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Chapter Four
Tree
Her car will cost twice what it's worth to fix. I've been checking it out for an hour and I haven't found a single redeeming quality yet. The radiator is busted. The engine has a massive amount of damage. Every-fucking-thing is rusted. The suspension is… nonexistent. This thing has to feel like a tank when she drives it. It's almost as old as she is.
I'll have to get my head back in the game. If I make a few good runs with the club I'll have enough to get her a newer car. Nothing fancy, not brand new, but at least something that doesn't look like it'll fall apart if you sneeze too close to it. If I take this thing to the junkyard, I should be able to get enough for her to have a deposit for an apartment when she's ready to move out.
I roll out from beneath the car and groan. I need to get high. This shit sucks.Davidis clearly not a man, because a man would never have let her drive that. I shouldn't have either. I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was this bad. I guess in the last ten months it's gotten worse.Fuck, ten months? Has it been that long?
Layla's been gone for almost a year.
I lean back against the car and wipe my hands off on a cloth. I need another shower and an energy boost, and maybe something to eat. I wonder if Maya bought more of those snack cakes. We had the ones shaped like Christmas trees last month. Those are my favorite.
I barely get the cabinet open before Amy smacks my hand. "The fuck is wrong with you?" I ask, spearing her with an angry glare.
She glares right back. "You ate an entire box of those the last time you were in here. They're not all for you." Amy is small, but she wasn't the last president's ol' lady for nothin'. She's as mean as they come. She bumps me out of the way with her hip and reaches into the cabinet. "You can haveone," she says, slapping it into my hand.
I'm a foot and a half taller than her, but I'm not going to fight over it. I'll just wait until she goes to sleep and get my sugar fix then. I tear the plastic open and shove the entire thing in my mouth right in front of her.
Amy laughs at me and shakes her head. "What's got you so happy today, Tree?"
I gulp down the cake in my mouth. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm pissed as hell."
"Well then what pissed you off?"
I lean back against the counter with a sigh. "Nell's car is a piece of shit. I can't fix it, and I don't have the money to replace it right now. I gotta talk to Pres about taking some runs."
Shock draws lines in Amy’s face. "Nell is here?" Amy remembers everyone she ever meets, no matter how much time has passed. Nell used to hang around the club with Layla and me when we still lived here. It’s been almost five years since we moved into our house, and Nell stopped coming around here.
I’m so happy to be home. We’ve been on the road for days and I just want to get my hands on my hot-ass wife. “Layla?” I toss my keys onto the table. I kick off my boots before I take a single step on the carpet. I’ve been trained well. “Layla?”
“In here,” she calls out, giggling quietly.
I stalk into the living room and suck my teeth at the sight of her sister. As much as I love Nell, she’s fucking up my plans for the night. It’s hard to stay mad though. Nell brings the joy back to Layla’s face. Things have been so heavy and negative lately in this damn house. Layla’s disappointment in our failure to procreate tints everything in shades of grey.
Nell holds up a wine glass full of pink liquid and raises her eyebrows, daring me to take it. She thinks I won’t drink rosé because I’m a ‘tough guy’. Wrong.
“Gimme that shit.” I grab the glass from her hand, liquid sloshing over the lip of it. I tilt my head back and drain the glass. “Ah!DeliciousI” I scream to the ceiling, pounding my fist against my chest, making the girls howl with laughter.
I only had six more months to enjoy the sounds of them giggling together after that. I wish I’d known that then.
I scrub a hand over my beard, bringing myself back to reality. "Yeah, her prick boyfriend got her fired from her job, so she's going to stay here and work for Pres until she can get back on her feet."
"You put all that together? Today?"
"Yeah. Why?" I spent three years designing my wife’s dream house. Why would it be surprising that I figured out how to help Nell?
"Hmm." She puts her arm back into the cabinet and hands me another Christmas tree cake. "You can have one more for that. Now be a good boy and get that oil and dirt off your hands before you get it all over everything else."
I salute her as I walk away, taking time to enjoy my second sweet. Since she was nice enough to let me have two, maybe I won't raid the cabinets tonight.
I don't sleep very often anymore. I stay up for days at a time and then crash. Sometimes I wake up in really weird places that I don’t remember going to. But when I’m home and my high starts to fade in the middle of the night, I like to sit outside on the back porch and look up at the stars until the sun rises.
The clubhouse is a strange sight when everyone's sleeping. The emptiness feels lonely and isolating. It's such a big space. It's meant to be filled with music and talking and occasionally, fighting. Layla and I used to love sitting on the couch and joking about everyone's drunk dance moves.
I lean against the door jamb and look out over the darkness that should be full of happiness and laughter. I used to participate in that. It feels like a lifetime ago. The floor creaks, and Nell copies my stance, leaning against her own door right across from me.
"Can't sleep?" I whisper, trying not to scare her with my voice.
