Chapter Eight
Diablo wiped his greasy hands on a towel, a surge of satisfaction pumping through him as he surveyed the Harley Super Glide. When the owner brought it in, it’d been on its last mile, but now it was humming and shining. Diablo worked at the club’s auto and bike repair shop, Skid Marks, four days a week. He’d learned the ins and outs of bike repair when he’d joined up with the Night Rebels. Shotgun had liked the way he knew his way inside a car’s engine, so he’d taken him under his wing and showed him the ropes. Shotgun ran the shop; he’d been with the Night Rebels since Steel had started over a decade ago. In their mid-thirties, Shotgun, Rooster, and Tattoo Mike were the older members of the club.
Diablo went into the salesroom, walked over to the small refrigerator behind the counter, and took out a large bottle of water. After guzzling more than half of it, he placed it on the back table.
“Is the Super Glide ready to go?” Shotgun asked as he thumbed through the rolodex.
“Resurrected from the dead. I’m gonna wash up.” Diablo went to the laundry sink in the utility room and scrubbed the grease and grime from his hands. As he rinsed them under the stream of warm water, his thoughts drifted to Fallon. She felt mighty fine pressed behind him when he took her for a spin the previous day. He couldn’t wait to see her on Sunday and take her for a proper ride. He pushed the paper dispenser with his elbow and tore off a long sheet, then dried his hands vigorously.
When she’d agreed to go with him on his Harley, he’d been surprised. She must be kinda interested in me. He wasn’t too sure about it because she was hard to read. Most women were obvious in letting him know they desired him, but Fallon spent most of their short time together averting his gaze.
“You’ve got a call. It’s the dude who brought in his Sportster this morning,” Chains said at the doorway.
“Coming.” Diablo threw the wadded-up paper in the trash and went out front.
When he was finished with his conversation, he sat on the stool by the cash register. “Where’s Shotgun?”
“He went out to grab lunch. We’ve gotta hold down the fort until he gets back. It’ll be a nice break.” Diablo nodded. “Who was that woman you were talking to at Leroy’s yesterday afternoon?”
“Someone I know.” Diablo took the credit card a customer handed him.
“How do you know her?”
Diablo finished the transaction and stared at Chains. “How the fuck is that your business?”
“I was just asking. We were just wondering, that’s all. You rarely talk to any chick except for Lucy and Maria. Fuck, man.”
Diablo pushed up from the stool. “I better get working on that Sportster.” He grabbed his half-finished water bottle and headed to the bay. He figured the brothers were buzzing about Fallon. At times they really got on his nerves when they started the petty gossip shit; they were worse than a bunch of women at a social.
They don’t need to know shit about her. He took out a wrench and unscrewed a bolt. I don’t even know what I’m doing. I just know I like her. And he wasn’t going to tell his brothers that. They would never get that a man could spend time with a woman without thinking about fucking her the whole time.
Fallon’s small body blazed through his mind. She does have some nice tits on her, and probably a lot of sexy curves hidden under her baggy clothes. He wondered why she hid her body the way she did. She wore clothes that were shapeless and looked too big for her slight frame. He guessed her to be about five foot four, and he’d been surprised how light she was when he picked her up to put her on the seat of his Harley. The skin he’d touched was soft like down feathers, and the scent she was wearing made his cock move against his zipper. But what woke it totally up was her arms tight around his waist and her head against his shoulder. It was the fuel he’d used when he’d jerked off that night while in the shower. Maria would’ve been so disappointed to know that he’d used his hands instead of her to come.
Breathing out, he took the tire off the bike. A ping drew his attention to the phone on his work table. Placing the wrench on the floor, he went over and looked at it. An unknown number flashed on his screen. He opened the text, suspicion creasing his brow.
Unknown: Hi. Thanks again for the ride.
A big smile cracked his face. Fallon.
Diablo: I’m glad u enjoyed it. Sunday will be even better.
Fallon: How are you?
Diablo: Good. U?
Fallon: Ok.
Diablo: U working today?
