Page 10 of Brother to Brother

“Yeah! Yeah, yeah, lead the way, Mamma.”

“Thank you,” I murmured, grateful that it was him and not Rush, or Archer.

We walked Ashton and Hayden out and I didn’t want them to leave, but I got it, they had to. Damn the luck… I didn’t know if I was ready for this.

Chapter 6

Archer

It was getting on towards quittin’ time when Dragon pulled up to the garage. I sighed, figuring he was here to talk about Mel and the goings on at his club the day before, and I wasn’t exactly wrong. First thing he did was stride towards my bay and the Caprice I was working on.

“Archer,” Dragon grunted, leaning a hip against the fender.

“What can I do for you, P.?” I asked him.

“Well, for starters, we have a little business to square up on,” he said. I frowned and stood up, out from under the hood.

“Oh?” I asked.

“Now, I know you probably ain’t been in a cage for a minute, but by-laws bein’ what they are, do I really need to remind you that gettin’ in one wearin’ your colors goes against ‘em?”

“Aw, fucking son of a bitch, that was totally my bad, Dragon, I’m sorry,” I said.

“Be that as it may, yer fined fifty bucks and don’t you ever disrespect the patch again, you get me?” he asked and I was already nodding and reaching for my wallet. Fuck, it was fifty bucks I really couldn’t afford right now, but that served all the better to drive the message home, now didn’t it?

“Don’t pay me, you pay Ghost the next time you see ‘im,” he said and his tone brooked no argument. However, he did tone it down by quite a bit when he got to the question I could tell he really wanted to ask… “Who’s the girl, and who’s the kid? Better yet, where are they now?” he demanded and I could tell I was probably looking forward to another talking to.

“She’s just some club chippie from back in A-Z,” I told him, “The boy is Grinder’s.”

“Shit,” Dragon swore softly.

“Tell me about it, she showed up here lookin’ for Grind, they didn’t tell her, man. She came all the way out here expecting to see him.”

“Way I hear it, you was none too gentle dropping the news.” Dragon eyed me but showed no opinion one way or the other by his expression. I palmed the back of my neck and nodded.

“I didn’t know thatshedidn’t know, I feel like a right asshole about it now, that’s no way for a boy to find out his father’s dead.”

“Boy? Hell, he ain’t but a year or so old the way the boys that saw ‘im tell it. That’s damn sure no way to treat awoman, let alone the mother of your brother’s child. Which brings me to my question that’s gone unanswered… where are they?”

“I took ‘em in, they’re at my apartment. Nox and Rush are supposed to meet me there.”

“Yeah? What you going to do about all this?” Dragon asked.

“Like you said, she’s the mother of my brother’s child. Noah’s blood, he’s family. They stay here and I’ll get her on her feet, Noah will be taken care of and raised right, around family.”

Dragon looked considerate for a minute and finally gave a nod, “She wasn’t Grind’s ol’ lady, at all?”

“Never that he’d make it official,” I said, “But they were pretty exclusive, at least as far as she knew.”

Dragon gave another nod and said, “Well, anything they need, anythingyouneed for ‘em, as far as this chapter and this club is concerned, they’re the property of a fallen brother and as such they’ll be looked after.”

I felt a tension in my shoulders ease and nodded, “I appreciate that, Dragon. I surely do,” I said and he put a hand on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Ashton and Hayden already came around first thing this morning, they should be with her for a minute today.”

“Good, that’s good,” he said and went on with, “You can be a pain in the ass and hot headed, Archer, but you’re one of us. A brother, through and through. We may not always agree, but your problems are our problems just the same.” He considered me for a long moment and asked, “May I give you some unsolicited advice? Not as your president, but as one brother to another?”

“Sure,” I said and had a hard time looking at Dragon, staring fixedly at my hands which I was trying real hard to wipe off on a rag just as filthy as they were.

“She came runnin’ out this way, I take it in that thing,” he said indicating Mel’s shitty, worn out hatchback. “Somethin’ ain’t right where she come from, she’s runnin’ from something and thought safety lay out this way with yer brother. What did she say on that anyways?”

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