3  Chapter 3

AVERY WEST

For once, everything seemed to be working out for my good. Nathan was able to identify each and every guy from the Vipers who’d assaulted him. Therefore, all three of them were arrested and due to the nature of his injuries were charged with aggravated assault and attempted murder. The continuous way they tried to stomp in his head was what pushed it over the edge, according to the Guardian’s lawyer, Wolf.

Uno was able to find me a rideshare van that was able to take me back and forth to work, which was great because I would have never thought of something like that. The man was really smart and super helpful. He took me grocery shopping, brought me to see my brother a few times and was overall a great friend. One that I didn’t have prior until I ran over that bike.

I felt so bad for Shiz because he looked like I’d killed his damn dog on that fretful day. I didn’t know how I could make it up, but I really wanted to. Uno convinced me not to drive my Jeep anymore because I could be arrested. I did not know that, so the thought of selling it came but I quickly let it go. My truck was almost a custom car with all of my artistic additions. Who would buy a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler with abstract drawings on the interior and exterior?

Nathan was making a speedy recovery, even a week later, which was great. He was in his last year of college, so he couldn’t miss much more of it, even though I had contacted all of his professors to let them know about the incident. Mom and dad were beside themselves about the entire situation. Especially my mom, who thought it could have been that the attack was racially motivated. Dad thought it could have been a setup by the girlfriend. From what I’ve gathered, Vipers do stupid shit like this, according to the Guardians with no rhyme or reason. They just liked to fuck with people, because they can. Either way, those guys were still in jail, so some justice had prevailed.

Uno brought me to the compound a few times, because he wanted me to meet the old ladies. Well, none of them were old, he told me, but that was biker talk. Three of them were married and one was about to be. Razor, Bronx and Apollo’s wives were all there. Bear’s fiancée, Dessy, their wedding was coming up soon and she was also friends with the wives’. Every time I came around, none of the women were present.

I also hadn’t seen Shiz at the compound either. Not that I was looking for him, so I could feel guiltier about what I’d done to his bike. That man would never forgive me, but still, every time his name came up or I thought about the incident, my heart would pang a little.

In an effort to occupy my time, I stuck with Uno and tried to dwell in his calm demeanor. He’s mentioned that he could help me figure out my career, so one evening I brought my artwork for him to view. Unfortunately, I overheard someone talking about Shiz’s bike and that the insurance could not cover everything. They said, they would have covered it, if it were under different circumstances, so they were going to pay for. However, since the thing was a damn antique, the parts were nearly obsolete and would cost a fortune. Not that this wasn’t bad enough, another one of them said that the bike had belonged to his father and brother who’d both passed away. I nearly fell out of my chair, as I remembered the look he gave me when I ran over his precious bike. I had killed his puppy and probably the only memory of his male kin.

Packing up my stuff, I asked Uno to drive me home because I knew what I had to do. Once everything was in order, shockingly I felt at peace.

Well, a little.

By Friday, Uno shared that the Guardian ladies would definitely be at Peppers because that was their bar. Well, Razor owned it and that is where they spent a lot of their time. Sure enough, when I walked in, I saw a gang of ladies around the bar and they were all types of cuteness. One had long blond hair with a cute dress on. One was a beautiful black woman with long hair and a round belly that I knew from experience took hours for her to do. Another woman was tan with shortened dark hair cut in layers, and then there was a black woman behind the bar laughing with them. She was also a cutie.

“That’s the crew.” Uno pointed them out, unnecessarily. “Let me introduce you.”

I followed him over to the bar as they all greeted him, like they were on an episode of Cheers, “Uno!!!”

He laughed in his shy way and said, “Hey Lady Guardians.”

They smiled in adoration at the timid man with genuine kindness. I liked them already because Uno was very nice.

“This is Avery West...” He started but I cut him off.

“Like Kanye West, but I don’t know him and we’re not kin.” I smiled. “Uno, here, has been showing me around. He’s such a good friend. I really like everything about the Guardians and I know I’ll like you all too. We keep missing you guys at the compound. Now, I know where to find you.”

They all laughed but I didn’t miss the assessing eyes they placed on Uno. When I turned to look, he simply smiled at me.

“Hey, I’m Kylie,” the blond greeted me.

“I’m Shay.” the black woman with the long hair waved.

