Free Unacceptable by Kristen Hope Mazzola Page B

elephant in the room.
    I grabbed his hand. The contact caught his attention and his gaze snapped to mine. “I know it’s hard to talk about. We don’t have to.”
    He took a deep breath, chugged down his whiskey, shoved off the couch, and started to pace. “No, it’s time I finally talk about it with someone. Rave and I are the only ones that know the real story. It’ll be good to get if off my chest.”
    While pacing he finally dove into the story. “It goes back to when I was fifteen. My parents split when my mom left my father for Rave. He had been here for a few years at that point and had just started running the bar with my uncle, Rich, my mother’s brother. My old man was the fucking president and that shit really didn’t fly but my mom marched to the beat of her own drum. They didn’t get married until I was eighteen, and Rave finally moved in. I guess he wanted the dust to settle with the club a little bit before he stepped on my old man’s toes completely.”
    He poured another three fingers of whiskey in his glass before continuing. “Raine was born shortly after their wedding. Her mom, Colleen, was seventeen, and her folks had kicked her out when I knocked her up. She moved in here and everything was fine. We were one big family. Rave and I even started to get along. It was rough in the club but everything seemed to be smoothing out.”
    He paused and looked at me, his hands shaking. “I don’t think he was a bad person. I think he was driven mad from jealousy and a broken heart.” Abel cleared his throat, then took a long swig. “Raine was about a year and a half when it happened. I was working late at the garage and Rave was helping me. He had left his bike in the driveway and rode with me in my truck. I think Rave was the target but just happened to not be home. Anyway, my old man went into our house and shot my mom while she was cleaning up the dishes from dinner. I think Colleen took him by surprise. He shot her too before killing himself. The rest of the night is a fucking blur. The cops came to the garage and my world crumbled. The guilt that has buried itself inside of me and Rave will never go away. In one moment the only two women I’d ever loved were taken by the monster sperm donor who was the president of the club I had grown to love. It was all going to hell in a goddamned handbasket.”
    I was paralyzed. I had no words. Nothing.
    “Abel, I…” He sat down next to me, burying his head in the nape of my neck. I wrapped my arms around him. “I wish I knew what to say.”
    “Don’t say anything. It’s all in the past. I’ll never get over it, but it is what it is.”
     

 
    Chapter 9.
    Over the next few weeks we all started to finally get into a groove of normalcy. I started working again, Abel was spending more time at the garage than the bar, and Rave was becoming an afternoon regular for me. I even started picking Raine up from school so she could do her homework while I finished out the day shift so Able could work late.
    “Hey, Crickett right?” a surly voice came from the bar top while I was cleaning some glasses.
    I looked up to see, Rich, Abel’s uncle. I had seen him from time to time, mostly when he was going in and out of the back room or coming in to talk to guys in the back by the pool tables.
    “Yes, sir. What can I get you?”
    He sat down at the empty seat in front of him. “I’ll take Old Crow and Seven Up.”
    I made his drink and awkwardly stood in front of him, not knowing the first thing to say to strike up a conversation with the president of the club. I always thought of Abel as being my boss, but this was his boss and that made me nervous as shit.
    He took a sip. “Ah. That hits the spot. I just wanted to properly welcome you to our little family here. I’ve been pretty busy since you arrived and I didn’t want to seem rude.”
    I wiped the bar next to him, just to seem like I was staying busy in front of the big boss. “Thanks. I understand.