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A/N: Thank you all so so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. I am completely blown away and thrilled that you all seem to like it so. A very special thanks to R3-1 M4y3r for all of her help. If you haven't read her yet, you should do so because she's awesomely talented.
CHAPTER FOUR
"Hey," Eden looked up as her brother came into the house. "I'm making dinner." To say things had been tense with them was a ridiculous understatement, she felt it even more when they were alone. Ever since she'd taken Kozik's ink, things were different. She didn't like it, he was her brother; her only remaining blood family.
"I'm not hungry," Edge replied as he made his way to the fridge and took out a beer. "Going out actually." He popped the top off and took a long sip, he didn't even bother to pick up the top where it fell on the floor.
"Back to the clubhouse?" she asked as she ignored the cap on the floor. For a man in his twenties he certainly hadn't learned a damn thing about picking up after himself. There were some lessons from their father that were less beneficial than others. But she left that alone, for now.
"Nah, not tonight. Going out with some old friends."
"Anyone I know?"
"Met them when you were in New Mexico," he replied. "You heading back to the clubhouse to see your Old Man?"
And there it was, the root of his attitude. "I thought that you liked Kozik Eddie."
"It's Edge," he told her. "And yeah, he's an okay guy but I don't think he's the right guy for you. You know exactly why. He ever remind you of anyone Eden?"
Eden had to bite her tongue to keep from saying something sarcastic. Kozik was nothing like their father which is what he was heavily implying. She decided to ignore it entirely, if she didn't she was likely to smack the shit out of her brother. "Look, I know that you're worried he's going to hurt me but I love him and he loves me. He'd cut his hand off before he hurt me." Edge replied with a snort and downed half of his beer. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that he's got a bigger priority than you, the club. They're always going to come first, no matter what he tells you."
"That logic applies to you too doesn't it? I mean you've spent almost a year prospecting for SAMTAC. Does that mean you love me less?" She was losing the patience that she needed to deal with her brother and if she lost her temper it wasn't going to be good for either of them.
"No Eden, you're my sister. Blood is..." he trailed off. "Fucking forget it, you aren't going to listen to shit I have to say anyway."
"No, we're not forgetting it. Ed...Edge, tell me what the hell is going on with you!" Eden dropped the spoon that she was using to stir the tomato sauce to the stove and turned the flame down.
"Nothing Eden, nothing. I love you." It was rare that he would say the words and even rarer for him to move forward and kiss her on the forehead. "I've got to go."
"Edge, wait," Eden protested but he didn't wait. The back door slammed behind him and she heard the sound of his bike starting up. "You're supposed to set the alarm." She said to the empty room as she bent to pick up the beer top he'd left on the floor.
The conversation hadn't alleviated any of her fears that something was way off with her brother, in fact it had only confirmed that he might be too far gone for her to help him. Obviously her relationship with Kozik had changed their relationship but there was no way that she could ever choose between the two.
Giving up Kozik would be like giving up her soul, she'd been in love before or thought that she had, but what the two of them had together made everything else pale in comparison. With Kozik she was alive, happy and on top of the world. With him she could do anything, even forget the past.
Eden turned the flame back on beneath the sauce, gave it a good stir and put the top back on. Suddenly the sheer silence of the house hit her, she realized that this was the first time she'd been alone in the house since the attack and wondered if Kozik really knew Edge was leaving because he didn't want her alone.
It pissed her off that she was uncomfortable in the house, she'd spent most of her life living there with the brief exception of the time that she'd gone to New Mexico in the hopes of a new start. That dream had turned into a nightmare, she'd returned home and had often wondered why she'd ever left in the first place.
She shouldn't have been scared, her gun was on the counter. Kozik had insisted she carry in the house regardless of who was there and that wasn't too far from the way she already lived. Mentally she ticked off the weapons she had stashed through out the house but found no comfort in the routine.
Eden turned the radio on but it was too loud, if someone tried to get in she'd never hear the alarm system until it was too late so she shut it back off. "Jesus Christ Eden, just fucking breathe," she ordered herself and took comfort in her own voice.
Several moments later there was a loud knock on the back door, it made her jump but instinct kicked in as she grabbed her gun to check the click and be sure that it was ready to fire. Cautiously she looked out the side window and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Happy on the other side of the glass.
He smirked as she opened the door. "Feeling a little jumpy today?"
"Not funny," she told him and lowered the gun down to her side. "Let me guess, you're the babysitter?" Eden pulled open the door and motioned for him to come in.
"You don't look like a baby to me," he wiped his boots on the mat before he came in. "You're cooking?"
"Let me guess, you're hungry."
"Donut's turn to cook at the club house. He made some fake meat loaf."
