“Fuck!” Kicking up gravel.

Watching Eloise and Skyla driving away feels so final.

Eloise might never except the reason I stayed, and the sight of Skyla’s perfect amber colored eyes being full of so much anger and pain will be burnt into my memory forever.

How have I managed to fuck up so royally in just a few weeks?

“Damn, your sister left too?” Tyler, the prospect that woke me up this morning asks as he walks up beside me. The cloud of kicked up dust from their escape still hasn’t settled. “Probably for the best though, since she’s a married woman and all.”

“She’s not married, and you better lose any fucking thoughts in your head about my baby sister.” I snarl, not even bothering turning to acknowledge him standing next to me.

“You sure? Eloise said that crazy bitch was talking about Colt’s guitar, said she was sure it was her husband’s.”

The fuck did he just say?! Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, I rush him backwards until he slams into the side of the building. Keeping him pinned there with a hand around his throat. “What guitar?”

“Colt’s. The one on the wall, been there awhile. By the stage.”

As this punk-ass prospect fights for air, while trying to explain to me what he’d heard from Eloise, Ripper shoves me off him. Scolding me that I know better than to kill the prospects, he says. “Put Baby Face down.”

“Nah, come on. I don’t want to be Baby Face.” The kid groans.

Skyla has to have been mistaken, it couldn’t be her husband’s guitar. Her dead husband. The same one whose murder has gone unsolved for over a year now?

After she’d told me a little about that night I had searched online for anything and everything I could find. I’d read every article and public police statement, watched news clips and press releases. What happened to her and her family that day… it’s brutal.

It’s amazing she survived.

“That girl of yours is a fighter, damn treat to look at too. If I was a younger man…”

“Skyla isn’t mine,” I interrupt “doubt she’ll ever speak to me again.”

Ripper smack the back of my head as if I’m a child being scolded. “That’s cause you’re still standing around here like a fucking pussy instead of chasing after her.”

He’s right, but how can I possibly look her in the eyes after today? Despite any flaws or darkness she might have Skyla is too good for me.

“I need to talk to Colt.” 

“What the hell for? Haven’t caused enough trouble today?” He laughs.

Ripper and I walk back into the bar, he listens as I explain to him what Baby Face said about Skyla and the guitar. He makes the same comments about her being a married woman. Any teasing stops when I pull up some of those new articles on my phone. I’d even bookmarked a site that has some of the crime scene photos on it.

Skyla might have been able to avoid learning any details about what exactly happened to her husband and daughter that night but I found it all, they did not die quickly. There was a lot of blood.

Goose, our bartender takes my phone to have a look. He’s always listening, very little gets by him. “Is that why she looked like she was going to black out after just two shots this morning? It’s her guitar?”

“Wait, you poured her shots this morning?” I ask, a little panicked.

“Yeah, you know the rules, to stay at the bar you’ve got to order. Why?” He asks, handing my phone back.

Running a hand over my face, “I think she’s in an AA program.”

“She downed her two tequila shots for breakfast like a pro, no one sober is going to order that shit at 8am.” He shrugs.

I could definitely be wrong but she seems to know an awful lot about sobriety programs when she was talking about James earlier. If I’m right though she might have broken her sobriety to find me.

The lump in my throat proves difficult to swallow, Ripper finally pipes in. “Colt’s visiting a charter out of state, he won’t be back until next week. I’m pretty certain I know who gave him the guitar but we can’t make any moves without talking to him first.”

“So we’ve got to sit around on our asses until the boss comes home? That’s such bullshit!”

“Not you.” Ripper turns on his stool to face me, looking more human that I’ve seen him in years. His usual scowl replaced by a morose frown, he places a hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eyes. “You are going to go after her. Grovel, plead, bribe your way back in if you have to but you better fucking make it right.

“When Colt gets back I’ll let you know, bring her with you when church is called. Xavier, you gotta go get your girl.”

All I can do is stare at him, I haven’t heard my name come out of his mouth except to curse it in years. This is probably the first father-son moment we’ve had… well ever, and he’s telling me to leave the life he’s has always wanted for me to chase a woman.

A woman who has pointed a gun at him not once but twice, and she's lived to talk about it. That alone should tell anyone that Skyla is special.

“Not a word of this to anyone,” he levels Goose with a look. “Word gets out and all hell will rain down on this town. I’ll get her guns from the locker while you get ready to ride out.

Oh, and take Baby Face with you. That kid doesn’t know how to shut up and we need this contained until Colt gets back. Anyone asks, she’s just another scorned woman.”

“Got it.” Goose nods.

Before he can protest I grab Baby Face and order him to pack a bag. We’re outside and straddling our motorcycles when Ripper comes out with Skyla’s guns, and much to surprise the prized guitar off the wall.

Ripper looks worried, like everything that’s gone down today might be leading us toward war. With who? Only he knows. He wishes us luck before we ride back towards town, back to Eloise. To Skyla.

“Skyla!” Eloise shouts.

“SKYLA!”

“What?” I startle.

“I think you can slow down, no one is following us.”

Glancing down at the speedometer, we’ve been racing away on the surrounding backroads at nearly one hundred miles an hour. It’s not quite my Roadrunner’s top speed but I also don’t need to blow the engine out here in the middle of nowhere.