“I’m Lori,” the dark-haired woman nodded with a smile.

“And I’m Dessy,” the last one said. “What are you drinking?”

“Whatever will get me fucked up tonight,” I said in all seriousness. “This has been a hell of a week.”

“I like her already,” Shay seconded. Then she added, “but I can’t drink, so have one for me too.”

“Oh okay, why can’t you drink?” I asked absentmindedly.

“I’m expecting,” the woman said with such shy pride. 

“Oh my God,” I exclaimed. “That’s amazing! Congratulations.”

“Thanks.” She was still smiling.

“It’s a long story and believe me, you’ll hear it one day.” Dessy added as she slid me a drink.

“I love stories,” I exclaimed.

They all looked at each other and Lori said, “Oh honey, we have plenty.”

Then Kylie asked, “So, how did you get affiliated with the Guardians? Through Uno here?”

I saw movement to my left and it was Uno taking a step back, “That’s my cue to leave because y’all are about to start gossiping and I’m going to head on out. Avery, I can come back to get you.”

“Oh no, I ‘ll take her home,” Shay chimed in. “I can’t drink anyway. Plus, Bronx will be here at some point too.”

“Okay, ladies. Have fun,” Uno bowed and walked away. 

“So, you and Uno?” Lori asked with a glimmer in her eye.

My eyebrows furrowed as I processed what she said.

“What?” I shook my head. “Oh no, he’s just a good friend. Razor had him help me get things sorted with my brother. Plus, he’s a great listener and we’re the same sign. You should never date someone that’s the same sign as you. It’s a recipe for disaster.”

All four of the women openly stared at me, then Kylie started laughing.

“What’s your story again?” she asked. “This isn’t Uno’s girl, right?”

I told them the whole story, even about running over Shiz’s bike and how it was the last thing he had of his male kin. I didn’t tell them my plan on how to fix what I had broken but that I hoped one day Shiz would forgive me. They all looked at each other and the knowing nods started to come but I wasn’t included on the inside joke.

“Yeah, that’s not Uno,” Shay agreed, seemingly picking up on the conversation from before.

“Nope,” Dessy chimed in.

“Are y’all sure?” Lori asked.

“You don’t get to assess these things Lori,” Shay noted. “You thought Apollo was trying to make amends, when that man was in love with you and everyone knew it but you.”

All the women started to laugh at Lori, who simply blushed and shook her head. Then she turned towards me and said, “In my defense, I realized the error of my ways and married the man.”

“Because, he bought a house right next to yours,” Kylie added. “And still, you just kept on with business as usual.”

Even I laughed at that one.

“Okay, I’m not assessing,” Lori gave in. “It’s not Uno, then, Shiz?”

“Hell yeah,” Shay noted.

“Uh, what are y’all talking about?” I asked. “It was Shiz’s bike, yes.”

“No, honey. We’re talking about who’s going to probably claim you. More than likely the person you’re interested in, which is not Uno, but Shiz.” Kylie spoke as if what she said was the written word of the Lord. 

“No.” I hated to interrupt her groove. “I’m not interested in Shiz. He hates my guts. That’s all. I’m not interested in nobody. Just trying to live my life, find a new job, an apartment that doesn’t have mice, because I can’t afford a cat and maybe a new ride or ...”

I stopped talking because all eyes turned towards something behind me, causing me to turn around and see nobody but Shiz walking towards us. Thank God, he didn’t hear me talking about him.

“Hey Shiz,” the woman greeted him.

“Wives and fiancée of Guardian men,” he greeted them back. “I see you’ve met Avery.”

“Yup, we’re becoming fast friends,” Shay said with a note of sarcasm to her voice.

“Good,” he said to my surprise. Then he turned to me and said, “They’re good people.  A little crazy but so are you. This might be a match made in heaven, now that I think of it.”

I laughed because his first words to me, or the ones that I could hear, was him calling me a crazy ass bitch.

Great.

That twinge in my chest started when I thought about it.

“I’m sorry, Shiz.” I blurted out. “Swear...”

Shiz was standing next to me but looking down with his chiseled jaw turned my way. After I said I’m sorry, he turned and swear to God, he held up his finger to my lips and whispered, “Shh. Don’t apologize anymore. I accepted it the first time. It’s done and over. Okay?”

My head nodded but his finger stayed on my lips and I did not want them to move. The pretty man was all I could see, and the women no longer existed.

