I glance down at my phone. I’ve still got an hour before church. Time to go see what food’s on offer and consider how best to approach Token. Maybe I’ll talk to him after the meeting if I’ve come up with an explanation by then.
I close my laptop and stretch as I stand, wincing as my bones creak. Fuck, I’m getting old. Rolling my shoulders to loosen them, I grab my phone, slip it into my pocket, then go out the door.
Hearing voices coming up from the clubroom, I descend the stairs, my nostrils twitching as an aroma hits me, and I identify it at once. I’m not disappointed when I see my brothers opening boxes of pizzas.
“Hey, Grumbler. Got your favourite here.”
Making a beeline toward Salem, I give my brother a grateful chin lift as he opens a box revealing a meat lover’s delight or some fancy title or other. I don’t care, not as long as it’s fit for a carnivore. I take a large slice, then reach for another, piling one on top of the other. Salem grins and shakes his head, pushing the rest toward me.
“Take it all, there’s plenty more.”
There probably is. We usually over order so no one goes hungry around here.
“Hey, asshole.” I swing around as, before I can claim the box, a hand reaches past me. “Get your fuckin’ own.”
Pennywise pretends to rub the hand I just slapped. “But man, I want this one.” He pouts.
He’s just fucking with me. It’s par for the course. The MC is one big family, and like any siblings, we squabble, tease and plague the fuck out of each other at times. At the end of the day though, we have each other’s backs. I can’t imagine any other life. My blood family were good for nothings, dad was a drunk and my mom not much better. Dad had died early on—a burning cigarette had led to a house fire which my mom, my brother and I luckily escaped. Mom used her new freedom to find a replacement. The first one wasn’t too bad, the one after, well, we never saw eye to eye. A decade or so back she’d succumbed to a heart attack. If I were a crier, I’d shed more tears about Smoker who’d recently passed rather than the loss of my blood family.
My brother? Well, we’d never seen eye to eye, different in almost everything. There was no animosity between us, but no love either, and we’d followed different paths in life. Growing up, he’d escaped into books whereas I’d been dyslexic—not that I’d had that diagnosis at the time. Consequently, despite our neglect in childhood, he’d gotten good grades and went on to live a corporate life. I, I’d found, had been better using my hands and was hired as a mechanic. I worked from when I was sixteen, bought my first motorcycle just two years later, and then my world fell apart.
I ended up serving my country. Not that it was bad, per se, but it wouldn’t have been my choice and fucked up my other life’s ambitions. But when life serves you lemons, you make lemonade or else you might as well roll over and die. I’d done my time, but when I got out, things weren’t the same. I had pulled my bike out of storage and tried to make the best of having nothing else—no dreams, no aspirations, no job.
One day I’d stopped off at a biker bar which members of the Satan’s Devils MC were using as a watering hole on one of their rides. They’d been looking to take on another employee in their auto-shop and my knowledge of anything mechanical matched what they were looking for.
I’d jumped at the chance, my original skills honed by my time spent in the Army. Then I’d listened, learned, and after hanging around, became a prospect. The rest, as they say, is history.
Suddenly I lurch forward. “You eating that pizza or just staring at it?”
“Mind your fuckin’ business,” I growl, rounding on Snips. “At least I can fuckin’ eat it.”
“Not fair, Brother, not fair.” Snips face falls, but I’ve got no sympathy for the man.
“Just go to the dentist and get that fuckin’ tooth taken out.” He’s been in pain for weeks. I sigh. Seems like we’ll have to drag him there ourselves. It won’t be the first time.
“You know how I feel about dentists,” Snips complains.
We all do, he’s told us enough. But hell, last time he’d suffered with an abscess for weeks and his face had puffed up like a hamster. Still, he had rather put up with that pain than get the root canal work done. Then we’d sneaked some sedatives into him and managed to get him there. Did we get a thank you? Like fuck.
With a wary eye in my direction as if I’m going to drag him there now, Snips sidles away, and now, at last emerged from my reverie, I down the two pieces of pizza in my hand. Then, I go back for more.
I’m licking tomato sauce off my fingers when I hear the summons to church and follow my brothers there. Passing Token before going to my seat at the right hand of my prez, I lean and speak into his ear.
“Need some help, Brother. Speak after?”
“Sure, Grumbler.”
“Online ordering still beyond you, old man?” Scribe, overhearing, calls out.
I show him my finger. Nah, I’ve got that shit sorted now, but it had taken me longer to get used to it, letters and numbers get jumbled sometimes and I have to concentrate to get them straight. But I don’t mind them pulling my leg about it, isn’t that what brothers are for?
Chapter Six
Mary
“You coming with us for a drink after work?” Kristen calls
