Chapter 46
Callie
The day passed slowly for everyone in the house, but especially for me as I worried about the imminent arrival of Farrah’s dad. Apparently he was the president of Asa’s club, the married president. The fact that he’d been married for over twenty-five years didn’t endear me to the man, but I made myself hold all judgment until I saw how he treated Farrah.
He’d been gone her entire life, contributing no more than a sleazy orgasm with Farrah’s disgusting mom, but the fact that he was coming to Sacramento for her gave me hope that he had some redeeming qualities. I just prayed that Farrah wouldn’t completely lose it when he introduced himself.
I heard them before I saw them.
The apartment was filled with a loud roar of bikes, to the point of rattling a mason jar sitting on the windowsill. It startled me until I looked at Asa who wore a satisfied smile on his face. He opened up the front door before anyone could knock, and suddenly my home was filled with at least ten very large men. They weren’t quiet in their greetings, and a sound from my bedroom had me rushing away from the group toward Farrah.
“What’s going on?” she asked me quietly, as Echo rose from his place next to her.
“Grease called in reinforcements,” I answered her with a grim smile.
“Why are you calling him Grease? You never call him Grease,” she replied, her nose scrunched in confusion for only a second before she was wincing and raising her hand to her face.
“He’s Asa to me,” I told her ruefully, climbing into Echo’s deserted spot. “But today, he’s definitely Grease.”
We sat on my bed as Echo wandered into the living room, and I grabbed her hand as my heart raced. It took them longer to make their way to my room than I thought it would, and by the time they did, Farrah was leaning heavily against my side with her head on my shoulder.
Asa led a man I’d never met into the room, and I braced, only to relax a little when I saw Poet come in behind them. It was nice to see a familiar face, and I couldn’t help but smile when he winked at me from behind the others.
“Farrah—” Asa rumbled, but his words were cut off by the girl at my side.
“Hey, Pop. What are you doing in my neck of the woods?” she called out cockily.
I watched in awe as three pairs of eyes opened wide and the man in front cleared his throat nervously.
“You know who I am?” he asked, tipping his head to the side as he studied her.
“Mom has a picture of you,” she answered flatly. “You look a lot older, your shit’s gone gray, but yeah, I know who you are.”
He looked at a loss for words as he stared at her, eventually taking steps closer to the bed. With every inch, Farrah’s hand tightened on mine beneath the blankets at our hips, but she showed no other display of nervousness.
“I’m gonna make this right for you,” he told her, his eyes intent on her face.
“Why bother?” she scoffed. “When mom was shooting up and letting junkies into our house, you didn’t ‘make things right for me’. You didn’t do shit when she started whaling on me for no reason. And I’m pretty goddamn sure that you were nowhere to be found when her husband beat the hell out of me—” she pulled the neck of her t-shirt down,“—and used a cigar to burn me.”
Slider’s eyes went glossy for a moment, and Poet ran a hand over his face when she bared the insides of her breasts. When she turned her head away from them in dismissal, Slider pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes with his fingers.
“I’m gonna make this right for you,” he repeated, his voice hoarse. “I shouldn’t have left you with your mama. I got no excuse except that I had a wife—”
“Yeah, I’m well versed in married men who f*ck my mother,” she replied in a bored tone, never looking his way. “And parents who put their pieces of ass before their children.”
“I know you’re pissed at me, and you got a right to that, but I don’t ever wanna hear you disrespect my wife,” he warned, looking at the back of her head where her hair was still matted and tangled.
“You don’t ever have to hear anything from me,” she answered quietly. “Get the f*ck away from me. You’re nothing.”
He was scary, and he had a way of looking at you that made you think that he could kill you at any moment and not feel anything. But the tremble in Farrah’s voice, and the knowledge that she’d hate them looking at her the way she was, had me squeezing her hand and jumping off the bed. I strode to where her dad was standing and stopped right in front of him while Asa looked on with his jaw clenched.
“Out,” I ordered, pointing to the door.
“What?” he asked incredulously, his eyebrows lifting in surprise.
“Out of this room.”
“Calliope—” Asa called in warning, but I waved him off.
“I get that you’re scary, and you could probably snap me in half,” I told him seriously, “but she isn’t yours, she is mine. You gave up your rights. She wants you out of this room, and I don’t care how you feel about that. I also don’t care how I have to get you out of here—I may have to knee you in the balls and drag your crying ass into the hallway, but you will leave this room.”
We stared each other down for a few minutes before he turned abruptly and walked out of the room, mumbling to Asa to control his woman. I flipped him off behind his back, and Poet covered his laugh with a cough as he strode out behind him.
“The f*ck, Calliope?” Asa roared at me, as I started to push him out of the room.
“We’re not having this discussion now,” I informed him as I moved him to the doorway. “Your loyalty may be to him, but mine is to her.” I pointed in Farrah’s direction. “Now make sure that those men are in the living room or kitchen and out of the hallway. I’m gonna help Farrah take a shower. She looks like shit.”
I closed the door in his face and swung around quickly at Farrah’s laugh.
“I don’t care if I have to knee you in the balls!” she snickered at me. “That was f*cking classic.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled back at her as I tried to find some clothes that wouldn’t fall off her thin frame. “You’d better be thankful. Asa likes to spank me when he thinks I’ve done something wrong.”
She snorted with laughter and climbed gently off the bed. “Dude, I know. We all heard that shit at your party.”
“Shut up,” I griped back, my skin burning. “Grab a towel from the closet, would you?”
We made our way to the bathroom without interruption, but I was helping her undress when there was a knock at the door.
“We’re busy! Pee outside!” I called, causing Farrah to snicker.
“Yeah, I know,” Echo’s voice came through the door, causing both of us to freeze.
I looked at Farrah to get her permission and then opened the door a little to let Echo into the tiny bathroom. His gaze was locked on Farrah as he stepped inside, and I felt like a third wheel as I tried to scoot my way past him.
“Echo will help me, Callie,” Farrah told me quietly, lifting her hand to his face.
“Okie doke! I’ll just, you know, go.” I scrambled to open the door and escape the intimacy I was witnessing. “Let me know if you need anything!”
After I closed the door behind me, I straightened my shoulders and made my way to the living room.