“You sure, you’re done talking about it?” he asked.

“Mmm, hmm,” I mumbled. “Done.”

My lips moved with the inside of his index finger, still resting there. Those dark eyes were smoldering, and they were on nobody but me.

“Okay, firecracker.” He nodded. “No more.”

Then he removed his finger from my lips, but it was almost like he didn’t because I could still feel the tingling from his touch. My tongue unconsciously snuck out to lick them, capturing the taste of him but the residue still had the surface of my lips on fire. One touch and it seemed like my entire body lit up. Shiz’s taste was on my lips, causing me to lick them again.

Someone cleared their throat and Shiz tore his eyes from me.

“So, Shiz, you were saying something about a match made in heaven,” Shay commented with a chuckle that all the ladies were participating in.

He eyed each of them with a warning look and said, “Like I mentioned, crazy. You’ll fit right in.”

“I’m not crazy, I’m enlightened,” I shared with him and tilted my chin up.

Shiz snorted and said, “Oh, that’s what they call it now?”

“Crazy is ...” I was about to start in on my tangent, that also included a definition, but he shook his head.

“Sweetheart.” He smiled at me. “Crazy works for you. Okay? Cause you’ve done and said several things that fit the definition of crazy. However, like these ladies over here, crazy works for them too. So, all of y’all are cute and crazy, is all I’m saying. It works.”

“Awww, Shiz,” Kylie beamed. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about us.”

His head rocked back and then he shook it, like his point was made. Then Shiz turned to me and asked, “Can I see you before you leave? Wanted to run something past you.”

My head was nodding before my mouth opened.

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

“Great.” He nodded back at me. “Ladies.”

Then he walked off and my eyes followed him.

“Lori,” Dessy asked. “Still think it’s Uno?”

I gasped at her, but all of them started laughing out loud.

“Nope, y’all are right. It’s Shiz,” Lori conceded. “I stand corrected.”

“It is not Shiz,” I corrected all of them.

“Oh honey, this is going to be a good story,” Shay laughed. “A real good one.”

Oh hell.

An hour later after two Shirley Temples, I excused myself from the ladies and made my way to see Shiz. The ladies oohed and aahed, even though they were nice and cute and all, they were way off about Shiz.

Way off.

Approaching the table with the cute and sexy but taken bikers, when Shiz saw me coming he went to stand, however a big, burly man clapped him on the back and said, “Well, what the fuck do we have here, Shiz-o?”

A roundtable of manly laughter could be heard from everyone, but it seemed like another inside joke.

“Shut the fuck up, Bear,” Shiz snapped at the scary man with narrowed eyes.

“Wait, you mean like you did when it was it was Dessy and me. Or Shay and Bronx, no, Lori and Kylie. I don’t remember you shutting the fuck up.”

All heads nodded in agreement with what the man Bear was saying.

“But,” Shiz responded. “You all told me to shut the fuck up, so I’m returning the favor. Plus, it’s not even like that.”

A bunch of sure and yeah, you’re right followed him. He stuck up his middle finger and walked towards me.

“They’re good people but assholes if that makes any sense,” he said with a smirk. “I earned it though.”

“Oh, believe me I know.” My head was nodding up and down, but his eyes narrowed at me. Then it dawned on me what he thought I’d meant. “Sorry, I mean, I know about earning the shit you get dealt.”

“Gotcha,” he replied as his hand touched the small of my back gently guiding me to an empty table in the back. “Need something to drink?”

“I’m good, thanks. Plus, if I drink too much, Shay will have to carry me home and she’s prego, so that won’t be on my conscience,” I noted. “But anyway, what did you want to talk about?”

His eyes met mine and I swear I saw amazement or his normal crazy chick look in there. Yet, what he said out of his mouth is what caught me off guard.

“I’ll take you home. I’m not getting tossed tonight, just haven’t been out with the guys lately, so I was swinging by. But, you have fun, drink away, I can carry you.” He smirked.

“Oh, no. That’s not necessary,” I immediately put in. “Not going to put you out your way any more than I already have. If worse comes to worse, I can get Uno to take me home.”

Shiz leaned forward and repeated what he said, “I wasn’t asking, babe. Drink and I’m taking you home.”

