Page 10

D ALI

It took me forever to go to sleep, and I was up before the sun, excited about the day ahead. I’d gone over what happened last night again and again, and I was still just as bewildered and excited as I’d been when I was on the beach with Navy .

I was beginning to understand his insistence that I call him by his nickname. It took away the girlish expectations that I’d always had about having Anthony in my life and made me excited about the prospect of exploring a relationship with a man I didn’t really know at all.

I honestly didn’t know Anthony that well.

I’d gotten the occasional update from his sister, but that didn’t give me any real insight into who he had become.

He’d had so many experiences over the years as he’d grown into a completely different man than the boy I once knew.

I wanted to learn about his time in prison and the life he’d lived while I’d been away from California.

I knew that he made a good living working with computers, but I didn’t have a clue in what aspect.

Was he a tech guy who walked people through fixing their own machines, did he create programs for other people to use, or was it something completely different?

I couldn’t wait to hear him talk about what Corrie said was a lucrative business that allowed him to live what seemed like a carefree life.

His career really excited her because she still carried a lot of guilt about how the choices she made as a young girl had changed the course of his life in such a horrible way.

Anthony had always been protective of Corrie and me, by association. Since he was eight years older than us, he always seemed larger than life. Compared to us, he was big and strong - and we followed him around endlessly and drove him nuts.

Even though he got irritated with us, he was always kind and understanding.

He encouraged us to ditch our training wheels and taught us how to ride our bikes without them.

He even taught us how to skateboard and roller skate.

Any time either of us fell, he was right there to pick us up and tend to our injuries before he encouraged us to try again.

When I was nine and the neighborhood bully picked on me because of my looks and heritage, calling me names and making me cry, Anthony stood up to him for me and even bloodied his nose when he refused to stop.

When the fight was over and the bully had been vanquished, Anthony wiped away my tears and told me I should be proud of my long black hair and my brown skin because that’s what made me special.

He insisted that the differences in mine and Corrie’s appearance went together perfectly - like peanut butter and jelly.

He explained that even though both things were good by themselves, they were even better together.

Since then, every time I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I thought of Anthony and how special he’d always made me feel.

Corrie adored her older brother, but from day one I was head over heels in love with Clark Anthony Michaels.

He was the person I measured all others against. I was heartbroken when he went into the Navy and beside myself with joy when he came home to start college.

But all too soon, he was gone again . . .

this time to prison which left all of us crushed and worried.

After thinking things over for most of the night, I understood why Anthony insisted that I call him by another name.

Anthony was the person I’d built up in my head as the ideal man - so perfect and protective that he was all but untouchable.

He could do no wrong, was always there on the sidelines, and ultimately was the perfect man.

Navy was a new entity that I didn’t have a sweet history with.

He had an edge that seemed a little wild and dangerous and a glint in his eyes that I couldn’t figure out.

He looked at me like the big bad wolf might look at his next meal, and I found that so sexy that I was more than willing to let him eat me up.

I couldn’t wait for that to happen.

Living in uniform for ten years made my fashion choices scarce, so it didn’t take me long to choose what to wear today. I added clothes shopping to my mental to-do list as I slipped on my sandals and hurried into the bathroom to figure out what to do with my hair.

I had inherited my skin tone, hair color, and body shape from my Filipino mother, but my thick black tresses were as stick straight as my father’s light brown hair.

I silently cursed his white genes every time I thought of my mom’s flowing, wavy mane.

I’d worn mine slicked back in a bun while I was in uniform, and I really didn’t know how to style it any other way.

I figured that was something Antonia and Corrie could teach me.

For now, I pulled it into a French braid and left it alone.

A few swipes of mascara and some tinted lip balm completed my makeup routine - that was something else I should probably ask for help with, but that was for another day.

Dolling myself up to go car shopping was not something I would normally do, but I decided to take a little more care since I was going to be hanging out with Navy. We hadn’t set a specific time for him to come over, and I wanted to be ready as soon as he knocked on the door.

I checked the time and decided I didn’t want to wait any longer. I threw open the front door only to find him standing there with his hand in the air, preparing to knock.

I yelped, and he took a quick step back before we both started laughing. As he pulled me into his arms for a hug, I thought about how wonderful it felt to be there. It was right where I belonged.

“Good morning to you!” Navy said as he pulled away to smile at me. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I wasn’t sure when to expect you, so I was coming to knock on your door.”

“In that case, let’s go!”

◆◆◆

NAVY

“Little Dali, you get more beautiful every time I see you.”

“I think you may be even more handsome than the last time I saw you, Clark. I never would have thought that was possible.”

It took everything I had not to roll my eyes at their innocent flirting, but I couldn’t keep myself from laughing when Dad answered, “I attribute my good looks to clean living and a balanced temperament.” Dad glared at me before he said, “It’s true. You should take note.”

I ignored his reply and asked, “Are you going to let us take you out to breakfast or not, old man?”

“As much as I hate to miss an opportunity to have you pay for my meal, I can’t leave right now.

I’m waiting on the county inspector to come by and give me an all clear on the renovations.

