Page 27 of Brand
Talking about my dad was bittersweet. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t miss him. But part of me also knew that this was how life was supposed to be. I was lucky enough to have found a place to call home after he was gone.
“What about you? You close with your family?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know. I didn’t know much about Ky other than what he wanted people to know. I hoped to change that, but the ball was in his court.
“Nah,” he replied almost sounding detached about it. “We don’t talk anymore.”
“Any siblings?” I asked pushing.
This he did pause at. Brief as it was, I caught it.
“A sister.”
That was all I was going to get, and I knew it. He was done talking about him. So I changed the focus to something else.
“Blade came to me and demanded a cut,” I said with a laugh because that was just Blade. He wasn’t one to ask for things.
Ky barked out a laugh.
“Yeah, seems like that’s how he’d go about it. He wants in, huh? He doesn’t even have a bike, does he?”
“That’s what I said! But then he took me out back and showed me his newly purchased Harley Fat Bob. Like I’m pretty sure he bought it that morning. It’s used, but in great condition.” I shook my head. I shouldn’t have been shocked, but I had to admit that I was a little.
“Wow,” Ky said, neatly placing his wrench on his workbench. “What did you say to that?”
“I told him to talk to Iron. Said I’d back him.”
“Yeah, I think he’d do good. As long as he took that ‘I’m in charge’ attitude back like a million notches.” Ky chuckled and shook his head.
“Yep! I think he knows it too. If anything, it will be amusing to watch him prospect. I’d bet he wouldn’t last over two weeks.”
“Ha! Yeah, I’d bet three days and he gets the boot,” Ky said with a huge smile like he could see the whole thing playing out in his head.
“Guess we’ll find out soon enough. He said he’s going to stop by tonight and talk to Iron about it.”
“Hey guys,” Chris’ voice rang out from just on the other side of the opened bay door.
“Hey, man. Just get off shift?” I asked, wiping my hands on a shop rag.
“Yeah,” he said looking glad that he was free. “I’m hungry, I forgot to eat today. You guys want to grab a burger?” His eyes danced between me and Ky.
“I’m in. And what have I told you about that shit? How the hell do you forget to eat?” I shook my head at him and received a shrug in response. “Ky, you in?”
“Nah,” he said picking up a socket wrench and ducking back under the hood. “I want to get this thing finished tonight.”
I glanced over at Chris. For a split second, I saw the crestfallen look that filled his face. But he quickly shook it off and shifted his eyes to me. With a simple brow lift, he said so much. It was as if was saying ‘see, I told you something is up’ and I couldn’t help but shake my head at him. I gave him a pointed look like I was telling him that he was reading too much into it.
“Ready?” I asked, cutting off anything more about Ky.
“Hell yeah.”
The next night we held church and there was a lot to discuss. New runs. New routes, which were my doing. New contacts. And more importantly, new patches. It was a long and important meeting.
“Sketch has put in more than enough time,” Iron started as he covered the prospects. “While I think he’s a bit young and wild, I think he’s solid. He’s shown dedication and loyalty not only to the club but to the tattoo shop as well. Any concerns?”
He waited a long moment to see if any of us had anything to say. I didn’t. I pretty much agreed with everything that Iron had said. Yes, Sketch was young and didn’t hold back on his wild streak, but it didn’t mean that he couldn’t be serious when needed. He was good, not only at the shop but around the brothers as well.
“Alright, vote then,” Iron said and nodded to Knight.
It didn’t surprise me that there were no objections and I couldn’t wait to see what Sketch would do when he found out the good news.
