about himself so he schedules each tattoo with the expectations that it will be multiple sessions. I’m cleaning up my station when my phone dings with an incoming text. Madison just texted me only twenty minutes ago, so I doubt it's her. I take out my phone and unlock it to see who sent it.
Grant: Just literally bumped into your girl coming out of the club with the two new girls. I don’t know what they were doin’, but I forgot that Mads can’t lie for shit.
Me: lol. No, she can’t lie to save her life. What did she claim they were doing?
Grant: Said they were looking for her kindle or something, whatever that is. All I know is all three of them hopped into her car and took off like a bat outta hell a couple of minutes ago.
Me: I can’t even think what the fuck they were doing there. I’ll call her and see.
Grant: 10-4. I’m working on a route that’s best going up the mountain. See you in a few.
What is she up to? I’ve cleaned everything up and got the shop ready to go for the morning. I try to call Madison before I head out but it just goes straight to voicemail like it’s off. I know she’s ignoring some people, but she’s been keeping her phone on silent, not turning it off. Strange. I don’t see her getting into any serious trouble, I mean, those three? Probably the worst they could do is over shop and maybe go hog wild on the romance books that my girl loves so much.
I get in the truck and head over to the clubhouse, trying Mads a couple more times with no luck. I pull into the clubhouse and park my truck. As soon as I get out, Saxon surprises the shit out of me by standing right in front of me.
“Fuck, brother, why you always gotta surprise the fuck out of people like that?”
The fucker steps back, adjusts his ball cap, and shrugs his shoulder and grins like the Cheshire cat. “I’m like Cher and cockroaches. You ain’t ever gonna get rid of me.”
I don’t think I could roll my eyes any harder at that. “You just not go to work at all today?” He sighs and shakes his head. I stop and really look at him. For all his jokes and one-liners, he’s sometimes pretty closed off. I stop him from walking past with my hand on his arm. “You okay? I mean, seriously, no jokes or anything. You really doin’ okay, brother?”
He sighs again and adjusts his hat, both signs of something bugging him. “I dunno. Work’s alright, but it ain’t like I’m loving it. Then there’s the whole mess with Shandy. I feel it in my heart that she’s supposed to be mine but fuck if Samson ain’t feeling the same way. Neither fucking really matters at this point since she’s put us both firmly in the fucking friend zone.” I, probably better than most, can understand his frustration.
“So let’s unpack one thing at a time. First, do you really not like your work or is it ’cause everything else that’s going on? You know you’ve always got a standing offer to come work at the shop. Your artwork is fucking phenomenal.”
He shrugs his shoulders and kicks at a rock. “Honestly, I’m not fucking sure which it is. I have been thinking more about your offer and might end up taking you up on it.”
I nod and continue, “So, first off, the twins just turned twenty like a month ago, right?” He nods, ’cause I don’t really remember how long ago their party was. “Well, then, two things. One, they’re still young and just still figuring out themselves and they now have a family of people who care and support them. Two, did she say she never wanted to go out with you?”
He kicks the same little rock again. “No. She said we were smothering her and she needed some time to be on her own and figure things out. That was almost six months ago.” Ah, so she might be up for things now. Seems like they might be doing a dance similar to what my girl and I did for way too fucking long.
“I’m gonna ask you what both Pa and my mom asked me when I got so frustrated with Madison. Have you actually asked her out since then, even just as friends for like coffee or something?” I see the second it dawns on him.
