“Thank you. I love you so much, Hawk. I wish I could find a way to make you see what you mean to me.”
“Hey,” Hawk wipes a tear from my cheek – a tear for the overwhelming feeling inside of me right now. “I know how much you love me, Brooke, and I love you twice as much.” I nod and let him hold me.
“My sister should be here any moment. She needs to talk.”
“I'll leave you to it. I only came home to check on you and Gabe. I've got club business, so I'll be late home. So don't wait up for me.”
They're going to deal with the Dirty Coyote's; I know they are. Whatever happened in their meeting today, that's what it's come down to. I don't want Hawk to get hurt, but nothing I say will stop him going. Nothing will stop him being in the midst of whatever happens now. Hawk is no coward, and I would never ask him to become one by begging him to stay out of this.
“Do what you have to do; just stay safe.”
“I promise. That will be your sister. I'll let her in, and leave you both to it. I love you, beautiful.” He kisses me.
“I love you.” I smile when he kisses Gabe's head and tells him how much Daddy loves him.
Now for me to deal with whatever Paul has done to Marnie this time.
Keep the faith, Brooke, everything will be as it should.
Chapter Eighteen
Hawk
Wrench, will you calm the hell down!” My brother is driving me nuts right now. He's too hyper for me to deal with, and I'm about to smack him upside the head.
Shepard called in some of our California brothers last night, and they arrived this morning. Of course, this is the reason Wrench is even more hyper than usual.
“Chill out, Hawk. I'm just pumped about Booker and his crew being here. They were good to me while I was in Cali at school.” I can't argue with him on that.
Booker is President of our California charter, and when Shepard told us that Booker would be arriving with some of his boys, everyone was busting with excitement. Booker's a good guy, Shepard's cousin, but he's a little more rough around the edges than our Prez. When we say Snakes Henchmen is a family run motorcycle club, we mean it.
“Hey, shit head,”
Wrench gets out of his seat and hugs Ziggy, Booker's kid, member of the club. “Good to see you, Zig.”
“How've you been? Can't believe you're actually a member.”
Wrench laughs. “Told you back in Cali that we'd both be members before we knew it.”
Ziggy and Wrench went to college together, and both hated it, both made a pact to join the Snakes as soon as they could. They could have been anything they wanted to be had they put their minds to it. Mom had hoped Wrench would become an accountant. Of all the things she could have hoped for... Anyway, even with him being damn good with numbers, and trying to make our mother proud of him, he just wasn't happy. Mom told him to come home if that's what he really wanted, and he's a decent mechanic like most of us are here, so he knew he’d have a job regardless. Although the fact he's basically a mathematical genius comes in handy.
“That you did, man. That you did. This your brother?”
“Yeah,” Wrench clasps my shoulder, and I turn in my seat. “This is Hawk. Hawk, this is Ziggy.”
I shake Ziggy's outstretched hand. “Good to meet you, Hawk. Wrench here told me a lot about you. Don't worry; it was all good.” He laughs.
“Good to meet you, too.”
We talk for a while because there's nothing else to do but wait. Wait for Click's crew to turn up. Stryker joins us, and, of course, we introduce him as our brother. That's what he is and will always be.
However, it's getting late, and I'm wondering when the hell we're going to get to it. Why the fuck, are we all just standing around when we've got Coyote motherfuckers to deal with. I don't care that Shepard and my dad think they can talk to Trigger and make him understand why things when down the way they did with Click. I want this shit shorted so that I can go home and celebrate with my girl.
I'm going to be a father again. I don't give a damn how quick this is, it's what Brooke and I want, and this time, nothing will go wrong. I'm going to keep my family safe, no matter what it takes. I'm going to watch Brooke's belly grow big with our child, and when he or she is born, there won't be a thing I won't do to protect them just as I do Gabe.
“Looks like we've got company, boys.” We all look at Red. Booker looks out of the window, and BlackJack stands in front of Wrench, Stryker, and me. Already I know Shepard's plan, if it was even his plan, has not gone the way he thought it would. Knowing our Prez, this is precisely what he knew it would be. Which only means we're in for a huge fight.
“Listen to me,” My father isn't BlackJack right now, not to the three of us. Right now, he's Jack Anderson, concerned father, and he needs us to hear him. “I know not one of you are cowards, I didn't raise you that way. I also know you can all take care of yourselves just fine, but nothing good will come of those Coyote bastards being here.”
