Page 6 of Freedom Ride

Snapper

“That’s all you’ve got?”

I looked down at the box of letters in my hand. “It’s the only thing I want to take with me from this place.” This morning I had gotten my last letter from Lennox, and I hadn’t had a chance to open it. I was going to miss reading about her day and the funny rambling she did. Hopefully, now that would all happen face to face. We never really said straight out what either of us wanted once I was released, but I knew she was still going to be in my life. I had never gotten to know someone the way I did Lennox. When all you had was letters, and you couldn’t hide behind lies and flippant remarks, the words on the paper said exactly what you wanted.

King nodded and slid his sunglasses over his eyes. “I’m going to assume those aren’t from Meg or any of the other ol’ ladies.”

“Uh, I wouldn’t say none of them are from Meg or the girls,” I shrugged. Meg had written me a couple of times, and there were a few here and there from the other ol’ ladies. Nothing as consistent as Lennox had been, though.

“You gonna tell me who they’re from, or do I need to ignore them until you’re ready to tell me who they’re from?”

We stepped out the doors of the prison and into the sunlight.

I was free.

Five years and three hundred and sixty days were over. I had paid for the crime the law thought I had committed, and now I was free.

King reached into his pocket and handed me a pair of sunglasses.

I put them on my face and took a deep breath.

“You got some girl out there waiting for you? You gonna be on that one show Meg watches?”

“Show?” I asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”

We made our way over to King’s shop truck, and I climbed into the passenger seat.

“You haven’t been gone that long that you forgot about all of the junk TV Meg watches, have you?”

I laughed and pulled my seat belt over my shoulder. “Well, I wouldn’t really have called the TV shows she watched junk when I was growing up. Though she did have a slight obsession withThe Golden Girlswhen I was in the seventh grade. I still remember when she dressed up as Dorothy and made Cyn, Marley, and Demon be the other chicks.”

King let out a roaring laugh. “I still have the picture of all four of them together on the damn fridge, Snapper. There isn’t a damn way I will ever let Demon forget about dressing up as Blanche Deveraux.”

“Maybe we can see if those four want to recreate that picture this Halloween,” I suggested.

“If you ask them to, you know damn well they will. Hell, if you ask anyone in the club to do something for you, you know they will do it. You’ve got at least six years of favors to make up for with everyone.”

“Bullshit. You know everything is going to go back to the way they were before I got locked up.”

“I don’t know about that,” King drawled. “There is a hell of a lot more babies and kids running around the clubhouse now than there were before.”

“Seven?” I asked.

King shook his head. “Eight, and I’m pretty sure there are a couple more on the way, but they haven’t fessed up to it yet.”

“Who?” I asked.

“Marco and Royal, for one. And I also think Greta and Bear have another one in the oven. I swear to Christ, those two are trying to make their own basketball team, with a few on the bench.”

“I’m going to have a lot of catching up to do,” I murmured. I knew through the years who were having babies and whatnot, but none of it felt real. None of it stuck with me. I wasn’t there for any of it, and now I was going to be thrust right into the middle of babies and happy couples.

“Yeah, but you’ll pretty much have the clubhouse to yourself at night now.”

“All the guys running home to their families now?” I guessed. “Probably for the best. Not sure I’m up for kids running circles around me twenty-four seven.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll get your fill of all the kids while trying to work at the body shop, club, or pole dancing school.” King cranked up the truck and backed out of his parking spot. “You did a hell of a job dancing around who sent you all of those letters.”

I tucked the letters on the floor next to my feet. “Just someone who helped me keep sane the past couple of years.”

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