Saving Dallas 2 Making the Cut (21 page)

“Did this Brett guy hurt them?” I asked,
scared of the answer.

“He didn’t take care of his family, so I did.
That’s all you need to know.”

“She is my sister. I have a right to
know.”

“Then she can tell you. I’m asking you to not
mention him to her, because it takes her to a dark place.” I could
tell Luke didn’t want to talk about it anymore and it was getting
late. As much as I wanted to ask questions, sleep was beginning to
take me over. I would ask Red about Maddie. Maybe she would be able
to enlighten me on her situation. Luke pulled me tighter to him and
kissed my head.

“I love you, baby. I miss you already,” Luke
whispered in my ear. I should have responded, but I only managed to
nod my head. What a fool I was for not telling him I loved him, it
could have been my last chance.

Chapter 11

Dallas

I woke up to an empty bed. A letter laid on
the pillow next to me, folded neatly with my name scribbled on the
front.

Dallas,

I didn’t want to wake you. I love you more
than anything and I will see you soon. Please don’t leave unless
one of the guys are with you. I have my cell on me, always. Call me
if you need anything and don’t, under any circumstances, look under
your pillow.

I love you.

Luke

I reached under the pillow, smiling at his
choice of words and pulled out a slim, gold box. I opened it to
find a gold necklace with a diamond motorcycle charm dangling from
it. In the bottom of the box was a note that read:

Wear this for me. Take a piece of me with
you, everywhere you go.

“What’s that?” Red asked, barging into the
room eating an apple. She was still in her pajamas and looked
totally different in glasses with no makeup, but still as beautiful
and confident as ever.

“Luke left it for me.” Red read the note and
examined the necklace.

“Here,” she said, placing her half eaten
apple on the night stand and crawling behind me. “Let me put it on
you.” I lifted my hair and smiled at the beautiful charm that
dangled from my neck.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, more to myself than
to her. “I’m gonna call him.”

I jumped out of bed and grabbed my phone,
darting to the bathroom for a bit of privacy. Luke answered on the
first ring.

“Babe,” he said, his voice smiling.

“I love it. I love you,” I said excitedly.
Talk about an ‘I fucked up gift’. Luke could fuck up anytime.

“I’m glad, beautiful. I need to let you go,
but call me if you need me okay?” I could hear men talking in the
background, but they seemed to be coming from a distance.

“Okay, I love you, and um, be careful,” I
said, feeling stupid about calling. I should have just texted. Luke
had some important shit to do.

“I love you too, babe. See you in a few
days.” Luke hung up and I wanted to get in the car and drive to
him, just so I could throw my arms around his neck and feel his
body against mine.

“Hey, lover girl,” Red called from the
bedroom. “Hurry the hell up. I’m cooking breakfast.”
I made my way to the kitchen wearing Luke’s t-shirt and a pair of
his basketball shorts. I had not even begun unpacking my bags, but
I saw them stacked neatly against the wall in the bedroom this
morning. I was shocked to find the kitchen full of women. Jenn,
Baby and Juggs sat at the bar, Luci, Maddie, Texas, Carla and
Brooklyn sat at the table and Red stood in the kitchen propped up
on the counter scrambling eggs.

“Hey, sleepy head,” Jenn said, standing to
hug me. I smiled and said hello to all of them as they took turns
hugging me and made room for me at the table.

“Bitch, you look good even after a shitty
day,” Brooklyn said to me, taking a drag off of her long cigarette.
Her deep red lipstick covered the butt of it and I wondered if she
knew that Luke’s house was smoke free-not that I was going to say
shit to her about it. Everyone looked just like me, still in
pajamas with no makeup. Everyone, except Brooklyn, who was fully
dressed and looked like she had already been up for hours.

“Thanks, Brooklyn. You look great this
morning,” I said, shooting her my teeth baring smile.

“Well, that’s because I was up at the ass
crack of dawn to see my man off. I have to work hard at this shit,”
she said, waving her hand in front of her face. “If I had a day
like you had, shit, I would have just stayed in bed.” Great.
Apparently, everyone knew about yesterday.

