Chapter 50
50
Xander
W hen I lived with Jorge, I never had the opportunity to be lazy before. If he caught me lounging around, he’d come after me. And when I lived with my abuela, I had to help her with chores and stuff because she was too old to do it all herself. So spending a Saturday laying on the couch watching TV was new and freaking awesome.
Mel’s face popped up from behind the couch. “Hey, bestie. Wanna go on an adventure with me?”
I made a face, torn between being lazy and going with her. Mel always had the best ideas for adventures.
“What are we going to do?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” she said teasingly. “Come on. It’ll be fun. We can even bring Thor.”
Thor had been lying on my legs, but the minute she said his name, he got up and started jumping around on the couch in excitement. If I wanted to keep my ribs intact, I had to roll off the couch to escape him. I grunted when I landed on the floor, shooting the dog a dirty look, but he hopped off the couch and licked my face, and I couldn’t stay mad at him for long.
Mel came around the couch with a laugh, offering me her hand. She hauled me to my feet, giving me a big hug like she always did. I knew a lot of kids my age would complain about it, but I never did. I hadn’t had hugs for years and I wasn’t too proud to say I loved them. Especially from Mel. She never used them to lure me closer so she could get me into a headlock like Rooster did.
“Is Mattias coming?”
“Yep,” she said, popping the ‘p’. “He’s riding separately, though. Big baby still thinks my car is a cage.”
I snorted, ducking outside while she got Thor’s leash. Mattias was squatting beside his bike, doing something to the back of it. His helmet already dangled off the handles, and he was wearing his club jacket to stay warm. It wasn’t anywhere near as cold as Chicago, so I never complained, but he was raised here. Weather in the 60s was cold for him.
“What are you doing?”
He looked over his shoulder at me and tipped his head to gesture me closer. “Come look.”
With a shrug, I moved to stand beside him, stumbling over my feet when I saw what he was doing. “Is that–”
Pushing to his feet, he stuck his hands to his pockets. Turning to face me, he said, “I showed you that you were safe here and wanted. I figured I’d show you I’ve got your back, no matter what. Do you like it?”
Tears burned my eyes, and I scrubbed at them with the backs of my hands. It was a sticker of his club logo, but instead of the plain white background, it was a rainbow. Like a pride flag.
“Y-You don’t have to–”
Putting his hand on my shoulders, he raised his eyebrows at me. “Yes, I do. You’re my little brother. I don’t give a shit who has a problem with it. I’ll always have your back.”
This wasn’t the same as him telling me he supports me. He was telling the whole world by driving around with that on his bike. People might have even assumed he had it there because he was gay himself. And he didn’t care. Because he loved me.
Lunging forward, I hugged him around his waist. “I love you, Mattias.”
He hugged me back just as tight, leaning over me. “I love you too, little brother. Now come on. We’ve got somewhere to be. ”
I looked back down at the sticker and then up at him again. “You aren’t going to tell people, right?”
He shook his head solemnly. “Who you tell and when you tell them is your business, unless you ask me to step in for you. Fair warning, the crew knows. Not a single damn one of them was upset about it.”
The relief made my shoulders sag. I had a one-on-one session with Addison about who to tell and when. I wanted to tell the crew, but it freaked me out. I liked being around them, and they were important to my brother, so I didn’t want to screw anything up. She said I had to decide if I trusted them enough and if I trusted Mattias enough to support me if they were dicks about it. She said it was fine if I asked Mattias to tell them if that made me more comfortable, and I liked that idea. I didn’t want to be there if someone said something against me. I heard enough of that from Jorge.
“Let’s go, boys!” Mel called from her car. “Matty, stop stealing my bestie!”
Mattias snorted, rolling his eyes. “Keep it up, Mel-Mel. I’ll make sure all the kids never forget that nickname.”
She stuck her tongue out at him, and I cracked up, ducking under his arm to join her in her car. Her smile said she knew why my eyes were all red, and she squeezed my hand in support to settle me a little. While she pulled out of the driveway, I watched Mattias put on his helmet, that sticker bright against the black body of his bike. I tore my gaze away before I started crying again, sucking in a shaky breath.
“So, where are we going?”
“There’s a parade happening in town. I thought it’d be funny to watch Mattias pretend to be happy about being out in a crowd.”
I snorted, shaking my head at her. She and Mattias grew up together. Sometimes they acted just like siblings, picking at each other and trying to one-up each other. But they were so in love it was a little gross sometimes. Thank god for noise-canceling headphones.
We parked in front of a bank that had open parking spots. There were a lot of people around and parking spaces were hard to find. When I got out, I looked around for Mattias, but he drove past with a wave.
“I think there’s motorcycle parking farther down,” Mel said offhandedly. “Yes, yes, I know you’re excited. Who’s a good boy?” She rubbed Thor’s ears, oblivious to the looks people gave him. He looked like an attack dog with his spiky collar, but he was the sweetest dog ever, and anyone who thought differently was dumb.
We walked together down the street, pointing out businesses that had their doors open for people to come inside and visit. The sidewalks were crazy busy, but she said after the parade was through, we’d be able to walk through the street since they would close off the main street for foot traffic. I thought maybe we wouldn’t get a good view, but the wives of the crew got there early and had a spot camped out right in the middle. Malcolm waved me over, patting the spot on the curb next to him.
“Come on, it’ll start soon!”
Plopping down next to him, I pulled out my phone. I wanted to know if Kaiden was coming to this thing. He was my first friend in school and introduced me to a bunch of other people, but we were the closest and if I was here, it’d be cool if he was too.
X: You coming to the thing on main street?
K: You mean the pride parade? Heck yes. My dad is a firefighter. He said they’re taking the truck through. U?
My mouth fell open. Pride parade?
I looked around, picking up on the things I missed before. Little kids with rainbow flags. Storefronts that had flags up in them. Not all of them were open, which probably meant not everyone was down for this idea, but a lot more than I expected. And the street was crowded too.
K: ??
X: Yeah. I’m by the bakery
K: See you after? There are games down near the grocery store
I sent him a thumbs up, though I’d have to check with Mattias first. But I got the feeling he had a hand in all of this, so he’d probably be fine with it.
“Look! It’s starting!”
Following Malcolm’s pointing finger, I saw the banner that marked the start of the parade farther down the block. Right behind that was the marching band, playing a bad rendition of Born This Way. I laughed my ass off when one of my friends walked by, too busy dancing like an idiot to actually play his instrument. I think he just liked the attention.
Then came the fire truck, with firefighters tossing candy out to the crowd. Their sirens were so loud that I almost missed the rumble of the engines. It wasn’t until the crowd started murmuring that I turned to look. My mouth fell open.
Coming down the block in the middle of the parade was the entire Dirty Devils MC. And on each of their bikes was a sticker, just like the one Mattias had on his bike. A huge grin overtook my face and when Mattias pulled up in front of me, I couldn’t help but laugh. No more helmets, they weren’t going fast enough for that, and none of them were hiding that they were supporting me. He smirked and shrugged, tipping his head to gesture me over.
“Wanna go for a ride?”
“Heck yes!” I leapt to my feet, quickly joining him. The rest of the kids came too, except for the littlest ones who weren’t old enough yet. They waved and got kisses from their dads before we continued on. I didn’t see the end of the parade, but I didn’t care. I got to be part of the thing with my brother while surrounded by his crew who supported me.
Screw Jorge and everything he’d said to me.
Getting kicked out was the best thing that ever happened to me.