Tex’s Angel (Savage Legion MC #11)

Chapter 20

Tex

I ’m not sure what to think after our visit to the foster home. It sure sounds like Robbie’s father could have an axe to grind with Clara if he’s looking for someone to blame. Once we’re outside, Rigs says, “We should go back to the clubhouse and see if Zen can help us track down Robbie’s father. If so, we might be able to get to him before the sun goes down.”

I turn to Clara, “This is where you fall back, darlin’. Talking to Robbie was a good thing. Dealing with his degenerate lying dad is another. I don’t want y’all within striking distance of this junkie fool.”

“I’m not staying behind. I need to talk to this man, try to get him into some kind of treatment program,” she says.

“Are you kidding me?” I growl. “That asshole is probably the one who bought or cooked the drugs that killed his wife and then blamed his little boy. He ain’t worth saving.”

Rigs revs his engine loudly and when I look over, he gives me a look that would be interpreted as ‘shut the hell up’ in any language.

Clara has her hands on her hips glaring at me in a way that makes me feel small. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to have your child taken away and your wife die all within days of each other?”

“I know what half that feels like, and it didn’t turn me into the kind of asshole who puts the blame on my kid,” I shoot back.

Her expression changes to one of compassion. “I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it, Tex.”

I point to my jaw and bend down. She knows I want an apology kiss and gives it without hesitation. I wrap my arms around her and give her a brief hug. Before we get onto my bike, she pleads with me, “Please don’t leave me behind, babe. I need to see this thing through.”

During our ride back to the clubhouse the sun rises high in the sky, birds are singing, and the road is smooth as butter. I turn this situation with Robbie over in my mind, I hate the thought of kids like him falling through the cracks and ending up a victim of the system. While Mrs. Ayres’ group home seemed really nice, other kids weren’t so lucky. I’d never thought about fostering before, but maybe it’s something I should consider—Levi had his problems, but he’d turned into a good kid since we’d moved to California.

Just when I’m thinking that I’m parent of the year material, a teen girl almost mows me down on her way out the door. She’s small, flight of foot, and has blue hair. As she shoves past me, I do a double take to make sure I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing. It barely registers with me that Clara dropped behind to talk to the girl who sat herself down on the step and burst into tears.

As Rigs and I walk into the clubhouse we find Levi and Evan in a screaming match. Rigs is just as shocked as I am, as his son is normally so mild mannered. I stalk over to grab Levi and Rigs does the same to Evan.

At some point I catch onto the fact that they’re fighting over the girl.

Evan tries to jerk out of Rigs’ grip, and yells at Levi, “Stay the fuck away from her, you creepy pervert.”

Levi yells back at the top of his lugs, “It wasn’t my idea. I don’t know what you think you saw but it wasn’t like that.”

Evan swings wildly in Levi’s direction and might have landed a punch if I hadn’t jerked him back.

“What in the hell is going on here?” Rigs roars.

Both of the boys go quiet, because they clearly know the first rule of being at the clubhouse is don’t fight over women.

I turn to Levi, “It was that blue haired girl, wasn’t it?”

When he doesn’t answer, I give him a little shake. “Answer my question or else, Levi.”

“Or else what?” Levi challenges.

Rigs answers for him. “Of course it’s that blue-haired, attention seeking harpy. I’ve told Evan a hundred times that she’s nothing but trouble.”

Evan literally tries to elbow his dad in the chest to get out of his grasp. “She’s not any of that. She’s nice and she loves me.” Bringing his hand up to point at Levi he says, “It’s all that asshole’s fault for touching her inappropriately.”

My head swivels around to stare at my son. He doesn’t look the slightest bit remorseful, which is what I would expect to see if he’d sexually assaulted someone. Nope, there’s no hint in his expression that he comprehends that he’s touched that girl and made her cry. In that instant any pride I had at what a good job I’d done raising him went out the window. Instead of arguing with him, I drag him outside to confront the girl.

When we’re standing right behind her, I hiss, “You know what to do son. After y’all apologize, you and me are gonna have a little talk.”

After what seems like forever, he says reluctantly, “I’m sorry if I did anything to make you mad or hurt your feelings.”

She turns around to look at him over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, you didn’t. It was Evan who hurt my feelings. How could he think bad things about me for something like testing my body fat composition.”

Evan comes storming out the door. “Having Levi feel your breast is not a body fat analysis. He tried to cop a feel. And I can’t believe that you’re gettin' mad at me because I’m trying to protect you.”

“That’s not what happened,” she says.

Levi wrenches himself from my grasp and I don’t stop him this time, because this is starting to feel like some kind of epic miscommunication.

Levi glares at his friend. “I can’t believe I ever thought you were smart.”

Evan thumps himself on the chest. “What are you talking about? I am smart.”

The girl starts crying again and when Evan makes a lunge for Levi, I don’t even stop him. These two are as bad as each other. As long as they aren’t tearing into each other, I’m gonna let them resolve their own damn problems.