“Why don’t you tell us about it,” Carla
suggested. “It will do you some good to get it off your chest and
we could probably help you with some horror stories of our own.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Worm told me what happened, and girl, I went
off. I couldn’t believe he talked to you like that, but we have all
been there,” Luci added, getting up and helping Red bring the food
to the table. More chairs were gathered and soon we were all
scrunched around Luke’s small dining room table.

“Let’s pray,” Red said, grabbing my hand in
hers. Brooklyn sat to my left and found my other hand as we all
shared a moment to give praise, ask for forgiveness, guidance and a
safe journey for our men. Funny, I never took them to be
religious.

“Spill it,” Maddie snapped. My head shot up
and I couldn’t believe that she was actually speaking to me. Well,
this was a start.

“Apparently, my ex-boyfriend, Jeff, is
friends or some shit with Frankie,” I said, ready to elaborate
further, but was cut off by Luci.

“Oh, they ain’t friends. Jeff works for
Frankie. He is some kind of computer genius and helps Frankie do
some illegal money laundering shit. From what I hear, Jeff had no
idea about your history with Frankie.”

“Frankie knew what he was doing,” Baby said.
It was the first time that she had spoken and her voice sounded
squeaky compared to everyone else. She seemed small and mouse like,
but was very pretty. I wondered if she was still interested in a
job.

“Well, you all know that Regg was on Dallas
at that time, figuratively speaking of course,” Red said, holding
the platter of pancakes in her hand and giving me a look. I raised
my eyebrow at her, knowing she was sending me some kind of warning.
It took everything I had not to smile. I had Luke, there was no way
I would give him up for anyone, even the oh so charming Regg. She
broke the stare and passed the platter to Carla across the table
and continued, “Regg said that he didn’t say anything to Luke
because he had the situation handled and he didn’t want Luke losing
his shit and doing something that would in turn, hurt the club.”
Everyone nodded and mumbled with full mouths in agreement. It was
obvious that Luke was known for his temper.

“So, Luke has done this before?” I asked,
suddenly not hungry. I remembered the time that Red told me, “the
next girl that broke his heart would eat through a straw.” Did he
hurt someone else over a woman that broke his heart?

Red shook her head, trying to swallow her
food quickly, like she was anxious to speak, probably afraid
someone would butt in. “Not over a woman. He dated this one chick,
but we all hated her. Not that we particularly liked you in the
beginning, but you grew on us.” Well, that was reassuring. “Luke
has been in love with you for a while. Everyone knew it. It almost
killed him to come back here and run shit. He would call Regg
everyday checking in. It was easier for Regg to tell him you
weren’t seeing anyone. We all knew you weren’t very happy. If you
were, you would have taken the guy out more places or spent more
time with him. It seemed like when you were drunk was the only time
you even called for his company.” I blushed, embarrassed that
everyone at this table knew when I had sex. “Oh don’t be shy about
it. Jeff was hot,” Red said, taking a bite of bacon.

“So, let me get this straight. You all knew
about me? Everything I did? Everywhere I went?” I asked, feeling
like I might vomit all over the table.

“Honey, you are the most unobservant person
on the planet. Kev hated when you went shopping, and since I love
shopping, we were nominated to go,” Jenn informed me. Dangling her
wristbands in front of me-a purchase made from a boutique that I
frequented.

“I started to anonymously send you spa gifts
so we could all go enjoy the day, but Luke has connections there so
we couldn’t.” Texas said, in between bites of toast.

“We all vicariously lived through you. It was
kinda fun, but it’s more fun having you here with us,” Red said,
placing a hand on mine.

“Does anyone else at this table find this the
least bit fucked up?” I asked, taking turns looking at all of
them.

“I think it’s fucked up,” Brooklyn agreed,
pulling a flask from her purse and pouring what I assumed was vodka
into her orange juice.

“Well, I didn’t even know you existed. Buck
doesn’t tell me anything,” Baby squeaked, her lower lip stuck out
in an exaggerated pout.

“That’s just to protect you. You would have
fan girled on her,” Jenn said, putting a reassuring hand on her
shoulder. “Just like I did that night in Shenanigans,” she said
pretending to choke on her drink, then throwing her face in her
hands in a dramatic gesture, just as she had done when I first met
her. “You are Dallas Knox? I had no idea!” The table burst with
laughter, and it even made me smile a little.