Fallon: Yes. In the house.
Diablo: What do u do?
Fallon: I have a lot of chores.
Diablo: Chores? Isn’t that shit u do when ur a kid?
A long pause. Did I piss her off? Fuck. He started to text, but then his phone vibrated.
Fallon: I have to go.
Fuck!
Diablo: I didn’t mean 2 offend u. Let’s text some more.
Fallon: I really just wanted to say thanks. Bye.
Diablo: What did u like the best bout the ride?
He waited for an answer but it never came. Breathing out through parted lips, he placed his phone on the table and went back to the Sportster. At least I’ve got her number now.
For the next two hours, he worked on the Sportster until he’d isolated and fixed the problem. The intensity of his concentration kept Fallon from coming to the forefront of his mind, but she hung around the edges of it. When his phone pinged, he wiped his hands, a smile threatening. He groaned when he saw the name—Taya, his younger sister. What the hell does she want? Money. She always wants money.
Taya: How’re u? Been a while.
Diablo: Like 6 months. U need money?
Taya: That’s all ur gonna ask me? Just bout the money?
Diablo: Cause that’s the only time I hear from u.
Taya: U never contact me. U don’t care.
Diablo: I spent 3 fuckin’ yrs in the pen 4 u!
He breathed out and put the phone down, ignoring the ping. Closing his eyes, he was transported back to his youth. He’d spent four years in the foster care system, separated from his siblings. When he turned eighteen, he went looking for his younger brother and sister, having heard they were placed together with the same family. By the time he’d contacted them, Beau was already using and Taya was terrified to be alone with him. Diablo got closer to her, and one night when she was munching on a slice of pizza at Luigi’s Pizza Joint in downtown Salt Lake City, she told him that her foster dad made her touch and suck him. When she’d told him that, all color disappeared from his life except red.
Two days after Taya’s revelation, Diablo had waited for the dirtbag outside the factory, confronting him as he came into the parking lot. The man told him Taya was a liar and a manipulator and needed therapy. He’d said her life revolved around her getting attention.
Diablo told his sister what her foster dad had said and she denied it vehemently. That night, Diablo hid in the closet in Taya’s bedroom. Around one in the morning, the dirtbag came into the bedroom and started messing with Taya, who tried to push him away. Without thinking, Diablo had burst out of the closet and pounced on him, almost beating him to death.
Less than a year later, the jury came back with a guilty verdict for second degree assault. On his nineteenth birthday, the judge gave him five years at Utah State Prison. Three years later he’d been released for good behavior.
He shook his head and picked up the phone.
Taya: I know. I don’t know y I said u don’t care.
Diablo: I’m busy. How much do u need?
Taya: A thousand would be good….
Diablo: R u gonna smoke it all?
Taya was a crank addict and she turned tricks to get money to support her habit. From the underground grapevine, he’d heard she had a pimp and had hooked up with an internet porn site.
Taya: No.
He snorted. She’s such a fuckin’ liar. There’s no way she’s gonna tell me the truth. He rubbed the back of his neck and stared out at the mountains in the distance. Images swirled around his mind: Taya cuddling next to him for comfort when their mom had beaten her bottom, her small fingers using magic markers to color in the faded and worn hand-me-down dress when she was nine years old, large tears rolling down her face when the Department of Social Services came to their house to take them away from their mother.
He blew out a long breath.
Diablo: I can wire u 800. Western Union. Same place as last time.
Taya: Luv u!!! Thx.
Diablo: Ya. Have u heard from Clarissa?
Taya: No. U?
Diablo: No.
Taya: No matter. She’s a bitch. Like Mom. Gotta go. When u gonna send the money?
Diablo: In 2 hrs. Will text u. Take care.
He knew he wouldn’t hear from her again for quite a while. If people knew what she did to him, they’d think he was crazy for still talking to her, but she was his sister… his blood. As the images of his past started to creep from the dark corners of his mind, he willed them back. He didn’t want the memories at that moment. What he wanted was to have dinner with Fallon, but he knew she wasn’t ready for that.
