Page 109 of The Echo of Violence

“Talk to Jinx and Mercy. I know they’ll help. If you can’t trust them, how can you expect your sister to?”

“No, you’re right. Thanks, Splinter. For what it’s worth, I think Jinx is good for you—for all of you. This place needed a little shaking up.”

I give her a wink as she turns and walks away.

I text the guys to let them know I’m heading out with Scope before getting up to go take a leak. On my way, I pass Boomer, who is arguing with someone on his cell phone. Out of all the brothers, he’s the one I’m the least close to. His personality rubs me the wrong way, so I stay out of his way, and he stays out of mine. For the most part, anyway.

Once I’ve taken care of business, I head outside and make my way over to my bike, laughing when I see Shredder lying across one of the picnic tables. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Questioning my life choices.”

“Well, okay then. How’s that working out for you?”

He flips me off before looking over at me. “Where you going?”

“Riding to the mother chapter with Scope and Boomer. You wanna come?”

“Fuck it. I’m in. What’s the occasion?” he asks as he moves to get off the table.

“No idea. All Scope said is that Viper wants a face-to-face.”

“Well, whatever the reason, I could do with a ride.”

He looks off into the distance, his shoulders tight.

“Everything alright?”

“You ever fuck up so bad you know there’s no coming back from it?”

“I fuck up all the time. I’m just too stubborn to admit defeat. I guess what you have to ask yourself is, do you want to fix the damage you caused? If you want it bad enough, then do something about it.”

“I’ve got a kid.”

I whip around so fast that I almost trip over my own feet. “What? Since when?”

He blows out a breath as we make it to our bikes and climb on. “The kid’s ten. I met his mom when I was on leave. The condom broke, but I figured everything would be fine. I flew out the next day and stayed gone for two years before coming home.”

“She didn’t try to contact you?”

“Only knew me as Shredder. She went back to the bar I met her at, hoping to find me again. Eventually, she gave up. Ran into her at a gas station after I’d been home for about a year. Looked like she’d seen a ghost. She told me I have a son.”

He kicks the ground with his boot before blowing out a breath. “Told her I wasn’t buying what she was selling. Told her to fuck off and that I didn’t have any kids and I didn’t want any. She drove out of there like her ass was on fire, tears streaming down her face. I was a dick.”

“Yeah, you were.”

He snorts. If he wanted it sugarcoated, he came to the wrong brother. “I was fucked up back then. Being a POW will do that to a person. I started my days with a bottle of Jack and ended it with a gun in my hand, thinking about all the what-ifs. I was in no place to be a dad.”

“And now?”

“His mom is sick. Stage four breast cancer. She has no one—no family, no friends. She wants me to take him. What do I do?”

“You take him. You’re not the same person now that you were back then, and whatever shit you have going on doesn’t matter anymore. He’s a kid. Your kid. His shit supersedes yours. Losing his mom…” I shake my head. “It’s going to rip him to shreds. He’s gonna need you. And you won’t be alone. You have the whole club behind you, plus Mercy and Jinx. Hell, if anyone knows what it’s like, it’s Jinx.”

“Yeah. Thanks, man. I… Just… in my head, he was better off without me. Happy, you know. Away from the demons I carry. I don’t want to fuck him up.”

“So, don’t. It’s as simple as that.”

“You ready?”

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