Marcus

I watched her walk back across the street like it was nothing. Angela was back and she was acting like there wasn’t some unfinished business between us. We go way back, she said. That was something I would say to a girl that I had a one night stand with. What me and Angela had was the realest relationship that I had ever had. She was the one that had turned me hard against love, because I knew that no one else would ever be enough. If I couldn’t have Angela, then I didn’t want anyone at all. She was all I could think about, all that I had needed. Now she looked at me as if I was a stranger.

It took me a while to pull myself together enough to turn the music back on and get back to changing the oil in the bike. It was due and the sun was out. Now I wanted to go inside into the darkness and drink away any feelings that wanted to bubble up inside of me. I didn’t want to feel them. I didn’t want to feel anything that had to do with Angela. Melissa was looking like a saint next to Angela. At least Melissa couldn’t really mess me up. She took some things and broke even more, but that was nothing. Everything was replaceable, but the half of my heart that that woman carried off with her when she left was not.

My phone rang and it was Lucas calling me in. I was happy for the distraction and jumped at the chance for some work. It had been slow lately ever since we got a new player in the city. Lucas wanted to keep things quiet for a while and I hoped that the call meant that things were going to change. I didn’t care who was new and trying for territory, we had been here a long time and the Devil’s weren’t going anywhere.

The time away also meant that I would have something to occupy my time besides Angela. She had gotten enough of my thoughts and time over the years and she had had enough. The woman didn’t even act like it mattered what happened back then. I was going to have to pretend the same. It felt impossible when I even mentioned it to myself, but it was what had to happen. It had been too long and she was different now.

The drive to Lucas’ house was refreshing and I went as fast as I could without getting pulled over. I missed the wind in my short hair and the more I thought about it, the more I started to think that I needed to get out of the city for a while to clear my head. Things were getting complicated and the best thing to do was get of town before I did something stupid.

“Good to see you Marcus. You have been busy lately and I haven’t gotten to see you much. How is Melissa?”

“Gone.”

Lucas smirked and then shook his head. “She was beautiful, but I could see that she was complicated.”

Complicated didn’t even start to describe her, but she was easier than other woman I was thinking about. At least Melissa was just crazy and it was something that was known when you got with her. She was marked with a danger sign. I never got the same warning with Angela. That was why it was so hard to deal with all of these years, I never saw it coming.

“Complicated wasn’t a word. The place was so bad that someone called the cops about a robber when I had to break in last night and they didn’t believe that I lived there. She broke and stole everything that was worth anything.”

Lucas whistled and made a remark about how happy he was to be out of the dating game. “I gave it up. Women are too much drama for me. You are better just sticking to bed warmers. Then they leave in the morning and you don’t have to hear all of the rest of it.”

“I think I am with you on that one. Melissa killed it for me for a while.”

“Too bad.”

“Why?” Lucas had a grin on his face.

“She was here a little while ago looking for you.”

“I was home. I don’t know why she came here.”

He shrugged. “Who knows what goes on in their heads? She may be looking for another member to take her on. There is no loyalty with women like her. She just wants the jacket and the bike. The rest of it doesn’t matter.”

It was hard to hear it said about my relationship or whatever it had been. I didn’t care about her, but I liked to think that it was a little harder than that to replace me.

“Well it doesn’t matter. She is gone and she is never coming back.”

He nodded his head like he agreed, but the grin on his face said that he wasn’t so sure. Maybe I wasn’t sure either. Melissa would be a welcomed distraction after the day I was having.

***

“I’m glad you called me Marcus. I didn’t know what to do after our fight the other day.”

Melissa was talking fast and I wished that I had been driving my bike when I went to the bar earlier. Here I was trying to get Angela off of my mind with a few beers and I ran into Melissa instead. She was hanging out there and I wasn’t sure if Lucas was right or not about why she was there. Was she there for me or was she just in line to find another biker to ride on the back of his bike with?

