Page 12 of Brother to Brother

“What?” I asked, sort of mystified.

“I promise not to ask for anything, but when it comes to my son and raising him right, Archer, he can, andwill, pick upanythingyou say, soplease,watch what you say around my son.” I blinked and stated the obvious.

“Doesn’t much sound like you’re asking, Mel. It sounds a lot like you’re tellin’ me.”

She drew up a little straighter, swallowed hard, “Fine, then I’m telling you. Watch your mouth around my son.”

I shifted my weight to my other foot, simply because I’d been on my feet all day and Melody flinched. I froze for a second and felt my mouth press down into a thin line. She didn’t move either, but cowered just the same. I raised an eyebrow and said, “Alright, have it your way.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, “I’ll get my purse.” I held out her keys to her once she had everything gathered up, with one addition, I’d added a spare apartment key on there for her.

Nox picked up the boy. “I’ll carry him down to the car, you got your hands full,” he said to Mel and that jittery unease was back in her.

“Sure,” she said, “Just be careful.”

“Christ, woman. The boy ain’t made out of glass,” I said sarcastically and she ducked her head down and went out past us. We all went down and she got Noah buckled into his car seat.

“You ready to go, baby boy?” she asked him.

“Not baby!”

“Yeah, sorry. That’s my fault,” Rush said.

She laughed a little and rolled her eyes at Rush, “He’s growing upsofast, so try not to speed things along on me too much, okay?”

Nox laughed a little and Rush looked a little chagrinned, “Sorry, Mel,” he muttered and she shut the door to the cage. I peeled off my cut.

“You want me to drive?” she asked.

“Gave you the keys, didn’t I?”

She nodded carefully and asked, “Where to first?”

“I’d like to get my bike and get back here to put my feet up, you can handle the shopping, yeah?”

“Yeah, sure, absolutely.”

“Don’t worry about getting lost,” Nox said, “I’ll stick with you.”

Mel looked relieved, “Thanks, Nox.”

We piled into the cage, well Mel and I did, while Nox and Rush got on their bikes. They fired them up and it scared the shit out of Noah who started to cry.

“Easy, Boy. Nothin’ to be scared of,” I said but it took Mel like five minutes to calm him down. Shit. This was gonna be different. I sighed, and looked down at my cut across my knees. I’d be glad to be back in it, with my knees in the breeze.

“Can we get a move on?” I demanded, and was about to say ‘fuck’ but stopped myself just in time. Mel backed out of the space and followed Rush and Nox. I shifted in my seat and thought back on what Dragon had said some more.

“Y’did real nice on my place,” I grunted and she gave me a sideways glance like she was wondering who I was and if aliens had taken over my body.

“Thanks,” she said softly and I gave a nod. I didn’t really feel the need to talk much after that, content to let the rest of the ride go by in a tense silence. I glanced into the back seat about half way to the club and Noah was passed out.

“He didn’t get a nap today. Truthfully, I’m surprised he lasted this long,” she said.

“Tough guy, just like my brother,” I stated and Mel’s expression grew somber. She didn’t say anything else after that, the intensity of the silence between us from before, doubling down even harder.

She followed Rush and Nox up into the driveway at the club and pulled to a stop. I got out and stretched, sliding my cut back on over my jacket.

“See you back at the house,” I grunted and she nodded. Nox and Rush looked at each other, and Rush backed his bike into the line out front. I hated it when they did that creepy as fuck communicating without speaking. Some kind of freaky twin thing for all that they didn’t look like each other. Shit, they didn’t even share the same father. A one in a million genetic jackpot. Their mom dropped two eggs and fucked so many dudes close together on a kind of her being a hooker that one egg was fertilized by one John while the other got hit by another John’s little swimmers. Wham, bam, half-brothers that were twins sharing the same womb for nine months.

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