Page 12

Rebel

F or three days, I didn’t talk to Lacey. The office was closed, so I picked my jobs off the online calendar and spent my free time working with Hacker to try and figure out who broke in. It had been slow going, but I was sure Lacey was expecting me to figure this out as her protector. Trying to rush her into my property cut, even temporarily, had been a gigantic mistake. I could see that now. She wasn’t ready for a relationship with me. That meant I needed to slow things way the fuck down.

Today was Wednesday, the day of her father’s appointment. I borrowed Mace’s sidecar, the one he used to transport his gigantic wolfdog around in. Naturally, I took the time to clean it out thoroughly, so Mr. Livingstone wouldn’t end up with pet hair all over his nice clothing and stinking of sweaty dog. He was waiting patiently on the front porch when I pulled up. I liked the way his eyes lit up, much like mine had the first time I’d ever ridden in a sidecar.

His wife was at his side when I walked up the front steps. Lacey stepped out of the front door when she heard the throaty roar of my motorcycle. Her expression was a bit anxious and unsure. “I didn’t know if you were still up for taking my dad on a ride today.”

“Of course. If I say I’m gonna do something, I always follow through. You should know that by now.”

She nodded, her eyes moving from me to her father and back again. “You know where you’re going, right?”

“Yes, I got your text.” Turning to his wife, I clarified, “You’re gonna meet us there, right?”

“Yes. I’m going to leave first, so I’ll be waiting when the two of you arrive.”

Bringing my wrist up, I looked at my watch, and said, “You’d best get going if we’re going to get there in time for his appointment.”

“Yes, of course,” she murmured and gave her husband a quick kiss.

After her mother had driven off, Lacey’s father walked out to examine the sidecar, leaving me and Lacey standing on the porch.

“You and I need to talk about the investigation into the office break-in,” I told her as we both watched her father walk around the sidecar looking appreciatively at it.

“Yeah, Zoe and I have come up with a whole theory about who did it and why.”

My head snapped around to look at her. “You and Zoe are doing your own investigation?”

“Well yeah. It’s my business. The police are useless. If I want justice, I have to get it for myself.”

“Did you forget I told you I would look into it?” I asked, trying my best to keep the irritation out of my voice.

“Yeah, but you haven’t been talking to me for days. So, I didn’t know what to think.”

Glancing away, I told her, “I thought you needed some space. And I’ve been spending all my time working and investigating the break-in.”

Her expression turned hopeful. “Maybe we could get together and compare notes?”

“Yeah, sure. That would be fine. Just let me know where and when. I gotta go, if I’m gonna get your old man to his appointment on time.”

When I walked up to my bike and helped her father into the sidecar, he grabbed the helmet enthusiastically. He didn’t waste any time putting it on correctly. He must have seen my look of surprise because he tapped the side of the helmet and said, “Just like I wore back in the day as a fighter pilot, only without the oxygen mask.”

My eyebrows flew up in surprise. “Didn’t know you were a veteran too.”

He started talking about being a fighter pilot, but his voice was muffled by the helmet, and by the time I started my engine his words were unintelligible. Since I was interested to hear his stories, I made a mental note to ask him about his military experience once his appointment was over and we went to the clubhouse for lunch. It was the only place I knew for certain I could get good food and a non-alcoholic beer. I had the prospects pick up a six-pack especially for our lunch today.

I hung around outside while Mr. Livingstone had his appointment. He and his wife walked out, all smiles. I liked seeing them happy. “Should I assume everything went well?”

She nodded, “Better than well. Dr. Simons scheduled him for a new experimental treatment at Mount Sinai in two weeks. It was difficult to get him into the program, so we’re both thrilled.”

“That is good news. Would you like to join us for lunch, ma’am?”

She shot her husband a quick glance, but he was already eyeing the sidecar again. “No, I think I’ll let you men have some guy time. If you need me, just give me a quick call and I’ll come right away.”

Her husband turned to her and put his hands on her shoulders, “We’re not going to need you, sweetheart. I keep telling you that I feel better than I have in a long time.”

She beamed up at him, “I know that you are. I guess I’ll see you back at the house after your lunch.”

When she walked off to get into her car, we loaded up again. So far, her dad seemed pretty easygoing. I took him straight to the clubhouse, where all the brothers were wearing cuts and the prospects kept themselves on their toes to make sure lunch went off without a hitch. Since I didn’t know how he would hold up outside with it being cold today, we sat in the bar area.

Rosie came over to take our drink order. “Will you look at this. Rebel’s brought a handsome new friend to the clubhouse.”

Mr. Livingstone perked up, “A handsome and married new friend, young lady.”

Rosie laughed. “I’m married and let me tell you, I appreciate a man who’s upfront about his marital status. Your wife would be real proud of you right now.”

“I was blessed with a good wife. The last thing I want to do is mess up after thirty years and wind up growing old alone.”

