No matter how much Bear liked to pretend, he knew they were having sex by now. He'd talked to Vi to make sure she understood that staying the night at Mac's didn't mean she could move in with him, and it honestly seemed as if she hadn't even thought about it. Which was good, because he would lock her up in her room if she was planning that.
But for now, he needed to be there for her and help her get through this part—her mom's visit. It might just be for the weekend, but it was plenty of time for Ella to fuck her up.
“It'll be fine, Katze,” he said and kissed the top of her head. “You'll be fine.”
Vi didn't answer, just drew another deep breath. Then he saw the two blondes coming through the gate. Lisa started running as soon as she noticed them and threw herself around his neck.
“Dad! Oh my god, I've missed you.” As soon as she let go of him, she continued with Vi. “I've missed you, too!”
Vi hugged her sister tight. They'd never really been close. They'd been too different for that, but they were still sisters. He gave Ella a nod and watched her carefully as she moved towards Vi. She took Vi in her arms, and he heard her whispering something but couldn't hear what. As long as Vi looked okay, he wasn't butting in.
“We're staying at a hotel, I thought it would be best,” Ella said and gave him a careful look before turning back to Vi. “Two rooms, but if you'd like you could spend a night or two in Lisa's room. I booked hers as a double.”
Vi looked at him, at Lisa, her mom, and then back at him. He could see her hesitation.
“Please!” Lisa said with a big smile. “One night at least. I wanna catch up and get all the latest gossip.”
Vi finally nodded. He wanted to calm her down, and as they walked outside he caught her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“One text is all it takes, and I'll be on my way. That clear? I'll be there if you need me.”
He wasn't crazy about the idea of leaving Vi anywhere near Ella for the night, not at all, and he'd make sure he had Vi to himself for a few moments the next day to make sure it was all okay. At least Lisa would be there; he wouldn't have agreed if it had been just Ella and Vi. No fucking way.
He talked with Lisa on the phone every week, and lately she'd had a lot of questions about Vi. To him, it sounded as if she was finally starting to realize what Vi had been through. The initial questions had been about him, and started when she studied ADD in school. Eventually it led to questions about Vi, too.
They passed the apartment on their way to the hotel to let Vi get her stuff. Lisa followed her inside, which meant he was alone with Ella, and he took the opportunity to make a few things clear to his ex-wife.
“If she comes home feeling bad about the time she's spent with you, I'll pay you a visit in LA, and you won't like it.”
He looked towards the apartment and not at Ella when he said it. She didn't reply at first, because she knew he never made idle threats. He counted the seconds, because there was no way she'd be able to keep her mouth shut for more than thirty of them. And he was right; he was at twenty-two when she spoke up.
“Tattoo artist and a twenty-four-year-old boyfriend. I'm assuming you're really proud of your track record when it comes to her?”
“I am, and spend two days in her company, compare her to what she used to be like, and you'll figure out why. Even if I wasn't, what the fuck could you do about it?”
“I could help her.”
He turned towards her. “You fucking idiot! You have to actually
know
a person to help her. You don't know shit about Vi, and you never have. You didn't even know her favorite color when she was a kid, and you've never known what kind of a person she is. But that's
your
fucking loss, not hers!”
“How dare you?”
“I dare, because you fucked her up, and she's doing fine now. If you mess with that you'll never see her again. She's gonna cut you out of her life. So you better start paying some fucking attention to who she is and not who you'd like her to be.”
Ella was opening and closing her mouth, staring at him with wide eyes. He could hear her start a sentence, but just then Lisa and Vi came walking over the parking lot. They were both laughing, and Ella had the sense to shut the fuck up.
She kept her mouth shut while they were having dinner together, as well. It was mostly Lisa talking—about everything. Her internship at a hospital, her boyfriend, and life in general. She asked Vi a lot of questions, too, especially about the tattooing.
Finally she asked, “Wanna pop my cherry?”
“What?” Vi asked, staring at her sister.
“I was thinking a daisy, think you can do that? I know we're not here for long, but maybe you can squeeze me in tomorrow, if that's okay with you?”
