Beautiful Outlaw (6 page)

I know what she’s trying to do, but it’s not working.  My dick wants something else, someone else to be exact.  “Explain to me how you ended up falling asleep in my damn bed, when I never invited you into it.”

She looks away, staring at her hands.  She’s doing her best to look hurt, but I know better than that shit.  Domino has never been hurt by anything except not getting her damn way.  “I asked you a question, and I want a fuckin’ answer.”

She finally looks up, anger flashing in her eyes.  “I came in after you fell asleep. I’d been sitting at the fuckin’ bar all night, waiting for you.  I wasn’t going to run away just because you were in a shit mood.”

I lean down, placing my face only inches from hers.  “Listen to me, you stupid bitch.  Never walk into my room without being asked, and just so you know, that’s not gonna happen anymore.  If you pull shit like this again, or if I hear about you telling anyone else you’re my woman, you’ll never step foot on Outlaw property again.”

“Bowie...” She starts, but I cut her off.

“Get the fuck out of my room, before I throw your naked ass into the hallway myself.”

She opens her mouth to say something else, something that is probably going to make me even more pissed, but shuts it when someone bangs on my door.  Without waiting for a reply, Cash walks in.  He looks from Domino to me. 

“You can get your rocks off later.  Right now, I want you in my office.”  He turns around and walks out without another word. 

My eyes follow him until his shadow fades down the hallway then I look back at Domino.  “Get your clothes on and get the hell out.”

She starts to say something else, but I shake my head.  “I don’t have time for your shit, and I never will.  Now, fuckin’ go.”

Me Again

Shay

I stare into the mirror as I run a finger over my overly full lips.  After years of injections, I wonder if they will ever look normal again.  Moving from my lips to my nose, I feel hollow when I reach the spot where the bump used to be.  My hands then go to my eyes, reaching the skin that is pulled taut from multiple Botox injections.  I wonder if I will ever look like me again, will I always look like Marcus’ doll?

I continue to stare at my eyes in the mirror, noticing the brown contacts are still covering the blue they should be. When I woke up, I instinctively put them back in.  After years of being reminded to wear them and threatened when I didn’t, I never forget to put them in the moment I crawl from bed.  My fingers shake as I prepare to remove them for the final time.  Just as I gain the courage, a knock sounds at the door.  My hands fly down to my side, fear flowing through my veins. 

I hear the voice of a girl, not young but not quite grown either, coming through the door.  “Hurry up, Shay.  I can’t wait to get to the mall.”

What?  I reach for the knob and slowly pull it open, to find a teenage girl standing just a few feet away.  Her hair is blonde, a bit lighter than mine used to be.  Her eyes are green, reminding me of the deep shade of a four leaf clover.  Her face is beautiful, in only the way a young girl can be. When my eyes narrow in on her nose, I know it’s Rachel. She’s the girl from the pictures I saw last night. The sister Bowie calls Priss.

“Hey, I’m Rachel.” She introduces herself, proving my assumption true.

“Hi, I’m La…  I’m Shay.” Fumbling my new name already is not a good sign. 

“I know who you are. 
Mamá 
called a little while ago and told me all about you.  She said to take you to the mall with me.”

“The mall?” 

The last thing I want to do is go shopping.  If anything, I want to curl up in the bed and cry.  I have questioned my decision to leave home, since the minute I told Jeremy the truth. I wonder if I should have stayed, remained where everything is familiar.  At least with Marcus, I knew what to expect.  I knew that my mother would be cared for.  Now, I have no idea what is going on with my family.

I also feel unwanted and discarded by the one person that I was told I could trust. When Bowie walked out the door last night, I felt that regret for the first time.  I regretted trusting him, thinking he would be everything my brother had said he would be. I shake my head, knowing I’m being petty.  He did do as he promised.  He brought me somewhere that I would feel safe.  Somewhere, I’m sure Marcus would never think to look.  Bowie didn’t disappoint me; I disappointed myself by forgetting that I had to depend on myself, not on some stranger. Even if that stranger was a handsome man that made me feel things I didn’t understand.

“Are you ready to go or what?” She asks, bringing me out of my thoughts. 

