Page 6 of Speed

“You finished this time, Speed?” Stroker asked.

“Yeah, had enough. It was time to come home,” I said, which was the truth for the most part. I’d re-upped before I came back for my dad’s funeral, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stay around the club with him gone. The Marines kept me busy enough not to think about him every day, but his death still bothered me. Questions plagued my mind at night when it was dark and quiet, and I had time to think on things other than trying to stay alive myself.

Cutter was an excellent rider, yet he skidded off the road in a curve, flipped the guardrail, hit a formation of rocks, but the bike didn’t explode, he’d just been thrown into those same rocks, and even with a helmet on, his neck had been broken on impacted. The weather had been clear, nothing in the road that he could have hit to send him spiraling out of control. Not even skid marks from his tires or another vehicle’s. So the report read the rider had just lost control. Even with everything I had experienced in my life, some things were just not that clear-cut and dry. And with time spent in the desert, I learned to trust my gut—it kept me alive more than once. Now that I was back, I’d have the time to work it out, if I didn’t, I know I would never be able to lay Cutter to rest. My dad deserved no less.

“Fuckin’ great. It will be nice to have all you boys home, finally. It’s been too long,” Stroker said and patted my back.

“Yeah, you say that now. I give it a week with us all here, and we will spend more time in your office than we did when we were teenagers.” Crusher was right on that account, the six of us spent a fair share of our youth in that office with our dads yelling at us about respect, loyalty to the club, to our brothers, and most importantly, to ourselves. They taught us the codes to live by, not only as part of an MC but as part of everyday life because each bled into the other. We were taught fear was a great motivator and easy to obtain, but respect and trust were earned, and when you received all of them, the loyalty you would gain from the members would rival no other.

“Yeah, well you are grown ass men now, so I’m hopin’ not to see you in those chairs other than for business,” Stroker said while looking between Crusher and me.

“Don’t look at me, Prez, I just got back. Been on the road for damn days. I need a shower, food, and sleep and not necessarily in that order. After that, well, you never know what kind of trouble one can get into. From what I saw when I walked in, trouble seems to have gotten here a few minutes before me for once,” I laughed and raised my brow at Crusher.

“Man, don’t start on that. That bitch and I have danced around each other since her ass came into town.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t have anything to do with her shooting you down all that time either, now would it, son?” Stroker turned to walk off and stopped to face us once more. “Good to have you back, Speed. Get settled in, get rested and enjoy the next few days. I expect to see in Church this week. Don’t be late, you know I can’t tolerate slackers.” He chuckled, turned and started to walk away yelling over his shoulder, “Crusher, stay away from the deputy ‘til she cools down and bring Speed up to par on things before Church.” Stroker turned down the hall and disappeared out of sight.

“Are you under the deputy’s skin, man, or what?”

“Or what is a good question. Come on, I’ll walk with you to your place. Fill you in. You got stuff on your bike?” Crusher turned toward the door.

“A little, shipping the rest. Didn’t want to load bike down on trip so only brought enough to get by. If I need more, I’ll go into town and pick some things up,” I answered as I followed him out.

We grabbed the bags off my bike and headed around to the back of the clubhouse. A path to the side led to six cabins spread apart the original six members lived in. Now it would just be me in the one I’d grown up in with Cutter.

“You staying back here with your dad, Crusher?”

“Yeah, but not with Dad. I have the place to myself now. After your dad had died, man, it hit the dads a lot harder than they let on or would admit to. They had a road cut out between these places,” he gestured to the cabins we were about to reach, “and the ones on the other side. It runs behind all the places, and they each built them a place back there.”

“Damn.”

“Feel ya. Didn’t have a clue they’d taken it so hard until I got back first. Finished my last stint three years after we were back for your dad’s funeral. Did what you did and just showed up one day, going to surprise the old man,” he chuckled, “I got the surprise—the place was empty. I opened the door and just stood there. Didn’t take long until I heard bikes with the dads on them. Prospect at the gate had called them and said a member of another club was headed up. Told them he didn’t recognize me either so they rode over. Of course didn’t know it was me ‘cause I hadn’t called. They’d pulled up fully armed. Christ, thank God the fuckers didn’t shoot when I walked out the door.”

“No shit. They didn’t recognize your bike?”

“Nah, sold the old one and picked up another right before I headed back. So after they see me, instead of welcoming his son back, our Prez yells ‘Dumbass, you should have called. You make it through the desert and get shot in your own damn home.’ Then I got welcomed.”

“Nice to know they haven’t changed in that aspect,” I said as we reached my place.

“Nope, not at all. If anything, Cutter’s death made them take a good look at their lives. Not that I think they would change anything about how they’ve lived, it’s almost like they feel they should’ve lived more ‘cause you could be gone at any moment.”

“Lived more? Seriously, they have lived by their own rules our whole lives. Before that, it had only been their time in service.” I didn't understand why our dads would feel that way.

“Not sure why, Speed. I just noticed the difference in them when I came back. That’s all.”

“So they live out behind the cabins here?”

“Yeah, have their own little compound within the compound.” We walked into the living room and set the bags down by the doorway.

I walked to the front windows and cracked them open, the place felt a little stuffy. “Pretty clean for being gone a few years,” I said as I looked around.

“The ol’ ladies clean the places every week, including yours. They probably know you’re back already, but we need to make sure of that,” Crusher laughed, “even though they are used to club life, seeing guys getting their dicks sucked, pussy getting eat out, or club ass getting fucked over the pool table. Nothing prepared Shakes the day she walked in on Devil and Flirt.”

Shakes was Dare’s ol’ lady, he was one of the older men in the club and Shakes had babysat each of us at one time or another as we’d grown up. She could be considered a surrogate mother to us all. It was another thing the six of us had in common. Born in the same year, months in between, and not one of our mothers had stuck around either, leaving our dads to raise us.

“Oh shit, I guess she walked in on them fucking, but how did she handle it?” Shakes had no problem putting us in our place growing up. If we acted out, she would bust our asses. But she would love on us too. Not that any of us would admit to it but what little softness we have in us—was because of her. Her old man, Dare, was one of the older members of the club and they were one of the few families that lived in the other spare cabins that sat on club property. They hadn’t had any kids of their own, and I didn’t know why, ‘cause they would have been great parents. Hell, they’d pretty much raised us.

“Man, I was on the porch with Coast at my place. Just so happen Dad and Cruz was walking up about the time we hear Shakes yell “what the fuck.” Dad and Cruz are running by then, and Coast and I are off the porch sprinting behind them. We hit Flirt’s steps as she was stepping out and, brother, her eyes were huge. Well, we’re thinking fuck what had she found but from the bitching going on inside we at least knew she hadn’t found a body. Anyway, Coast and I walk through the door with Cruz behind us while Dad is stuck on the porch, trying to get Shakes settled down. The sight before us was...well, Lindy on a swing that was attached to the rafters across Flirt’s ceiling and on her back in it. Devil was standing at her head, and Flirt was between her legs.

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