Charity For Nothing: The Virtues Book III (3 page)

The bar on the outside was unassuming, even nice to look at, fitting with the rest of the town with its white clapboard sides and royal blue trim. It didn’t have
windows
in the traditional sense, but rather old, reclaimed portholes edged in bronze, and really rather huge, were set into the building’s side. The glass was thick and discolored with age, and one of them was cracked, appearing to have taken a B.B… or bullet.

Neon beer signs glowed from within one or two of them and when we went through the door into the loud, dimly but warmly lit interior, it was to the rain just beginning to patter down outside. Marlin led us into the back, past a front room filled with tables and chairs, and off to one side, pool tables and dart boards. The alcove he led us back through opened up into a smaller room, a raised dais directly across from the opening against the back wall, similarly set with portholes to the outside.

On the raised little stage was an electric chair, and on the electric chair, Cutter held court, my sister Hope in his lap. I blinked at the near absurdity of it all. The portholes to either side of the chair lit up blue, the thunder crashing in time with the lightning and I jumped. Laughter ensued at my expense and I couldn’t help but laugh nervously in turn.

Marlin took a seat at a four person table to the right of Cutter’s oddball throne, and tugged Faith, similarly, into his lap. He curved his arms protectively around her and she smiled, resting her forehead against Marlin’s, murmuring something only he was likely to hear over the jukebox.

I sank into the seat beside Marlin’s where I could see everything going on, and it wasn’t lost on me that every male in this back part of the bar and
at
the bar were in Kraken colors. The prospect from earlier jogged out from behind the bar and up to me, asking “What’ll you have?” with a warm smile. I smiled back and bit my bottom lip.

“Jack and Coke?” I asked.

“Seriously?” he sounded surprised. I nodded and he smiled even bigger, “Coming right up!”

Radar dropped into the seat across from mine and asked, “What’d you order?”

“A Jack & Coke.”

“Nice!” The prospect came jogging over and Radar held up a hand, “Cough it up buddy.”

“Ahhh!” He made a mock noise of being severely put out, but his smile never faltered. He reached into his back pocket and slapped some money into Radar’s palm before returning to the bar.

“You guys bet on what I’d be drinking?” I asked amused.

“Yep. Trike there thought you’d go for something girly, I said, Nah. You’re a girl that likes the basics.” He grinned at me and wrinkled his nose and I had to laugh.

“Think you have me all figured out, huh?”

His mouth downturned in that way that said he wasn’t trying to be impressive even though he was trying to be impressive and I fought down the urge to laugh at him. He gave a one shouldered shrug and didn’t commit to an answer one way or the other, I raised my eyebrows and took a sip of my drink which was good and stiff. I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easy.

“More or less,” he said breaking into an even broader grin.

“Uh huh,” I said dubiously. “Coffee or tea?”

“Are you kidding? You’re just coming out of grad school, coffee.”

“That was an easy one,” I leaned back in my seat and tried again.

“Fine, okay, dog or cat?”

“Cat.”

“Reasoning?”

“Self-sufficient creatures, a lot like you!” Hope called and I frowned at her.

“You stay out of this!”

There was laughter and a shadow fell over me, a droplet of water splashing onto my arm, I whipped around and looked up. Nothing stood by my seat and held out the keys to my Jeep to me.

“I put the soft top on, it’s out front,” he said and I blinked.

“Then how’d you get so wet?”

“Walking to the door,” he said with a shrug and sniffed. Water streamed down his face, and plastered his hair to his forehead and cheeks.

I took the keys and said, “Thank you, is it really coming down out there, or what?”

“Or what,” he said and with a shrug, turned and walked away. I stared at his back and felt myself frown.

“What’s his deal?” I asked the empty air and no one in particular.

Radar answered me, “That fucking guy,” he said shaking his head, “Doesn’t know when to quit.”

“Quit what?”

“Grieving,” Marlin said simply, but before I could ask, a new song hit the jukebox, pulse pounding and
loud
. Radar laughed, jammed for a second on an imaginary air guitar, bounded to his feet and dragged me up by the hand to the little patch of cement floor left bare for dancing. I laughed and obliged him; he seemed nice enough for all that he wasn’t my type in the looks department, being around even with my height and rather compact. I preferred my men taller than me but that was neither here nor there when it came to the men of the club. I’d taken Hope’s warning to heart that these guys liked to play for keeps and to get my kicks somewhere else… but honestly, my mind kept drifting back Nothing’s way.