When Evan gets close, Levi reaches out and taps him on the forehead with a weird plastic thing. Evan’s hands fly to his forehead, and he lets out an indignant huff. “Ow! What the hell, Levi!”

My son tosses him whatever was in his hand. Evan snatches it out of the air and flips it open. I have no earthly idea what in the hell that thing is. Evan turns it back and forth in his hand, looking about as confused as I feel. “What is this and why did you give it to me?”

“They’re calipers. I wasn’t touching her breast. I was measuring her underarm, you called her curvy the other day and she thought you meant fat. So she went to the biology lab and borrowed a pair of calipers and asked me to measure her body fat.”

Evan’s mouth falls open. “But I saw you with your hand on her breast.”

“No, I was just moving her fat out of the way so I could measure her underarm. That’s how you measure it.” Levi points to the side of his head. “Think about it. Why would I want to touch your girlfriend’s breast?”

Clara reaches up from where she is sitting on the step next to Evan’s girlfriend and tugs the implement from Evan’s hand. “He’s right. This is a body fat caliper. It doesn’t measure clothing. It only measures body fat.”

The blue haired girl breaks down crying again. “Stop using the word fat. I’m not fat.”

It’s pretty apparent to me that this young lady has some problems and she’s trying her best to make them Evan and Levi’s problem as well.

I’m about to send Levi to our room when Rigs speaks up. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but I can guess.” Glaring at the still sobbing teen he gives it a shot. “You wanted to do this body fat thing, but you didn’t want your friends helping in case they teased you. And you didn’t want Evan helping, so you picked the most naive guy you could find to help you. Am I close?”

She nods, “I wasn’t trying to start trouble.”

“I didn’t say you were fat,” Evan says, clearly hoping to dig himself out of whatever hole he’d dug himself into.

“Curvy,” the girl says.

“Yeah, curvy. You got curves,” Evan says clearly not reading the room.

Clara turns to Evan, “It’s a female thing. Nowadays people use curvy as a euphemism for being plus size or overweight.”

Levi who’s been silent for a few minutes goes ramrod straight, which his is angry pose. “I’m not naive.”

Evan’s expression clears. “You are when it comes to girls.”

My club brother cuts them off. “Enough. Kayla, you need to leave. From now on, you aren’t allowed back without advance permission from me.”

Evan makes an angry noise in the back of his throat but curiously, it’s Levi who intervenes on her behalf. “There’s no need to need to throw out a perfectly good potential chess partner.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine now,” Evan readily agrees with Levi, and just like that they’re best friends again.

Rigs is looking more confused by the minute. I can see it in his face. So, I quickly ask, “Do y’all even play chess, Miss Kayla?”

She shrugs. Glancing from Evan to Levi and back again she looks up at me with wide eyes. “I’m learning. Does that count?”

I point towards the parking lot. “We’ll see. Let the boys calm down and remember what Rigs said about coming here. From here on out, y’all have to have his permission ahead of time.”

Kayla gets to her feet, clearly unhappy, but not brave enough to go toe to toe with Rigs or even me for that matter. She rushes down the steps and turns, bringing her hand to ear in the phone position and mouths to Evan, call me .

The minute she’s out of sight, Rigs turns on Evan, “I’ve got a good mind to take that prospect vest right off your back. You’re the youngest prospect the Savage Legion has ever had. Siege made an exception for you because he thought you were mature enough to be responsible. You’re almost eighteen, is hanging out with Levi making you act like a fourteen-year-old?”

“Hey, I’m almost fifteen!” Levi exclaims indignantly.

Evan slaps his chest with one hand. “I am responsible. You know I am. I saved Siege’s sister that time. Remember?”

“What is rule number one when it comes to women?” Rigs asks.

“Don’t ever let a woman come between brothers.” Evan says proudly.

“And what did you just do?”

Evan begins to look unsure of himself and steels a glance at Levi.

Levi clears his throat before speaking. “That was more my fault than his. I should have known better than to have my hands on his girl.”

Rigs points in Levi’s general direction without taking his eyes off Evan. “See that? Levi’s not even a prospect and he knows enough to try to cover a brother’s ass. You let a woman come between the two of you.”

“But Levi doesn’t count. He’s not a club brother.” Evan turns his head and whispers, “No insult intended, Levi.”

“None taken,” Levi whispers back.

Rigs takes three steps, closing the gap between Evan and himself. Looking down at his son, he states firmly, “I have three points to make. Firstly, brother doesn’t only mean club brothers. It can mean best friends too. Secondly, Kayla is bad news. I know you don’t see it but with the blue hair and drama, she might be the most attention seeking person I’ve ever met.”

“Dad, that’s not fair. She’s been through a lot in life.”

Rigs cut him off, “I’m not finished yet. I can’t tell you what to do with your personal life but as your father I can advise you to take off those rose tinted glasses and pay attention to what she does, not what she says. Lots of women have sob stories and some of them will use those sob stories to manipulate a man. You’ve got to be stronger than to fall for that kind of bullshit.”

Evan’s hands ball into fists at his side and his expression goes blank. “Is that all?”

