COAL
It had taken months to get everything arranged and for us to finally leave the US for the UK. My folks and Opal had left three weeks after I’d told them our news, and in that time, none of them had been sitting around on their asses.
The property Dad had found had been purchased and renovated with the help of the Crow MC. All this had happened over four months ago, and finally, we were here. While we hadn’t been in the UK, it didn’t mean we hadn’t been working. I’d been tagging along with Maestro to learn the ins and outs of running a chapter. We now had a solid plan for what was going to happen going forward. Our sleds had shipped out six weeks ago and should hopefully have arrived already.
It was a relief to hear the captain of the plane welcoming us to Heathrow Airport. Once the plane stopped, I stood and stretched my back, muscles tight from having been stuck in a cramped position for so long. Seeing most of my brothers doing the same, I smirked. Flying was not our favourite form of travel.
Walking out of arrivals, with eight brothers following me, the crowd parted as we walked through. All of us were big guys, and it definitely had its advantages.
I searched the crowd until I found a familiar pair of bright green eyes and braced as my mother’s body hit mine. Giving me a quick hug before she pushed me away and went for Copper, and so it went, even the brothers who weren’t her children got hugged. It amused me to see Iron, Brass, and Cross all receive the same treatment, not quite sure what to do with the hug they were given, but they didn’t push Ma away, just awkwardly patted her shoulder.
Nickel sniggered beside me as we watched the brothers. When she’d hugged everyone, Mom came back to my side with a wide, happy smile, chatting a mile a minute.
“Come on, Tinman’s waiting with the vehicles. Are you all ready to drive on the wrong side of the road?” she laughed as she led us towards the parking area.
The groans at her words had me smiling. I think most of them had forgotten about driving on the wrong side.
It was late evening when we arrived home. I’d never been so glad to get out of a moving vehicle in my life.
Looking over the property, I smiled. Dad did good; this was much better than the pictures had shown.
We’d driven through a gate and down an avenue of trees that opened up into a wide parking area. On the right was the barn-like structure that I knew would be our clubhouse; to the left of it, there was a covered structure, and I grinned wide when I saw our sleds parked under the roof. A road carried on past that towards static caravans, which we called mobile homes, and I knew my house was past them.
‘Yeah, this could work,’ I thought with a smile, catching my dad’s eye. His next words made my chest expand with pride.
“Welcome home, Pres.”
“Hi, Dad,” I reached out to hug him. “You did good.”
He laughed, and I was glad to see him looking much lighter, “I had help, son. Those Crow Old Ladies are a force to be reckoned with. Once I explained, they kind of took over. But for now, come and have a look at the clubhouse. The Skulls sent a gift for us.”
My eyebrows rose at the news. I wondered if I’d ever meet the mysterious four. Walking towards the clubhouse, the brothers following, we stomped our boots at the entrance to take off any mud we’d gathered on them.
Walking into my clubhouse for the first time was a surreal experience as I looked around at the brand-new bar that Sam Crow had built, to the comfortable seating, dartboards and pool tables. But what caught my eye was along the back wall in frames. Walking towards them, I smiled when I saw the two framed tapestries of the Queens Wraiths’ history, one in English and the other in a very old language. Surrounding the frames were pictures of strangers through the ages, but if you looked closely, you could see familiar features in all of them. Hanging above it all was a piece of wood with words burned into it:
TIES FORGED IN WAR ARE TIES THAT BIND
THEY ARE NEVER brOKEN
QUEENS WRAITHS & CURSED SKULLS
BOUND TOGETHER FOR INFINITY
THE END