Chapter Three

Slave To The Grind (Skid Row)

"you can't be king of the world if you're a slave to the grind"

John B panicked when I wasn't sleeping next to him in the morning. He gathered up all the blankets and almost tripped running up the stairs to my deck just to find me playing Slave To The Grind on the drums.

"Sorry, baby. I couldn't sleep. Mom left for work and Nonna sleeps through everything. Figured I should practice." I said, getting up to kiss him.

I learned pretty early on after the move that getting famous was the only real way for a Pogue to get out of here. I wanted to see the world. Like Rafe had told Rose, I was a free spirit. The OBX was great, and I truly loved it there, but there had to be something else. My drumming may be the only way to get there. Favio sure as hell wasn't going to help us out. He was pretty hands off with the rehab situation and being the DA didn't do Vit any favours. In fact, I think her idea of trying to help us out financially just gave Favio a bad name throughout the South Carolina Justice System. Getting into a band was my one shot, and I was not going to blow it. I was gonna go on an American headlining tour and rub my jet-set life in Favio's stuck up hypocritical face.

"No problem." John B smiled, our foreheads touching. His grin faded a little when he said "Wait, is that JJ's shirt?"

I looked down at the Kildare marina shirt that JJ had left under the sink last week when he was staying to get away from his dad. "John B, I fix cars for a living. I don't think you want me getting dirt and grease on one of your prized Hawaiian shirts, do you?"

"You have a point."

"I know I have a point." I grinned grabbing my backpack full of sockets, ratchets and an empty water bottle. Anything too big for the bag was in the trunk of our Toyota. "I've got the Cameron's this morning, the Thornton's this afternoon and the Carerra's at three."

"Sounds busy."

"Well, fixing cars for Kooks pays well. I promise that I will go into the marsh with you guys as soon as I finish at Kiara's. Hell, I'll even bring her back with me."

"Why are you willingly going back to see the Cameron's?"

"Because Rose is making flatbread pizza for lunch and she still gives me free food. I think she feels guilty for how things ended with Rafe."

"Would you mind bringing back some of that pizza?" John laughed, pulling me into a hug

"No problem. Now I really need to go. It's going to take some time to get in to Figure Eight. See you around four?"

He kissed me gently "See you around four."

+++++

When I got to the Cameron's, Ward was already lifting Sarah's SUV onto the jack stand. He did always think I was incapable of doing the heavy lifting. Sarah needed me to change her tire. I would have expected ward to at least teach his kids how to change a tire. I know Favio at least taught Vittoria back when he was still interested in being a dad.

Wheezie was sitting on the steps drinking some glaringly pink beverage and Sarah was waving a tennis racket at some birds. I figured Rose was probably inside and Rafe, well, he was probably God knows where.

"Good morning, Mr. Cameron!" I called, stepping out of the car "I'll take it from here, thank you."

Ward waved at me, and then retreated inside. Good riddance. Something about that man just felt off. Wheezie came over while I was hooking up my stereo.

"I found this in a drawer yesterday. I think he was going to throw it out." She said, passing me a polaroid. I knew exactly who she meant when she said "he". Rafe. I guess he remembered the anniversary as well.

In the picture I was sitting on his shoulders in the pool. He had this stupidly irresistible grin on his face. Memories of the time we were happy.

I pocketed the picture and patted the younger girl on the shoulder "Thanks, Wheezie."

"I know this isn't easy. I don't think he's here though, so you don't have to worry about fighting him today."

After the breakup, Wheezie was promoted to favourite Cameron child. I didn't count Sarah in that equation because I wasn't even sure if I could call the two of us friends. Occasionally, after a repair, Sarah and I would pour out drinks and eat lunch on the lawn while indulging in "girl talk". We were much closer when Rafe and I were together, but it soon became awkward and we drifted apart.

Wheezie had gone back inside, and Sarah had gone around to the back. It was just me now. I connected my phone ot my speaker, throwing on a Skid Row album as I worked at getting the tire off the SUV. Occasionally, and against my better judgement, I found myself looking towards Rafe's window. Overall, changing a tire doesn't take long if you know what you're doing. I was torqueing the bolts when I heard the tell tale sound of a motorbike careening up the Cameron's driveway.

"Didn't think I'd be seeing you here." Barry chuckled, watching me curse at the torque wrench after realising that I wasn't strong enough to torque the bolts. I had put them on too tight.

"Could say the same for you. Wheezie told me that he isn't here, so why are you?"

