6. 5 - Bad Things Come in Threes

5 - Bad Things Come in Threes

“If he was going to ask you out, he could have done it over the phone when he talked to you.”

I stared at Trinity as we finished cleaning up. “I don’t know what else could be so important that he wanted to meet up with me tonight.”

“From what I’ve heard, he isn’t even really allowed to be here because Angel Girl and a few of the others hate him.”

I rolled my eyes at my friend. “They shouldn’t hate him for their own lack of action. They’re mad because Walker’s ex-wife won’t have anything to do with them. It has nothing to do with Walker and everything to do with the kind of friends they were to that woman.”

“Kind of friends?”

“The fair-weather variety who conveniently forget to be there in the bad times.”

“Damn, that sucks. Still, I say he’s coming to ask you out.”

I shook my head. “He seemed almost reluctant to talk to me, so I doubt that.”

“You need some good shit in your life, Ree.”

“Don’t I know it.” We finished wiping down the tables and when I couldn’t stall any longer, I said my goodbyes to Trinity and made my way out to the parking lot. Normally, it wasn’t an issue. There had been one time when a customer waited around to harass a dancer when she got off work, but security quickly dealt with him, and they didn’t do it quiet-like. The women I worked for wanted to make sure that the word got out, so no one tried that shit again.

My dread for the parking lot had more to do with the man who was supposedly waiting outside for me to get off work. What the hell could Walker want that he had to show up at my job when I was dead tired of working a whole shift on very little sleep? My boy was still sick, but thanks to the antibiotics he’d been given a few days ago, he had finally hit the turning point and went from cranky to trying to release all the pent-up energy he stored while resting. Needless to say, I was about two hours into my nap when he decided that sleep wasn’t meant for tired, widowed moms.

I glanced up to see Walker leaning on his motorcycle which was parked right beside my nearly ancient 2010 Dodge Durango. The brand-new minivan my late husband bought for me when I was pregnant with our son had long since been repossessed. That happened about two months before he died. The Dodge Durango was a pity sale from an elderly couple who lived two houses down. Supposedly, Cecilia couldn’t drive anymore and there was no use paying insurance on two vehicles. They sold the Durango to me for $5,000 and I had to make payments for half of it because our money continued to disappear at the casino on a weekly basis.

“How did you know that was mine?”

Walker grinned up at me, and his soft, brown hair flopped down into his eyes. “Trinity’s been to the clubhouse before, so I know the Jeep is hers.” He glanced around the otherwise empty lot and shrugged.

“Right. I guess that was a dumb question.” His eyes met mine again and the smile he greeted me with slipped a bit.

A deep, fatigue-riddled sigh seeped out of me as my shoulders slumped at the sight. “What is it? Let me guess, it turns out my no-good, dead husband owed the club money too and you’ve come to collect? Newsflash, buddy, I don’t make shit and what I do make feeds my kids, so you aren’t getting a dime from me.”

“Sweetheart, even if my club was into lending assholes money to gamble away – and to be clear, we’re not – the last person we would ever come collecting from is a single mom who didn’t have a hand in the loss of those funds. The debt would have died with your man.”

“Well, I can tell by your face that you didn’t come here to ask me out on a date.” When he stared at me in confusion, I pointed to where Trinity was hauling ass out of the parking lot leaving the two of us there alone. She had grown up with some of the MC’s members and didn’t have any qualms about my safety. It helped that the S.H.E. MC took extra measures and had the parking lot under surveillance as well. If I happened to go missing, they’d know exactly where to go look for me.

“Trinity thought that was why you called.”

“Oh. Well…” he brushed his hand nervously through all that luscious hair of his and then chuckled. “Not that I wouldn’t. I mean… Well, you’re gorgeous and I enjoyed talking to you at the clubhouse. There was the store too,” He went on and it was a sight to see the gruff biker man tripping over his own words. “What I mean to say is…”

“Spare me.” A yawn slipped out of my mouth without my permission. Once I had more oxygen and myself under control, I tipped my head over to my vehicle. “No offense, but I’m dead on my feet. We can talk in my car, or maybe schedule whatever this is for a time after I get some sleep.”

“Is Josh still sick?”

My heart squeezed with the realization that the man knew my son’s name and bothered to ask about him. “He’s doing a bit better. The extra burst of energy he had today is part of the reason why I’m so dog-ass tired.” I moved to the SUV, unlocked it, and hopped into the driver’s side. If he wanted to talk, he could follow suit. Otherwise, I would go home and get the sleep I desperately needed.

