AllFreeNovel
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I’ve never much minded the ride over these parts. Would do it often as a young gun, setting off late afternoon on a Friday to arrive in time to catch the pretty young holidayers as they spilled out into the street, belly full of liquor and head full of dreams. Winter being what it is, more often than not, Digger and I would find ourselves stuck on the wrong side of the pass and the wrong side of our old man’s temper when the snow settled a thick white blanket over the road.
Never did complain about it at the time, but the thought sends a fucking shiver down my spine now. There’s a thousand places I’d rather be snowed in than in the same fucking town as the witch.
I park the bike at the foot of the sloped driveway and remove my helmet with a sigh. Charlene’s the last fucker I want to speak to, and him even less. But needs are a must.
"I told you to call first." My ex-wife explodes out the front door, all skin and bones in her latest activewear.
Every time I'm here, I wonder how she gets the seven-foot cedar panels to swing open. There's fuck all to the woman. Even a stiff breeze would have trouble finding anything to blow against.
"Because three hours is long enough to hide what, exactly?"
"I ain’t hidin' shit." Her default back to her clipped southern accent tells me I'm already under her skin.
"Marco home?"
"What you want with him?" She arrives at the end of the driveway, arms folded over herself. At close proximity, it's clear she dehydrates herself to help keep the weight off. The skin that used to sing with supple health now sits wrinkled and crepey across her chest and neck. Her hands mirror my mother's before she passed away.
Momma was sixty-two.
“You should lay off the sauna, Charlene.”
“You gave up your right to tell me what to do a long time ago, Tyke.”
Silence falls between us, neither of our stubborn asses willing to back down first.
I change the subject back to where she wanted it. “I’m here because I want to know if Marco can shed light on a small problem I got."
A sinister smile creeps across her features. I mentally slap my stupid fucking self for ever thinking Maddie looks like her momma. My baby girl has a wicked smile, but it promises trouble in a playful pixie kind of way. Her mother's reeks of imminent death.
"You wouldn’t happen to be talking about Connor’s girl, would you?”
I lean back on the seat, leather creaking beneath me, palms folded on top of my helmet where it rests before me. “What you know of that?” News travels fast down the diseased grapevine.
“Heard she saw more than she should and ran scared. Straight to you, of all places. What’s that little bitch got that you want, huh?”
“Call her that again, and we got problems.” I drag my gaze over Charlene.Still the same woman who fucked me over years ago.“Who told you she’s with us, anyways?”
“Who you think?”
“Didn’t realize you were on speakin’ terms with our kids.” Maddie, sure as fuck, never said anything.
“I’m not.” She folds her arms high with a haughty look on her pinched face. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Where our daughter was Friday night.”
I frown. “She was at home, dealin’ with this whole Rae shit.”
“That the tramp’s name?” Charlene flicks her nails. “I meant before that. You do realize Madeline was on a date. Don’t you?”
“Of course, I fuckin’ do.” Not that I can figure out how Charlene would fucking know if she doesn’t talk to her. “Unlike you, I keep an eye on our fuckin’ kids. Make sure they’re safe.”
“You know she was on a date with Deo then?”
I feel the color wash from my face. “The fuck?” My fingertips bruise against the polycarbonate of my helmet. “Marco know about this?”
“Who do you think told me?”