"Country Club's probably hiding from his problems."

"And you think showing up at his house is going to make him pay you back?" I took another crack at trying to move the torque wrench, but it wouldn't budge. I cursed again, kicking the tire I had just taken off.

"Do you need help?" Barry snickered, obviously finding this funny

"Yes, actually."

Barry definitely had a reputation around the OBX. Everybody knew who he was. If anybody had drugs, they got them from Barry. But nobody really knew anything about Barry. Not even his last name. I think he liked it that way. He was an asshole, and I never understood why he cared about me so much.

"Barry, can I ask you something?"

"Fire away, sweetheart." The damn wrench was working for him, but not me.

"You're an asshole to everybody else, so why are you always watching out for me?"

Barry stood up and handed me the wrench. "I was in the army. I was serving in Iraq a few years ago. There was a girl in our platoon, a legacy. Her father was a soldier, and her grandfather fought in Vietnam. She was determined. You remind me of her. You share a lot of the same qualities. She was eighteen when her helicopter was shot down. Nobody made it out alive. I guess I felt responsible."

I nodded, not knowing what to say.

"I've got your six, Barba." Barry patted me on the shoulder. "How's your hand?"

I chuckled, showing him the bruising on my knuckles. "It hurts, but I can still drum alright."

"You really are dead set on getting out of here."

"A band may be my only shot. Can I ask you one more thing before you go and disrupt the Cameron family's lunch, which they happen to be letting me in on, by the way."

Barry nodded.

"What was her name?"

"Cary. Cary Silver. I loved her."

I nodded "You know how to get into Rafe's room without being seen?"

Barry laughed, probably glad I had changed the subject. "You have experience?"

"Damn straight. I got really good at climbing that trellis."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you and Country Club meet?"

"I was doing an oil change for the Thornton's. He was hanging out with Topper. Always thought that was weird because Topper was like, three years younger than him. Anyways, I was under the car trying to get the bolt out, but it was almost rusted on. I had almost cracked it when I lost my hold on the ratchet, gave myself a nosebleed." I laughed, remembering Topper's shocked expression. "Rafe rushed me inside, but all Topper was worried about was not getting blood on anything of his mother's."

"Rich priss."

"I had to guide Rafe through the rest of the process to get the bolt off and the filter out. He forgot the oil pan and ruined one of his Polo shirts. When Topper ran inside to get him a fresh one, he asked me out. He fucking ruined his Polo on purpose just so that Topper wouldn't hear him ask me out. It was super secret for like, two months." I looked over at Barry, who had a guilty look in his eye that you wouldn't catch if he was talking to anyone else, or about nay of his clients. I knew it was because of Cary, the girl he had once loved. "I don't blame you for what happened to Rafe. He drove me away all on his own. Now go beat the crap out of him for me while I finish up here."

Barry started to walk towards the other side of the house.

"And make sure you're gone before lunch!" I called out after him.

++++

Three thirty rolled around and I was done working on all of the Carerra's cars. Kie and I were in her room listening to the Clash and getting ready to go swimming in the marsh with the boys. We were singing out of key and just talking about life. After confessing her crush on Pope, she pressed me for details about my own romantic life.

"I know there's something going on with you and John B. I'm not blind. Come on, you've to it bad."

"Kiara!" I laughed, fixing my swimsuit in the mirror "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell JJ or Pope, okay?"

"No way! I called it!"

"Calm down, okay. We started hooking up after I ended things with Rafe. Just last night, after you guys left, we made it official." Kiara squealed in delight "Kie, you can't tell anyone! If you tell Pope, Pope will tell JJ and vice versa, and then someone will tell John B and he'll know I told you. We wanted to keep it secret a little longer."

"Your secret's safe with me."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, John B was having a similar conversation with JJ while they shared a Juul on the porch steps.

"Come on, man! When are you going to jump on that? It's clear Sienna is crazy about you!" JJ began

"JJ, come on. There's a rule, remember?"

"You made the rule, you can override it."

"She wasn't complaining about the damn rule last night!" John B didn't realise what he had said until the words left his mouth.

"Last night, eh? What are you holding out from us?"

Silently cursing himself, and whispering an apology to me, he indulged in our clandestine relationship to my best friend, who probably didn't want the details. "Please, do not tell Pope. Pope will tell Kiara, and then Kiara will tell Sie, and then Sie s going to be mad that I told you."

"Don't worry about it, JB. Nobody needs to know that Sienna is getting the John D."

"JJ, shut the hell up."