5. #2
I pointed in the distance and listed the rest of my neighbors, which included my other siblings, my parents, aunts, uncles, and the majority of my cousins, before I turned back to her and said, “They’re all nosy as hell and in my business day and night.”
Courtney looked at me like I was nuts before she said, “You live across the street from your sister and down the street from your entire family?”
“Not the whole family, but most of them.”
“On purpose?”
I laughed as I opened the truck door and waited for her to climb in. Right before I closed it, I said, “Every family has some fucked-up pieces, but when you work hard to fit them all together, the picture is beautiful.”
I walked around the truck and got behind the wheel before she asked, “And what is your piece?”
“I’m known as the grumpy, often loud, occasionally barbaric one.”
“Really? I don’t see it.”
“Which part?” I asked.
“You’re not grumpy at all.”
“We’re just getting to know each other, so I’ve been on my best behavior.”
“I would say so since I clocked you and you didn’t even get pissed at me.”
“I didn’t say I’m the dumb one, Courtney. I’ve seen what happens when you get pissed off, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that’s not something I want to be on the receiving end of.”
I pulled out of our neighborhood and took off toward the address Courtney had given my sister. We hadn’t gone far when she said, “I don’t usually act that way, but there’s just something about that woman that makes me homicidal.”
“From everything I’ve heard so far, I think that’s a perfectly natural reaction.”
“You don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Let’s get to know each other a little better, and then I’ll introduce you to crazy.”
“Really?How?”
“Have you ever noticed that Rojo has a few motorcycle clubs?”
“How could I not? There are bikers everywhere.”
“And I’m one of them. I belong to the Texas Knights MC. My sister belongs to the Texas Queens MC, and Garvey back there is related to the man that started the Texas Kings MC. The majority of the men in his family are members.”
“Is that supposed to make me afraid?”
I burst out laughing and said, “It bodes well for our budding friendship that you’re not.”
“Dawson’s father was a biker. Well, I think it was him, but no one really knows.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know. We moved to another town, and I never saw him again.”
“You moved a lot when you were kids?”
“Usually every couple of months when we were with Jill. When we weren’t, we stayed with different foster families or went to my grandma’s house. But then, she’d work her evil sorcery and convince the powers that be that she was a changed woman again , and we’d have to go back.”
“When I was born, my parents lived in a different house, but when I was a toddler, they built the one they live in now. When we got older, they started talking about building other houses on the property, and I thought, why not? Saves me time when I wanna hang out with my dad or have coffee with Mom. Work is just a short walk away, and so is the clubhouse. It’s perfect.
” When Courtney just hummed, I asked, “Do you think that’s weird? ”
“You’re living in a TV sitcom.”
“Which one?”
“ The Brady Bunch ,” she answered instantly.
I burst out laughing and said, “My mom is about as far removed from Mrs. Brady as a mother can be.”
“But you said you loved your mom!”
“I do, but I’m not so far gone that I can’t see she’s nothing like Mrs. Brady.”
“Okay, then which TV mom is she?”
“She’s a mix between Kitty from That ‘70s Show and Gemma Teller from Sons of Anarchy .”
“How is that even possible?”
“It just is.”
“I saw a documentary one time that reminded me of my mom.”
“What was it called?”
“I don’t know what the name of it was, but it was something on the nature channel about rabbits.”
“You’re comparing your mom to a rabbit?”
“Yeah. Rabbits usually have between five and eight babies and then leave them alone to fend for themselves after birth, only visiting occasionally to feed them before she disappears again.”
“Wow.That’s harsh.”
“Our mom would leave for weeks, sometimes months at a time, so a rabbit mother is actually more nurturing than ours was, but we all managed to thrive anyway.”
I glanced over as we passed a streetlight and saw tears on her cheeks, so I reached over and took her hand before I said, “Your brother’s gonna get through this because he has you in his corner, Courtney. I have a feeling that anyone who does can conquer the world.”
◆◆◆
COURTNEY
There’s gotta be something wrong with this man.
His warm hand held mine just tightly enough to give me comfort, but not so tight that I felt like I couldn’t pull away if I wanted to. His rough hands were so much bigger than mine, but they had a gentleness about them that would be hard to put into words.
No. It’s not hard at all; it’s just unbelievable. How can just one touch make you feel safer than you have in . . . well, probably forever? How is that possible? There’s gotta be something wrong with him.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you’ve wanted to beat your mother’s ass for years, right?”
“The first time I thought about it, I was eleven.”
“Have you ever tried before?”
“No.”
“But you did tonight.”
“I would have, but someone thought it was a good idea to drag me away,” I said sarcastically before I laughed softly. “Thank you for that, by the way.”
“You’re welcome. If the people inside that house had come out and found us there, they’d have started shooting. I have no doubt about it. There’s a reason we wear protective gear when we do a repo in that area, especially at night.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I do. You’ve resisted the urge for years, but the second you realized that she was poisoning your brother’s mind and leading him down the wrong path, you lost your shit and decided to put an end to it.
You didn’t do it because it was something you’d dreamed of; you did it to protect that kid, whether he thinks he needs to be protected or not. ”
I squeezed Zane’s hand and asked, “How can you be so understanding and supportive when you’ve known me all of four hours?
Seriously - you were great that day when Dayton wrecked my car, and then we had a couple of hours of good conversation before you found me brawling in the grass and had to deal with my emotional family drama. ”
Zane seemed a little embarrassed when he said, “I was there, and you needed help, so I helped you.”
“And now your friend is bringing taquitos, your sister got out of bed to bring her boyfriend over, and you’re calling in a favor from an elder - which I still think is a weirdly funny term, but I’m not judging.
You can’t be doing all of this out of the kindness of your heart. What’s in it for you, Zane?”
He pulled to a stop at the red light a few blocks from my street and looked at me before he said, “The best and most honest intentions don’t come from doing something to get a return, Courtney.
I can tell by your reaction that you’ve never experienced that, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s about goddamn time someone shows you how good people react when they find someone in need. ”
“I try very hard not to need anybody.”
“People like you are the ones who need people like me the most.”