Something about him was nagging at every instinct I had to heal, fix, and protect and Marlin’s little admission had the gears turning in my head. What was it Nothing had to grieve? By the sounds of it, it was an old and deep wound. I should leave well enough alone but I had to ask…

“What did Marlin mean?”

Radar grinned, “Got a thing for our boy, Nothing?”

I blushed; I couldn’t help myself, “Just curious more than anything.”

Radar spun me out and then back, when we came back together, he said, rather somberly, “I’d give any ideas about flirting or whatever the boot right now. Nothing ain’t over his wife and kid.”

“Oh…”

“He should be, it happened forever and a fuckin’ day ago. I lost my Ol’ Lady to cancer something like two years ago. I can’t imagine living like it was only yesterday that she died for almost
four years
.” He shook his head, adding, “That shit just ain’t right.”

“Oh my god…” I uttered, “His wife
died
?” I felt horrible, and more than ever wanted to fix it.

“And his kid,” Radar said. “It was a stupid fucking accident. Anyways, best just to steer clear, he’s pretty much turned into a lost cause. We all fuckin’ love Nothing like a brother from another mother, but he ain’t gonna change. He just ain’t got it in him.”

“Is that why you call him Nothing?” I asked.

“No, he calls
himself
Nothing. The road name we gave him, he pitched after it happened.”

“I got the impression you were stuck with whatever was given to you, so is that even allowed?”

“Yeah, not so much, but we made an exception. He wasn’t gonna let it go.” Radar grinned and spun me one more time and back in, the song ending. Other couples around us broke apart applauding and I smiled.

“Thanks for the dance,” I said and almost immediately regretted it, because Radar winked at me.

“Sure, no problem,” he said, before melting through the archway and sidling up to the bar. I cursed myself and went back to my seat and my now watered down drink, taking a strong sip. I really hoped he didn’t think I was interested or up for anything more. It was a knee jerk reaction from spending the last four years in a college town with entitled trust fund douche bags who took a smile as ‘pursue me.’

I was truthfully also a little disappointed, I’d been hoping Radar would finish the story, but oh well. It wasn’t like I was going anywhere and Nothing either. I was sure there would be plenty of time to learn more.

The rest of the night was spent dancing, because apparently Radar was a trendsetter and
everybody
had to get their time in with the new girl. I was beginning to get the picture that as far as semi-permanent or permanent residents went, Ft. Royal was as small town as they came and there wasn’t a whole lot to choose from out of the native stock.

Lucky me?
Oh well, I’d always been raised to make the best out of every situation thanks to Hope.

Chapter 4

Nothing

She was dancing with Stoker. I sat at the end of the bar and watched her, curious about this woman, this girl, who made me feel something after so long. Of course, it shouldn’t have surprised me. Her older sister, Hope, had made my dick stir back in New Orleans, even if making out with her had been in the line of duty, so to speak. Still, Charity had accomplished something only Corrine had ever been able to do before. She’d stopped me in my tracks with one look. My heart stuttering in my chest like I was some teenaged fucking nerd boy who’s crush had spoken to him for the first time.

I didn’t know what bothered me more,
that,
or the fact that unpacking her things, I’d found nothing but evidence of a loving, driven, loyal and all around sweetheart of a young woman. The first thing I’d encountered was the carefully bubble wrapped framed diploma she’d received on graduation. I’d hung it for her, right over the bed, the first thing you saw when you walked into the room she would be calling home for the foreseeable future.

Helping Trike unload her shit was probably the creepy as fuck way to go about it, but that’s what I’d done. I’d learned a lot moving her boxes from the trailer into the Captain’s house. One, she was organized, every box neatly labeled in her clear, precise, handwriting. Two, she was a fucking minimalist. Three boxes of clothes, a couple of books, and a damn few of those judging by the weight. She had only one box of toiletries and one box labeled ‘personal items’ and that was it.

