Jesus, the old man had to have had that one custom-made. But then, that wasn’t anything new.
Hell, Jemma or Tess could dress Dyna in fancy clothes, but as soon as Dutch got a hold of her, she was wearing some sort of T-shirt with a message on it. Jemma used to fight it once Dyna grew out of the onesies, but now she only sighed and reluctantly accepted defeat.
Dutch loved his Duchess, no fucking doubt about it. To Jem that was more important than what her and Cage’s daughter was wearing.
A presence to his left made him pull his gaze from Tessa to the person who just approached.
Jude.
The fourteen-year-old had his hand extended toward Easy. “Can I have a hit of that?”
Easy stared up at him like the kid had a screw loose. “A hit of what?”
“What you’re smoking.”
“It’s tobacco.”
“Okay.” Shade’s boy shook his hand with impatience.
“You’re shittin’ me, right?” Easy quickly glanced around. “Your dad’s hidin’ somewhere and this is a fuckin’ test?”
“Don’t know where he is.”
That made it even worse. “You ain’t takin’ a hit whether he’s standin’ behind me or three miles away.”
“Figured you were cool.”
“Kid, I am fuckin’ cool, just ain’t stupid.” For the most part. On some things, maybe, just not this one. “Tell you what, Jude, you go ask Chelle if you can take a drag and if she says yes, come on back over here and I’ll be glad to share it with you.”
“She’s not gonna say yes.”
Easy raised a brow at him. “No shit. I wonder why?”
“She’s gonna say I’m too young.”
“Pretty fuckin’ sure that’s not the only thing she’s gonna say.”
Easy felt for the boy. He was too old to hang with Daisy and Maya, too young to hang with the “girl crew” and Ry was still off at college for a couple more weeks. Though, even when Judge’s boy came home, he was really too old to hang with Jude, too. So, Shade’s son had no one to hang out with on nights like these.
He wasn’t allowed to invite his friends from school to the farm due to…
Well, hell, just about fucking everything. Sweet butts, the pot, the alcohol. The list was long.
“Got a girlfriend yet, stud?”
“Nah.”
“Want one?”
Jude shrugged one shoulder. “Dunno.”
“When you need pointers on flirtin’ with girls, come to me. Don’t go to your dad. I don’t think he knows how.”
Jude snorted.
A dark figure approached. “What’re you doin’?”
Easy pressed his lips together. No way was he snitching on the kid.
“Nothing,” Jude answered Shade.
Shade’s gaze sliced from Jude to Easy’s smoke and back. “Castle’s lookin’ for someone to play darts with.”
Jude’s eyes lit up, even in the dark. “Can I?”
“Wouldn’t have said it if you couldn’t.”
Jude took off jogging toward the propped-open double doors and disappeared inside.
“Chelle had to pick his ass up from the principal’s office last week,” Shade said. “He and another boy got caught smokin’ behind the gym.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
Easy grinned. “You ground him?”
“Not me. But Chelle sure did.”
Easy tried to smother his laugh but failed. “He’s a kid.”
“Yeah, but…” Shade’s voice faded away.
“But?”
“Nothin’,” Shade answered.
Another secret, one Shade wouldn’t share this time. Easy was used to that when it came to his brother.
“We’re dealin’ with it. Don’t let him bug you over that shit.”
Easy tapped a finger to his temple. “Got it. Don’t let Jude snort a line of blow off a whore’s tit. No problem.”
Shade snorted, shook his head and followed the same path as his son into The Barn.
A screech from an amplifier pulled Easy’s attention to the rollback parked at the far edge of the courtyard where it met the field. The flatbed tow truck was a tight fit for The Synners but they managed to get all their equipment up there.
Easy guessed they’d play for another hour or so and then be done for the night. Playing at the parties, and at Pete’s, was one way the band earned their damn keep. But they thought it was worth it since living in the shared bunkroom was better than the shitty bus they’d been living in. The skoolie had been a complete disaster.
Both Dodge and The Synners’ new manager had nixed the idea of them continuing to use it since it wasn’t reliable and right now the band had a stable roof over their head. Their manager had leased them a newer box van to haul their equipment to gigs and had the exterior wrapped with the band’s new graphics.
The old skoolie was currently parked at the back of the boneyard at Dutch’s Garage. Easy doubted it would ever move from that spot again. Nor should it.
He took another long drag on his hand-rolled and his attention became caught on a couple appearing out of the shadows to dance to Syn’s badass version of Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.
Liz and Crash.
They had come up from Shadow Valley for the weekend to visit with Stella and the baby and had stayed for the club run like they normally did. Those two were now an important part of the bridge connecting the two MC allies.