Chalk by Lily J. Adams
Chapter Three: Your Shot
Chalk
“Mom, I miss you. I want to see you. I have Mr. Bear here, and he’s sending you kisses and hugs to get better.”
I glanced at my daughter with more than a pinch of regret. She was hoping to see her mom, as usual.
“I don’t wanna go to California!” Sarah stomped her foot. “I want to stay here. My friends are here.” She pouted.
I put the phone down. She’d just finished talking to her mom, and they’d been laughing together on the phone. Then came the usual argument.
“Ok calm down, you don’t have to go, but your Mom wants to spend time with you. She’s getting better. It just might be easier if we go there and see her.” I rolled my neck to release the tension building into knots. These conversations were becoming more frequent. Lucy and I weren’t talking to each other as much as we were talking around one another. She was telling me she was improving, and I wondered when she would be able to come see Sarah. I didn’t want to start unraveling that can of worms in my head, so I redirected the conversation with Sarah. “Come on, spark, it’s time for you to get to school.”
“Okay, let me put Mr. Bear back and we can go.” She raced down the hallway, her feet thudding, having me shaking my head. She came back out bouncing around like a jelly bean, ready to go.
I wasn’t keen to take her on the back of the bike yet, but I did promise her in the next couple of years, she would be able to ride on back with me.
For now, it was the car. She got in her seat and sat humming, waiting for me to get in. I cranked the car and we rode with the radio on and Sarah singing.
“You’re starting early this morning. That screech is getting worse. Might be as good as mine,” I said sarcastically.
“Dad, I’m in the school choir. I can sing you know.” She rolled her little eyes at me.
I flipped her lip with my index finger. “You can sing? It’s the quality I’m worried about,” I murmured with a little chuckle. I bunched up, pretending to be scared, as she flapped her little hand on my arm.
“Dad! I’m a good singer,” she exclaimed as I stopped the car.
I raised my eyebrows as I pulled up out the front of the school gate. “Great, now you can sing to your friends all the way to class. I will see you later. Have fun in class.” I shooed her away.
She leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek as she got out of the car then headed for her classroom.
I signaled, waiting for the traffic to pass, and made a 180-turn towards Wheelz. I was a man living my life on the edge of two worlds: strong protector and playful father to Sarah, kick-ass pool shark and motorcycle club member with a dangerous life. I sighed, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.
Such was the life of a Rebel Saint. A lot of the crew wore many hats.
Angie had agreed to meet me there. Even though she still hadn’t agreed officially to write up another story for the club, I figured over a coffee I might be able to charm her and speed up the process.
As I arrived at Wheelz, Holbeck heat was already hitting the mid-range hot, nothing out of the ordinary for the ‘Sip’ as we affectionately called our state. I killed the engine and stepped out of the car. It always felt odd to arrive at the club without my bike.
Inside, Angie sat with her long blonde hair hanging down her slender back on a stool near the bar.
I strolled over with a smile on my face. “Angie, good to see you.”
She swiveled around, flipping her hair as her jade eyes glittered with spark and a bemused smirk. “I was going to order coffee.”
“Unfortunately, there’s no coffee behind the bar, but if you care to accompany me upstairs, I can whip you up a coffee from the machine.”
“Gotcha. The place seems so empty when there’s no patrons here.” She frowned as she looked around with interest.
“Yeah, it’s a little bare, isn't it?” I looked around observing the layout of Wheelz. When people were in the bar, it lit up with life, and the vibe completely transformed. All walks of life came into the bar, and the Holbeck locals loved the place.
“Okay, then let’s go upstairs. I could use a coffee.” She nodded.
I nodded back. “Great. I hope you have your li’l notepad or whatever else you hot journalists use.”
“I did bring my tape recorder and my trusty pencil and pad, so let’s see what you got.” She scanned the length of me.
I knew she meant something else and while she was hot, I just didn’t feel like she was for me. There had only been one girl for me. Yeah, over the years, I would be interested a time or two, but it never lasted. A single dad came with too much baggage for most women. I did not intend to lead Angie on, so I knew I’d better tread lightly here.
I gestured forward to the stairs.
She obliged me and walked ahead, her hips rhythmically swaying in time. “Do you normally allow people up here? Is this where you guys have your secret meetings?” she teased.
I smirked as I moved over to the coffee machine, filled it with water and put one of the coffee capsules in to get us started. “Yep, this is the top secret cave, where we have our meetings and we speak in low tones about this and that,” I teased back.
