Chapter 5 - Vince
Sorry?
I have to hear this in person from those sweet plump lips. I wait until I’m sure classes are out before I head over to the school. Her car still parked in her spot I pull in right next to it, and wait for her to appear. When she walks out she looks a little lost, and makes it all the way to her car without looking up. I'm not sure how she accomplished that without bumping into something or someone.
I clear my throat as she unlocks her little beater of a car. She twists so quickly I may have been scared for her health if I wasn’t still angry with her. But every passing second I am around her my anger starts to ease. She puts a band-aid on the parts of me that need help holding together, just by being in the same proximity.
"You look surprised to see me."
"Shouldn't you be with Teddy?" she asks.
I frown, but she rushes on before my anger can resume, "Yes, you've caught me off guard. Is Teddy alright?" she says through a rushed exhale.
"He's fine. Bear is with him."
"Bear?" she asks.
"Someone from the club," I state while maintaining eye contact. I can see her trying hard to get her emotions in check but I could still see the worry for Teddy creep into her eyes. Her lips press in the center making them white.
"What are you doing here?" she looks briefly around finally taking in her surroundings.
"To hear this apology," I shrug as if it should be obvious, "You never know if someone means it until you see their facial expressions in person."
"You came here to see if I was sincere?" she looks stunned.
“You bet your mile long legs I did,” damn I swear her bare legs didn’t look this hot the last time she wore a skirt. When my eyes finally travel back up her body to stare into her eyes she begins.
“I am sorry Vince. I might have assumed a few things, but I didn’t mean to hurt you or Teddy,” she says with sincerity. Those clear green eyes that remind me of my meadow shows all the sincerity I could ever want, and have ever seen in someone’s eyes before. It feels like no one has ever looked at me like this. With that my anger is gone. I nod, because I have no idea what to say or do after something so pure as someone knowing they wronged you, fesses up trying to make amends. It’s the stuff that breaks people like me.
“How’s Teddy?” her face shows concern like a mother would over her child.
“He’s fine. You want to see him?” the offer shocks the both of us. How can I take it back? I don’t want her to see our house. But before I can come up with a valid reason to not have her go, she nods.
She follows behind me in her beat up cage. My anxiety increases as we get closer, and then my heart wants to burst out of my chest when I park in front of our two story barn house. With it's faded white paint, the uppermost window busted out and boarded over, yard not even resembling a yard but an overgrown weed patch, it should be condemned. Yet when she gets out of her car she only gives it a cursory glance, then looks over at me waiting to follow.
“I want to warn you first about Bear,” before her scowl could deepen I hurry on. “Bear looks like a grizzly, but inside he has the demeanour of a little kid that loves to sleep with a light on,” it is disgusting, and I an envious as hell that he stayed so soft after living this life.
Sara didn’t say anything, and when we entered all she did was nod in Bear’s direction before looking back to me to lead the way, “Up the stairs. Last room on the right.”
I follow behind her, and watch her sit on the side of his bed. She touched not only Teddy’s head to feel his temperature, but she touched a part of my heart showing such love towards my little brother.
Sara and Teddy talked in low voices to one another impossible for me to hear, but when I see Teddy smile up at her I leave them to head downstairs to take a seat on the couch in the living room. I couldn’t watch anymore. It wasn't just her body that I wanted, and it scared the living shit out of me. Especially since I couldn't seem to make her see the real me.
A few minutes later she comes back down, and holds out a hand to Bear. Her hand is so tiny in his.
“Hi Bear, sorry I didn’t stop to introduce myself, I wanted to be sure Teddy was ok,” she smiles, and Bear grunts out a reply.
“Do you have a job outside of the MC?” Sara asks.
“Yeah, I own a contracting business in the next town over.”
“What?” I baulk, “How do I not know this about you?”
“You never asked,” Bear grumbles, “Where do you think I usually am in the mornings?”
I shrug, “I never thought about it.”
It stays silent for only another few seconds before Sara is asking more questions, and again I hear things I never thought to ask Bear in all the years we’ve known each other. I never wanted to stick my nose in his business, but it seems he’s talking to Sara about that very thing. He seems enthusiastic to have someone care enough to ask. I feel like an ass for not doing so long before Sara came along. Though it seems Bear and I never had that kind of relationship. I talked when I felt like it, he grunted, and then we moved on. Not sure if you can categorize that as friendship, but that's how I've always seen it.
After an hour of listening to Sara and Bear chat away like old friends I dial in for a pizza. I’m starving, so they must be to, and when I set the pizza on the coffee table a half hour later, it seems I was right. They are grabbing pieces out before I can even get to the kitchen for plates and I guess that’s fine since that’s usually how we eat pizza around here, I have to grab one for Teddy. As I’m reaching for a plate I hear the front door open, and I forget about the plate completely.
"Hey Kid, where have you been all night, we were waiting for you to show…," I hear them coming in the front room, and I start to walk faster.
"I had somewhere else to be," I reply. I glance over to Sara. They swerve their heads looking for an attack, but soon relax.
"Is that your new piece?" the dark haired pretty boy of the club we call Chancy asks.
But I need not say anything, because Sara responds for herself, "I'm no one's piece," you could hear the air quotes in the air as she says "piece". The scowl on her face asks for them to contradict her. I swear this woman never knows when to keep her mouth shut, and I love it.
“Whoa you found yourself a fighter,” Chancy gives a smile no man likes to see aimed at their woman. Even with the way Sara is looking at him like he is no more than a bug crushed under her high heels I still feel the need to claim her.
“She’s mine Chancy.”
“I don’t see your name on her anywhere,” Chancy pushes my buttons.