Gently easing my foot off the gas, we’ve been headed away from home. I hadn’t exactly been asking for directions and was only worried about putting as much space between us and them as possible.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, we’re okay.” Eloise assures me. “I’m sorry my brother’s an enormous idiot. I should have never teased him about you having dinner with James.”

I remind her she’s done nothing wrong, going out with James was never supposed to be a secret. I’m in no hurry to get home, so we agree to find somewhere to eat. Thankfully Eloise has an idea of where we are.

“There should be a malt shoppe around here, we used to eat there all the time when I was little,” She starts typing away on her phone to get directions.

“That sounds good, I hope they like dogs.”

Reaching up to pat Diablo’s muzzle, he’s been riding with his chin on my shoulder since we left. Probably his way of telling me to slow the fuck down. The weight of his big head might be the only thing keeping me from having a full on meltdown right now.

As if stuck in the 1950s the malt shoppe is like a time capsule. We order burgers, split an order of cheese fries and spoil ourselves with shakes. Diablo scarfs down two plain meat patties for being on his best behavior today.

“Good pick, I feel a million times better.” I sit back in my seat, stuffed.

“Same.” She smiles.

“You know, you can still stay with me if you want. Regardless of how I might feel about your brother right now, you don’t have to leave.”

Our phones have been buzzing with messages since we left, Eloise is the only one of us that has bothered to look at them. I’ve already said everything that I needed to, if I talk to either of the Mathis men right now it is not going to be civil.

“Xavier, again?” I wonder out loud.

“We don’t have to go home yet, we should go out. There’s a nightclub further in the city that has teen hours on Saturday afternoons before their regular hours.” She suggests with a big smile.

“Okay, I’ve never heard of that before but it should be alright. Should we get ourselves a new outfit for the occasion?” It’s a silly question. I know she loves shopping and if she can keep my mind off of her brother for a little while I’ve got no qualms in giving her my afternoon and evening.

There are plenty of boutiques between us and our destination, in the couple of hours that we waste she’s built herself the perfect outfit, according to her. Eloise has infinitely expanded her wardrobe and my own.

Money isn’t an issue though, and the smile on her face is more than worth the big withdrawals on my bank statement.

Eloise decided on a metallic skirt and white top for herself, and dressed me in a lace halter with some stretchy fake leather leggings. She excitedly jumps out of the bathroom stall she’s changing in. “Oh my God, thank you for taking me shopping and for the outfit and… oh damn, you’re hot!”

Laughing at her expression, but still unsure how to take her apparent surprise I do a little spin. “Thanks, I think.”

“Selfie!” Eloise declares.

She has successfully made the Mathis men the least of my worries tonight and she insists on a few different poses.

We soon arrive to the nightclub and the couple dozen high school aged kids lined up outside make Eloise squeal. She’s talking faster than I can process as we head up to the door. 

The bouncer warns me no alcohol will be served until the teen hours are over, and a hundred dollar bill in his pocket lets Diablo hangout with me in the upper lounge instead of in the car.

The virgin cocktails just aren’t the same as the real thing, but Eloise does manage to get me to dance to a couple of songs with her before I retreat back to the dark corner of the club where I’d told Diablo to stay.

“She’s up to something.” I tell the devil, noticing the way she smiles while furiously typing away on her phone. “I think leaving her with that young guy might have blossomed into a crush.”

He huffs, and I agree, the track record of the so-called men in that motorcycle club has been less than impressive. When she starts scanning the crowd I begin to really wonder what she’s doing. She knows exactly where I’m sitting and we even came up with a hand signal in case she needed to let me know she was in trouble.

A couple of overly remixed songs later and he makes an appearance. The baby faced kid, he can’t be much older than she is but Eloise is definitely still a minor. I text her that she’s got an hour.

First to let her know I’m still watching, and secondly because that’s when all the IDs will be rechecked and minors will be cleared out. Eloise gives a thumbs up in my direction. I really wish there was alcohol in the fruity concoction I’ve been sipping.

All the hair on the back of my neck stands up, it’s only now in this sea of young strangers that I feel like I’m being watched. Though as I scan the room of dancing bodies not a one seems to be looking this way.

Diablo must sense my discomfort, he scoots closer and places his head in my lap. The uncomfortable oversized chair in the corner proves to be the perfect height for him to do so.

“What day, huh?” Running my fingers through his fur. “At least she’s having fun.

“I’m not sure what I had hoped to find this morning, you know. Never in a millions years would I have guessed the mess we walked into though.” Diablo tilts his head as he listens, I know it’s silly and he doesn’t actually understand everything I’m saying but it does make me feel better.

Checking my phone for the time, still thirty minutes to go. Only a million text notifications from Xavier. I’ll read them tomorrow, I might even reply to one or two. The bass heavy music has me almost in a trance as I watch Eloise having the time of her life.

Before I can put my phone down another text comes through.

Xavier: You look amazing right now.

“Eloise told you where to find us?” I ask loudly over the music, not letting myself look away from her for a single second.

“That, and all the pictures she’s been sharing online.” His voice sounds so close, how’d he get so close without me noticing?

“Can I sit?” Xavier asks.

Waving my hand with complete indifference, he takes the chair next to mine. I refuse to look his way, though I can feel his gaze wash over me. It’s like he takes over my senses and my skin feels like it’s on fire.

While fighting back tears I wait for him to break the silence.