Page 5 of Hyde

Her gorgeous smile relays her feelings on the matter and Xander’s eyes pop open as if he agrees. As agreed, Bree and Jasper are the only visitors who come back to pay their regards, but other than that I hold him the rest of the night.

We have a lot to talk about. He needs to know how amazing his mother is, that he has a spitfire of a sister waiting to meet him, and about the larger family he was born into.

When I run out of things to tell him, I simply give thanks for Riley’s life and the family we have.

Chapter 3

Hyde

“I think it could be a real good chance for me, and I’ve never traveled much so that’ll be a plus also,” I explain to Jasper, Russian, and Gunner as we sit around Gunner’s living room.

Taking Wrench’s advice, I sit back to read the room before I continue, but damn, even in my thirties now, somedays it’s hard not to still feel like a kid around these men.

There’s an opportunity for me to go, more or less, nomad. I’m basing my plan on what Wrench did years ago, working as a security technology consultant for motorcycle clubs, before he settled here.

The way I have it planned out, each chapter would pay me, and I’d still funnel a part of that back here.

When I was nineteen, I enlisted in the Marines. Besides the opportunity to really learn how to fight, I figured it was a sure-fire way to see more of the world.

Fate had other plans though, and on the way to basic training I had the bad luck to run into a pile-up during a white out. When I woke up a few weeks later, Bree was by my side and stayed there as I slowly came to terms with the severity of my injuries.

The military said,thanks but no thanks, and my rehab started.

I have no tangent memories of my birth mother; they’ve all been replaced by Bree. There were countless days, she comforted me when I broke down, barely able to stand on my own two feet. Then there were the days, where she relentlessly demanded that I take two more steps, and two more after that, as I struggled through the rehab process and learned to walk again.

Although I cried and lashed out at everyone because of the pain I was in, it was the times when I woke up and caught Bree silently crying that ripped my heart out. I knew her well enough to know she’d be mortified at being caught crying.

The first time I saw her tears, I remembered thinking, What does she have to cry about? I’m the one suffering.

Through no one’s fault, I developed sores on my feet, making rehab particularly difficult and one day, at my absolute lowest point, I took it out on her. Gunner witnessed the worst of it and put an end to my rant. The next morning, I woke up to Flint in my room, instead of my adopted mother.

He explained, in excruciating detail, the length that Bree had gone to, to stop the doctor from removing part of my left leg after the accident. I thought I was already as low as I could possibly sink, but from that day forward, I took my lumps as they came.

The way I saw it, every day I woke up faced with a choice: fight or cave into my demons during the bad times. For a while, there were still more painful days than good ones, but I made a conscious decision to be grateful for what I had.

I had parents who loved me, besides a larger, crazy family, made of Northern Grizzlies; as evidenced by the food the Ol’ Ladies would send for me and the pictures some of the kids would draw.

Flint’s little ‘come to Jesus’ talk with me that day, helped to change my attitude, and from there, every baby step seemed like a leap.

Once I got to the point I could at least drive again, I had another choice to make. Becoming a mechanic or shadowing Wrench, with the expectation that I’d enroll in an Information System course. I was still physically exhausted most days, so I chose the latter.

By this stage of my life, a few of my brothers that I had patched in with have started settling down with women they’ve met here and there. Personally, I haven’t found anyone I can tolerate for longer than a few hours. I thought I had once, but that was all a lie.

I figure, I might as well see the country before I’m too old to enjoy it.

“Our plan has always been for you to take over Wrench’s position,” Jasper tells me when I let the silence drag on. This was an issue I was prepared to hear and one I need to tread carefully with. “Or one of ours.”

“I will, I mean, I want that, too. This is my home. One hundred percent. But I don’t want to get to Wrench’s age and never have gone anywhere but on runs to a handful of places. I’ve talked to Silver about his time as a Nomad, and I think that getting out into the world and learning how others think will bring more value to us in the long run.”

“He’s not wrong,” Russian concurs with a faraway look in his eyes.

“What Flint, and every one of you, did for me—taking me in, giving me a place, that isn’t something I’d ever forget or betray.” I repeat what I said earlier.

Gunner’s been silent this past half hour and just as he opens his mouth, the front door is flung open, and Leslee runs in. Seeing us, she races toward her dad—and we can’t help but notice her tear-streaked face.

“I hate it there and I’m never going back, Daddy!”

Gunner stands up so quick, his chair crashes against the wall behind him; as expected, he’s more interested in catching herin his arms than his surroundings. “What is it, angel? You don’t have to. What the hell? Go where?”

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