"Fake meat loaf?" Eden felt herself smile, it was perfectly ironic that the man called Donut was a health freak, of course he hadn't always been that way. His nickname, from what she'd learned, had been gained when he was a Prospect and got caught eating a dozen doughnuts in one sitting.
"Not real meat," Happy's expression said it all.
"How well did that go over?"
He shrugged his shoulders and moved to the fridge to get a beer. Pretty much all of the Sons were completely at home in her house, she'd wanted that way because there was no chance she was going to spend all her time fetching and serving for them.
They settled into a comfortable silence as she finished sauce and put on the water for pasta. "You ever think about getting a dog?" Happy questioned.
"I like dogs, used to have them when I was a kid." Eden smiled at the memory. "You trying to tell me you think I should get a dog?"
"I know someone who's got puppies, just saying if you wanted one I'd handle it."
"I'll talk to Koz," she said idly, maybe she would but she got the feeling that he had some issues about owning a dog when he'd been responsible for the death of one that he'd loved.
"Like he'd say no to you," Happy shook his head.
Eden studied the stoic man, she wasn't one hundred percent sure what it was exactly that Happy did for the club but she knew that it was probably something that would keep her up at night if she did. He, like all his Brothers, was a man dedicated to the Sons, willing to give or take all to protect them. That was why it was just a little bit out of character that he was standing in her kitchen talking to her about pets. "Wait a second," she eyed him as she salted the water in the pot, "he put you up to this didn't he?"
"Don't know what you're talking about. You got bread to go with that pasta?"
"I've got bread," and she also had her answer. He wouldn't have admitted that Kozik asked him to offer to get her a dog under the worst of torture, he was loyal after all. "How old are the puppies?"
"Six weeks," he replied. "Mama dog needs a home too. She's a pretty fierce bitch. Guy's moving, can't take her. Probably just put her down if no one else wants her."
Eden frowned at the thought. "That's pretty fucked up."
"Fucked up world," Happy shrugged. "Good dog though, be a real shame."
"Alright, as long as she's not a complete psychopath and Kozik's cool with it." A small smile crossed Happy's face as he handed her his beer. "Why are you giving me your beer?"
"Gonna go get the dogs out of the fucking van. Your brother's already got enough of a mess to clean up tomorrow, puppy got scared and shit all over the place."
4 4 4
Eden was still awake when Kozik came home, she heard his key in the lock and couldn't help but smile. It was late enough that he probably assumed she was sleeping, she listened to him take off his boots and start down the hall towards the living room. "Easy Mama," she reached out and stroked the brindle pit bull which was currently laid out on the couch next to her.
"Baby, you're still up?" He walked into the living room and didn't look in the least bit surprised to see the large dog on the couch and the small, but still larger than average, puppy passed out on the rug.
"You set me up," she accused with narrowed eyes.
"Me?" He feigned innocence as he crossed the room to drop a kiss to her forehead. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't," she launched into an imitation of Happy's rough voice. "Probably going to put the Mama dog down if no one takes her."
"Well, that is true." He reached out and stroked the dogs head. "Looks like they're settling in nice." Kozik stood up straight and stripped off his cut. "I heard that there was pasta?"
"Your plate is in the microwave," she had intended to play it off like she was pissed at him but couldn't manage it. "You could have just suggested we get a dog."
"Yeah, I probably could have." But he couldn't take the chance that she'd have said no and he knew that she was a sucker for animals. "Love you."
"Love you too but just so you know, you're the one getting up in the middle of the night to take them out and in charge of the house breaking." Eden informed him. "And they've got to go out now so... have fun with that. I'm going to bed."
4 4 4
As much as Eden hated to admit it, she was really enjoying playing housewife with Kozik, he was less work than her brother that was for sure. If asked he would pitch in around the house but with her not working she definitely had enough time to get it done even if some days it felt like the work never ended.
The two dogs gave her a lot of extra work as well. Personally she'd like to find and dismember whoever had owned Mama, the large dog was barely house trained and terrified of damn near everything but they were working on it. The puppy, named Baby, was really learning everything that she'd picked up from the internet and Happy quickly.
With a basket of laundry balanced on her hip and two more loads in the washer and dryer she had little patience as she kicked at her brothers door. "I'm sick of doing your laundry Edge, you're a grown ass fucking man." Eden pushed open the door to her brother's room when he didn't answer and promptly dropped the basket in her hand. "Fuck!" Her brother was flat on the floor, face up with his arm extended out. It was the sight of the needle that shocked her the most. "You dumb son of a bitch, what did you do?"
He opened an eye as she dropped down on the floor next to him. "What?" His words were slurred as if his tongue were too thick for his mouth. At that point it probably felt like it was, if he could even feel anything.