However, I told Rafael that you were coming by with Dali, and he went straight to the kitchen and got breakfast started in her honor. ”

I looked at Dali and asked, “Is it okay if we eat here instead?”

“Of course! You know I’ve always loved it here. I’ve missed this place,” Dali said as she looked around the bar. “I have to admit that the changes took me by surprise.”

“We had some problems recently that moved up the timeline of our renovations.”

“What happened?”

While Dad told Dali about the attack, I looked around and saw that everything was ready for Three Sheets to open again and smiled when I thought of how happy the regulars would be to have their second home back.

Quite a few of them had come by and pitched in where they could, probably just to get out of the house and socialize, but their help was welcomed as was the company.

I thought about the email I’d received from Ajax this morning.

He’d been a few days late getting into the investigation, but as soon as he finished the job he was working on, he sunk his teeth in it and got started.

With the help of my friends Preacher, Hammer, and Ajax, we’d all but solved the mystery of the attackers’ identities.

All we needed were a few more strings to tie them together, and then I’d be on the hunt to make them pay for what they’d done - not just to the bar and the men I knew, but to the others at businesses up and down the street.

I considered Ajax’s suggestion to call some of my club brothers to come help me out, but I hated to pull them away from their own lives.

Seeking revenge wasn’t something I needed help with, considering I had my own system of retribution that I’d been honing for years.

I also didn’t want to suck any of my friends into breaking the law and risk getting arrested.

I knew that if I put the word out, I could have men heading my direction from all over the country, including from Texas, where Preacher and Hammer were excitedly planning what they wanted to do to the assholes that hurt my father.

If I found that things were more than I could handle once I got started, I wouldn’t hesitate to make the call.

Until then, I’d make plans to get revenge alone.

I watched Dad and Dali walk around the room while he gave her updates on some of the new things he’d added.

Dali squealed when she saw pictures that she remembered from spending so much time here years ago.

I smiled when she reached up and ran her fingers over the glass covering the photo of Mom and Dad embracing behind the bar and then another of Mom and Corrie dressed up for Halloween as they served customers.

Three Sheets had been opened by my grandfather, and Mom had been raised here just like me and Corrie.

When Grandpa died, Mom took over the business just like Corrie and I would someday when Dad finally decided to hang it up.

I had a million memories in this building, from childhood birthdays to bar brawls and everything in between.

Antonia had spent much of her youth here, and Audie had even taken her first steps here, walking from James to my dad.

The fact that those assholes came in and wrecked the place pissed me off, and the knowledge that they had injured my dad in the process made me livid, but the thought of them storming into a place I considered home sent me into a tailspin of plans to seek revenge.

“Breakfast is served!” Rafael called out as he came through the swinging doors with a large tray of food.

“Rafael! It’s so good to see you!” He beamed at Dali as he set the tray on a nearby table and laughed as he pulled her into his arms. “Did you remember to make my favorite?”

“How could I forget? I could never stand to see you pout.”

“I’ve been all over the world in the last ten years and still haven’t found pancakes as good as yours.”

“Because there are none,” Rafael boasted as he let Dali go and nudged her toward a seat at the table. “Now, tell us all about your travels while we eat.”

Dali danced in her chair when Rafael put a plate of pancakes in front of her.

They weren’t just plain buttermilk pancakes.

He had slathered peanut butter between each one, just like she liked them.

When he handed her a container of honey shaped like a bear just like the one my parents and Rafael had always kept on hand for her when she was a kid, she gasped and danced a little more before she dove into her food as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

Dad caught me watching her and winked before he turned his attention back to Dali and Rafael’s conversation. I stayed where I was and observed their interactions as I studied the woman I’d been dreaming about all these years.

Dali looked so much like her mother had when we’d first met their family that it was almost uncanny. With her hair pulled back from her face, it gave me a better opportunity to study her profile - something I’d never had the chance to do before.

She wasn’t a classic beauty by Hollywood standards since she wasn’t tall and thin with a big bust and flat stomach, but she was beautiful to me.

She was much shorter than me and always had been.

Her petite stature was something that she’d complained about since Corrie hit a growth spurt at ten and left Dali inches shorter than her.

Her brown skin looked sunkissed even though she hadn’t been here long.

I knew that it would get darker as the summer went on.

I wondered if she had been out on the water yet and could have kicked myself for not asking her last night as we walked along the beach. Since she’d been gone so long, she probably didn’t have a board anymore. I would take her to find one when we finished car shopping.

I could handle looking for the perfect board and could spend hours perusing the surf shops in the area, but I wasn’t looking forward to cruising the car dealerships and dealing with pushy salesmen trying to make money while fucking their customer out of theirs.

As sexist as it may be, I was glad that she’d asked me to accompany her.

I didn’t want some slimeball to think he could take advantage of her easy smile.

Little did they know there was an incredibly smart woman behind that smile who was always thinking two steps ahead.

When she was a kid, she was quiet and demure, always very respectful of her elders and their rules, but when the grown-ups weren’t around, that wicked kid concocted some crazy plans and always had the guts to follow through with them.

That always drove me nuts, but now that she was an adult, it would probably be much more entertaining. I couldn’t wait to see her in action.