Page 62 of Brother to Brother

I used to think that Dray and the rest of them were fuckin’ whipped. That the pussies on their women must have been made out of gold or some shit. When Mel had hit town, I’d learned quick that it wasn’t their vaginas, but rather their hearts, and I definitely now knew the difference. It was a humbling experience.

Dom was staring at the screen like he’d never seen it before and demanded, “Who the fuck’s is it?”

“Mine,” I uttered and he raised his eyebrows.

“You were diddling Mel behind Grind’s back?” he asked shocked.

“You ain’t a dumb motherfucker, Dom. Grind is gone; that makes the boy my responsibility.” I shook my head, “You knew Mel was head over heels for my fuckin’ brother, when she ghosted, did you think for one minute with anything other than your fuckin’ dick? Did the fact that she was Grind’s woman mean a damn thing to you?”

Dom had scoffed, “Grind never made nothin’ official,” he said.

“Maybe not,” Dragon intoned, “But the last I checked, when a brother went astray, or didn’t live up to his responsibilities as a man, it was hisbrother’s and president’sresponsibility to fuckin’ help him. To get him back on the path to success, not to leave him on the side of the fuckin’ road. This ain’t what we’re about, Dom, and you fuckin’ know it. I don’t think there’s really anything else to be talkin’ about here. Archer, you good?”

“No, P. I’m not, but you know what? That’s just the way it’s gonna be.” I turned back to Dom, “Brother, do me a solid, pull your head out of your fuckin’ ass.”

With that parting shot, I took myself out of my old fucking clubhouse, straddling my bike and resisting the urge to punch something. Dragon, Trig, and Data came out a few minutes later and got on their bikes. I glared at the closed door of the club from behind my sunglasses and Dragon asked me, “Any other business you got to attend to while we’re here?”

“Yeah,” I uttered. “Shit that should be done solo, though.”

“You know that ain’t how we roll,” Trig grunted and I nodded.

“Yeah.”

We started up the bikes and rolled out, the guys giving me the lead, seeing as I was the one who best knew where I was going. It was a small enough town that just about everybody knew where everyone else lived, they just didn’t give enough of a shit to bother to go over there, except this time? I did.

It was only something like five turns to get to the street I was lookin’ for and when I pulled up to the curb in front of the house, it was to Mel’s mom coming out onto the front porch. I guess the noise from the bikes had gotten her attention.

“What do you want?” she called out before I could take so much as three steps in her direction.

“Just letting you know, Mel and Noah won’t be coming back here;ever.” I told her. She drew herself up, chest all puffed out and I felt myself quickly losing my temper. I bit the inside of my cheek and shook my head, saying, “Just save it, bitch. You’re so damn stuck up that you lost yourdaughter. You missed her wedding, you’re going to miss out on your grandson growing up, and you’re going to miss out on more grandchildren being born. That is what it is. You did it to yourself, you and that loser judgmental bastard of a husband of yours.”

She gawped at me open mouthed for a second, high spots of color on her cheeks as she drew breath and I cut her off again, “They’re my family now. Mel’s mywife, Noah’smyson, and you come near my family, try to fuck with them in any way, it’s not going to phase me none.”

“Are you threatening me!?” she demanded and I again shook my head.

“Nope, I’m telling you that you got two options, you can either leave us alone and maybe someday Mel will come around and let you be a part of her life again, or you can try to fuck with us and kill any chance you have ateverbeing a part of their world except for a distant bad memory. I’m not playin’ and I mean what I say. I won’t let you or that asshole hurt them anymore. She deserves better than a self-centered narcissistic cunt for a mother; it’s just too bad you couldn’t be that for her.”

She really started squawking then, but I didn’t give a shit. Someone needed to stand up to Mel’s parents. The more she’d opened up about them, the more I wanted to just beat the shit out of something, so rather than listen to this shit, I got back on my bike and rode away. My three brothers at my back hadn’t said a damn thing, the whole exchange, but they knew. I’d talked to them about it on the way here.

We stopped for a bite at the old diner Mel used to work at on the way out of town, the three of us agreeing that our business here was concluded and it was time to go home. I think all of us were irritated enough that we just wanted to put this place as far in our rearview as possible before we crapped out for the night. Maybe it was just me, or maybe I was just projecting. Who the fuck knows?

What I do know, is that it was fuckin’ late when we stopped and that we hadn’t quite crossed into the next time zone, so it was later still where Mel was at. It didn’t stop me from calling her though. I was beginning to worry it’d kick to voicemail when she picked up, her voice dusky with sleep as it slipped over the airwaves and made the miles left between us seem like just some kind of cruel illusion.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Baby. Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay… wait… areyouokay?”

“Just fine, how’s our little man?”

“A holy terror today, but sleeping like an angel now.”

I chuckled, “What was his problem?”

“He’s a toddler, heading into those terrible two’s, does he need any other excuse?”

“What happened?” I asked her, “One of those ‘why is my kid crying?’ moments?”

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