“Uhmm..  I don’t really want go anywhere today.”

She sticks out her bottom lip, giving me the perfect teenage pout.  “I just got my permit, so I can’t drive by myself yet. 
Mamá 
said you could ride to Owensboro with me.  You have to come to the mall with me, please.”

I want to tell her no; I really do, but I’m not sure anyone could look in her eyes and say no.  “I guess I could go for a little while.”

“You need to go anyway. 
Mamá
said you didn’t have any clothes, and you’re too skinny to wear either of ours.” She looks up and down my nearly emaciated frame.  “I wouldn’t buy much though. 
Mamá
will fatten you up really quick.”

Hearing her calling Nina her Mama has me a bit confused, but then I remember how little she was in the picture with Bowie that I saw earlier.  If Nina took her in at that age then she is the only mother Rachel knows.  From what little I saw of her, I doubt a young girl could ask for a better Mama.  Other than mine, of course.  Just the thought of my mom brings on a wave of sorrow.  Even though I didn’t get to see her or Dad often, it was comforting knowing they were so close. 

“Come on.” With those words she grabs my hands and starts to pull me through the house.  Leading me to my bedroom, she pulls me through the door.

“Grab your stuff, so we can go.” She orders, with a smile in her voice. 

I walk over to the bedside table and grab my purse, which holds the money Jeremy gave me.  I will buy the necessities, but nothing more.  Until I can get a job, it’s all the money I have in the world.  I can’t live here for free forever.  Just thinking about having to find somewhere to go sends a sharp pain through my head. 

“Hurry up.” Rachel calls from the doorway, completely oblivious of my worries. 

Shaking away my thoughts of where I will go or how I will survive, I slide on my shoes and walk to her.  “Just remember, I don’t want to stay at the mall too long.”

“Don’t worry.  We won’t.” She says with a huge smile on her face.

*****

Three and a half hours later, we are still walking from store to store.  I have two bags full of clothes and anything else my new friend thought I might need, none of which I paid for.  According to Rachel, Bowie left money with Nina for me to get what I needed and she’s determined to spend every penny of it. 

Holding up a purple tee-shirt with JUICY written across the chest, she smiles.  “How about this?  You would look so hot wearing it.”

“I don’t think so.” I say, with a shake of my head.  I’m getting casual clothes.  I plan to never wear anything with a designer label on it again, but I think that shirt is a bit much for me. 

She goes on and on about how good it would look on me, as my eyes wander across the store.  Settling on the doorway, the salon across the corridor catches my eye through the storefront.  I watch as a woman walks out running her hand through her hair.  My own hand mimics hers, pulling my hair forward to look at it. Seeing the bright red strands against my skin, I make a decision. 

“I want to go to the salon,” I whisper out, not believing I’m about to do this. 

Her eyes move to mine. “What did you say?”

I straighten my shoulders and say it again.  “I want to go to the salon.  I need to get my hair cut and colored.”

“Spa day,” She squeals as a smile spreads across her face.  “We’ll have to get our nails done too.”

Without giving me a chance to respond, she grabs my hand, for the hundredth time today, and rushes us out of the store.  Walking right into the salon, she smiles at the receptionist.  “This is Shay; she wants the works. I just want a mani and pedi.”

The woman looks over her shoulder and sees an empty chair.  “Just a sec.  Valerie had a cancelation, so she can help you.”

The words barely leave her mouth, before a pretty brunette walks up and motions for me to follow her. “Come with me, please.”

My legs feel boneless as I follow her to the chair.  As soon as I sit down, she reaches for my hair.  “What are you thinking?”

“I want a cut and color.”

She continues to run her fingers through my long locks.  “How would you like it to look?”

Not giving myself a chance to question my decision, I smile.  “I want to look like me again.”

Too Damn Good

Bowie

Walking into Nina’s, I see her sitting on the couch reading a book with a half-naked man on the cover.  “Hey,
Mamá
.”

She smiles, when she looks up from her reading. “
Hijo
, what are you doing here so soon?  The way you left so quick after dropping off Shay, I figured it would be a while before I saw your handsome face.”