Uh, now this Shiz I was not used to. He had been silly, upset, irate, and angry but never serious. He didn’t even seem like the type of guy to get serious. Yet, there he was with that intense look and telling me what he was going to do.

Hmm, he didn’t know me very well, but okay. For shits and giggles, I’d play along.

“You wanted to talk about what exactly?” I slightly changed the subject.

“I got a place that’s not rented yet. You mentioned something about your rent. My place is real cheap and it damn sure don’t have any mice. That’s just fucked up,” he said with a shake of his head.

“What’s real cheap?” I asked with no real intentions of having him be my landlord.

“Four hundred,” he said with a shrug.

My gasp was louder than I expected. What kind of place was that low in rent?

“How is it possible the rent is that low?” I blurted out. “What’s wrong with it. That’s the rental of a room or a trailer or something.”

His classic smirk was in place. God, he was so cocky it made me sick. Well, not really. It made me other things, but I was ignoring those parts.

“I own the building outright, so I’m not paying the mortgage or shit like that. Okay, I do all repairs and serve as the landlord, therefore, I have no overhead, other folks to pay, and everything is in the Guardian network. We don’t price gouge and we keep shit simple.” He shrugged again. “You interested?”

“Uh, yeah,” I answered sarcastically. “I’d want to see it first, but yes.”

“Good,” he nodded. “How about I swing by tomorrow and take you by the place?”

“Sure, um. Wait, no. Uno and I have a thing to do tomorrow,” I shared. “What about Sunday?”

A darkness ran over his face, then he said with less grace, “What do y’all have to do?”

I blinked at him and then shared, “Well, if you need to know, he’s taking me to see my brother. Then we’ll probably get some food and I have some things to show him. Why?”

“What’s the deal with you and him?” Shiz asked and no interpreter was needed to decipher what he meant.

“You should ask Uno,” I answered.

“I’m asking you,” he retorted.

I stood up from my chair and said, “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

Then I turned my back and when my name was called, I realized serious Shiz was back.

“Avery.”

“Yes,” I kept my back towards him but did not move any further.

“Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Think about this before walking away from this opportunity,” he said, like he was my camp counselor.

Granted, I could be quite impulsive but his tone. That command. His way. I wasn’t ready for that from him. We weren’t there, and he was taking liberties that he had no rights too.

“I have thought about it and I don’t want to be in debt to an egotistical jerk or have to live in a place with an asshole as my landlord. I got enough shit to eat and I don’t need more bullshit from outside sources.”

Then I made my way back to the ladies. Now my goal was to get sloshed and just call Uno. One hour later, two more Bloody Mary’s in, I was feeling nice. Well, we all were, except Dessy who was working that night and Shay who was prego. We continued to laugh as they shared their stories, on how they met their men and the sheer shenanigans they had to go through or put those men through. At one point, the hottie Apollo came over and whispered something in Lori’s ear. She grinned, disappeared and came back with sex hair.

“Sorry, I’m ovulating,” she shared as the gang of us were already laughing.

Right after this, Shiz decided to grace us with his presence again and just like before, the ladies sarcastically greeted him. I, for the part, ignored him but apparently the man was on a mission.

“Ladies, I need your help here,” he announced loud enough over the music playing.

“Shoot,” Shay asked.

“Can someone please inform Avery that I’m an upstanding citizen, a model member of the Guardians, a great landlord and she can trust me? I’m trying to rent her my place but she doesn’t like my personality,” he said, causing my head to snap in his direction.

No he did not.

“Really,” I snapped at him.

“Left me no choice, babe.” He shrugged. “l figured there were some character witnesses.”

“Well,” Kylie spoke. “Can’t really speak about the upstanding citizen part, but I know that Shiz’s homes are top notch and he’s a good landlord. Dessy’s future sister-in-law was staying there for a bit and said it was, and I quote, “better than a hotel”.”

At that notion, Dessy groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Bad blood there,” Shay interjected.

“Also, his personality is annoying as hell,” Lori added.

“Yeah,” Dessy chimed in.

“I concur,” Kylie agreed as Shay nodded her head with them.

“Thank you.” I waved my hand at them with the palm up. “There you have it.”

Shiz rolled his eyes.

“That, uh, wouldn’t stop me from getting a good place to stay,” Shay shared. “I’m just saying.”

“See,” Shiz mimicked me, but I merely frowned. “At least check it out. Plus, I barely see my tenants unless something is broken. You can even pay the rent online. Very little interaction.”