"Shooting up Eddie? Really?" She motioned towards the needle still stuck in his arm. "You need to cut that shit out, now. SAMTAC isn't going to stand for it. You won't get patched if anyone finds out about this." If there was any threat that would work, she hoped it would be that. Becoming a full fledged Son had been all he'd wanted since he'd started hanging around them.
"They kept Kozik," he pointed out as he slid the needle out from under his skin. Without regard for sanity he threw it down on the carpet.
"They nearly killed Kozik," she kept her voice calm though she wanted to shout. Of course that was well before she knew him but he'd told her what had happened, after hearing his story she'd had nightmares for weeks. "They will kill you!"
"Probably gonna kill me anyway," he mumbled with long pauses between the words. He was on the verge of passing out, "...fucked up."
"What did you fuck up? Eddie?" Eden sighed, he was out like a light. "Great. Just great." She gathered up the laundry that had spilled and tossed it onto his bed with a disgusted sigh.
4 4 4
"What happened to dinner?" Kozik questioned as he draped his cut over the back of the chair. Eden was sitting at the other side of the kitchen table with a beer in front of her.
"I forgot to take something out," she twirled her finger around the neck of the bottle and kept her eyes trained on the bottle. After she'd stormed out of Edge's room she'd done a lot of thinking and nothing that she came up with would make this situation right.
Telling Kozik that she'd found him passed out with a needle in his arm was essenitally the straw that would get Edge kicked out of the club, he'd lose his prospect patch and any respect he'd managed to gain.
Kozik pulled a bottle of beer out of the fridge. "You okay?"
"I've got a headache, a really bad headache. I think I'm just going to go upstairs and lie down a while."
"You take anything?" He questioned. "I think there's some Tylenol upstairs, I'll get you some," he offered. "Order us something and we can eat upstairs, watch something on the television unless it bothers your eyes."
"I don't feel like eating, I'm just going to go to sleep."
"Hey." Edge walked through the door seemingly recovered from his earlier state. "Kozik," he nodded at the man. "No dinner Eden? I'm starving."
"Kozik's ordering in, he'll order something for you," her grip tightened around the bottle. She needed to be far away from her brother before she took that bottle and stuck it straight up his stupid ass. "The dogs should be ready to come back inside in a few minutes Koz."
"Alright Baby, c'mere." Kozik pulled her to him, kissed her lips lightly. "I'll be up in a little bit, bring you some food just in case."
"Thanks," Eden said because she had to say something. "See you later," she moved past Edge without a word and was already halfway to the room when she thought of it.
"What did you do to her Shit Head?" Kozik questioned of Edge as he opened up the drawer where they kept the menus.
"I don't know what you're talking about," the younger man protested. "I just got up, was pretty beat after last night."
"Heard you did good," Kozik commented. "Still not gonna keep me from kicking your teeth in if I find out that you fucked up with her somehow. She never goes to bed this time of day."
"I didn't do shit to her," Edge told him. "Don't got to order me shit, I'm heading out. Gonna meet up with my boy."
"Been meeting up with your boy a lot lately. You know there's a party at the clubhouse tonight, someone needs to tend the bar."
"I'll be there, don't worry about it." Edge grabbed his prospect cut from the other kitchen chair and shrugged it on. "Later."
"Little fucking asshole," Kozik wanted to go after him, slap him around a bit but he glanced towards the room where Eden had gone. "Fuck." He couldn't just let her sit there alone thinking. He knew her, knew that she'd get in her own head. Once she worked herself up it would take him forever to talk her down.
Eden was on the bed, under the covers with her back to the door when he walked into the room. She didn't look back at him, instead pretended to be asleep. Kozik barely kept herself from sighing, he was seriously going to kill her brother the next time he saw him.
Something was going on with the little fuck. And now something was going on with his girl. "Baby," he sat down on the edge of the bed and towed his boots off. "I know that you're not sleeping Eden."
"I'm trying to sleep," she remained with her back to him. "My head really hurts. Did you let the dogs back in?"
"I will, they were enjoying themselves." Kozik stretched out next to her and draped his arm over her stomach. "You take something for your head?"
"Tylenol," Eden lied. "I'm going to be miserable company tonight Kozik, maybe you should just head back to the clubhouse for a few beers with the guys. I hate you just sitting around doing nothing."
"I hate the idea of you in pain," he replied. "Besides, there's nothing going on down there tonight," his tone was light and teasing. Eden smiled as he pressed his lips to the exposed side of her neck. "You sure no one upset you?"
She knew what he was really asking, had Edge upset her? "No one upset me, told you my head just hurts."
"Alright then, let's just go to sleep." He pressed his lips to her hair. "You'll feel better when you wake up and we can order something to eat, alright?" Eden just nodded, not sure that she could trust her voice and relaxed in his arms.
