Page 14 of Riding the Edge
“Tuesday through Saturday,” she replies. “So, what do you fellas say?”
“Well, if you don’t mind and you’re sure it’s not out of the way…”
“I’m sure,” she smiles. “But we gotta leave now. I gotta get the smell of gasoline off me,” she adds cheekily as her eyes find mine. Before I have a chance to reply, Frankie tosses his arms around my neck.
“See you later, Dad,” he says.
“Later, kid,” I say before releasing him and pulling Enzo in. “Love you guys.”
“Love you too,” Enzo says. “I’ll call you when I’m on my way back.”
I give him a tip of my chin and slice my eyes to Maria, watching as she digs into that tremendous bag of hers and pulls out her car keys. Enzo and Frankie start for the door and she turns to follow but before she can take a step, my hand closes around her wrist.
“You’re just going to leave like that? Without a word?”
Glancing over her shoulder, her brown eyes peer back at me and for a second I’m fucking taken back. Blame it on the exhaustion but those eyes… she can do more with those eyes than most women can do with their entire body.
“I’m sorry,” she says, turning to face me. Placing a hand on her hip she cocks her head to the side. “Goodbye, Wolf.”
My kid comes out of surgery and all of a sudden, she’s back to calling me, Wolf.
“Lady, you just spent six hours sitting next to me waiting for my son to get out of surgery.”
“And I’m so glad he made it through. I’ll be praying to Saint Anthony for a speedy recovery. You’ll keep me posted, won’t you?”
I don’t know why her nonchalance bothers me or why I feel the need to keep her with me for a little while longer. Maybe it’s because I know once she walks out that door, I’ll be alone and forced to face reality. That makes a shit ton more sense than admitting I might miss her company or the scent of her fucking perfume.
“Yeah, I’ll keep you posted,” I tell her, releasing her hand. “I’ll send up a smoke signal when Nico wakes up.”
Truth is, this will burn out just like it did when it was her daughter lying in this hospital. She’ll go back to her life and I’ll go back to mine. The only difference being, back then we had a reason to run into one another. Now, I’m not sure where I stand with my club or if I even want to be part of a brotherhood that robbed so much of my life. That’s a hard pill to swallow for a man like me. I’ve lived so much of my life believing if a brother stands behind you, you protect him and if he stands beside you, you respect him. I don’t know what happens when a brother stands against you never mind the entire club.
“A simple phone call will suffice,” she calls.
“Need your number to call you,” I point out.
She laughs, catching me off guard.
She’s got an amazing fucking laugh.
“On second thought, I bet you’re great at blowing smoke,” she quips before turning on her heel. I remain rooted in place as she walks away from me. Reaching the door, she pauses and gives me another glance.
“See ya around, Wolf,” she says softly. “Hopefully the next time I bump into you the circumstances will be different.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
“Although, the scent of gasoline is starting to grow on me,” she adds with a slight quirk of her lips.
For a mouthy broad, she’s got a personality.
A great laugh and killer fucking eyes too.
“Later, Lady.”
Until next time.
