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Red nodded. “Anyway, that’s all-ancient history. Simon used to keep these drawings, said they were good for Killian. He had a hard time speaking when he was young, drawing was his outlet.”
“But he didn’t draw…he?—”
“Erased.” Red finished for me, spearing me with a look.
We stayed locked in a staring contest for too long before she finally broke away.
“I’d say there was something to that, but I’m no psychologist. A broken boy who likely witnessed atrocious things, who utilized the ability to erase as a form of art. Poetic if you ask me.” She lifted her shoulder, then continued staring at me.
“I don’t know anything about you, Laura. Except that Callie vouches for you, and what I’ve seen since you got here. But who you were before that, I don’t know.”
My mind raced. Was she accusing me of something, or was she just curious?
“Only reason I bring it up is, he’s going to give you a property patch. You’ll be a part of this club. If you have any skeletons in the closet, you might want to tell him. He doesn’t do well with surprises.” She let out a sigh, while walking over to the plants. Her fingers brushed over the leaves in a soothing gesture.
“You’ve started sprucing this office up,” she stated.
I looked around, realizing she was right. I hadn’t even noticed how many small effects were my touch. The calendar, white monitor and keyboard, wireless mouse and clear pen holder. There was a gold stapler and an organized stack of post-its. On the back wall was a cute bohemian style message board with cute matching pins, and a few reminders in place.
There were the plants, the new speaker, and even the cute chair I had found in the old storage shed that I had reupholstered.
“You suit him. I’m glad that you’re here and I’m proud of what you did for those girls last night. No one gives much stock to those girls being here, but they bring life into this place just like the president does, or anyone else.”
I knew she was right, but to me it was simply that they were people, not Sweetbutts or property or anything else.
“I just see them as people.”
Red walked over and placed her hand on my shoulder, peering down at me. “You’ll stop after a while. Not that it’ll make you a bad person, but after so many years, you stop having the luxury of seeing beyond the structure we have in place. It keeps us safe and helps bring meaning to what we do.”
“He told me to leave these for you. Just wanted to be sure you got them. After an attack like we had, I have a feeling he’ll be gone for a bit.”
I reached out and accepted the keys to Killian’s truck, feeling like someone had just shoved a lit candle into my chest. He left me his truck to drive while he was gone.
I smiled and then took out three of his drawings and set them aside.
TWENTY
KILLIAN
“You really couldn’t have handled that without me?” I asked, not looking over at my VP.
Dealing with the members who wanted to fight the Death Raiders took all morning. It was time I didn’t have and an argument I shouldn’t have had to sort.
The gravel crunched under Giles’s feet as he followed me. Before long, we were in the club, heading in through the church doors.
“Sorry Kil, they were insistent.”
I spun around, anger piercing my tone. “Then fucking put them in their place, Giles. That is your job as vice president. They will listen to you, or you will make them listen to you. You’ve been asking me to handle the Laura shit for weeks and I finally do it, and you fucking interrupt me.”
Giles paled, a wince working into his features. “Sorry…”
A strange feeling twisted around in my gut—something like exhaustion. The club was all I cared about my whole life, and now all I wanted was my vice president to be capable of dealing with shit so I could fuck my…
Old lady…never had one of those before, it was the only term I’d ever give to any relationship I would ever have, and yet the term didn’t feel significant enough to describe what I felt for Laura.
I could feel her deeper than that.
But walking around calling her my soulmate might be a little too much.
