Page 83 of The Devil's Redemption

“Yo, Iron,” Blade calls down the empty hallway.

“Carson?” he responds.

I’m shocked to hear Iron call him by his real name. I didn’t realize anyone did. A small part of me wishes I was the only one, but if someone else is going to call him by his real name, I’m okay with it being the man who helped raise him. He knew him as Carson long before I did anyway.

A moment later, I see him poke his head around the corner, and a big, bright smile shows up on his face. It’s hard not to smile back when he hits you with his infectious grin. How Iron and Stone ended up running this club together is beyond me. They’re two vastly different people.

“Come in, come in,” Iron welcomes, waving me into his home.

I take in my surroundings as I go, and I notice a few pictures on the wall in a sitting room to the right of the front door.

“Oh my goodness,” I gush as I make a beeline for the frames. Looking back at me is an eleven or twelve-year-old, mini version of Blade… Of Carson. His dark brown hair is styled in a crew cut, longer on top than it is now. His smile is exactly the same, other than the adorable gap between his two front teeth. “Look at you…”

I turn around to face a very displeased Blade.

“You’re too perceptive. You weren’t supposed to see these,” he explains to me.

He tries to pull me away from them, but I shrug his hand off of my shoulder.

“You were adorable.”

“What do you mean,were?” he asks.

I turn around and regard him.

“You know what I mean. I never thought I’d get to see a picture of you when you were younger.”

“Well, why would you think that?”

Suddenly, I realize that my inner thoughts were incredibly stereotypical and unwarranted. I wasn’t sure. Because of his background, I’d assumed there weren’t any pictures of him as a child. That was stupid of me. I hate myself for even letting the thought permeate my mind.

“I—I don’t know what I’m talking about. Don’t mind me,” I tell him, but he still looks confused

I’m about to change the subject, but Iron beats me to it.

“Can I get you all anything to drink?” he offers.

“I’d love a water, please,” I tell him as Blade shakes his head.

“So what brings you all in, not that I’m not happy to see you,” he inquires as he grabs me a bottle of water out of the fridge.

“Taking Sasha on her first bike ride. We thought we’d come in and check on you, old man.”

“Oh, yeah? And how are you liking it so far?”

“I never expected to like it as much as I do,” I answer, taking the bottle of water he’s holding out for me. “I don’t know if I could handle it on a highway, but riding around Whispering Valley is amazing.”

“It is, isn’t it? Here, come have a seat.”

We follow him to the next room over. Blade and I sit down, his arm resting on the back of the sofa above my shoulders. Iron takes the chair in the corner of the room.

“What’s new? How are things at the clubhouse?”

“They’re fine, nothing new,” Blade answers.

“You were missed at the lockdown,” I add.

“If I hadn’t just moved back in here, I would have been there. But I’m getting too old for all the commotion that goes on over there sometimes. And with my health… Well, I just wanted to take it easy.”

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