I hadn’t split anything marked ‘personal’ open, at least not on purpose, but the bottom had dropped out of the personal items box. Picture albums, a jewelry box that must have been something she’d had since she was a little girl, and a few other items of no consequence. The pictures that were framed, a few of the glass plates had broken, and the jewelry box had spilled out onto the bed where I’d gone to set it when the bottom of the box had given way. I’d cleaned up the glass and busted out the vacuum, careful to get it all while Trike had gone to work putting the top onto her Jeep before the rain could set in.

The hard top we’d stashed against the side of the house, and the paperwork for the little U-Haul trailer we’d found on the passenger seat of her rig. I’d had Trike it back to the closest one while I’d carefully put away Charity’s things for her. It was like once that box had split giving me a deeper glimpse into her life, I’d needed to know more. Before I knew it, over half the boxes contents were put where they belonged. Clothes hanging, and useless bedding relegated to the linen closet. I’d taken the time to run out and get her some useable bedding before heading to The Plank. She had a thing for the color blue, like light blue, so I’d gotten her sheets that would match her eyes.

She was all moved in, completely set, and I had some really mixed feelings about it. I turned on my bar stool and rapped my knuckles on the scarred wood surface of the bar. Trike loaded my glass with another double and I took a decent slug of it. I was way past the burning sensation and in that territory where the buzz was beginning to blur into a haze. Radar, slapped me on the back, hanging on me for a second before dropping onto the stool next to me. I only halfheartedly shrugged him off and he stared at me with that shit eating grin of his that screamed ‘I know something you don’t know.’

He kept right on staring, knowing that it’d eventually get under my skin, until finally, exasperated, I growled out, “What?”

“She likes you. Don’t ask me why; I mean, you’re an ugly fucker, but she started asking all kinds of questions. I think she’s
the one
, Nothing my man.”

“One what?” I growled and finished off my double. Fuck me, but I wanted to drink tonight.

“Come
on,
man. You should hit it. I mean
look at her,”
I shrugged him off of me as he tried to wrench me around on my bar stool to look in her direction. Except I didn’t want to look at her. I felt guilty as fuck that I’d almost let Corrine’s memory slip from my mind the last few hours.

“Seriously, bro?”

“Seriously, leave it the fuck alone tonight, Radar. I’m not into it.”

Radar shook his head, “Man, you can’t keep
doing
this to yourself.”

“I can, and I will. It’s what I deserve.” I slid off my stool by way of emphasis and made for the door. Fuck it. I’d walk home. I was in no shape to drive and Marlin would need the Subie to take his woman home, out of the rain. I’d given him my spare key to it when it was apparent Faith was a permanent fixture. She couldn’t ride all the time, not in the wet, and I couldn’t paint houses in the rain.

I pushed my way out the front door and into the downpour, tipping my head back to let the warm wet wash some of my guilt away. Not like it mattered, though. There was always plenty more where it came from.

“Don’t let him get to you.”

I whirled and looked at Hope; she was tucked back into the alcove next to the front door out of the water streaming from The Plank’s eaves. I’d walked right by her. She raised her glass and took a sip, raising an eyebrow at me over the rim. She’d quit smoking long before she’d ever hit Ft. Royal, but sometimes we’d catch her slipping out and standing where the smokers could be found. A ‘fresh air’ break, she called it, but really, I think it was because she would get overwhelmed in close quarters; she was just too much of a badass to admit it.

“I don’t,” I said.

She smirked, “Liar.”

“Whatever you say, Hope.” I started up the street, turning from her look of surprise. I’d never spoken to her like that, and I guess it was a mark of how far under my skin Radar had gotten.

Or was it really Radar at all?
The little voice in the back of my head asked me. I told it to shut the fuck up and kept pounding pavement. About twenty minutes into my walk, and about ten minutes from home I cursed myself out hard.

Radar damn sure wasn’t the reason I’d noped right the fuck out of there. It was all Charity. It was all that fucking
look
in her eyes in the marina parking lot. I’d seen her hesitate, seen the dismay on her face, and when she’d looked up at me, it’d nailed my ass to the asphalt. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was. Truthfully, I didn’t know if it had a name, but it was damn sure a look I remembered. One that Corrine and I had both shared once upon a time… back in the beginning.