“Was this the real plan? Did you and Shepard know this is how it would go down?”
Dad nods at Stryker. “By the sound of it, they have no intention of talking. I need the three of you to have each other's backs, but I need you two,” He points to Stryker and me. “To keep an eye on your brother.”
Wrench opens his mouth in protest. He doesn't want to be treated like a kid. He doesn't want his big brothers looking out for him; he wants to prove his worth just as we all did when we were finally patched in.
Wrench may have done some shitty jobs when he was a prospect, the jobs no one else wants to do. He may have dug graves, dropped the bodies of those who crossed us in them and covered them over. Hell, he's even fed a man to the pigs, but he's never killed anyone, and I pray he never has to. Wrench is trained in combat and weaponry as well as the rest of us, and if he were anyone else, BlackJack would be telling him to get the fuck out there and do what's necessary. However, this is Dominic, Daddy's little boy, and BlackJack hasn't yet learned how to let go.
“I know you're strong, Wrench,” Dad tells him. “I know you ain't afraid of anything, and I know better than anyone that you'd go out there and take 'em all down single-handedly if you could. That's how determined you are, but...”
“What Jack's trying to say,” Stryker cuts in. Stryker is a quiet man, and he observes everything around him, and he never misses a trick. “Is that he knows you are every bit as capable as Hawk and me, every bit as good, but you're still his little boy, even if you are a grown man.”
Wrench narrows his eyes, and BlackJack stares at him. I see it too. Dad's afraid something bad will happen to his youngest son. If those fuckers out there were to kill one of us, it's more likely to be the one who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut. Out of every man in this club, that would be Wrench.
“You're a mouthy fucker, Wrench,” My little brother smirks. “You don't know how not to be. With people like the Coyotes, in this situation, you have to know when to shut the fuck up.”
“Stryker's right,” I tell Wrench. “Plus, if anything happened that meant we lost you, Mom would not survive it, Wrench. You might be a grown man, but to Mom and Dad, you will always be their baby.” Wrench rolls his eyes.
It annoys him when we say that, but it's true. I know my parents love me just the same as they do my brother. I have never doubted that, but Wrench was always the one more likely to stay home with Mom and Dad like a good little boy. The one to help Mom around the house, and Dad fix old bikes – I did that too, I can't deny that part, but that was because old bikes were my passion.
Anyway, Wrench's little goodie-two-shoes act meant our parents never believed he did anything wrong – even though he caused trouble wherever he went. Then when they lost Destiny, Wrench was the one Dad clung to when he finally broke down. My parents smothered my brother
a little too much after that.
BlackJack takes Wrench's face between his big hands. “I love all three of you the same, but it's not a secret that the bond is different between you and me.” It doesn't hurt me when my father says things like that because there is no doubt in my mind that he loves me just as he does Wrench. Now that I'm a father myself, I understand even more. “I'm not asking you not to go out there and fight with everyone else. I'm asking you not to put yourself in danger unnecessarily. Can you do that?”
Wrench nods. That's good enough for BlackJack because he smiles.
“No matter what happens out there, remember that I love you all.”
“Love you, too, Dad.” We all say in unison, each one of us laughing.
“Aww. What about us, uncle?”
I chuckle to myself as BlackJack turns around to face Roman and Ace. Ace might not be our cousin, but he is Roman's, and Roman is our cousin, so that makes Ace family.
“Yeah, you fuckers, I love you.”
“Love you, too, uncle.” Roman and Ace mock in baby voices.
“Everybody, cut the fuckin' chit chat, and make sure you're loaded and ready!” Shepard yells. “You know what to do if just one of those fuckers looks like he might shoot.”
“Open fuckin' fire on the lot of them!” Booker looks around the room, addressing every man here personally with his eyes. “Shoot to kill. Don't stop until every one of them is dead!”
Everyone yells in agreement.
“Don't go out there trying to be a damn hero. I have no time for that shit. Look out for each other, but don't put yourselves in danger. Do not shoot first unless you have to. No, is everybody ready?”
“Aye, Prez!” The sound is deafening.
One by one, we follow Shepard out to the courtyard to face those Coyote bastards. They stand on the other side of the gate, mean looking motherfuckers, who look like they haven't seen a bar of soap in weeks. Half of them look like they've been sampling the merchandise a little too much.