Rigs frowns at him. “No. The third thing I was going to say is moving forward, Levi is a junior prospect, just like you.” Shooting me a respectful glance, Rigs adds, “That’s if he wants to be and if his dad approves.”

I nod my assent.

Turning back to his surprised son, he continues. “I talked to Siege about it already and he’s cool with it. Maybe, just maybe, if you two put your brains together, you can reason things out and keep yourselves out of trouble. He’s bunking with you here at the clubhouse when he visits until further notice.”

Levi’s expression goes from worried about his friend to elated in a heartbeat. “Did you hear that? Your dad said I can be a prospect too.”

“Awesome!” Evan says.

“Siege and I think having you in the program by yourself is making you feel like an actual prospect, rather than a junior prospect. I know you’re almost eighteen, but you’re not—”

“But you were fifteen when you patched in, you told me,” Evan protests.

Rigs laughs, “And I’m as old as dirt. Things have changed since then. Kids aren’t allowed to be feral, or it blows back on the parents. Two junior prospects would be a little team. Levi enrolling in the junior prospecting program will keep him out of trouble. And God knows you need all the help you can get to make good judgment calls.”

Evan’s shoulders relax and he gives his dad a halfhearted smile. “You know this is the first time I messed up since becoming a prospect, don’t you?”

Rigs tries to keep the smile off his face as he responds, “Yeah, I know. Let’s not let it happen again. Ain’t no girl worth coming between brothers.”

“Yeah, I know that. You’re wrong about Kayla though.”

“You two come and see me later tonight and if Tex approves, I’ll make Levi up his cut.”

Levi immediately asks, “Can I do it, Dad. Can I be a prospect?”

“Junior prospect. It’s kind of like being a Boy Scout only in an MC instead of Scouting America.”

“Do I get to ride a motorcycle too?” Levi asks. Damn it. I knew that question was coming.

“If you want, we can teach you to ride on the club’s private property. But you can’t get your license until you’re fifteen and a half,” I tell him.

“But it’s still cool, right?”

When I don’t answer, he turns to Evan. “Junior prospecting is cool, right?”

Evan shrugs, “I may have made it seem a little more fun than it actually is. It’s mostly just watching the front gate with the prospects, fetching food for them, and doing what they say.”

Levi shakes his head as if he doesn’t care about the potential drawbacks and boredom. “I don’t care. I still get the cool vest with my name on the front and can hang around with the prospects when I’m not in school. It almost sounds better than chess.”

Evan rolls his eyes, “I don’t know if anything can be more fun than chess. I hear it develops your mind and stimulates brain cells.”

Levi frowns at his friend. “I don’t like it when you throw my own words back in my face that way.”

“If you two can stop arguing, then I agree for you to hang around the clubhouse and be a junior prospect.”

Levi perks up. “Now, that’s what I’m talking about.”

Rigs sighs and right before he walks off, he tells his son, “Get the rule book and explain all the rules to him.”

Levi’s eyebrows shoot up. “There’s a whole book of rules?”

Evan shrugs. “Well, yeah. There are a lot of rules, most of them are safety related. You didn’t think the brothers were going to let teens run around their property pretending to be bikers, did you?”

“I guess not. But if they think that’s going to put me off wanting to join, they should think again.”

Evan grins excitedly. “I would have never thought that, but I know you better than the club officers do. You love the club, so I would have guessed that you’d jump at the chance.”

They walk off together and only then do I realize that Clara has been on her cell phone this whole time.

Walking up to her, I ask, “Is everything alright?”

She comes to her feet and shoves her phone into her back pocket. “Yeah, just checking my e-mails. My head of department says they need me back at work. The teacher who agreed to sub for me accepted a full-time position at another school.”

“When do they want you back?” I ask.

“Tomorrow,” she says.

“That’s a bummer. Guess I’ll have to deal with Robbie’s father all on my own.”

She frowns at me, clearly not appreciating my one-upmanship humor. “Yeah, that couldn’t have worked out better if you’d planned it yourself.” There is a brief pause, and she says, “You didn’t though, did you?”

I shoot her my best doubtful look. “I would love to be as powerful as y’all think I am.”

“Well, Rigs just went to Zen’s office. If your IT guy has a lead on Robbie’s father that we can use this afternoon, I might still get to tag along.”

Rigs is right. Clara is not going to stop wanting to come. So, I just have to accept it. “Let’s go see what, if anything, Zen found.”

As we walk back to Zen’s office, she asks, “Did I hear right about Levi becoming a junior prospect? How do you feel about Rigs springing it on you like that?”

“I actually talked about it with them a while back when Levi got picked up by the police for skipping class. I thought it might be helpful for him to spend more time around the prospects who are trying to run a tight game to earn their patch. They weren’t wild about the idea because Levi’s a couple of years and some change younger than Evan. Since Levi has his fifteenth birthday coming up next month, they must have decided to give him a shot. I’m sure they’ll put him on the slowest track possible.”

“It’ll be like having a bunch of babysitters that are good male role models, I guess.”

I didn’t know whether or be offended by that statement or laugh, so I did neither.