Once Walker settled in beside me, he dipped his head and mumbled something I didn’t catch. Then, he twisted sideways a bit, took my hand, and held it in his own over the center console. “I fucking don’t want to be the one, but better me than either of the alternatives.”

“Shit, I knew it couldn’t be anything good.”

“If you don’t hate the shit out of me after this, I’ll gladly turn the night around and ask you out on a date. I don’t fucking deserve your time, but if you’re willing…”

I smiled at him and something deep inside my world-weary chest thumped. It may have been the heart I thought no longer had the capacity to pump for another human being beyond my children. “Okay. I’ll take you up on that.”

“Like I said, only if you don’t hate me after this.”

“Let’s just get it over with then. I hate anticipating bad news.”

Walker nodded, squeezed my hand, and then came out with the news that would have seemed impossible to me had someone told me back before my husband died.

“Thing is, this is fucked. It’s more fucked than it will seem in the beginning, but you have people at your back and fuck if I’ll leave you swinging in the wind.”

“Shit. Seriously, Walker, if you don’t spit it out I’m going to have a panic attack just listening to the buildup.”

“Right. Sorry,” he tacked on quickly. “The other day, after you took your family home, Griff told me a few things.”

“Griff?”

“The kid that was at the store with me.”

“Is he your son?”

Walker shook his head, and a sad look seemed to glaze over his eyes. “Can’t have my own,” he admitted. “He belongs to a club brother, but he has a lot going on with his wife and younger son.”

“It’s sweet of you to take him on,” I managed to get out. I meant that from the bottom of my heart. It wasn’t easy to be a parent and sometimes, you needed to be able to shuffle those responsibilities to someone else because there was only so much in the tank to give out to other people.

“Thing is, Griff was telling me about your daughter and why she was behaving the way she was.”

My face immediately flushed with embarrassment. “She’s not always like that. It was a rough week and…”

Walker cut me off. “No need to dole out excuses. I get it. Thing is, Griff has some inside information that I think is really important. He felt it was too. He wanted to take what he knew to his stepmom, Tash, but she’s been so busy, he didn’t want to burden her.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize Tash had a teenage stepson.”

“Their whole dynamic is new to them for the most part. Still, since he couldn’t get her involved to speak to you, he unloaded on me after he realized we already knew one another.”

“Okay. What could a kid in high school possibly have to say that will impact my life? Wait, did something happen to Ariel?”

Walker nodded his head and the knot in my stomach doubled in size. “There’s a girl that goes to school with them named Dina.” I nodded because I’d heard Ariel mention her on the phone to one of her friends before.

“Dina’s mother, Terry, went to high school with my husband and me.”

“Shit,” Walker huffed. The puzzle pieces started to mend themselves together at that point.

“Terry? Are you saying that…”

Walker squeezed my hand again and then placed his other hand over top of it, almost as if he was afraid I would bolt or disappear when he told me the rest. “According to what Dina had to say to Ariel at school, her mother, Terry, is coming for you because your husband stopped paying the bills for her when he died. For her and her other kid.”

“No!” The word left my mouth on a whisper but inside my head it felt much more like a shout.

“Supposedly, she’s going to come after you for child support for his illegitimate kid who should have inherited whatever he had.”

I laughed then. “What he had?” I questioned hysterically. “Anything my husband had he gambled away. The minivan he bought me was repossessed before he even died, and we live in a rental house.” I laughed harder. “What he didn’t gamble away was apparently propping up another family, if what she said is to be believed.”

“Her daughter believed it to be true and more importantly, she informed Ariel about it. That was about the time Griff said Ariel started to lose her shit.”

“Shit. Could he have ruined his children any more from the grave?” I asked, not expecting an answer. “I wondered why there was such a long pause where she didn’t allow her father’s death to affect her. Then again, I couldn’t fathom why she seemed so damn angry with me. I figured her grandparents must have told her that it was my fault he was on that trip when he died.”

Walker shook his head. “Not that I know of. According to Griff, she lost respect for you because she thought you knew about his affair and other family. She thought you were letting him get away with it.”

“Oh, hell.” I banged my head down against the cool steering wheel and that was when the tears came. “My poor baby has been dealing with this on her own all this time?”

It sucked that I couldn’t dig the asshole up, bring him back to life, and kill him myself. I always thought the damage he’d done to our family, with the gambling crap, had been hidden well enough and that it would never impact my kids after his death. Little did I know, there was more to his life of debauchery than even I had uncovered before his death.

