“It’s not why you think,” I quickly added, face flushing. “I just got my period and don’t have any tampons. I was going to go and find Moe, maybe see if she has anything.”
Before he could answer I lifted one edge of the towel wrapped around me and showed him the light pink smear. I didn’t bleed heavily the first day of my period, but I still would need something.
“Fuck!” Grizz yanked off the sheet and jumped up, stopping me. “You can’t go out looking for Moe in a towel.”
I looked away as he stepped into his jeans and pulled them up. But not before I noticed what was under the sheet. I guess it was true, at least in Grizz’s case. Big man, big—well, you know. The little billy-club was actually smaller than him. I shivered.
He quickly returned with a partial box of tampons, and I retreated to the bathroom. I subconsciously knew I would have my period around now. I’d finished up my birth control packet, so I knew it was coming. But in all the excitement of the last few days, it was the last thing on my mind.
I came out of the bathroom dressed in my nightshirt. Thank God Grizz wasn’t waiting for me on the bed. Good—me having my period wasn’t appealing to him. Hopefully, that meant another week’s reprieve.
I found him in the little living room. He was sitting in his recliner flipping through the few TV stations available.
“You’re back early. How was your business?” I asked, perching on one arm of the sofa.
He turned the TV off and looked at me. “Heard you had a bit of drama while I was gone.”
“Yeah, about that. I want to tell you why Grunt—”
“Doesn’t matter. I talked to Grunt. The guy had it coming.”
I was relieved. I was still a little angry with Grunt because of how he handled the situation. It was a cruel thing to do. But Grizz seemed to think it was justified, so I dropped it.
“I got to meet Blue’s wife,” I said instead, giving him a level look. “What a sweetheart. Thanks for asking him to take me home. I think I would have been better off if he’d locked me in the lion’s cage at the zoo.”
Grizz started laughing then and suddenly I couldn’t help myself; I laughed with him. I plopped down on the couch, and after a few minutes he filled me in on Jan.
Blue had met Jan about five years earlier. He had been involved with another woman at the time, but she was “crazy,” according to Grizz, and Blue broke it off. Poor Blue. What was it with him and women with emotional problems? He met Jan at a bar a few months later, and it was love at first sight. I could understand that. Blue wasn’t as attractive as she was, but I think she found the tough guy persona appealing.
They had a very quick romance and married soon after. They bought a little house in an older section of Pembroke Pines. I knew where he was talking about. It was called Summer Wood. They were older and smaller homes, but it was a nice neighborhood that appealed to young families just starting out.
It wasn’t long after they married that Blue noticed the change in her and immediately regretted the hasty decision to wed. She was quick to lose her temper. She would pick fights with him. She would dare him to lay a hand on her. She constantly provoked him until he would walk out. When he got home, she went into fits of hysterical crying and begged for forgiveness.
Eventually, she started picking fights with the neighbors. It got even worse when she started threatening the neighbors with her husband’s status as second in command of a motorcycle gang.
Word got back to Grizz, and he told Blue to take care of it. I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. But it didn’t matter. She pulled an ace out of her sleeve just in time. She was pregnant.
So Blue settled for moving her to a nicer part of Pembroke Pines. I wasn’t a real estate expert, but I was certain a telephone lineman’s salary wasn’t equal to the upscale home I visited. I guess that’s where his extracurricular activity with the gang came in, enabling him to afford it. She saw a doctor and was taking medications that seemed to help. The only time they had trouble with her was when she got pregnant again and stopped taking the medications. Blue practically had to monitor her 24/7, and Chicky, Willow and Moe spent a lot of time with her when Blue was working.
“So she freaked out on you, huh? I wonder if she’s pregnant again and off her meds?” Grizz looked thoughtful.
“I don’t know. She didn’t say anything and she didn’t look pregnant.” I told him everything she’d said to me and what I said to her in return.
He chuckled. “You really said that to her?”
“Yes, and I can’t say I’m proud of myself. You’ve obviously had a terrible influence on me.”
He just laughed. “Well, if it’s anything like before, she’ll have a meltdown and start crying and wanting to see you to beg for your forgiveness.” He didn’t seem the least bit concerned with his status as leader of the gang or the threats made to me.
Grizz and I spent the rest of the night watching TV and went to bed. I no longer slept on top of the covers, but I still slept with my back to him. He no longer slept on top of the covers either.
But he also never slept in his jeans anymore. I knew he was nude, and prior to earlier that evening, I had never looked. I’d made it a point to pretend to be asleep if he got up before me. If I got up before him, I just made sure I wasn’t in the room when he woke up.