Part 16 (1/2)

But she'd been alive, flopped on a chair with an ice pack held to her face, when Hoosier had sent Faith here.

”Does he love her?”

Setting a small pot of milk on the stovetop, Bibi turned and gave Faith a sharp look. ”No, baby.”

”Did he ever?”

Bibi sighed. ”I honestly don't know. She's a hard woman. I guess she's had a life to make her that way, but knowin' that don't make her easier to be around. Deme's so sweet and quiet with women, I don't know what he saw in her.” She laughed and shook her head. ”That ain't true. I do know. She looks like you.”

Faith was offended to the point of outrage. That s.k.a.n.ky, spotty, bad-dye-job, grey-toothed junkie b.i.t.c.h looked like her?

Before she could find breath to express her affront, Bibi laughed again and waved her free hand, dismissing the vitriol Faith had been trying to gather up. ”Easy, honey. I don't know what she looks like now, but I can guess it ain't good. The last time I saw her, she looked rough. Not like you. When Deme met her, though, she was pretty. Long, dark, s.h.i.+ny hair and big, light eyes. And that small frame. Like you.”

Bibi s.h.i.+fted Tucker to her other hip, and, with a grunt, he protested being moved. Then he reached out both his hands and leaned toward Faith.

She looked at Bibi, who stepped closer. And then she took Michael's son into her arms. He was much lighter than she expected him to be. And much heavier on her heart. He smelled of lavender.

He held up his frog. ”Vog.”

”Frog, I see. Pretty cool.” Faith had no idea how to talk to a child. None of the wacky people who had populated her life before, in San Francisco, or now, in Venice, had children. She saw Bibi watching and said, ”He's littler than I expected.”

”Small for his age. Behind in everything, so far. But he's catching up. She was using when she had him. He was born addicted.”

”Jesus.”

Bibi poured warm milk into a little blue plastic cup and then sealed it up with a rubbery lid. ”You ready for a story, baby?”

”Mins.” Tucker took the cup and stuck it in his mouth, holding the frog against the side.

”No movie tonight, Tuck. Granny needs to go back to bed, and so do you.” She took Tucker from Faith. ”They won't let him run far, honey. He'll come back, you wait and see. While you wait, you sort things through. n.o.body's got baggage like Deme's got baggage. Make sure you're ready to help him carry it. But don't add more. Say good night to Miss Faith, Tuck.”

”Ni-bye,” he said and laid his head on Bibi's shoulder.

”Night, handsome,” Faith said, and then Bibi took him out of the kitchen and back down the hall to his room.

Faith went back to the sofa and waited.

It was only another hour before she heard the low roar of slow-moving bikes coming up on the house. More than one, but not many. Hoosier and Michael, probably. She stood up and, without thinking about it, primped a little, combing her fingers through her hair and smoothing her top. She was still dressed in the top and leather pants she'd worn to the clubhouse. She'd ditched the punk heels, however.

Though she was in the family room and watching the garage door, they came in the front. She turned and ran in that direction like she was expecting a romantic reunion or something. Realizing that she had no idea what to expect from Michael-or Hoosier, for that matter-she stopped in the middle of the main hallway.

Hoosier was just coming in, with Michael right behind. Her father's best friend, her Uncle Hooj, came up to her and gave her a quick hug and a rea.s.suring smile. ”I'm gonna head to bed. I'll see you in the morning.” He looked back at Michael, who nodded. Then he headed down the hall, deeper into the house.

And Faith and Michael were alone in the hallway, facing each other. He had washed the blood away. Faith was glad; that had scared her.

”Michael.”

He took a step backward, toward the door, and she thought he was going to run again. But he stopped after that single step. ”I...need to check in on Tucker.”

”Of course. But, Michael-please, please talk to me after.”

He took a deep breath and looked past her, into the dark house, away from her eyes. ”I don't think I can.”

”Do you love me?”

His eyes moved immediately back to hers. ”G.o.d, yes. Faith, I've only ever loved you.”

”Then try.”

They stared at each other, and then finally he nodded.

He stayed in Tucker's room for almost half an hour. Faith sat and waited, staring at the photographs on the tables and walls of the room. Photos of Hoosier, Bibi and Connor. Of her parents and Hoosier and Bibi. Of the club she'd known and this new one she didn't know. Family times she hadn't been part of.

Then he came into the family room and stood behind the sectional. She looked up at him, and he winced.

”I scared you.”

”No.” That was a lie, but she couldn't say the truth.

He knew it anyway. ”It's still on your face, Faith. You're afraid of me.”

”Michael, no. I've never been afraid of you.” Until tonight, that had been true.

He was on the same wavelength. ”That was true. I never saw it on you before. But now you are.”

”It's not fear. It's confusion.” As Faith said it, she recognized that that was the real truth. ”There's a lot I don't understand. Or only half understand. But I want to. I love you.” She patted the sofa next to her. ”Sit with me, Michael.”

He ignored her request. ”Why don't you call me Demon?”

”What?” The question threw her. She had always called him Michael. He simply wasn't Demon. That name sounded odd to her, despite the hundreds of times she'd heard him called it. ”I guess...I met you as Michael. You've always been Michael to me.”

”Hoosier and Bibi and Connor met me before I was Demon. They don't call me Michael. You're the only one who does. Michael is the kid I was. Demon is who I am. What you saw tonight-that's who I am. That's what's inside me.”

”That's not true.”

”It is. What I did to Kota-it's not the first time I hurt her like that. A big reason I'm having to fight so hard for Tucker is because I hurt her like that when she was pregnant with him.”

Whatever she'd been about to say died in the back of her throat.

After a few silent beats between them, his mouth twisted into a sad, lonely smile. ”That's who I am. Now you know.”