Hell, it didn’t matter. I had her with me to keep me from thinking about another woman. There was nothing wrong with that. I knew that she was crazy, but she was also good at other things that would make any man forget his own name, let alone whatever it was that ailed him. I just had to get her out of the place by morning. The morning was when there was all of the talking that got us in trouble in the first place.

“I am sorry about what happened the other day Marcus. I really am.”

My eyes were looking across the street as I pulled in. Angela was out on her porch and she looked good. How was I supposed to forget about her, when she was so close?

“Is that the new neighbor?”

“Yeah, I think you know her. We went to school together senior year, but maybe she was already gone when you started.”

Melissa looked over into the neighbor’s yard and shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

“She was a cheerleader. Pretty popular back then.”

Melissa wrinkled her nose. “No I don’t think I know her. What was her name again?”

“Angela Madden.”

“I know her. She was the head cheerleader, wasn’t she?”

I shook my head and hoped that there was no connection. “Yeah.”

“You should invite her over for a drink. She was the girl that everyone wanted to be in school. I would like to see what she is up to nowadays, don’t you?”

Melissa was already getting out of the car and I was cursing myself for opening my big mouth. What the hell was I thinking bringing her back here? It didn’t matter what I thought though. Melissa was already across the street and talking to Angela. This was not going to end well.

The two women started back over across the street towards me and I could see that Angela was grinning at me. What was on her mind and why was she coming over?

“She invited me for a drink. I couldn’t refuse.”

Angela smirked and I knew that she was judging me on Melissa. She was pretty and vicious, but she wasn’t very bright, not like Angie was.

“Well let me see what I got. I don’t know if I have any wine coolers.”

“Don’t worry Marcus, I graduated to hard liquor years ago.”

Melissa looked from me to Angela and I had a feeling that she wished she hadn’t brought her over. It was going to be clear that I knew Angela better than just as a neighbor. Melissa had only been gone a few days and she was not going to take kindly to that. I knew her too well.

“Great, then let’s go in. I love seeing people from the old high school. I had some of my best memories there.”

I had some of the worst there and I think that Angela was agreeing with me from the silence that was coming from her. It was deafening and the look on her face made me nervous.

“So did you know Marcus when you were in school?”

Angela looked to me for an answer, but I wasn’t stupid enough to say anything. I was too busy trying to hide the fact that my house was bombarded two days before by the woman in front of me. She had made a mess of things and I hadn’t really done much to the wreckage left behind.

“We knew each other a bit Melissa. I don’t remember you though. Were you in our class?”

She shook her head and told Angela that she was a few years behind. “I didn’t meet Marcus until I graduated and he was at the shop in town. Since then we have been inseparable.”

I wouldn’t have went that far with it, but we had been off and on again for a couple of years. The key thing to remember though was that we were off far more than we were on. She was the familiar madness that I went back to, just like I had this time.

“Well that is nice. When are you going to marry her Marcus?”

Angela was smiling and I could tell she was enjoying herself. What I didn’t see was the way Melissa was looking between us. And I didn’t see the look in her eyes when she realized where she had seen that name before. That was going to come later when Angela left.

She didn’t stay too long, just long enough to get Melissa going and to make sure that everything between us was complicated. Angela didn’t know the storm she had caused. I wouldn’t even know it until later when I was looking at the aftermath. For now, it was just uncomfortable and I was sure that I had made a mistake bringing Melissa back. What the hell had I been thinking?

I don’t know what I thought it was going to solve. Angela was still on my mind and now I had a crazy chick to deal with. This was certainly not the best idea that I had ever had. I couldn’t even bring myself to sleep with Melissa, not when what I wanted was just across the street.

“Let’s just lay together Melissa.”

“You have never said that to me in as long as I have known you Marcus.”

“Well maybe I should have. I just don’t feel like it tonight.”

She had a dark look on her face that made me nervous. What made her so mad all of a sudden?