She smirked right back at me. “Hardy, har-har. I like it. Nice to get a seat at the table.” She walked around it skimming the top with fingers and checking out the photographed pictures of the bike club on the wall. We also had our club banner hanging proudly in the background.
“So you can see we have a lot of history here as a club, and we are very dedicated to the community. That picture that you have your eye on is a picture from the late 1980’s of Bones’ father riding. Pretty cool, huh?”
She nodded her head. “I can see the resemblance. Not bad at all for the small membership you have. You’ve kept it tightknit,” she observed thoughtfully.
I gave a nod, hoping this would be my in…to change her mind on what kind of club we were. “We’re like family, and we’re loyal to one another. I know you wrote a lot about the Red Stone Casino, but what you didn’t understand is that Ink – one of our members – oversees the bar there, and has raised profits by 30%. He also helped catch the card sharks that you mentioned in your little article. So us bikers do some good around here,” I pointed out as I dropped a cup under the coffee machine and let it run.
“I see. Look, I’ve had time to think about it. I talked to a few of the other guys, the locals, and one of them told me about the trouble you had with the Devils and them trying to pin an overdose on the club. Then you all fighting back. I think it’s an interesting enough angle for me, maybe to run a story on. It could work…”
The corners of my smile got a little wider. “Does that mean you’re in and you’ll run the story for us?” I asked as I placed the plain mug down in front of her.
“It’s a downgrade for me, story-wise. I can do this in my sleep, buuuuutt I’m willing to make a concession. Who knows where it might lead?” She eyed my reaction as she lifted her coffee to her lips. “It means I will have to be your shadow for a few weeks. How comfortable are you with that?”
“Ah, how closely do you wanna watch me? I have a seven-year-old daughter, so I’m pretty normal during the day, but at night, you’ve seen what I do here. Are you gonna be basing it on the club as a whole, or are you thinking something else?”
Angie tapped her chin as she seemed to take in this news.
I waited for the penny to drop.
“I think a little of both. I’m going to have to think about it a little more. What I like to do first is just feel out the situation. I want to be here when you’re playing and learn how you became such a pool shark. I need to learn how to beat you.” She threw down the gauntlet.
“Fair enough,” I nodded my head at her with a small smile. “I presume you’re coming down on Wednesday. Are you going to compete, or talk and interview?”
“I’m going to talk and interview. I have to be in the zone if I want to beat you. Save it for the next time.” She looked up at me. “I might stick around for a while. Let’s see what other things Holbeck has to offer.” She chuckled as she tapped her pen on the table.
“Holbeck has plenty to offer in a lot of ways. I have someone you might like to meet – her name’s Mia. She’s our club lawyer. She might have some tasty morsels of information to get your teeth into.”
I saw her eyes light up at the mention of a lawyer, and it almost seemed as if she was salivating over the possibilities of a new story line. Right then and there, I knew I’d dropped the right bait.
“Ooo goodie, I would like to meet her. I’m sure she has some dirt for me. What type of lawyer is she?” Her eagerness showed clearly.
“Thought so,” I quipped with a self-satisfied smirk. A mini win. I was inching closer to the mark with her. Maybe I could turn this whole thing around for the club. “I’ll make sure she’s here on Wednesday night and you can talk to her yourself.”
Wednesday night came quickly. I kissed Sarah goodbye after Teresa came to take over. I was relieved by the switch.
“Hey, sis. How’s your week going?” I leaned in for a hug. She looked a lot fresher than me, and there weren't enough lifetimes for me to repay her for all her help. But she did it without complaint and even seemed to enjoy it.
“It’s not going too bad, bro. How about you? Are you doing all right over here?” Teresa enquired, but my sullen face pretty much told her all she needed to know.
“Feels like groundhog day over here. Sarah is doing good though, she’s brushed her teeth and I’ve combed her hair. She’ll be coming out in a minute.”
“You sound over it. Go, get out of here and play pool. I got Sarah covered.”
“Bye Dad! See you when you get back!” Sarah called out from the back.
“Bye, make sure you’re good for Teresa. See you in the morning, I’m going to be back late.”
“Okay!” She responded.
I left out faster than I should have. I exhaled a guilt-ridden sigh from my lungs, even though I deserved the break. As I mounted my bike I let my domestic life fall back a little. Playing pool had always been a great stress reliever and some fun that was harmless.
