Page 83 of Justice for Radar

I giggled then boldly said, “Sorry not sorry,” which made him laugh.

“Come on, get off of me,” he said breathless all over again with his laughter. I obliged him, knees a bit creaky from my prolonged position on them and he bounced up and reached a hand back for me. I took it and he towed me along into the bathroom where he started the shower.

I pinned up my hair and joined him where we kissed lazily, letting our hands wander soap slicked over one another’s bodies. Over ridges and planes of muscle, his hands gentle and sweet over the peaks and valleys of scar tissue riddling my side and back.

A fair bit in, Atlas called out from the other room, “Yo, yo, yo!”

“Yeah?” Radar called back to him and Atlas stopped inside the bathroom door and leaned a shoulder against the door jamb like we weren’t just standing there naked, in the shower. I wasn’t entirely sure I would ever get over just how casual these guys were around each other and nudity in general but as much as a frisson of anxiety went up my spine at having anyone walk in on me naked, it just as quickly disappeared as he looked at his phone scrolling down the screen not really paying any mind to us in the glass box that was my shower.

“The crew’s stopping in NOLA tonight to party with the Voodoo Bastards, they say they’ll be here by mid-afternoon tomorrow,” Atlas said, and Radar made a rude noise.

“Pfft! I call bullshit. Ain’t no way they’re gonna party with the boys in NOLA and not be hung the fuck over in the morning.”

Atlas laughed.

“We placing bets?” he asked.

“You wanna bet against me on that?” Radar demanded.

“Fuck no, what’re you thinking?”

“Late tomorrow night, I’d be surprised if they rolled up before ten.”

“Shit, you’re probably right, man.”

“It’s not like I’m going to have this place packed up by then!” I cried incredulous.

Radar shook his head and Atlas looked up at me and grinned, “Ain’t nobody expecting you to, baby. This is a full-service move. Our boys and girls’ll help you get packed up and when we’re done purging shit to the dump, we’ll get a U-Haul and haul ass back to Florida.”

“I still don’t even know what to do about the house…” I said trailing off.

“That’s tomorrow. We’ll contact a real estate agency and get the ball rolling, it’s no worries. We got you,” Atlas declared.

“Not gonna let you fall, baby,” Radar murmured and he pulled me down for another kiss.

I kissed him back, suffused with a warmth that had absolutely nothing to do with the steam of the shower water.

* * *

Radar ended up being right.The rest of the Kraken and their women that were able to make it didn’t show up until late the next night. We made sure to have pizza and cold beer and had pushed enough furniture aside to lay out sleeping bags and bedrolls.

That was the last thing that La Croix and Collier helped with before they departed back to New Orleans. I hugged them both and thanked them for coming and for helping to keep me safe.

It was a veritablewhirlwindof activity the morning after the Kraken arrived, though and it all started with Faith, Hope, and Serenity armed with serious looks and a clip board with fresh paper waiting for me to step out of my bedroom into the hallway.

“Decision time,” Hope said seriously.

“What stays, what goes to the dump, and what do you want to try to sell?” Serenity asked.

Whoa boy.

It surprisingly, wasn’t that bad… a lot of stuff ended up trashed or set aside because one of the guys wanted it – which was mostly to say part and parceling out Rodney’s tools and tool boxes and garage shit.

The parts for his last work in progress car ended upinthat car, and some of the legalities of ownership and what to do with the big things like vehicles still had question marks hovering over them but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

We focused on wrapping glass, taking things car and truck loads at a time to various Good Will and consignment shops and all within the first few days.

I marveled at thefamilythe MC was to one another – I mean not howmyfamily had been but rather what you imagined family should be.

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