“Have you eaten?” I ask, sounding just like the father that I am. She shakes her head no and looks away. “Then yes, I am feeding you.”
She stops walking and I turn around. “You don’t need to keep saving me.”
I scoff. “That’s good since I’ve been doing a lousy job at it in the last six years.” Zoey bites down on her bottom lip and I wait for her reply but she never says anything. “I’m going to order. Go grab us a seat somewhere.”
I turn around and walk away from her before I say something I might regret. My moods are jumping from one extreme to the next. One minute I’m hoping Zoey will stick around, and the next I’m angry all over again for her running away. I place our order and wait along the side of the truck. I see Zoey sitting on a bench near the sidewalk. A breeze comes by and catches her hair and I watch as it dances. It reminds me of the first night I met her. The way the sun catches her hair now reminds me of how the fire caught it back then. My name is called and I grab our order before going to meet her. I take a seat and hand her a bottle of soda and a plate of food. “Thank you.” We sit in silence once again. Finally, Zoey sighs, “Drake, you need to know that I didn’t expect you to save me when I left here.”
“Yeah, well I felt like I should have. I had every time before.” That wave of guilt takes over my body and mind once again.
Zoey shakes her head. “That’s why I ran so no one would have to save me this time. Zayde and you were always there and even though I loved you guys for it I knew I couldn’t keep dragging you two into my mistakes.” I have so much I could say to that, but it would do us no good now. The past is the past. This is now and no matter what I say it won’t change the fact that she ran and I can’t trust her. She takes a bite of her taco and moans. “Oh goodness, you weren’t kidding about these tacos. These are serious.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I never joke about tacos.”
We both laugh. Zoey wipes her hands with a napkin. “So, is Zayde the president of Sons of Sin now?”
I can see why she would assume that, but I guess I should explain the way the club has been the last few years. “Zayde should be the president, but a few months after you left, the club took a turn and not a good one. Some of the brothers were doing drugs as well as selling them. Others were doing all sorts of illegal gambling. A couple of them were even acting as pimps and used the sinner girls as prostitutes. It was a mess. Then your dad came down sick and he had to step down. Of course, the presidency went directly to the current vice president, Buzz, but he was one of the biggest problems in the club.” I notice the way Zoey shudders at his name. I have to wonder if he did something to her or she just didn’t like him in general. “Luckily, though there were enough of us youngsters in the club at the time that we were able to vote him out of the seat. Zayde was then given the title, but he didn’t want it then. The club needed to be cleaned up and he knew they’d never listen to him. They had watched him grow up and to them he would always be just a kid. So, Zayde passed the title to Barker. Barker had been with the club for a few years. He was smart, levelheaded, and a no-bullshit attitude. You knew he meant business. He of course, gave vice president to Zayde and they both won majority vote in the club. Barker made it clear that once Zayde was ready to take his rightful place as president he would hand it back over, but Zayde hasn’t been in the right mindset, yet. Over the next few months after Barker and Zayde took over, they cleaned house. I mean, almost all the older brothers were stripped of their cuts. Sons of Sin were put back on the rails and the club is stronger and cleaner than ever,” I explain.
“Wow, I knew the club was going down a bad path when I left, but I had no idea it would go that far. I’m glad you guys were able to pull it back up.” Zoey goes quiet and I study her as she studies the waves in the ocean. “What happened to him?
I don’t have to ask her who she means. I know her well enough to know she means her father. I sigh. “Too many years of smoking, too many years of drinking, and random hook ups, it took a toll on his body, heart and lungs mostly. One day, he went out for a ride and a few hours later, we got a call that there had been a wreck and he was gone.”
“Oh.”
It’s all she says, but it’s a loaded word, I know. Their relationship was never a good one, but I also know that at the end of the day, he was the only parent she had and that meant something, despite how tough she tried to act about it. I reach over and take her hand. She squeezes mine back and I check the time. “I need to get back to work. It looks bad if I’m gone too long.”
“Oh, I can’t have you not getting employee of the month from the boss,” she says with a laugh.
My head tilts to the side and studies her. She really doesn’t know. “Well, I don’t usually award myself that title. It’d be kind of odd for the owner to call himself employee of the month.”
Her eyes go wide and her mouth falls open. She recovers when I start to laugh. “You’re serious? You own the construction company.”
“Yep,” I tell her, as I nod my head. “DJ Construction is all mine.”
“No wonder Wilder laughed when I was worried about getting you into trouble for showing up at your job,” she says, shaking her head in disbelief. Then she starts to laugh and the sound fills every crack left in my heart. I’d give almost anything to hear that laugh on a daily basis.
“Come on,” I tell her, and we head back to the truck. Once we were inside and on our way back to the site, I tell her, “Zayde should be back in a couple of days. They started back this way today.”
“Does he know?” she asks, biting on her bottom lip.
I nod. “Yeah, I called him last night.”
“Good,” she says, but based on the waiver in her voice, I don’t think she really thinks it’s good at all.
Eleven
Zoey
There’s a nagging in the back of my mind the entire ride back to Drake’s work site. I can’t help but wonder how Zayde took the news of my return. I don’t expect him to be happy. I don’t expect him to open his arms and hug me like I never left. I don’t even expect his instant forgiveness. I broke our promise and even if he does understand why I ran I have no doubt that he was still hurt by my actions. I’m sure he was still fighting to clean up the mess that I left behind. Even if he understood it, he would never be okay with it. I’m going to have to work for his forgiveness.
The job site comes into view, too soon in my opinion. I look over at Drake and realize just how much he’s changed since I left. It’s not just the tattoos. It’s everything, his demeanor and guarded answers. He doesn't trust me and for good reason. I’m just trying to figure out how to fix it. “So, what exactly are you building here?”
He glances in my direction. “Well, it’s going to be an apartment complex once it’s finished. Ten stories high with all of the fixings. We’re talking bottom level pool along with a rooftop pool, massive gym, a small coffee shop on the bottom floor. It’s going to be very lavish and over the top,” he explains, with a roll of his eyes.
“What? You don’t like lavish and over the top?” I laugh at his response. His nose scrunches up in distaste and he shakes his head. “Oh come on. You know you would love to have access to two pools!” I’m joking and he knows it.