Page 4 of Deserter

“What do we do? We get out the goddamn car, Mary. These men are my family.” He threw his door open and went around the back to where the bikers had gathered. The trunk popped open, making it impossible to see what was happening.

Ma reached back and took my hand in hers. “S-stay with me, Jamie.”

I nodded and gripped her hand tighter. “I’ll protect you, Ma. Those bikers won’t get near ya or I’ll pop ‘em in the nose. You hear me, Ma?”

She shook her head and laughed softly. “I thought it’d be the other way around, with me watching out for you. These men might be dangerous; they certainly look it.”

We climbed out at the same time and huddled together while my old man chatted with the bikers. “And this here is my Ol’ Lady, Mary, and my boy, James.” He slipped a leather vest on that matched the other bikers and gestured for us to come forward.

Ma kept a tight hold on my shoulder as she moved toward the back of the car. The bikers watched us curiously before introducing themselves.

Raven… Slider… Gimp—they were the strangest names I’d ever heard. The one they called Gimp had lost part of his arm in the war, so I at least understood that. The others were a mystery.

I kept staring at the biker’s stump of an arm until my old man caught my eye. I straightened and readied myself for the blow that was coming, but he just clapped me on the shoulder and said, “C’mon, son. Let’s find some kids your age.”

He pulled me from Ma’s grip and I reached back for her. “I need to stay with Ma. I promised.” With a sigh, he let me go and followed after the other bikers. From the back, I could see that there was a big difference between their vests and his.

Theirs had a large bird in the center andSilent Phoenixin big letters above it. On the left side of the bird was a one percent patch and on the other side were the letters MC. Texas was in big letters underneath.

My old man’s vest had none of those things. His just had PROSPECT in big letters on the bottom. I didn’t understand what any of it meant.

If these men were his brothers, then why didn’t they match?

“Hey there,” a feminine voice crooned, and Ma and I jumped in fright before turning to see a red-haired woman with a big smile on her face. She thrust her hand out. “I’m Lucy. Named after Lucille Ball.”

She had her top tied up like a swimsuit and was wearing bell-bottom jeans. Ma and all her friends only wore dresses. I hadn’t ever seen a girl wearing denim before. Susan’s mother said it wasn’t proper for ladies to be seen in pants.

Ma exhaled softly before taking the woman’s hand in hers. “Mary, and this is my son, Jamie. It’s nice to meet you.”

Lucy took us around the gathering, introducing everyone as we went. There were bikers and their families everywhere. I had no idea where my father had gone, but Ma was smiling again and I didn’t want to ruin her good mood by asking about him.

A biker brought us plates of food and introduced me to some kids sitting down by the pond. I hesitated, but Ma insisted that she was fine and encouraged me to have some fun.

I lost track of time, learning to skip stones across the water with some of the older boys. The sun was beginning to sink out of view when I realized how long I’d been away.

“I gotta find my ma,” I told my new friends before heading back toward the motel.

The bikers had built a large camp fire and were sitting around it, drinking and laughing. I searched the crowd for my mother and her blue dress but couldn’t find her. She’d been the only one who dressed up, so it should’ve been easy to pick her out.

My throat grew tight, but I pushed my way through several bikers to get into the motel. I spotted my old man almost instantly. He was gathering up trash with another biker. I could see from the look in his eyes that he was drunk and flattened myself against a wall until he turned his back.

I wasn’t getting smacked around in front of these bikers.

After checking again to make sure that he hadn’t seen me, I crept down the hall. I could hear voices carrying from outside, but none of them sounded like my mother’s.

I was about to turn around when I heard a soft groan coming from behind one of the doors. I slowly turned the handle and inched it open before backing away in confusion. Curiosity got the best of me and I crouched down, watching them through the crack.

My mother was bent over a small table, her dress bunched up around her lower back, while a biker moved behind her. Susan and I had found her parent’s copy ofThe Joy of Sexone afternoon, hidden in the back of their bookcase, so I wasn’t a complete fool.

I stared in wonder at the greenish-black ink running up and down his arms as he held on to her hips. She rocked back and pushed herself up onto her forearms with a quiet gasp. Her eye makeup ran from the corners of her eyes like a black river. The biker wrapped an arm around her chest and pulled her body back into his, causing both of them to groan loudly.

This was my fault.

I left her alone and now this biker was hurting her. I knew that my old man wouldn’t keep her safe, and I still went off to play with the kids. This was exactly what he’d warned me about; acting like a child and hurting the people I loved.

“Mmm… yes. Yes,” my mother moaned, letting her head fall back on the biker’s shoulder.

I’d never heard her make those kinds of sounds when my father was hurting her.

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