Bear's heart swelled. It was such a nice thing to do, and a great way for Lisa to show she was on her baby sister's side in this. While the three of them looked at Vi, her face lit up in a beautiful smile.
“I can! We could make some sketches for it tonight.”
He left the three of them at the hotel and drove to the clubhouse. Mac soon came over, obviously agitated.
“Got a text from Vi. Said she's staying at the hotel with Lisa tonight?”
“Yeah.” He downed his whiskey. “Lisa'll look after her, and I told her to text me if something went wrong.”
Mac nodded and waved to get a beer. “She'll be fine.”
“I know.”
He knew Vi would be fine; he just wasn't as sure Ella would be.
“I wanted to check something with you.” Mac cleared his throat. “I got this gift for her...”
“Christmas present?”
“No, just to... I just bought her something. I didn't get her anything for her birthday, since we weren't talking, and I thought it might be... Fuck! Just to get her mind off her mom.”
He turned his head and glared at the kid. “It better not be a fucking tattoo.”
“No! I told you I'd wait. It's a necklace, but it's the skull with a top hat, the one we do as a tattoo for Old Ladies. I thought I'd give it to her now... before. I know we haven't been together for long, but I want her to have some kind of mark.”
“That's okay.” It was a good idea. Sensible, but still proved he was serious.
I might be pussy-like of Mac to buy Vi a necklace just to make her feel better, but as long as the kid was behaving like a pussy for the sake of his baby girl, he wasn't going to give him a too hard time about it. At least not until Vi'd had the necklace. Besides, the others would do it for him. They were already giving Mac a hard time about how he was with Vi. Comments like 'did you get your girlfriend home in time for curfew' were flying around the clubhouse. Mac didn't seem to mind too much, though.
“I just wanted to make sure you're okay with it. Would hate to beat you up in the ring in front of your daughter.”
“Kid, I've got over sixty pounds and thirty years of experience on you—you wouldn't stand a chance. But I don't mind the necklace. I like it.”
“Good,” Mac said and looked over his shoulder. “I'm gonna go talk to Mitch. I'll see you later.”
“Yeah.”
He watched the kid stalk away. It was a really nice gift, and he knew Vi would love it. As far as he was concerned, it was a lot fucking better than ink. If Mac'd asked him about ink Vi after two months with her, he wouldn't even had bothered with the ring, he would've just decked him. That was not being serious, that was being in a hurry.
-o0o-
I couldn't believe it! My sister was going to let me ink her; her very first tattoo! When we'd been working on the sketch the evening before. I'd asked her if she wanted it in color, and she'd said she obviously wanted it violet.
It'd been a great night, and Mom'd stayed out of our way. I had no idea what Dad'd said to her, but it had apparently been enough to make sure she left me alone. No comments, no remarks, no nothing.
Lisa'd been... I wasn't sure what she'd been, but I'd had a good time. According to her, it was mostly that the age difference didn't matter as much anymore. She also said it was the fact that I didn't seem to hate her anymore. I could see why she'd thought I did, but I never hated her. It was more that she was so unlike me, and it didn't seem to matter as much anymore. Back then, it was probably me being jealous, too. That Mom loved her. Even if I didn't really like Mom, she was still my mom, and...
I didn't tell Lisa that part, though.
We'd had fun, and now we were at Wicked Ink, getting ready for her first tattoo. Chris was sitting next to us, and Lisa'd been flirting with him the entire time, just like all girls did. Something Joe obviously found hilarious, since I could hear him laughing all the way from the kitchen. Chris didn't seem to mind, but he was used to it.
Lisa kept talking. She'd pretty much been talking since she arrived, but this time it didn't annoy me as much as it used to. On occasion, she asked me questions in her usual, very direct, way. She was always extremely direct and very honest. It was sometimes stressful, but also refreshing. You never had to wonder what she really meant; it was always obvious. As soon as Christ left us, she started on the questions.
“So, you and Mac?”
“Yeah...” I'd been waiting for it and had been a bit surprised it hadn't come up the night before.