"I love you."
"Love you too Baby."
4 4 4
"Yo," Kozik held his phone to his ear as he shoveled another bite of waffles into his mouth. "Oh hey Carmen, what's up? Oh, she's right here. Babe, it's Carmen."
"Hello," Eden put down her coffee and took the phone from him with a frown. She couldn't think of a single reason Carmen would be calling her so early, sure they were friends but very casually.
"Hey Eden, how are you?" Carmen said without waiting for a response she continued. "You got any plans today?"
"Uh, not really. What's up?" She glanced to Kozik who had resumed stuffing his face with waffles and bacon. When he felt her staring he shrugged his shoulders.
"Great, I'll be at your house in an hour. I need your help with something. I've got to run but I'll see you in an hour. Okay. Great." Carmen spoke a mile a minute, never seeming to take a breath and then ended the call.
Eden hadn't said a word and she shook her head as she handed Kozik the phone back. "Apparently I've been drafted into helping Carmen with something today."
"Probably something for the party tonight," he observed as he grabbed a piece of bacon off of her plate. "Bet she needs to go shopping, you should definitely talk her into it if she doesn't and then you can pick up something for you to wear tonight. Been a while since you brought something new."
"It's called being on a budget."
"Screw the budget," he took his wallet out of his pocket and peeled off several bills from the money inside. "Take this and go shopping, get something to make me drool tonight. It's going to be fun, the guys from Charming are coming up."
Last time that the Charming charter had come in to town she hadn't gotten to meet any of them, most of the time the two clubs were in Church and when they weren't she was in the kitchen or helping out the other girls with keeping the rooms clean. "Seems silly to buy an outfit when I'm just going to be stuck in the kitchen all night."
"Baby, why would you be stuck in the kitchen?"
"They eat like pregnant horses Kozik, last time I made like twelve pounds of potato salad and washed every dish in the club house four times," Eden sighed at the memory. "I should go and get dressed, we all know that Carmen doesn't like being kept waiting."
"Eden," Kozik put down his fork. "You're not going to be stuck in the kitchen. You're going to be with me, right at my side where you belong." Especially now that he was remembering the last time Charming was there, it had been about six months ago and she had indeed spent the entire time cooking and cleaning, even when the sweet butts had given up on it and came to party.
He'd been pissed at the hang around whores for the way that they'd treated her, feeling as if they'd disrespected her as well as him but he'd been just as bad to not pull her out of that kitchen and show them who she was to him. In his mind she'd already been his Old Lady then and it had really appealed to him that he had a woman willing to pitch in and do what needed to be done. Now, with the expression on her face, he realized that her helping hadn't been out of the goodness of her heart but because it was what she felt was expected from her.
"Don't forget to feed the dogs when you're done," Eden left the kitchen with a sigh.
"Fuck," Kozik ran a hand through his hair and dumped the rest of his waffles in the bowl that the dogs ate out of. He slipped his phone back out of his pocket and dialed Carmen's number back. "Hey Carmen, it's Kozik. You got a minute?"
4 4 4 4
Eden was shell shocked by the price tags on the clothes that she was looking at, fifty dollars for a shirt and a hundred dollars or better for a pair of pants and that wasn't even getting into the shoes that Carmen was snatching up like they were on clearance.
"I'm going to look over there," she motioned to the stores single clearance rack.
"No you're not," Carmen told her. "Try on the red corset top with the black piping. It'll be great to show off your ink."
"It's pretty," Eden admitted, pretty damn expensive was what it was. Even with the money that Kozik had given her to put that together into an outfit she'd need to dip into her debit or credit card. That wasn't an option. "I don't think it's me."
"No offense Honey but that might be a very good thing."
"Hard not to take offense to that," Eden eyed the woman that she didn't really know.
"I'm just saying, tonight is a big night. You need to show off a little because you can bet your sweet ass that Kozik wants to show you off. Charming coming to Tacoma is a big deal."
"Why are they coming?" It had been on Eden's mind since Kozik mentioned it.
Carmen seemed to be considering her answer. "There's trouble, I can't get into it exactly but they're coming and before whatever needs to be done gets done, we'll have a party to end all parties. Now, you know that hiding in the kitchen tonight isn't an option, right?"
"I never hid in the kitchen," Eden protested.
"Bullshit Darling, bullshit. I can't say that I don't get it because I do, our guys are an intimidating bunch but all that is over. From here on out, you're going to be out in the crowd, representing your man. You wouldn't want anyone to question why he chose you, right?"
"He chose me because he loves me."
"That's right, he does and you need to show him the proper level of respect by being at his side," Carmen's face was exceptionally serious. "Part of that is dressing the part, so stop looking at the price tags and start picking out a damn outfit."