“I can’t see her giving up a faithful husband, because trust me when I say the pickings are pretty slim these days when it comes to good men. They don’t make ‘em like you and my Thunder anymore.”

I gestured to myself with one hand, “I’m sitting right here, single as can be.”

Rosie just laughed. “What are you gentlemen having to drink, that fancy beer you bought?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind,” I told her, glad that she was joking around with us.

“I’ll bring it right over. The prospects are making Philly steak sandwiches and fries for lunch today. Will that be okay or do you want turkey club?”

“Philly is good for me,” I told her.

“Me too,” Mr. Livingstone chimed in.

When she dropped our non-alcoholic beer off, I don’t think he realized the difference, even after he took a long sip. “Good stuff,” he muttered.

“Yeah, it’s always been one of my favorites.” I steered the conversation in a direction I knew he’d like. “So what did you think of the sidecar?”

“It’s cramped and gives a pretty bumpy ride, just like I thought it would.” Giving me a rueful grin, he added, “In other words, I loved it. I’ve seen them in pictures but never thought I’d get the opportunity to test one out.”

“Several of the brothers here have them. The one we’re using is owned by a friend of mine to haul around his dog. Damn thing is half dog, half wolf.”

The old man’s eyes lit up. “I sure would like to have a gander at an animal like that up close before I meet my maker.”

“With any luck you’ll be around long enough to see a lot of cool things, now that you’re not working your ass off every day.”

“Yeah, about that. I hated it when the doctors signed me off work, but now that I’ve had some time off, I’m ready to live a little and enjoy what time I have left.”

I clinked the neck of my beer bottle against his. “I’ll drink to that. Know what I’ve always wanted to do?”

He grinned indulgently at me. “What’s that, Rebel?” he asked right after his eyes dropped down to the patch sporting my club name.

“I’ve always wanted to go fossil hunting. Not at one of those tourist attractions that pepper the ground with fake shit for you to find, but somewhere out of the way that might have natural fossils.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Scratching his head, he appeared to be lost in thought. “I did that once when I was young. I can’t remember for the life of me where we went but I found a fossil with the imprint of a fern and donated it to a collection they were gathering at the local university. They put my name on the brass plate and everything.”

“Shit, you have been living your best life.”

Just then our food arrived and four bites in, he remembered where he found his fossil. “My family has property in the mountains. It’s locked in a family trust for me and my two brothers. Haven’t been there in years. We should go for a week or two before it gets too cold.”

“Maybe when the weather breaks. I’ve got too many jobs to catch up on right now to think about leaving for a week, much less two.”

He put down his sandwich and wiped his fingers on a napkin before speaking. “I’ve been meaning to thank you for helping Lacey get our business back on its feet. She’s had nothing but good things to say about you.”

I swallowed the food in my mouth and washed it down with a drink of my beer. “Thank you, sir. It’s been a pleasure working with Lacey. I’m not too good at keeping up with the paperwork for my own business, so the partnership we worked out has saved my ass.”

He jolted forward in his seat. “Ladybug gave you a working partnership in our family business?”

“No,” I told him quickly. “Nothing like that. We just made a side deal where I would help her out by working jobs for a reasonable wage and she would answer my business line and take care of the paperwork for my business. It keeps her busy doing what she’s good at, and keeps me busy doing what I do best, which is working in the field. Trust me, your business still belongs one hundred percent to your family.”

Instead of looking happy, he seemed a little disappointed. “Oh, I was thinking that maybe our little ladybug was husband hunting. You’d be a good catch for her, because you’re easy going and good at wiring.”

I gave him a grin and pointed at him with the top of my nearly empty beer bottle. “You be sure to tell her that, Mr. Livingstone. Any man would be lucky to end up with your sweet daughter for a wife.” We both took a few bites of our food before I asked, “Wouldn’t you be worried about her settling down with a biker?”

“Probably, but you all aren’t just bikers. Storm made his rounds all over Griffinsford when he got out of the military talking about his support group for veterans. I didn’t need anything like that but one of my friends did. He told me all about how he was setting up an MC that weren’t outlaws. My Lacey could do worse for herself than veteran who’s a master electrician. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Then I have your permission to bring her flowers and take her on dates.”

His smile came back almost immediately. “Yeah, if she’ll have you. I want to see her settled down with her own family before I leave this world.”

“You ain’t going nowhere. Want to know how I know that for a fact?”

His expression turned knowing. “It’s because that wife of mine ain’t gonna stop making me go to the doctor until I’m cured, right.”

“Yeah, that was exactly what I was gonna say. She seems pretty damn persistent.”

“She is. I don’t know if any of this experimental stuff is going to work but it beats sitting at home flipping through old movies and infomercials, you know?”

“Yes sir, I do. You seem to be doing real good right now. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on that wife of yours staying on top of all the doctors until she’s convinced that you’re in the clear.”

