Chapter 12 #2
“Then you pick the songs and I’ll be there,” Pope said.
“Thank you,” Roan replied, feeling far more comfortable knowing that he didn’t have to get up there alone.
“Wanna know how I got to be the club’s numbers guy?” Danger asked.
“Because you’re awesome at it?” Roan ventured.
Having worked with Danger, Roan had seen how many businesses he was responsible for, including the annual club audit that included all the files trucked down from the Kill Devil Hills chapter.
Collecting everything and organizing them to Danger’s specifications was a task in and of itself; he couldn’t imagine having to go through every shred of paper to make certain all the numbers added up.
“Only because I have no choice but to be or face Mark’s wrath,” Danger explained.
“I was clueless too until the club pushed me to pursue accounting so there would be someone they could trust handling the books. I don’t love accounting.
Hell, I’ve never loved math. I was just good at it.
If you’re going to follow a path, you should do something that makes you happy, because it fucking sucks being stuck. ”
“Can’t you get out of it?” Roan asked.
A heavy sigh escaped him as he leaned against the arm of the chair. “Not unless someone else steps up and gets their CPA, which I don’t see happening anytime soon.”
“I’m not ready to retire from surfing professionally,” Ocean blurted, “but I am ready to put down roots. Bouncing back and forth across the Pacific has been awesome, but the East Coast surf scene is amazing too from everything I’ve seen and read about it.
So, I’m going to shoot for the East Coast Championship.
It’ll still mean a ton of miles in the Jeep, but I like having a family again.
I don’t want to be halfway around the world from you guys. ”
“Good,” Danger growled. “‘Cause it would piss me off to wait months to see you again.”
“Can’t have that,” Ocean said. “I’ve heard some of the Jokers talk about your temper. Is it true that you hog-tied someone with barbed wire?”
Pope’s bark of laughter, followed by the animated way Danger perked up, was proof that at least some of the stories Ocean had heard were true.
“He did,” Pope said. “And shredded his favorite leather gloves in the process.”
“Never found a replacement pair like them either,” Danger grumbled. “Wouldn’t have happened if the dumb fuck had just walked away when I told him to.”
“Red never did have the sense god gave a billy goat,” Pope muttered.
“Wait,” Roan said, needing a minute to process what he’d just learned. “It was Red you tied up?”
“Yup,” Danger replied, chuckling.
Picturing the redheaded man with the handlebar mustache bound hand and foot with strands of barbed wire instantly prompted Roan into a fit of giggles he tried to smother behind his hands.
“Why do you do that?” Ocean asked, tugging Roan’s hands away from his face.
Roan was too busy laughing to protest or tug his hands away from Ocean, who had a firm grip on them. By the time he’d composed himself and wiped a few tears from his eyes, Pope and Danger were staring at them, both wearing the same stern expressions.
“Someone gave you shit about the way you laughed, didn’t they?” Pope said.
Nodding, Roan felt his cheeks heat up. “My grandpa said I sounded like a little kid when I giggled like that. He was always after me to grow the fuck up and act like a man. I think it was just because he wanted his house back. He’d raised his kids, ya know; getting stuck with me wasn’t part of the plan, especially when he’d always hated my mama and felt like she’d trapped my old man into marrying her. ”
“Never understood that way of thinking,” Pope said. “Nor the need to say that shit to a kid.”
“What happened to your parents?” Danger asked.
“My dad was a logger; he got killed on the job,” Roan explained. “My mom worked at one of the bars in town. After he died, she did more drinking than pouring, and eventually the state stepped in and sent me to live with my dad’s parents.”
“Why not hers?” Pope asked.
“There was just my grandmother,” Roan explained, “and she had a bunch of convictions for writing bad checks and shoplifting, so the state didn’t feel like she’d make a good guardian for me.”
“Did your mom ever get sober?” Pope asked.
“Nah,” Roan said. “When I left home, I went to see her. She was so drunk she didn’t even remember my name. Didn’t see any point in sticking around after that, so I hit the road. I’m not going back there, or to my grandparents’ place.”
“Good,” Danger said. “You shouldn’t go chasing after folks who aren’t capable of treating you right.”
“The Jokers were formed by orphans who decided to be a family,” Pope said. “You don’t ever have to worry about being alone again.”
“Once I survive being a prospect, anyway,” Roan said, still scared about how that part was going to turn out.
“You will,” Pope said.
“He’s right.” Danger said. “These past few weeks you’ve really stepped up, done what I needed you to, and shown the guys that you’re capable of keeping out of trouble and being a huge asset in the process. Just keep it up and everything will turn out in your favor when it comes time to vote.”
Ocean wiggled up close to Roan and wrapped an arm around him, getting cozy with him on the couch. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Apparently not,” Roan replied when Ocean rested his head on Roan’s lap like a tired puppy.
“Have you ever gone back home?” Roan asked Danger.
He shook his head and reached for the remote, bringing the flat screen to life with the touch of a button.
“Nope,” Danger said as he started scrolling through the guide.
“The last thing my old man said to me before I roared away was not to come back. He was pissed off that I wanted to see the world. Said it would change me in ways that would turn me against my family. More like it opened my eyes to how many other possibilities there were than to live in seclusion, hiding from the things they didn’t like. ”
“Visiting my mom’s parents was always like stepping into another world,” Ocean said.
“Not just because of the clothing optional thing, but with how much of a real community it was. They had greenhouses and garden patches and orchards out there. People fished in the river that ran through the property. Others gathered berries and mushrooms. Everything was prepared in the main kitchen or outside on grills. Folks ate together, talked, played checkers, cards, and all kinds of board games. They had a library and story circles. It wasn’t until I started traveling that I realized it wasn’t weird at all to live that way.
People still live like that in other parts of the world, in these huge extended families that are just awesome to be around. ”
“What kept you from going to live with them after your mom passed away?” Pope asked.
“They’re way up in the mountains,” Ocean admitted. “Too far away from the ocean for me to ever be able to stay there for long. I visited, though, and I know I can go back anytime I want to. They’re awesome. I’ve just got too much salt water in my veins.”
“It’s a hell of an addiction, isn’t it?” Pope said, feet propped up on the coffee table.
It didn’t feel like a hotel room. It felt like home, and it dawned on Roan then that it wasn’t because of the furniture but the men he was with.
“Yeah,” Ocean replied. “Not looking for a twelve-step program to cure me of it, either. That’s one vice I intend to hold on to for the rest of my days. Goddess willing, it’s where I’ll be when the end comes, too.”
“Long as that end is decades away,” Pope added, as Danger paused on a movie Roan positively loved.
“Who’s up for Sharknado?” Danger asked. “Looks like they’re running a marathon tonight.”
“Doubt we’ll make it more than two movies,” Pope said, “but it’ll be a fun diversion.”
“I doubt I’ll…make it one,” Ocean muttered, words broken by a yawn. “But I love Sharknado.”
“Same.” Roan replied as Danger clicked the button.
Ocean’s hair fanned across his leg, the soft strands begging to be stroked, so Roan did, only to hear Ocean mutter.
“Make that half a movie.”