“He’s ours.” She reached an arm out to him. “We made him.”
“You carried him but, lucky for Jonas, he’s all about Brenda, about Pop, about Dad and about me and he didn’t get even a trace of you. He’s all that but I brought out the good in him. He puts up with you and that’s it.”
“We made him,” she repeated, dropping her arm but leaning toward Tate.
“For you he was the result of an orgasm. For me, he jumpstarted my world. We made him, yeah, but I claim him.”
She closed her eyes tight and when she opened them, I knew her tactics had changed.
“You could show me –” she entreated.
“Tried to do that, Neet, never took hold.”
“I could be –” she went on.
“Tried to find out what you could be too, you never let go of who you are and I want nothin’ to do with that.”
Her eyes slid to me then back to Tate. “But you love me.”
“Never loved you, Neet. Thought I did, now I know what it feels like, know I didn’t.”
She winced, her eyes closing again, her head moving to the side and down. She lifted a hand to the railing as if to hold herself up.
“Callin’ Wood to come get you, take your ass wherever he wants but you’re leavin’ here and you’re not comin’ back. You come back, I call the cops. I’m not steppin’ out on this deck again when your feet are on it,” Tate finished with her and looked down at me. “Babe, go to her car, she left her keys in the ignition. Get ‘em, yeah?”
I nodded, let him go and moved away.
Neeta didn’t move a muscle to stop me. By the time I got to her car, pulled the key out of the ignition, figured out how to turn off the headlights, closed the door and returned to the deck, Tate was there, his phone to his ear. Neeta was now sitting on the deck, her knees curled into her chest, her arms wrapped around, the picture of pathetic but, studying her, I could call up not even a hint of compassion.
“Wood?” Tate said into the phone. “Sorry, bud, but Neeta’s at my place. She’s smashed and drove her car up here. I want her gone. Either you get her or I call the Station. You comin’?” He paused and held his hand out to me for the keys. I dropped them in his hand as he said, “Right. Later.” He flipped his phone closed, his arm curled around me again, bringing my front to his side but his eyes went down to Neeta. “Wood’ll be here to take care of your shit… again.”
“Don’t got nothin’,” she told her knees, beginning to rock.
I wanted to feel sorry for her, even tried to call it up, but after what she did that day, the other night and that Tate and I were standing out in the dark on his deck dealing with her again, I couldn’t.
Therefore, I said to her, “That’s because you threw it all away.”
She didn’t even look up at me when she repeated, “Don’t got nothin’.”
I opened my mouth to repeat myself too but Tate’s arm gave me a squeeze.
“Gonna be a bit before Wood gets here, Ace, and seen this before. Save yourself the hassle of watchin’ her feel sorry for herself. Go to bed. I’ll be in after Wood gets here.”
I looked up at him, my arms around him getting tighter.
“I’ll stay with you,” I said.
“Ace, she’s gonna sit there, whine and convince herself life just sucks rather than her doin’ shit to make it suck. Trust me, it ain’t interesting.”
“I’ll stay with you,” I repeated.
“Baby –”
“Captain,” I cut him off and then used words he used on me. “Shut it.”
His mouth twitched then his arm curled me closer, he bent his head and he kissed me lightly.
“See you’re comin’ into your inner biker babe,” he muttered.
I smiled up at him. “Yes, well… I’m learning.”
“Then I’m fucked,” he muttered teasingly.
“Mm. Maybe tomorrow,” I muttered back and he chuckled.
“That’s what I wanted from you,” Neeta whispered and both Tate and I looked down at her. “That’s all I ever wanted from you. Why couldn’t you be that way with me?”
“You missed it, Neet. Too focused on latchin’ onto my dick to lead me around by it, you missed it.”
“You never gave me that. It was always Tate and Neet, the wild ones,” she replied. “I thought you wanted it like that.”
“Like I said, you weren’t payin’ attention,” Tate returned.
Her eyes stayed locked on him then she turned her head away, pressed her cheek to her knee and kept rocking.
Tate and I stood quiet and holding each other. Wood showed and got his stumbling sister to his truck. He came back for the keys to her car which Tate gave to him.
He gave us both a chin lift, obviously a bit more than a little annoyed he was collecting Neeta in the middle of the night and not feeling in the mood to socialize.
He was walking away when Tate called him.
“Wood.”