Page 14 of Tinsel & Chrome

I grab the stepladder and gesture at Alex. “Get up there and string these lights. You’re taller than me now, might as well put it to use.”

Alex grins and takes the lights without argument. If I told him to do some club work, he’d bitch about it. But this? He doesn’t mind.

Bayou is hauling decorations out of the box, moving faster than a gator in the damn swamp. She’s got tinsel stuck in her hair and a plastic Santa clutched in one hand like it’s a prized possession.

Alex leans against the ladder, arms crossed, watching her with an amused smirk. “You’re worse than Dad.”

Bayou glares at him. “That’s ’cause I know how to decorate right. We go big or we don’t do it at all.”

Her voice is fierce, she looks at me, and I give her a nod.

“That’s right, baby girl.”

She gives me a big smile and my heart melts. That little girl has me wrapped around her little finger. She’s not dating until she’s fifty. Maybe ever. The kids’ mother and I divorced last year. She ran off with some salesman leaving me to be a single dad. I would have been lost without Grizzly and the other brothers in the club.

Grizzly had gone through something similar four years prior and the club rallied around him.

Who the hell ever thought so many women would abandon their children, and with “the dregs of humanity”. According to many, that’s what we are. Outlaw bikers who have no regard for anything but their own pleasure. While that may be true for some, it’s not true for all. Yes, I do illegal things, but that doesn’t make me heartless. My kids are my world.

Bayou is running around like a madman, grabbing decorations from the box while Alex shakes his head.

“Dad, do we really need all these gators?” Alex grumbles, holding up a ceramic alligator wearing a Santa hat. He’d come down from the ladder to detangle more lights. Alex sighs. “You know, normal people just put up a tree and lights in December.”

I glance at him. “You see any normal people around here?”

Bayou cackles like a little maniac as she starts zip-tying tiny Santa hats onto the ceramic gators.

Alex mutters something under his breath, but I see the way he hides a grin while stringing lights on the dock. He likes this as much as she does, he just won’t admit it. Bayou grabs the large taxidermied alligator wearing a Santa hat and plops it next to the porch steps. “This one’s Gator Claus. He’s in charge.”

Alex groans. “Dad, do we really need so many gators?”

I smirk, adjusting the giant inflatable alligator wearing a Santa hat and sunglasses. “Hell yeah, we do. We’re in the bayou, son. What, you want reindeer like some Yankee?”

Bayou snickers and drags over a plastic crawfish wrapped in Christmas lights. “This one’s his backup.”

I step back, looking at the chaotic masterpiece unfolding before me:

Santa-gators instead of reindeer lined up across the yard.

Crawfish string lights wrapped around the fences.

An inflatable Santa riding an airboat instead of a sleigh.

A sign over the entrance: “Merry Jingle Blaze, Ya Filthy Animals.”

A shotgun wrapped in tinsel hanging over the doorway.

Bayou runs up, holding the Santa skull topper like it’s the goddamn Holy Grail. “Can we put it up now, Daddy?”

I ruffle her hair. “Yeah, baby girl. Let’s light this place up.”

Because Jingle Blaze ain’t just a party. It’s a goddamn spectacle.

I step back, taking in the chaos of Jingle Blaze decorations. The gators are lined up, the lights are strung, and the shotgun over the doorway has just the right amount of tinsel. It’s a masterpiece of MC holiday madness.

Bayou tugs at my vest. “Daddy, we forgot the Christmas music!”

I chuckle, ruffling her hair. “You’re right, baby girl. Go inside and grab my boom box. It’s in the living room next to my chair.”

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