“I don’t care. If I could live long enough to see a grandbaby or two that would suit me just fine.”

I raised my hand and gestured to Rosie for two more near-beers as his words settled into my mind. I froze when I realized that I’d had four rounds of sex with Lacey without wearing a condom. At the time I thought for sure she was on birth control, but now I wasn’t so sure, and I mentally kicked myself for not asking.

We got on to the subject of his military service again, and he told me all about it three times in a row. It was my first indication that his Alzheimer’s was far from being in remission. Each time I listened like it was the first time, unsure how our prior conversation could have gone off without a hitch and then the conversation about his time in the military so poorly. Maybe it was because those were older memories or ones associated with stress.

I knew sometimes with dementia patients the past was clear, and it was the present that caused problems, though I didn’t know enough about his disease to get my head around the situation. One thing I did know was that I honestly liked him and that meant I’d have to educate myself, in order to know how to best support him.

When we finished eating and headed out to my bike, I asked, “Want me to bring my friend’s wolfdog over for you to visit with one evening?”

“Heck yeah, I’d like to see something like that before I die.” This was exactly the same thing he had said the first time I mentioned Mace’s wolfdog, Nine. Something about the inflection of his voice made me think he didn’t remember our earlier conversation.

As I drove him home, I felt all kinds of conflicted. I could easily see how something like this could be really hard on his family members. They were probably used to him being strong and competent and he still was in a way. Unfortunately, this was a disease that slowly robbed a person of their memories. These two women needed all the support they could get to cope with all the changes taking place in the man who had obviously once been the rock of their family.

I had stopped at a flower shop on the way home so we could pick up flowers for Lacey and her mom. When we walked in, I handed Lacey her flowers and he handed his wife the bunch he had picked out for her. Lacey and I stood together and watched as her mother’s eyes teared up. She told him quietly, “It’s been a long time since you bought me flowers.”

He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, “It’s long overdue and you deserve flowers every single day.”

We walked into the kitchen to give them some privacy when they started hugging.

Lacey put her flowers into a glass vase and filled it with water, then set out another vase for her mother to use once the hug fest was over. I sat down on a barstool at their counter and watched her fuss with the bright yellow blooms. I hadn’t been sure what to get her, but when I saw the sunflowers, I knew they’d be perfect.

When she finally glanced up at me, her expression was filled with so many emotions that I couldn’t decipher them all. “That was a really nice thing you did today for my parents, and I really appreciate it.”

“To be honest, I had a nice time with your dad. He’s quite a talker.”

“Yeah, he’s always been that way. I used to love listening to him tell stories about his life, especially the ones from before he and Mom had me.”

“Yeah, he told me about the fossil he found and donated to a collection at the college.”

“That’s one of my favorite stories, because of how hard he looked and just when he thought he wasn’t going to find anything, he found a huge fossil.”

When she glanced away, I asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry about saying your property cut was ownerish. I regret that so much.”

“Really?” I asked curiously. “What made you change your mind about that?”

“To be honest, I was talking to Zoe about it and she set me straight.”

Disappointment settled in my gut. “So, if Zoe says property cuts are okay, that changes everything but when I tried to explain you didn’t want to know, right?”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m so upset with myself. I’m not used to trusting men, but the thing is, I do trust you. I feel like I screwed up my chance to wear your property cut and maybe even any opportunity I had to get to know you better. I want you to know that I’m really sorry for my initial knee-jerk reaction about the whole thing.”

Impressed by her ability to give a sincere apology and the fact that she still wanted to get to know me better, I gave her a lopsided grin. “Don’t worry, your old man gave me permission to buy you flowers and court you, so it’s all good.”

Her mouth fell open, and she sputtered, “My father did what now?”

“He said I would be a good catch for you because I was laid back and could wire shit.”

“Yeah, but you’re not laid back at all. I don’t know where he got that idea.”

I just shrugged, “I can’t imagine.”

“My dad can’t just give you the green light to date me. That’s my decision alone.”

“Then it’s a good thing you just said you wanted to get to know me better. You’re really cute when you’re all self-righteous and indignant, by the way.”

Catching on that I was just joking around with her, her expression softened into one of amusement. “I’m slowly figuring out your sense of humor.”

Switching up the conversation from my weird personality quirks, I asked, “How do you like your flowers?”

She ran her palm over the blooms and smiled. “They’re really beautiful. I love yellow.”

“Yeah, that’s what your old man said. I was originally going to get red roses, but I decided to get the color you liked best instead.”

She came around the counter and gave me a brief kiss on the lips. “You made a good choice. We can save red roses for Valentine’s Day.”

Drawing her into the circle of my arms, I kissed her again. Having Lacey back in my arms was the best feeling in the whole world. “Would you like take a ride on the back of my bike? We can ride up the coast. The view is incredible.”