He was preaching to me like I wasn’t the choir here. I growled back, “I know that.”
“Where’s my sister? She’s not answering her phone.”
“She went to work.”
“Wait. What?! Why’d she go there? They’re going to use her or ice her out. You weren’t supposed to let her go back.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who set her up with them for a job in the first place.”
“I did because they have a good reputation, and at the time, I had no clue there’d be thirty warrants issued for our dad’s MC. Is there more that you haven’t told me?”
I paused, gritting my teeth, because there was.
“Cross,” he growled at the silence.
I sighed, filling him in on my conversation with Bren’s employer yesterday.
“What. The. Fuck?! You admitted to that? He could’ve been recording you. That’s evidence he now has.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
Channing got quiet. “What do you mean?”
“Listen, he said they were icing her out for her own good. They didn’t want to put her in the middle.”
“Bullshit.” He exhaled a big burst of air from his end. “We’re on our way up. We’ll be there around noon, maybe before. We have a few pit stops on the way. Are you around?”
“I’ll be done with my last class around four-thirty.”
“I want you available to be there for Bren. Our dad is heading up. He’s going to get in town before us, but I don’t know if or when he’ll approach Bren. We’ll handle it, and if I think Bren needs you, I’ll call.” Now it was my turn to growl at him. “Fuck that. I told you that you have to loop us in. You don’t and nothing will get resolved. I’m assuming that’s why you’re coming up here, right? To resolve something.”
“You’re in college. You guys shouldn’t be dealing with any of this.”
“Yeah, well, it’s Bren’s dad, so we will. We’ll do whatever we have to to have her back.”
Channing was quiet a beat on his end. “I’ll call when we’re getting to town. Check in with Bren today. A lot.”
“I will.”
Then we hung up, and I texted everyone letting them know what was happening. We all needed to be on alert.
Jordan: Got it. Bren, let us know how you’re doing.
Zellman: I’ll call Sunday, see if anything’s going on at their end. Bren, thinking of you.
And then, lastly:
Bren: Thanks, guys. So far, so good.
And to me:
Bren: I have to deal with my dad. I wanted to see how he’d respond before mentioning it. That’s the only reason I didn’t tell you I reached out.
Me: Did he respond?
Bren: No, but now I know he’s coming. I’ll be waiting.
Me: Want me to skip class and look for him?
Bren: No. In a way, Channing’s right. You guys are in college. You should be college students, you know?
Me: We’re crew first.
Bren: And that’s why I love you.
I grinned.
Me: Love you too.
Bren: Go and learn something, College Boy. I’m heading in to hopefully bust someone’s head today.
Me: There’s my girl.
BREN
I figured it out.
Something had been off this whole time. I thought it was because I was working, or trying to work, and the guys were following such a different path than me. That wasn’t it.
We weren’t under threat. The administration wasn’t going after us. Other crews weren’t fighting us. Harper wasn’t even a fight, and the fraternity house was nothing. But my dad coming to town or knowing he was coming, it all fell back into place.
Now I felt like I was on home territory, and that was sad.
That was wrong, but it was what it was.
“You ready for this?”
Brock and Hawk had been keener with me when I got to work. I told them the line for coffee had been longer than normal, and no one seemed to care. They all took their coffees and returned back to the offices. Today, Trundle was back behind the register during daylight hours, and I lingered at the bar.
Hawk and Brock shared a look before Hawk gave me a smile. “For transparency, we took all the pictures down. Everyone’s pictures.”
“For transparency, my dad is coming to town.”
Both jerked in place.
Hawk’s eyes got big. “What?”
“Here?” Brock took a step toward me, his eyes fierce. His mouth looked strained. “To our town?”
I nodded, not knowing if I should’ve said anything, but I was between a rock and a hard place. My dad said he was fine. No warrant was out for him. This shouldn’t be a big deal, at least I was hoping. And then I added, “And my brother, too.”
That had a different reaction, a much different reaction.
The air in the room suddenly grew tenser, heavy. I felt it pressing on me.
Hawk and Brock shared another look, and this last one was longer and a whole lot deeper. I wasn’t even going to try to interpret it. I was going to ride the wave. Whatever was coming was coming. If that wave were my dad, my brother, anyone else, I’d be here to endure what came with them.