I agreed. Sarah looked as if she’d had enough playtime and was overdue for a nap. “Okay, we should pack and go, good idea.”
Sarah clutched her mother’s hand as we walked home.
I had a suspicion Sarah would want her mom to come home with us and that it would be the onset of a full-blown tantrum.
When we got to my front door, Lucy handled things with ease. “I don’t want you to be sad that I have to go back to my house today. I want to see you in the next couple of days. I’m going to call you tomorrow and we can decide what to do the next time I see you. Does that sound okay?” she asked sweetly.
I cringed, waiting for the aftermath as Sarah stood beside me.
“I understand, Mom. You have to go to your place to sleep. Call me! You were good on the flying fox, you just need to put your feet up more,” she instructed.
I raised my eyebrows at my new kid. “Look at what we created,” I said softly. I looked Lucy in the eye and felt the electrical current humming between us.
“I know,” she said. “We did good.” She turned to respond to Sarah’s comment, “I’m going to try that next time. Put my feet up. See you both soon.”
“Bye Mom!” Sarah’s little hand flapped as Lucy left.
I took Sarah back inside, feeling the deadness from the wear and tear of domestic life slowly leaving me.
Wednesday brought another night to play pool and another opportunity to probe this Road Warrior. Having a known enemy on our turf was putting every one of us Rebels on edge at the club. I personally wanted to smash my pool cue over the fucker’s head.
I walked over to the bar and greeted Ink as I grabbed my clipboard, “Hey, Ink. What do you think about how to approach Rocky? What questions should I ask him?”
Ink shrugged his massive shoulders. “I have no idea, to be honest. Maybe let him take the lead on the conversation. Freaky shit that he’s in here and not thinking we wouldn’t background check him. So dumb.”
Just then as if talking about him had magically made him appear, Rocky strode through the door. A beefy looking guy, that was for sure. I could see why they called him Rocky. His sleeves were cut-off as he wore a flannelette shirt and jeans with brown boots like the last time.
I could feel my fury building and I wanted to ram my fist through his face. It took every part of my self discipline to stay calm. “Agreed.” I gritted my teeth and walked over to Rocky. “Hey man, how’s it going, you here for another game?”
“Sort of.”
The thick cord of tension in his voice made me timidly put the clipboard down as I studied the coldness in his eyes. “Sort of? What else did you have in mind?”
He cracked his knuckles as he did the same thing he did the last time we talked. Almost as if he was casing the place. “I’m, ah, looking to settle in with a club. I just got back here and I’m interested in making a life here in Holbeck. You seem to have a nice group of guys here. How would I go about that?”
“Ah, well, we’re pretty strict with new members coming in…let me introduce you to Bones, the club president, a little later and we can see what he thinks.” I swallowed down the hate I felt for this guy. Stringing him along until I thought of some questions that would get him to open up a little more. “You want a drink, Rocky?” I asked in a cool tone.
“Sure, I’ll take a beer. I wanna loosen up before I beat you today,” he joked.
Bones walked our way after talking to Ink. He kept his eyes on Rocky and came straight to him with a strong, powerful stride. “Hey, you must be Rocky, the man of the hour I keep hearing about. Trying to beat Chalk?” Bones was grinning when he spoke. He was buttering Rocky up.
“Hey man. You got a great pool player here at the club, you need someone who can push him.” Rocky’s eyes were dark, but his dusty smile wanted to spell friendship.
Bones mirrored his shady smile right back at him.
I wanted to let Bones in on this guy’s intent right away. “Rocky here was asking about being part of the club. Good you’re here – maybe you can run him through the initiation process?” I tipped my head to Bones as I raised an eyebrow.
Rocky’s face shadowed with confusion. “Initiation? I didn’t know there was one, but I’m down, depending.”
Bones gave Rocky a tight smile. “Step over here and we can talk a little more.”
I left Bones to tackle the next round with the Road Warrior as I headed to the pool table.
Mia and Angie hurried towards me.
Both of them were walking so fast that it was kind of freaking me out. “What’s going on, ladies? You look a little upset.”
Mia’s face looked flushed like she was on the warpath. “I have some news and I need to tell you. Let me get this out before you start the game, so you know potentially what you’re dealing with.” Mia’s eyes were locked on mine and she was dead serious.