Glancing at the clock, he decided to cut out early so he could wire the money to Taya.
A couple of hours later, he was clicking the remote absentmindedly as he stretched out on his bed, a towel wrapped around his waist. He settled on a station showing an infomercial on power smoothies, a blender mixing a container of green liquid.
A knock on his door snapped him out of his lethargy. Pulling up from the bed, he shuffled to the door and opened it. Maria stood there, her eyelids puffy and red.
“Can I come in? I really need a friend,” she said between sniffles.
Diablo nodded, stepping aside to let her in. Comfortable in his room, she went over to the bed and sat down, running her hands over the green blanket covering it. He went back to his spot on the bed, pushed up the pillows, and leaned back against the headboard.
“What’s going on?” he asked as he scanned her mascara-streaked face.
“I just found out that my brother’s got liver cancer real bad. He’s had it for a while and no one even told me.” She covered her face with her hands.
“That fucking sucks.” Diablo tugged her to him and she clung to him. “I didn’t know you had a brother.” He really didn’t know anything about her, Lucy, or any of the club girls. They never talked about family or their backstory with the brothers. He suspected the other women knew each other’s business, but the club girls were always jovial, sexy, and playful around the men.
“Yeah. Him and me were real close when we were kids. He ran away from home when I was twelve. I didn’t hear from him for years. Three years ago he found me, just like that, and we went back to being close. I can’t believe I’m gonna lose him.”
Wetness marked his chest as he lay there silently, listening to Maria’s heart break in a thousand sobs. He didn’t know what to say. It sucked that she was losing her brother, but he was a man of few words, so he just massaged her shoulder.
As the last orange and pink rays before twilight beckoned the stars, Maria pulled away and sat up straight. He handed her a box of tissues from the nightstand and she took several, blowing her nose and wiping her black-stained cheeks. “I’m sure I look a mess,” she said. He smiled. “Sorry for invading your space. I know how you guys hate an emotional woman.”
“No need to apologize. You needed a shoulder to lean on. We’re friends.”
“You can be so sweet. I wonder if your brothers know there’s a big teddy bear behind the mean exterior.” She giggled and poked him, then scooted closer to him. “You wanna fool around?”
Smiling, he shook his head. “Why don’t you freshen up and go downstairs for a bit. Being with people sometimes helps.”
“Are you coming down later?”
“Nah. I got some stuff on my mind.”
“Did you want me to bring some dinner up to you?”
He shook his head. She stood up and went to his bathroom. When she came out, she went over to him and brushed his lips with hers. “You sure you want me to go?”
Pushing back a bit, he said, “You should go see your brother. Where does he live?”
“Wichita. I don’t have the money.”
“I’ll pay for it.”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not. I’m offering.”
“I’ll think about it. I don’t want to run into my mom or sisters. I didn’t leave under the best circumstances. I got some shit going on with my family.”
“We all do,” he said in a low voice. “Just let me know.”
“I will.” She reached out and lightly tugged his beard. “You know, if things were different, like you were just a regular guy and I was a regular woman, would you be interested in me? I mean, would you date me… pursue me?”
He shrugged. “Probably. I’m not exactly the settling down type of guy.”
“But if you were?”
“Then yeah.”
She grinned and went to the door. “Thanks for that, even though you’re lying through your teeth.”
The door closed behind her and he stared at it for a long while. He picked up his phone and tapped in Fallon’s number.
Diablo: Fucking awesome sunset tonight. U see it?
For the longest time, he waited for an answer, but his phone stayed silent.
The voices of his brothers filtered through his open window. Fuck it. He rose to his feet and pulled on a pair of blue jeans, then tugged a black T-shirt over his head. As he pulled on his boots, he glanced at the phone. Nothing. He shrugged on his cut, then tapped in a text.
Diablo: U get the money?
Taya: Yea. Thx. Ur the best!
Diablo: Right.
Sighing, he slipped the phone in his pocket and headed downstairs to join his brothers.