The Mechanics of The Heart (Unedited)

7

Hunter Colin

There was something oddly peaceful in the act of displaying art. Something I'd never thought would be peaceful to me anyway.

It took me forty-five minutes to assemble the display boxes and hang the shelves, by then Bambi was rushing out the door to pick up my nephew. I had moved to the next task of handing the paintings on the floor that would soon be in the recent Art show for sale for prices I could open nine auto body shops with.

I chose to hang the painting of Oshun last purposefully, the painting was mesmerizing but a bitch to hang, it felt there solid gold bricks painted into the canvas and not paint itself and it was massive, if I stood behind it, only my eyebrows up would be visible. Oshun the woman in the painting looked like her skin was made of melted gold and silk, so it would make sense why it was so fucking heavy.

"Fuck me." I grunted, stepping back to make sure the massive painting was hung straight.

"Um, hello?" I turn from the painting, felling like I'm looking at another modern day rendition of a goddess. The evening sun illuminates a golden halo around her entire being, im stunned at first.

Rich, velvet dark brown eyes bordered by thick, wispy eyelashes, straight narrow nose that lays over plump, smooth lips that looks as soft as feathers and as enticing as sin. The body of a woman was followed by a face the goddess were inspired by, a green shirt with faded words stretched over gracious chest and fitted around a small torso. Long, endless legs flexed with toned muscle with each step as the sun danced off her exposed flesh. Her skin hue was ochre, resembling the mellow-brown light that illuminated the forest.

"I was wondering about the help wanted sign outside, are you the manager?" I watched her alluring eyes dance around my person, gaze lingering on my patches but she didn't flinch, her body didn't tense with wariness.

Instead she blinked those long eyelashes up at me, reaching to run a hand through her tawny chocolate hair. It was long and wildly, it reminded me a lot of Bambi's hair before she decided to wear it shorter. Only this goddess's hair twisted into corkscrews and coils that seemed to go on for miles.

"u-er." I clear my throat, blinking away the dazed feeling. "No, my sister owns the place, I'm just the help. She went to run an errand but if you wanna leave your resume, I can pass It along?" I offer, still feeling off about the unwavering beauty of this woman. Her gaze hadn't wavered from mine, not once and if I didn't know any better there was a glint of competition in her eyes.

"Great, thanks." She trails, a perfectly plucked eyebrow arches in expectance.

"Bullet." I offer, again, she doesn't bat an eye. Only reaches her warm hand into mine.

"Amara, nice to meet you. Thanks again, Bullet." I nod, my throat clogged as my road name rolls of her tongue like caramel. Her hands are small and warm but the palm is somewhat coarse with work or by the strength in her legs, an athletic hobby, she was rather younger, definitely younger than myself so the later seemed more of a reality.

Her resume was one page, her last employment being a an assistant in the finance aid department at John Hopkins University a few month ago.

"Amara Joseph." Her named seemed fitting, it sounded like a powerful woman and she was one, from what all I saw, which was merely a steely gaze and a presence that captivated attention, my gaze falls back to the painting of Oshun, the features in the painting now harboring a striking resemblance to the woman who had just left.

"Uncle B!" Bayou Theodore Colin was a spitting image of Bear with onyx eyes and strong features with hair that was identical to my sisters and I, chestnut brown that looked like cherry wood in the sunlight. He was as smart as a whip but as kind as his mother.

I grinned, crouching to catch him as he launched himself full speed through the studio, his arm wrapped around my neck as he hugged me close. "Guess what? - I got a smiley sticker on my spelling test and a gold star for my reading!" He spoke quickly, asking me a question in the midst of it all, but it was no use, once Bayou had learned to talk he hardly ever stopped unless he was with Bear, he likes to mimic his fathers brooding silence. In fact, Bayou was nick named Grizz for how well he was able to mimic Bear when he was around him.

It was like having two grizzly bears brooding around the club house.

"What did we say about running in here? Its dangerous Bayou." Bambi sighs, out of breath.
"Sorry, Mama." He leans over in my arms to kiss her cheek.

"It looks great in here, thank you bullet." I shrug it off.

"No worries, just save me a spot at sunday dinner?" Bayou gasp, "You're coming to Sunday dinner uncle B?" I chuckle at his intense little face.

"Sure am, bud." Bambi looks like shes fighting back tears, to distract I pull the folded resume out my back pocket. "By the way, you had a potential employee stop by today."

"Really? What did you think?"

"Of what?" My neck feels hot and I clear my throat as Bambi throws me a perplexed look up from the sheet of paper in her hand.

"The potential employee?- you've always had a pretty good read on people."

"She seemed nice, had all her teeth and wasn't anyone we know who hangs around the club after eight." I cough as Bambi nods, getting the message.

Sweet cheeks still came around after eight o clock, every so often for the unpatched brothers and the prospects but Bambi didn't like dealing with them if she didn't have to and that meant especially outside of the clubhouse.

"Great, I'll give her a call. Truthfully she's the only one whose applied with a resume that doesn't seemed fake." Bambi shakes her head in disbelief before I help her finish up and lock up the studio. Bear is dismounting his bike by the time we finish locking the doors, with a serenade of goodbyes, I mount my own bike.

Cutting through the familiar roads to a halfway burnt down apartment complex the landlord is too cheap to fix and most of the tenants living here have stopped paying rent anyways.

I ride the janky elevator to the fourth floor, the apartment I am looking for is 4Z, unusually it is at the start of the apartments and I only have to walk a few feet before I am knocking on her door.

It takes about three minutes before the door cracks open and Candy pops her contact layered eyes through the crack. "What do you want Bullet?" I sigh, reminding myself that my father would be waiting for me in the after life with a slap upside the head from hell and all the lecturing he'd think I'd need to remind me of all he taught me on respecting women.

"Candy, I am very sorry for how I spoke to you at the barbecue. You didn't deserve that." Through the crack I see her expression soften into a smile and I sigh, swallowing thickly. "And you deserve someone with the intention of claiming you the way you want to be. I am not that man, Candy. I don't think we should sleep together anymore." I don't look away when I say it, so she knows I mean it before I pull away from her door.

Riding that janky elevator back to the first floor.

Quick Note: I did some quick math to decide how I wanted their ages and stuff to be and to kind of clear up the timeline since the first book.

4 years between bullet and bambi

6 years between bambi and bear

-23- bambi, 29 bear, 27 bullet, bayou is 3(going on 4)

Bambi came to Nevada at 19 It has been 4 years since the first book.

Of course you can continue to use whatever your imagination has filled it but for those who were wanting it, this is the timeline im going with. I know it the first book I don't focus a lot on the timeline of when things are occurring. I do plan to fix that when I start editing.

And please - Art of Disapearing and Reappearing is a long read, one of my longest books but I do re-read it to keep my memory refresh and make sure info matches as I write - but if you guys see anything that doesn't match up or line up feel free to let me know!