Page 17 of Zeke
I pause before answering, trying to decide how bad it would be if I let things get any further with him, and then bail out. “I… I should really get to bed. I don’t think coffee will help much with that.”
He shrugs and smiles before sipping the coffee. He takes it black with no sugar, so he took it fresh out of the pot and drank.
“You sure? I made a mean batch. It’s the good stuff.”
I smile at him. “I guess it couldn’t hurt. I’m not sleeping, anyway.”
“Atta girl,” he says, pouring me a cup and handing it to me.
I go to the fridge, patting Bastard’s head as I walk past him, and pour a hearty splash of creamer into it.
We sit at the table next to where Bastard’s nest has been set up so I can pet him. I thought maybe there would be conversation, but it’s pretty quiet most of the night. We sit there for a few hours, sipping coffee and enjoying each other’s company and the dog until the sun peeks through the windows.
CHAPTEREIGHT
Eden
“I’m sorry, what did you just call him?” Eli says as I bend down to pet the dog.
“Tardy,” I say. “Short for the stupid name you gave him.”
“And you think Bastard is a worse name thanTardy?”
I shrug and turn my eyes back to Tardy. “Who’s a good Tardy?” I ask, reaching for the last of the peanut butter muffins to give to him before Justice stops me.
“Henry said not to feed him before we go. In case they need to sedate him to deal with the leg,” he tells me.
I look down at my dog—well, the dog I found—and frown. “He’s hungry, though.” I don’t like seeing him in pain, and he’ll be so much better once he has some food in him and his leg is taken care of. He’s already a much happier dog now that he can move his head without his ears getting pulled by those clods or getting smacked in the face with them.
“He’ll be fine for a few hours,” Justice reassures me. “Come on, Doctor Peck is expecting us.”
He bends down to pick up Tardy, and I follow them out to the truck. We decide it’s simpler to ride together rather than for one of us to take a bike, so I climb into the back of the truck so I can sit with Tardy while Justice drives.
The first few minutes of the drive are quiet, and it suddenly hits me how little tension lingers between us. It feels borderline comfortable, and I take the time to say, “Hey. Do things feel different to you? Like, between us?”
Jesus, I sound weak. After everything that went down with him, with Savage, and with Eli—even with Julia and the number of threats we face daily, I’m struggling to maintain my tough exterior. I’m in control and my people admire me enough to follow me without question (well, except for Julia, but she always does what she’s told even if she fights me on it), but a vulnerability has been breached. I don’t know how to shut it back down. Maybe it’s Savage. Maybe having him around lessons my need to be icy and hard.
He chuckles. “What do you mean?” By his tone, he knows exactly what I mean.
“I mean things were tense between you and me and you and Savage for a while. But they seem… I don’t know, better.” I hope to God I’m reading this situation right and it’s not my imagination, that I’m not about to get an ugly surprise.
Justice sighs, and I worry I made things even more awkward, then hate myself for worrying about it. Justice is one of my best friends, but I’m in a situation where I can’t talk to him normally.
Then he chuckles. “Yeah,” he says, and a tightness I hadn’t been aware of releases in my chest. “They do seem better. I think it took me a little time to come to terms with everything.” He shakes his head slightly, and the regret there sends a small wave of guilt through me. “But I don’t blame you at all, Eden, and I don’t blame Savage. Things are the way they are, and I’m okay with that.”
I smile. Justice was one of the first people to stand up and openly accept me as President of the Ruthless Kings, even before I had officially had the title, back when he was still going by Chief. He is loyal to the end, and every MC Prez needs someone like him in their club.
The rest of the ride is spent in a mix of silence, me talking to Tardy, and chatting with Justice. We finally arrive at the vet’s office, and, thanks to our connection through Justice’s friend Henry, we get ushered right into the back, where a vet assistant comes out to take his vitals.
“We’re gonna take him back for an X-ray,” the girl says before stepping to the back door and calling for someone to help her carry him, since he’s too big for her to do it on her own.
“Okay.” I give Tardy a kiss on the head and scratch his ears. “You’re gonna be fine, buddy. Okay?”
They take him into the back, and he whimpers and looks back at me. We wait for a nerve-wracking twenty minutes, where I manage to remain stoic, but it doesn’t fool Justice.
“He’s gonna be fine, Prez,” he says with a smile. “It’s just an X-ray.”
“I’m not worried about the X-ray. I’m worried about what it’ll say.”