Page 24 of Brother to Brother

“Boompa?” Noah asked and his face twisted, Mel immediately soothed Noah.

“No, no, no, Grandpa Phillip isn’t here, Baby. This is Dragon…”

“Boompa Dragon?” he asked.

“Sure, if yah like,” Dragon chuckled and Noah twisted in his mother’s arms. I frowned, some suspicions coming up to the surface. I knew Phil was her stepdad and I also knew he was some kind of a dick, at least according to Grind. Noah’s odd discomfiture sent up some red flags.

“Well, c’mere you two,” Dragon said, and Mel edged further into the room. The guys moved out of her way and the girls edged back further too and the word must have gotten out because literallyeveryonewas here, except for Rev and Red, they were probably held up by their kid.

“Have a seat,” Dragon said, “and all of y’all give the woman some breathing room would you?” he called out and everyone turned and started milling about for a second before moving off to do whatever they were either up to when we arrived, or off to do something else. I watched Dani and R.T. drift off out back towards Dani’s shop, Shelly and Ghost moving off with them.

The dynamic ol’ lady duo of Sunshine and Doll took off toward the media room with Ev, the three of them laughing and no surprise, Trig, Reaver, and Dray followed along right after, like their dicks were some kind of leash. I chuckled and turned back to Dragon and Mel who were staring at me and my two foster brothers.

“Do I need to put it more plainly?” Dragon asked.

Rush laughed, “What?”

“Apparently I do,” Dragon said, “Fuck off, and take your nephew with you. Go watch some cartoons or some shit down in the media room.”

I eyed Melody who looked like she was sweating it out big time, “You gonna let him swear like that in front of the boy, but you gripe my shit?”

“He’s the President, he can do whatever he wants,” she said, breathy.

Dragon laughed, a big booming belly laugh at that, “Well Sweetheart, that ain’t quite how it works, and I apologize. It’s been a minute since I been around a little one that could pick up bad words.”

Nox went up and took Noah from Mel, he made a noise of protest but then he got a look at one of the buttons on Nox’s cut and he started to play with it and disaster averted.

“Come on, Little Man, let’s go watch some cartoons in my room,” Nox said.

“You alright?” I asked Mel and she nodded stiffly. I nodded back and followed my brother’s out who were fully absorbed in our nephew, but me, for some reason, I couldn’t resist one last look back at Mel who sat small and afraid in the chair opposite my P. The nagging feeling that shit just wasn’t right getting stronger by the minute. I was hoping Dragon would get to the bottom of it, he was just plain better at this shit than I was.

Chapter 13

Melody

Silence hung between us, an almost physical veil. I waited while he looked at me, coal dark eyes raking me over, bouncing across every detail of my face. Finally he pulled back the curtain, breaking the silence first.

“So, what made you come out here?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.

“I wanted Noah to know who his father was. I wanted to see if I could change Grinder’s mind.” I said truthfully, and it was true… mostly. I swallowed hard, my eyes tearing and Dragon’s expression drew down into something considering… I could see the gears turning as he twisted his mouth back and forth. Finally he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his cut and held them up.

“You mind?” I shook my head. “You want one?” he asked and I found my voice.

“I don’t smoke.”

“Hmm, you look like you could use one, can I get you a drink instead?” he asked. I shook my head, and he sighed. “Archer told me you got all the way out here just to find out Grind was gone.”

I nodded and felt my face crumble, the pain welling fresh. I couldn’t stop myself. Between that and the stress, I started to cry. I hid my face behind my hands and looked up sharply when his chair creaked. He held out a black bandana to me and I took it with shaking fingers.

“You wanna see him?” he asked and I looked up sharply.

“He’s here?” I asked confused.

“Buried here, yeah. In a plot at the local cemetery, for any brother that didn’t have any place else tobeburied. For brothers that don’t have any other family than the club. I got some questions about that, but they can wait. This is important.”

I nodded numbly, and asked, “Can we go by Archer’s apartment first?” I asked. “I’d like to bring something, you know?”

“I do,” he said, and sighed, “Tell you what, if you have us stop there, can I stop someplace too? I’d like to pick up some flowers for my wife if we’re going out there.”

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