“Now do you see why I fucking hate you so
much?” The laughter stopped as every eye in the room fell on
Maddie. “You stole my life, my father and now my family.”

“Maddie,“ Red said reaching her hand across
the small table to her. Maddie jerked it back.

“Shut up, Red. I’m tired of you always
defending her. I’ll say whatever the fuck I want.” Red bit her lip
and pulled her hand back, I could tell she was trying to keep her
mouth shut; not something Red was very good at. “You come in here
acting like the damsel in distress, falling out and crying over
shit. You don’t know what life is really like. You have been
pampered your whole fucking life, and now you want to come in my
world and play fucking house? After you have taken everything from
me, you want to take all I have left?”

I stared at Maddie. I had nothing to say, not
a leg to stand on. She was right. I didn’t want to imagine the hell
she had been through at my expense.

“You are not my sister,
Dallas Knox
.
You are just some snotty bitch who LLC wanted and couldn’t
have.”

“Dammit, Maddie, that’s enough!” Red said,
standing up and squaring off with Maddie from across the table.

“What? Oh, you want me to shut up now? Tell
our lovely Dallas whose words those were. Tell her how you all used
to laugh at her when we got together,” Maddie said, sneering at me.
She was enjoying watching me suffer.

“That was before,” Red said in a low voice,
not bothering to look at me.

“Before what? Huh? Before Luke offered all of
you money to tolerate her?” My eyes shot to the guilty faces around
the table. Everyone but Brooklyn, who was staring at Maddie like
she had three eyes, found something other than me to look at.

“Bravo,” Brooklyn said clapping and standing
up. The fight in Maddie seemed to dissipate, just a little, as
Brooklyn got to her feet. Now all eyes were on her. “Good job, you
little shit starter. I must say that I am proud of you. Of all the
bitches at this table, including you,” Brooklyn said, pointing at
Red, “You are the only one who has balls enough to stand up and say
something. It doesn’t matter that you are being a selfish, immature
little cunt about it all. At least you aren’t going behind her back
saying this shit. Sit down and let me tell all of you
something.”

Maddie and Red’s asses landed in their chairs
without hesitation. The food on the table had grown cold and
everyone’s attention was focused on Brooklyn.

“Back in the day, when I was where y’all are
now, we didn’t talk about sisters behind their backs. Now, Dallas,”
she said, turning in her chair to look at me, “you can’t hold what
these girls said about you behind your back against them. They
didn’t know you. You are a pretty girl who drew the attention of
not only Luke, but every one of their husbands. Ain’t no fucking
way I’d let my ol’ man follow you around shopping malls and shit.
That’s where a lot of the hostility is coming from. They’re jealous
‘cause you had their man’s attention whether you wanted it or not.”
Brooklyn pulled out a cigarette and lit it, not bothering to fan
the smoke that circled around her, poisoning each one of us. Hell,
maybe I needed one.

“Red, you are the center of this fucked up
shit, yet you chose to not share anything with Dallas. Good girl.
You don’t do shit your ol’ man don’t tell you to do. I know you
told Dallas a long time ago that she didn’t need to take shit off
of Maddie, that’s true, but Maddie is your sister. She is family.
Dallas is family, but at the time, she wasn’t. Dallas, nobody has
to like you or tolerate you. If they do, it’s of their own free
will. There ain’t a bitch in this room that’s hurtin for money, so
I know that ain’t why they are here. They are here because they
love their President and this club and will do what he asks. Once
they get to know you and you earn their trust, shit will get
better.” Just the feel of Brooklyn’s arm on my shoulder and the
softness in her eyes let me know that it would, indeed get better.
This was just a stepping stone.

“I ain’t getting in y’all’s family business.
That shit is something y’all gonna have to work out,” she said,
gesturing between me and Maddie. “But, if you’re gonna be a part of
this family, Maddie, and Luke wants Dallas here, then you will
respect her. You ain’t got to like her, talk to her or even look at
her, but you will respect her or
I’ll
black your eye. Don’t
test my fucking patience either. Me and Dallas are going for a
ride, if y’all got anything y’all want to get out of your system,
you better do it before we get back. Go get dressed, bitch, I wanna
show you my hog.”