“I don’t even know how long she’s been dealing with this. I suspect based on her behavior, but really… Why wouldn’t she tell me?”

“I think she was afraid to be the one to burst the bubble she thought you were living in. It says a lot about how confused she is. Part of her blames you for something she isn’t even sure you know. The other part doesn’t want to hurt you further by telling you. It probably doesn’t excuse her behavior, but certainly explains the hell out of it.”

“That is an understatement.” We sat quietly in my vehicle for a few moments as I absorbed everything. “So, not only was he gambling away our money, but he had an affair for only God knows how long, because I will never get a straight answer from Terry. She’ll probably tell me that it has been since high school. He’s dead and gone, so there’s no asking him.” I turned my eyes back to Walker. “A baby?”

“That’s what Griff said. The woman never came to confront you about it, so it’s possible the other girl was just slinging shit on someone who was already down and out.”

I shook my head. “No, if Dina said that, then Terry must have been running her mouth about doing exactly that. For that matter, she was probably hoping her daughter would do exactly what she did. They’re most likely wondering why I haven’t gone ape shit on her yet.” I chuckled then. “I can see it now; she’s been sitting around bitching about the fact that I haven’t come calling for the confrontation she wanted.”

“Sounds kind of stupid to get that attention through kids.”

“Yeah, not the best laid plan, especially when it comes to angering teenagers. Though, kudos to her because she has made my life hell with my daughter for months.” I sat up straighter and pulled my hand from where Walker still held it. “If Terry thinks there is anything that woman can get her grubby paws on, she needs to rethink it. Truthfully, considering what was said, it sounds like I need a lawyer to sue her for whatever of our marital assets, or my paychecks, went toward her expenses before my husband died.”

“From the sounds of it, there’s nothing there for you to get either.”

“Justice against cheaters,” I mumbled and then felt sick to my stomach as my guilt- riddled face turned back up toward Walker. “I’m so sorry.”

He chuckled. “No need to be sorry. It’s a fair assessment. Karma nailed my ass for what I did. All told, I don’t think I got everything I deserved either.”

“How do you figure?”

“I’m sitting here with you, and if I recall, you might have agreed to a date with me. I don’t deserve that chance after what I did.”

“After hearing my husband cheated and maybe had a child with another woman while we were married, I should reconsider.” I left it hanging there.

“That sounds about right.”

“I said I should, not that I’m going to.” His stunned reaction made me smile. “You’re not the same man you were then, Walker.”

“How do you know?”

“Answer this truthfully. If some club kid came and told you about a possible affair baby situation with someone way back then, what would you have done?”

He nodded and hung his head. “Probably continued to drink myself into the wrong woman’s bed because feeling sorry for myself was the only thing I had going for me back then.”

“Still feel sorry for yourself?”

He shook his head. “Nah. I’m over that. Now, I just wonder how it’s possible that a man like that gets a second chance.”

“A man like that doesn’t. That man didn’t deserve a second chance. The man you are today, he deserves to start fresh because he’s wiser than that drunk asshole who did nothing but feel sorry for his own damn self.” I winked at him.

“Here I thought I’d have to hold you while you cried about your husband’s affair, and instead you’re propping up my ego.”

“I’ll cry later. There’s a lot to unpack in what you told me, and my biggest concern is for my daughter and what she’s been hanging onto all this time. I can’t thank you enough for filling in the blank pages for me, Walker. I mean that. You tell Griffon that she will never know how I found out, but that I owe him for being courageous enough to get my baby girl some help.”

I glanced down at my cell phone and winced. It was going on two in the morning, and we closed at midnight during the week. “I best be getting home. My sister will no doubt have a shit fit when I get there about why I’m late.” As if on cue, my phone started to ring.

“You have my number, if you need someone to listen, a shoulder, punching bag, whatever – call me.”

“Never a punching bag, Walker. You’ve had enough of that.”

He shrugged and then maneuvered his gorgeous self out of my vehicle. Before he closed the door, he leaned in and smiled sweetly at me. “Whenever you’re ready, we’ll make plans to go on that date. Know you have shit to handle now. If you ever want to drop me the names of those friends of your husband’s, the ones he used to go gamble with, you let me know. I’ll go have a chat with them and see if I can get a few more pages for your story, so you can piece it together properly and make sure no more unexpected surprises come your way.”

I nodded my head but couldn’t speak because the burn of tears threatening to fall. I needed to get home before I allowed that to happen. As soon as he shut my door, I cranked the engine and didn’t bother to wait another second before I pulled out and made my way back to my house.