“He's the good brother,” she continued. “I think he's the better looking, too. Most girls like Mitch better, but it's more that he has charisma and the bad boy attitude. Mac has an angst about him, some girls think it's a turn-off, but I like him. I got along better with Mitch, he's easier to be around, but if I had to choose it would’ve been Mac. He's the good guy, and Mitch is the heartbreaker.”
I wasn't sure what to say, so I kept drawing, and Lisa kept talking. The really good thing with talking to Lisa was that you didn't actually have to, like, talk. She did it for you. It was quite possible to just keep your mouth shut, and let her have the conversation with herself.
“She's gonna get over it. Mom, I mean,” she clarified. “She's mostly looking for reasons to yell at Dad.”
I didn't fully agree, but hesitated to tell her. I thought Mom wanted to be all over my ass, as always. Then I decided to just tell her.
“Mom never really left the age when you're all wrapped up in yourself. It's all about her. She doesn't like that I want different things than she does. Also, she can't accept that I'm not like you, that my head works the way it does.”
Lisa laughed. “Mom is good in some ways, she's just not good with problems. When she doesn't understand things she pretends they don't exist. She doesn't understand your problems, so she pretends they don't exist.”
“And she treated me like she treated you and got even more pissed when it didn't work.”
“That's probably true,” Lisa said. “Did you know I talk to Dad every week?”
“Yeah.” I knew it, but I hardly ever asked him about it. He kept me updated, though. Just how she was doing, but not much more than that.
“He's so proud of you.”
“He's proud of you, too, Lisa.”
“I know, that's not it. We've talked a lot about you and him, and I understand more about you now. Mom refuses to listen to me about it, and Dad tends to build a wall around you to protect you. That, in combination with you and her being like oil and water, doesn't help when it comes to her getting to know or understand you.”
I hadn't thought about it in that way, but still. “She never really cared to find out.”
“No, I'm just saying it was a bad combination. She denied there being a problem, she never made an effort to try to understand you, and Dad didn't force it down her throat.”
“He shouldn't have had to.” I felt a need to defend Dad, maybe because I knew she had a small point, and I didn't really want to admit it out loud. “And he protected me because she refused to even
try
to understand.”
“I know, honey,” Lisa said and turned around. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I know Mom is in complete denial about you. She's still talking about you going to college, and I know it's not going to happen. I know you hate school, and this tattooing thing—I know you're gonna be awesome at it. You've found your place. I know enough about people like you to know that once they find their place, it's gonna work out for them. I want things to work out for you. That's all Dad wants, too. I think Mom just can't admit Dad was right all along.”
“Probably.” I still didn't agree, but I didn't want to argue about it. It didn't matter anymore.
“And this is really awesome. You're making living art, honey. It's so cool.”
“Yeah, but you're gonna save lives.” She was gonna be a great doctor if she managed to keep quiet and listen to the patients, but I think she did. At least I hope she did.
When Chris came back she blushed! Lisa! She never blushed, and I leaned over the stencil of the outlines I was working on to not have to look at her. I wasn't blind, I knew Chris was hot, but I still didn't understand why
every
girl, including my own sister, behaved like a twelve-year-old when he was around.
“A co-worker lost her dad, she was really broken up about it and then she got a tattoo for him,” Lisa said, and she was almost stuttering! “She said it was such a way for her to pay respect. From that perspective, you'll help people, too. I'm guessing those kind of tattoos are really common.”
“Among the first timers it sure is,” Chris said, then leaned over me to look at my sketch. “It looks good. Got a plan?”
He meant if I had a plan how to ink it, shading, the different layers, and colors—and I nodded.
I placed the stencil on Lisa once it was done. She wanted it on the back of her shoulder, and she approved of the placement.
A couple of hours of constant chatter later, she looked into the mirror, and I seriously saw tears in her eyes.
“Oh, Vi. This is so great. My sister did a tattoo on me!” She caught me in a hug. “I'm gonna want a flower garden back there, so you better keep practicing. I love you, girl.”
When Chris left us again, and I was taping the plastic on her, I cleared my throat.
“He's not single.”
“Neither am I, but look at that ass!” Lisa replied.