~Two Months Later~

Jeremy felt like a piece of Tallis may have died with Cameron that night, and he wasn’t sure if she would ever be the same. One thing he felt he could never be judge of is how someone changes after they kill a man. God knows Jeremy wasn’t exactly the same after he first experienced taking someone’s life, and he didn’t expect Tallis to bounce back from this unscathed. The changes he saw in her [i]did[/i] worry him, though. Exaggerated drug use, depression, or coldness - all things that Jeremy could deal with easily. But, Tallis seemed as though she lost the sparkle in her eyes that Jeremy had taken for granted. Her laugh didn’t seem the same, sounding almost as if there was always a certain sadness in her voice. He wasn’t one to dig into the feelings of others, so he tried his best to comfort her without really talking about it, but he could tell that it wasn’t working. 

Should he have taken on the responsibility of killing Cameron himself? Should he be carrying this burden and not Tallis? Questions like this kept him up late at night and filled him with a cocktail of rage and guilt. Logically, he knew that Tallis would have never let him do her work for her, and if anyone deserved to finish the job, it was her. But dread sat at the back of Jeremy’s mind almost constantly now, causing an obvious disturbance in his usual care-free attitude. 

After the club’s weekly meeting to discuss activities and finances, Jeremy and Tallis drove home and had been silently sitting on the couch watching TV. She was curled up in his lap, and they had been passing a joint back and forth while his fingers ran through her hair. As he took the last hit of the joint, he moved her off of him and stood up, then kneeled down in front of her as he exhaled the thick white smoke. “Tallis,” he sighed, putting his hands on her knees while maintaining eye contact. “I can’t fuckin’ do this anymore. You’ve gotta talk to me, babe.” He put his thumb and pointer finger on her chin and pulled her towards him to kiss her. He lingered for a moment before backing up and resuming their eye contact. “Tell me what's going on."  


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Solomon had another long day at the shop. It seemed like no matter what he fixed, two more things broke right after, and the only thing he wanted to do now was to go home and see Kaci. He had been invited out by some members and other staff from the shop to go out to Lipstick’s, but he declined, which caused an array of jokes to be slewed at him, like “Wow, the pussy wants to go home. What’s  new?” and “Did you get knocked up too, or just your old lady?” He jokingly told them all to shut the fuck up as he cleaned his hands off and got ready to close up the shop. 

Things had been so good between him and Kaci, almost too good to be true. They were saving up for when the baby came, preparing the nursery, and spending as much time as they could together between work and club duties. Kaci had been so understanding with all the things he had to do and how tired he was when he came home, and he wanted to do everything in his power to repay her for all of it. He never did anything romantic, not that she didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t exactly privy to all the things a boyfriend was supposed to do for his girlfriend.

As he got on his bike, he decided to pick up a bouquet of roses for her and a box of chocolate at the local store. He was so excited to get home and give them to her that he almost left them sitting on the counter after he paid for them. "Idiot," he whispered to himself as he grabbed the items he purchased and got back on his bike. He was thinking about maybe getting a car, or at least something more family-oriented, but he had to discuss it with Kaci first. 

He entered the apartment with a goofy grin on his face, holding the bouquet and the chocolate behind his back as he tried to quietly close the door. As he turned back around to enter into the living room, his eyes met Kaci’s. She had been sitting on the couch waiting for him. “Hey, K,” he grinned as he leaned down to kiss her on the top of the head. “Well, these were gonna be a surprise, but,” he paused as he handed her the roses and chocolate. “Hope you like ‘em.” He plopped down next to her and put a hand on her thigh. "How was your day, K? You feelin' alright?"