The Body #3: Rogue and Euphemia

Chapter 15 (Euphemia): Thank You For Listening

I watched from my window as Rogue walked to his Harley and rode off, the pipes thundering distinctively. I remembered all of the drives we'd taken together on his bike, how much I'd liked sitting behind him, my arms around his waist as he sped down the road. He'd taken me away from the club. From Angelica. It'd been fresh and fun and free out on the road, just the two of us.

While I wasn't sad in the least that he'd quit the club, I'd been afraid he'd given up his bike, too, so I'd been relieved that he still had it, especially since I knew how much riding meant to Rogue.

He'd walked away from the toxicity in a permanent, no-going-back way. He'd told me what the club ink meant to a brother, and covering it up was deadly serious. It made a huge statement to the club.

To me.

I went to my wallet and pulled out Dayton's number. I'd never put her contact in my new phone, afraid I might accidentally call her or be tempted to call her. Now, I quickly entered her contact and texted her, wondering if she'd really want to talk to me after I'd cost her a home and a relationship.

Dayton, it's Euphemia. Can I call you? I just saw Rogue.

My phone was ringing not even thirty seconds later.

"Dayton!" I said, not knowing if it was in bad form to sound excited to hear from her.

"Hey, you!" she said cheerfully.

OK, that sounded positive.

"How are you?" I asked, and she could tell by my voice that it was a serious question, not some throwaway I-don't-really-care-about-the-answer question.

"I've been better," she said. "But I've definitely been worse, so there's that."

"Dayton, I'm so sorry --"

"Nope. Nope. Nope. There's nothing for you to be sorry for. Listen I don't have to be at work for three more hours. You want to meet for coffee so we can talk?"

Half an hour later, we were seated across from each other at a local coffee shop. We'd hugged each other long and hard, ordered our lattes and got down to business.

"So, how'd things go with Rogue?"

"What happened with you and Bat?"

We'd asked our opening questions simultaneously and then laughed.

"You first," she said to me.

"We just talked. Mostly him. Explaining about his twin brother, Winnie being Dag's daughter, the trial, Gel being a witness, him protecting her because she might be the only one able to save his brother. How sorry he was."

"He was sorry. I know you probably don't want to hear that, but he was fucking gutted when he couldn't find you."

"That's what he said."

"It was probably really hard to hear all of that."

"It wasn't fun." I sipped my latte. "He told me he quit the club."

"Shocked the hell out of me when he told me. By then, Bat had already kicked me out."

"I feel so guilty about that," I said, grabbing her hand. "I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare feel guilty. Bat's an asshole. Like they can keep their club secrets, have their brothers' backs, not let us in on anything, but God forbid if we women show loyalty to each other. They can't handle that. Damn fucking hypocrites."

"What happened?"

"Rogue had kind of figured things out, and so he came over and asked for a word. Bat had been home and refused to let us have a private conversation. I have to say, Rogue was cool about it. He told me what he'd pieced together and he just wanted me to confirm that you left of your own free will. Nothing bad at play with your disappearance. That was worrying him the most, then the baby."