My head finally swiveled to him to see the dark coffee colored eyes on me. Then I said in a low voice, “Why are you pushing this?”

“You need an affordable place. I have an affordable place. Just come with me and see it, then if you don’t like it, then no harm done.” He shrugged.

“Fine, I’ll see it tomorrow,” I conceded. “After seeing my brother.”

“You ready to go or you want to stay a little longer?” he asked me.

I turned to see if he was joking or not but realized this was serious Shiz. He meant to bring me home because he said so. If I went home with him, then I could get sauced, but I wanted to keep my wits about me when dealing with the bossy man.

“I’m about to call it a night, I see Bronx headed this way. It’s been real,” Shay chimed in. “Avery, it was really great meeting you and I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon.”

Ah, ambushed.

“Guess I’m leaving then,” I looked to Shiz. “Shay’s my ride.”

He raised an eyebrow at me with a challenge, as if to say, ‘oh really’.

“Bronx, brother. Avery is coming with me. Right Shay?” he asked with his eyes on them as her head nodded with nothing but mischief in her features.

Traded by a fellow sister. 

The tall, African-American man, looked down at Shay with adoring eyes, pulled her into his hard body and said, “Don’t give a fuck. Long as my woman’s coming with me.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Shiz’s head turn towards me. “Well, let’s go.”

There would be no argument from the brothers and the sisters, specifically the pretty, long-haired one named Shay was googly-eyed for the specimen of a man. There would be no fight out of her or any of the guys, so I huffed, grabbed my purse and said, “Lead the way, bossy.”

“Certainly,” he said with an equal amount of sarcasm.

I followed him out to a modern dark-colored RAM truck with wheels almost as big as my head. The car alarm beeped on the vehicle, Shiz opened the passenger door and held out a hand to help me inside. Once he was in, the engine roared to life and he asked, “Where do you live?”

“Outside of Manor, in Tenley, near the train tracks,” I shared.

“Fuck, that’s pretty far.” He nodded his head.

Strapping on my seatbelt, I didn’t say anything and ignored the tension in the air. Could cut it with a nice was the understatement of the year. I was feeling nice but also feeling feisty enough to be flippant with my mouth. This never worked out well for me, so for the fact that I’d be in the man’s car for forty minutes, I decided to shut my trap. Well, unless he asked me a question, then I would answer.

Right on cue, he turned off the radio with the country music and said, “Avery West of the Westonians that are no kin of Kanye West, tell me about yourself.”

I openly stared at him and his gall before I burst out in laughter.

“Westonians?” I mocked.

“Yeah, so, tell me,” he asked. “I know you have a brother who’s in college. Did you go? Where are you from? What do you do?”

“I went to community college and graduated a few years ago. I’m from Tenley, born and raised there. I am an artist, so I am not really working in my career since I have a job as a Customer Service Representative. It doesn’t pay well, but I can manage to get by. Plus, my little difficulty with my temper, well, let’s just say it’s easier to hang up on people before I do something I will regret.” I laughed at myself. “Not sure how long I’ll have that job, really.”

It was too dark to see the expression on his face but I was sure there was a roll of the eyes or a nod in agreement in there somewhere.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

I sighed because I knew what I wanted but had no idea how I was going to get there. The idea of my dream job working with the art galleries in the county and eventually for the state of Pennsylvania seemed so far away. Having my work displayed would be my ultimate but it just seemed like a pipe dream. One that I didn’t even want to share but what the hell.

“Like I said, I’m an artist and I want my art displayed. You know, in galleries around the county, state and hell, the world. It’s far from being a customer service representative and of course it doesn’t pay the bills, steadily, but it’s what I want,” I noted, then turned my head to face outside.

“Then, that’s what you should aim for, artist,” Shiz said, then we grew quiet through the rest of the ride.

Once we arrived outside of my apartment building, he took one look around and asked, “You live alone?”

“Yeah,” I answered reluctantly as he took in the old neighborhood, that had been run down, including the building we were idling in front of.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you to get inside.” He nodded towards my door. “Oh, I need your number, so I can contact you.”

Running off the number for him to copy in his phone, Shiz nodded and said, “See you tomorrow, firecracker.”

“Yeah,” I answered. “Tomorrow.”

“Night.”