I walk over to her and place a quick kiss on her cheek, before settling in beside her on the couch.  “I have to ride to Alabama on some club business.  I’ll probably be gone for a week or two, so I figured I better check in on your houseguest.”

She gives me a look; one that says she doesn’t like me doing this shit.  If I’m on the road, she knows I’m always one stop from heading to prison.  Even worse, one bullet from being six feet under.  “Shay’s not here.”

“Where’s she at?”

“She started her new job today.”

What the fuck?  She hasn’t even been here more than a week and she’s already got a job? “Where’s she working?”

“She’s a receptionist at one of the salons in the mall,” She says proudly.  “Rachel took her to the mall, the morning after you dropped her off.  They went into the salon, and one of the girls said something to her about it being the receptionist’s last day.  Her replacement had backed out at the last minute, and no one else had been hired yet.  Shay applied for the position and got the job the same day.”

“She didn’t need to do that shit,” I grumble out, not liking the idea of her working. 

Her eyes narrow, reminding me that I’m in her home not the clubhouse.  In other words, watch my mouth.  Trying again, with less profanity, I say, “She didn’t need to get a job.”

“Yes, she did.  That girl’s not one for sitting around letting someone take care of her,” Nina says with a nod. “She begged me to let her give me some money for staying here. I wouldn’t let her, of course.”

“I already got her covered.  Didn’t you tell her?”

Nina throws back her head and laughs, a laugh full of joy.  “Oh, I sure did.  That’s when she marched out the door. She came back over two hours later, both arms full of groceries.”

“How the hell did she get to the store?”

“She walked,” She replies, with a shake of her head.

What the fuck is wrong with that woman? “The store is over two miles away.”

“Yes, it is.  She had no idea where she was going either, only passed by it when Rachel took her to the mall.  She ended up getting lost, and it took her even longer than it should have.”

Shit, this is not good.  The woman that got off that bus is not the kind of woman that worked as a receptionist; she definitely wasn’t the kind of woman that carried groceries for two miles.  “I need to get her something to drive.”

“That’s gonna be kind of hard.” Nina mumbles, leaning into the arm of the couch.

“Why is that?  I figured she could just drive my old truck; it’s out back of the house.  I’ll have to have a look at it when I get back.  It hasn’t been driven in a while, so I don’t want her in it until I know it’s safe.”

“The truck would be fine.  Except, she doesn’t know how to drive.”

My chin goes slack at that.  How in the hell does someone her age not know how to drive? “Did she tell you that?”

Nina nods, looking almost sad.  “She said her mom got sick right before she turned sixteen, some sort of kidney disease, so the whole driver’s license thing was put on hold.”

“What about after that?  Why didn’t her husband teach her?”

“I didn’t even know she had a husband,” She looks away, staring towards the window.  “She doesn’t talk much about her past, and when she does, she keeps it basic.  She told me that she respects me too much to lie, but that she couldn’t tell me the truth either.”

Slowly her eyes move back to me.  “She’s running from something, Bowie, and I know you know what it is.  Just tell me, is her being here putting your
hermana
in danger?”

The question hits me like a punch to the gut. The fact that she even has to ask that question kills me. “No,
Mamá
.  You know I’d never bring anything dangerous close to you or Priss.  I would never let anything hurt either one of you.”

“Is there anything I need to know about her?  Anything that could cause problems.”

I want to give her the answers she seeks, but I don’t have them myself.  I’ve tried to call Lock over and over, since I dropped Shay off, but he isn’t answering me.  A few short texts, saying shit is too hot to talk, were my only responses. 

“You remember, Lock?”

Her eyes brighten at my friend’s name.  “Of course, I remember Jeremy.”

We haven’t seen each other much, since we got out of the Army, but he has been down a time or two.  Wearing a badge, the boys at the clubhouse weren’t really welcoming to him, so we spent most of our time at Nina’s.  She grew to love him, just like she does most people. 

“She’s his sister.  I don’t really know what’s going on, other than she’s on the run from her husband.”

Nina merely nods, not asking for more of an explanation. “You can teach her to drive when you get home.  Until then, one of her co-workers is letting her ride with them.   Rachel is looking for any excuse to get behind the wheel, so she’ll take her anywhere else she needs to go.”