Appetite For Destruction

-023

"Good news baby, I did a thing" I laughed as I heard him sigh at the other end of the line. I lent down and rubbed the tiny grey puppy at my feet's ears.

"Why do I feel like this is gonna be something we should've discussed?"

"We're officially parents!" I exclaimed as the puppy wagged her tail at my feet with excitement as I spoke.

He laughed "please tell me it's got fur and you're not knocked up"

I rolled my eyes "of course it's got fur, and it's not an it, her name is Duchess and she's a Pitbull cross pup from a shelter"

"Nope, her names gonna be something badass like...Venom or Bandit"

"Hap! She's a girl! She's a princess!"

He sighed "okay what about...Lux?"

I looked down at the puppy "Lux, is that your name baby girl? Lux?!" She started jumping and skipping at my feet "Okay, shes Lux"

"God I wish I could be home with you" he muttered on the other end of the line "Only twelve months left"

"Two months down, we can get through it. I'll see you on Friday too. We love you daddy"

I heard him growl into the phone "god don't do that, you'll make me all tense"

I laughed "I think our five minutes is up baby, I'll talk to you again tomorrow. Same time?"

"Same time. I love you Evie"

I felt my heart ache a little again but sucked it up "love you too"

And with that the phone clicked off. I looked down at Lux at my feet and scooped her up as I grabbed her leash off the bench and headed out the door. I was going to take her into work with me today, and then once I was finished take her to see Abel. I'd picked her up yesterday after mom suggested maybe I just needed some company at home, I'm sure she was hinting at birds but I'm not much of a bird person.

The drive to the lot was uneventful, pulling in and letting Lux out after I clipped her leash to her we headed towards the office. Once she was situated and I'd settled in at the desk the day went fairly quickly. I'd finally found my groove without the guys around, though I almost missed the chaos.

I had my back to the door when I felt someone in the doorway "morning, I'll be with you in a moment"

"No problems Evie" I froze when I recognised the voice as Andrews sister Maggie. I regained my composure before I spun around, I knew the day was coming even if I had forgotten about it for a while.

"Bit far from New York Mags, what do I owe the pleasure?" I turned to look at her and she looked exactly like I remembered, she stood about a half a foot taller than me but weighed twice as much, her brown hair was always greased back into a low pony tail and her green eyes shone like her younger brothers. She was as gross on the inside as she was on the outside, all of the times she'd caught her brother wailing on me not once did she step in, she just pretended she didn't see anything or made excuses and I hated her for it.

"My brothers phone last pinged in Charming, thought you might know where he is..." she moved in scratching Lux behind the ears and sitting on the couch across from the desk.

I sighed as I continued filling out a form and not making eye contact "why would I know where he is Maggie? I left him if you don't recall after he battered me repeatedly for years and you did fuck all to control it or did that slip your mind?" I put the pen down on the desk and lent back looking at her, a scowl now present on her face.

"He loved you Evie, you just didn't know how to behave...you must of seen him, funny how he and all his men are missing and you're all settled in among a bunch of criminals"

I snorted out a laugh "that's rich"

Before we could continue Phil popped his head in from the garage, looking between Maggie and myself "is everything okay Evie?"

I nodded and smiled at him, I must remember to put in a good word to Clay and Jax about him he'd really stepped up since they'd been gone. "We're all good man, hey can you take Lux out for a bathroom break?"

He nodded grabbing Lux and turning to walk out, pausing on his way "let me know if you need me"

I smiled and he walked out pulling the door closed behind him. Maggie chuckled "what are you some kind of royalty in this shithole?"

I snickered "something like that...so what exactly do you want? I don't know where your piece of shit brother is. It was only matter of time before someone caught up with him"

"Uhhuh...well I'll be around, and when I find him we will be back for you. He loves you and you're his. Don't get too comfortable" she stood and stepped towards me and I felt myself smirking up at her.

Standing to meet her eyes with only the desk between us I continued to smirk "I'm not scared of you anymore Maggie, I'm not scared of your brother and I'm most definitely not going anywhere with either of you. You can stick around all you want but if you or any of your cronies step foot on this lot again, I'll do what I should've done ages ago and slit your pathetic throats"

I watched her eyes widen before she laughed "yeah we will see about that" and with that she turned and stormed out of the office.

I'm not sure exactly what it was, maybe being back home with my family or being reminded of my worth by Happy but I felt all of my confidence from my youth fill my body again. I was scared of no one anymore, after the stuff with Andrew I knew I could handle myself and if I couldn't I had people who could do it for me.