Holbeck was a little cooler than most nights, so I zipped my jacket up high and took off. As soon as I rolled into the parking lot of Wheelz the buzz of the club livened up my worn down spirit. I dismounted to rock music, tinged with the sound of laughter and banter bouncing off the walls. I shook off my gloves, hoping that there were some sucker…competition inside. I moved to the bar and greeted Ink when I got there. “Hey Ink, how you doing tonight?” I asked absently. I pulled out the clipboard for the pool games.
He was busy serving customers. “I’m good. We’re off to a good start. You good? Angie’s around talking to some of the patrons if you’re looking for her.” He pulled a shot and slid it down the bar to a customer.
“Ah, nah, she can come and find me, I’m setting up. I know she said she’d be here.” I was cocky about it, but I didn’t want the Rebels giving me shit about Angie. I wanted to be in control of the situation, even though deep down my gut knew she was running the show.
Ink served the older gentleman perched on the bar stool and squared himself to look at me. “You got problems,” he commented, his eyes narrowing at my dismissive attitude.
I left him with a smirk and moved over to the pool tables. No way was I confessing to any damn thing. I checked the cues, making sure there was enough blue chalk on deck for the new players if walk-ins joined. I looked down at the clipboard again.
Angie appeared out of nowhere peeping over my shoulder to look at the list. “Anyone on there that I’ve already beaten?” She quizzed.
I jerked up and the clipboard jumped.
Her emerald eyes caught mine in amusement.
My fingers got a hold of the clipboard again as a soft hint of coconut from her hair hit me. “Nope, I’m not on the clipboard. Good to see you made it down here. You getting what you need?” I fumbled a response.
Her eyes met mine. “Good news is that I’m letting you off the hook tonight, so you’re safe. I’ve met some interesting characters. Former bikers, patrons that were here in the early days. I didn’t know you were involved with prostitution.”
The sentence threw me as the color drained from my face as I immediately looked up to see who might have been telling secrets about the club’s past.
She saw the bewilderment on my face and touched the groove in my muscled forearm. “Relaxxx, it helps build the character of the club. I’m not stupid, I know the Saints were once rebels at some point,” she assured me with the warmth of her smile.
“Good, as long as you know we don’t dabble in any illegal activities anymore.” I put the stamp on it as I looked up at the door.
Mia bounced in the door with Numbers. She waved as both of them came over to introduce themselves. We didn’t have time to finish talking about Angie’s new findings as Mia started to speak, “Nice to meet a fellow investigator in the field. I saw your article! You did a great job and I definitely would not want to be your enemy. I see why you worked for the big guns.” Mia gushed.
“Thank you, I heard you’re pretty sharp as well.” Angie smiled.
“Chalk tells me that you’re gathering some intel. I’m happy to chime in with information too. Especially about the case with Numbers and the Devil Riders trying to pin a car theft on him. Might be a good angle; it’s how we got together.” Mia put her hand affectionately on Numbers’ chest.
Numbers chuckled and kissed her hair. “It’s a good story,” Numbers seconded as he gave me the head nod.
“Very cool. We should hang out and you can give me the scoop. Are you working on anything juicy right now?” Angie’s eyes grew in size and I could tell this was her element. She was loving it.
There seemed a clear mark of respect between the two women.
“I am, I have a murder case currently. The remains of a body floating in the Mississippi. Due to some of the evidence and the dealings the deceased has, I’m thinking he may be involved with bikers.”
Angie gaped at Mia. “Oh, we have to get together. That sounds juicy as hell. I think we could do something pretty special together.”
Mia grinned and shuffled around in her purse, pulling out a card. “Here you go. Call my office and let’s do it,” she stated cheerfully.
“Thanks, done and done,” Angie said.
“I will let you get back to your pool conversation with Chalk. Nice to meet you, Angie.” Mia smiled and they drifted off with a parting wave.
Angie and I picked up our conversation.
“Told you, you’d like her. You both have that dog after a bone mentality,” I mused.
“You were right about her. I guess I am like a dog after a bone, if I want something, I want it,” she gloated, her voice dripping with syrup.
“I bet.” My lips curled into a smile.
Now a couple of players walked in to join the pool game breaking into our conversation. I gave her a nod.” Now, I get to work.”
She grinned. “Work? Yeah right. You love this.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I do. It helps to break up the day.”
She gave me a smile then wandered away to talk to some of the brothers at the bar.
I paused and watched her. Too bad, I didn’t feel any spark. It was obvious she was interested in me. But like most times, I just didn’t feel the same way.