I ball my fists ready to put him in his place when Echo speaks up, "Backoff Chancy." his voice is calm, but holds the hardest steal forcing everyone to notice. I see even Bear straighten.
“I’m messing around. You know that right Kid?” if Chancy had come with someone else it could have gotten ugly, but I jerk my head at him trying to cool my anger.
“What are you guys doing here?” I wanted them gone. Sara already has an issue with my being part of the club. They are not helping my chances.
“The big job is going down tonight, I thought you told Ric you wanted in on it.”
“Nah, I can’t tonight. Go on without me,” as much as I needed the money I didn’t want to leave Sara enough to go. I’ll find a way to supplement the money.
“You sure?” Chancy says but it sounds more like a taunt. He’s starting to piss me off. I wonder when he first started to act like this. A few months ago it was different between us. We were never close, but there wasn't always this tension. He better knock it off before I find the the need to give him an attitude adjustment.
“Yeah,” it was more of a “fuck-you-get-out-of-my-house” statement than a confirmation.
“ How about you Bear?” in my peripheral I can see him shake his head.
“Whatever, see ya,” he hits Echo in the arm, “Let’s go.”
Echo looks over at me, and rolls his eyes, shrugs and follows after Chancy. I'm relieved when I hear their bikes roar to life and fade down the street. I go back to getting a plate to pile some pizza for Teddy. The moment I started to walk down the hall with it Sara calls out.
"No! Don't give him that!" she exclaims.
"Why the hell not," I respond.
"He's been sick, he needs something easy on his stomach. I'll make him soup."
"He'll be fine," I shrug it off. I turn to make my way back down the hall, but am stopped with a hand on my shoulder. I look at the hand, with a furrowed brow attached to the body, "What are you doing," I stop and stare.
"She's right," Bear says, all serious.
Then she was there smiling up at Bear, "Don't worry Bear he was about to show me to the kitchen."
My brows furrow so hard I’m giving myself a headache, "Fuck if I was."
She looks over at me, "Vince stop being a stubborn ass. Imagine you've been sick for days, your stomach still upset, and even more you haven't eaten anything solid for days. How do you think a grease filled slice of pizza would settle on your stomach."
My stomach hurts thinking about it, "Fuck," I mutter under my breath as I head towards the kitchen. When I show her where everything is, she has soup ready in no time.
Somewhere along the way I forgot how nice it is to have a woman around to make those kind of decisions, or even remember those kind of things. This whole responsible adult thing sucks sometimes. This house has needed a woman’s touch for a long time.
It took a while for us to get back to the casualness of our night. Bear and Sara fell into an easy friendship. Teddy adores her, and as much as I wanted to resist it, I knew I was falling for her. Falling fast and hard.
⨳ ⨳ ⨳
Around 11 pm Bear heads home, and minutes later Sara insisting she has to go as well. Long day ahead is what she says when I try and convince her to stay.
“Fine, but I’m walking you to your car,” I say as I stand.
“I’d think less of you if you didn’t,” Sara says playfully.
During the visit she had become more open, and it was easy to see little glimpses of her that I found so sexy. Don't get me wrong I think everything about her is sexy, but her being the person she is without her guard up is what I find the most alluring.
Standing next to her open door I lean in to kiss her. This time she doesn’t turn her head. Her lips were so fucking soft, and addicting, it was like taking a deep breathe again. Those kisses were my salvation and my torment. I knew at that point I would live for them, and I would die, right here and now, if it meant she was the last person I kissed. Dramatic yes, but I now knew what it felt like for your entire world to shift and gain perspective. She became the focal point, and I don't care what anyone thinks, it wasn't soon enough until I drank in all of her just to clear my vision.
Sara must have sensed the sudden change because she gasps and that is when my tongue slide in. As our tongues danced to a beat of their own drum I dedicated my life to being with her from the moment of that first kiss, for I knew that if I lost her I would lose myself. She was the half that made me whole. The piece I’ve been missing. She was the link that made it ok to reconnect to my childhood, and made me want to be a better man in the future if only to make her life with mine better. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. How could it be possible to have found something that feels this right in such a short amount of time I ask myself.
I lean away, but give her a sweet peck to her lips before touching my head to her forehead. Un-grasping her hips from my hands I brace them on either side of her on the roof of the car. That’s got to be safer, because if I don’t stop kissing her now I never will.
"Come back in," the husk in my voice is rough, and suggestive.
She shakes her head left to right. I move my head up and down. I see her lips turn up in a small smile as our foreheads come to rest on the other once more.
"I need to know more about you before...before we take it any further," it comes out raspy, and sweet. It makes me want to kiss her all over again.
“I can respect that, but don’t think less of me for trying to change your mind,” I go in for another kiss and she lets me. This one isn’t fast, trying to get somewhere, this is a slow exploration. I shit you not, the only things stopping me from curling my toes is that’s fucking girly, and my leather boots had no give. I suspect this is my first proper kiss.
I'm not a stranger to using my mouth, but this was different. The slow savoring kiss causes panting breathlessness.
“Have I changed your mind yet? Or do I need to try longer and harder,” I'm afraid if she says no, I'll get on my knees and beg.
“Almost,” smoothly before I can get enough blood to the proper head in order to get the neurons firing to halt her progress, she is in her car, and she locks it behind her.
I raise my eyebrows, "You don’t think a little thing like a lock will stop me do you?”
She places a kiss on the tips of her fingers, and with a sweet smile, presses her fingers to the glass between us. And within a second she was gone. The fullness of my hard on pressing into my zipper, and my still moist lips the only sign she was here.