you need any extra hands, let me know. See you.” Mercy pushes the door open and Tongue watches him walk down the sidewalk and pass the window in the front of the store.
But before Mercy is out of my sight, he gives me one last look, and it isn’t with want. It’s with another intention. I can’t place my finger on it.
“Everyone is looking at you today,” Tongue slams his fist on my fake countertop and cracks it in half.
Great. Now, I need another one.
“I don’t know why. I’m just me…” I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose and then tug the long purple sleeves down my wrists.
Tongue lifts my chin with his fingers. “That’s why. You’re too beautiful for anyone to miss.”
Feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, I try to put Mercy’s odd interest out of my head and bounce over to the package he delivered. “What’s this?”
Tongue gives that small tilt of his lips as his cheeks turn pink. “It’s something I made you. For your store.”
A loud drill digs into the wall, followed by another loud bang of a hammer somewhere.
“You made me something? Can I see?”
“What if you don’t like it? I don’t know—”
“It’s from you. I’m going to love it.”
Unless it’s bones. I have no idea what I’d do with them. Maybe it’s a real human skeleton. I could put it in a corner.
Well, now that I’ve thought of it, I hope that’s what it is.
Tongue steps over a few two-by-fours and glides his knife down the package. I wait for it to bleed or moan, but nothing happens.
What in the world is in this box that doesn’t leak red?
Tongue’s just full of surprises lately, which goes to show, no matter how much time you spend with someone, there is always something to be learned about them.
And I just learned, Tongue loves surprises. Not getting them but giving. He’s chomping at the bit with excitement, giving me side-eye glances and tiny grins.
I see more of him peeking through his damaged exterior lately. He’s a lesson that will never be finished. A subject I can forever learn about.
What will I learn next?
I don’t know.
But I can hardly wait.
I’m nervous.
I’ve made this in secret for the last few weeks. The only person who knows about it is Slingshot, since he’s been the one outside helping me build the swamp for Happy. I swore him to secrecy. I didn’t want anyone to know what I was up to. Lately, I’ve felt like more of an outsider at the clubhouse. They watch me like I’m planning some hideous crime.
I thought I was one of them, but Daphne has made me think about life in a new way. Maybe I’m not one of them. The thought has put me in the corner again, only the shadows feel lonelier than ever. I don’t say anything, because speaking up about it would make me seem weak. So I hold back and let them stare, let them see if I’m about to go on a killing spree.
Which I haven’t done in a while. I’ve been calmer since Daphne came into my life, but that doesn’t mean to I don’t crave it sometimes.
Reaper’s been cautious about everyone, especially since Moretti and Maximo are still M.I.A. It’s like they disappeared off the face of the earth. No one knows how they managed to get over the gates. Braveheart wouldn’t let them go.
Moretti figured out a way, and as curious as I am, I find myself not caring.
It’s hard to care when no one seems to care what happens to me. I’ve dedicated my life to the club, but I’m starting to wonder if the club would do the same for me. They are good guys, but whatever notion they have about me, it’s pushing me away.
I shouldn’t care, but I do.
They don’t trust me, and if I don’t have the trust of my brothers at my back, then when the time comes that I’ll need them most, it will be too late.
I don’t know how to redeem myself. I always thought redemption was weak, a pointless goal to achieve for someone who isn’t being themselves. Redemption? No such thing. People are who they are. They don’t change.
If someone actually wants to get something done, they should try justification for their actions. What type of man are you to do what needs to be done?
And then everyone can go back to the way things are because redemption is a façade.
“Well, when am I