Chapter 11
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Jack
We find four empty parking spaces across the lot when we get to Angie's. Normally, we park closer to the doors when we meet up. Angie’s is a family restaurant. We leave the closer spaces for the kids and elderly.
Coty, Bankz, and Hendrix pull up about the same time we do. We park all six bikes in the four spaces and walk inside. I wish I could say we’re well received here. The Viking Warriors have been in Willows Creek for more than forty years. Half of this town still turns their noses up at us.
The only table available that is large enough for the six of us is in the front dining area, right in the middle of the room. It’s fine. We don’t hide when we’re out in public, and we don’t let snotty people get to us.
“Good morning, boys.” Angie hurries around the counter to hug each of us. She’s part of the half that likes us, and she doesn't care who knows it.
“Good to see you, Angie.” I hug her tightly when it’s my turn.
“Glad you came home. You’re family sure missed you.” She slaps her palm against my chest before leading us to the empty table.
The moment we’re seated, a lady in a fancy pink pantsuit in the booth to my right huffs and lifts her chin. After thoroughly assessing the parking lot, she turns back to find all of us staring at her. Angie even has her hands on her hips. The lady snaps her gaze right back out the window.
Hendrix glances at his watch and lays his menu on the table. “You still serving breakfast?”
It’s eleven. It’s definitely lunchtime. And this fool wants breakfast? Geez.
Angie smiles sweetly at Hendrix. “For you, sweetie, all day long.”
“Cool.” Hendrix grins like a Cheshire cat. “Pancakes, eggs, and bacon for me.”
The others order the same with soda to drink.
“Jay, you want a bacon cheeseburger?” Angie takes his menu.
“I’m not turning down your pancakes. I’ll have the same with sweet tea, though.” Jay isn’t fond of soda.
“Jack?”
“Make it easy, Angie. I’ll have the same as everyone else and the sweet tea.”
After our drinks arrive, I glance over at the pink pantsuit lady. She’s shifted to try and turn her back to us. I applaud her effort. That’s kind of hard to do in a booth. Her young daughter sits across from her. She’s not scared to look at us. Her eyes dart away every time her mother moves. Oh, she’s not ashamed to look at us. She’s just scared of getting caught looking at us.
I know the look in her eyes all too well. Young rich girl looking for a bad boy. These girls need to give up that fantasy. This girl isn’t old enough to drink. She’ll have to wait until some of our college-age brothers come to town. Our group has already been through our wild and wooly days. Well, for the most part, anyway.
“I hear some more of your brothers will be here tonight,” Hendrix says to Shepherd.
Shep leans back and straightens one of his legs. It’s not enough to block the aisle between the tables. It’s enough to offend the pink pantsuit lady, though.
“Yeah. We gotta help welcome these prodigal brothers home,” Shep teases.
Coty sets his soda on the table. “Hey, man. We weren’t prodigals. We were just traveling around the country.”
“Okay.” Shep thinks for a moment. “Wayward brothers?”
“Better.” Coty gives him a salute.
Shepherd is ex-military. A couple of the guys in our chapter are, too.
Applause from the party in the back has everyone looking to see what’s going on. Pastor Rhodes makes some kind of announcement, earning another round of applause from his group. His oldest son stands next to him. The pastor and his wife have four children—two boys and two girls. Only two of them are with them today. A man I’ve never seen stands behind their youngest daughter.
The sound of a knife flicking open draws my attention to Jay’s hand at his side. He, Bankz, and Hendrix watch the church group closely. I’m missing something here.
“What’s that about?” I ask.
“The Pastor’s son is following in his footsteps,” Jay replies. No clue why it has him upset enough to open his knife in public.
I look back to the group. “Who’s the dude with Finley?”
“Must be the new guy they’re trying to marry her off to,” Hendrix replies.
The church group continues to celebrate. Matthew Rhodes humbly accepts their congratulations. He pulls a dainty little blonde up to stand at his side. Guess the pastor will have a daughter-in-law soon, if I’m reading the situation right. Maybe they can have a double wedding. They can marry their oldest and youngest children off at the same time. It’s not likely. Who knows? It could happen.
“She’s a cutie.” Shep narrows his eyes. “What’s wrong with her? Why are they having trouble finding her a husband?”
“No clue.” Hendrix shrugs.
“All we know is that Finley starts dating a new guy for a few weeks. About the time everyone thinks it’s serious, the guy breaks it off, and we never see him again,” Bankz adds.
“This one probably goes to college with her. He looks the type,” Hendrix says.
“They let her go to college?” That really surprises me. Finley was sick a lot as a kid. Her parents are seriously overprotective of her.
“Yeah. Nursing school.” Hendrix finishes his meal and pushes his plate away.
“She at the big one in Nashville? Vanderbilt?” Coty asks.
“Nah. She’s over at Staten Medical College.” Bankz finishes his food, too. “No clue why they’re letting her go. We all know her family won’t let her work at a hospital.”
Staten Medical College is about forty-five minutes from here on the other side of Dades Creek. If the pastor didn’t pay for Finley to go to Nashville, Bankz is right. She’ll never work in a hospital. It’s doubtful she’ll ever put her degree to use.
“Sweetie.” Angie places a hand on Jay’s shoulder and leans between us. “I get it, but you might want to put that away in here.”
My eyes drop to the knife he’s still flicking open and closed. So far, Angie’s the only one to notice. I take that back. Rich pink pantsuit lady notices. She jerks her daughter out of the booth and storms at the door.
“Sorry, Angie. I didn’t mean to cost you a customer.” Jay closes the knife and slips it into his pocket.
“Oh, I’m not worried about her. She gets mad about something all the time. Won’t see her for a few weeks. One day, she’ll wander back in like nothing happened. Besides, it’ll take a lot more than losing one prissy customer to shut us down.”
We all nod. It’s true. People come from all over middle Tennessee to eat at Angie’s. Jay feels bad about it, though.
“I’m fine,” he assures her.
Angie starts clearing our dirty dishes from the table. Jay’s no longer playing with the knife, but he has me worried now, too. Something happened to my cousin while I was away.
“You sure you’re okay?” I know he’s not.
Jay nods. He wouldn’t tell me in here, anyway. I’ll ask him about it later tonight.
“I don’t like him.” Jay glares across the room.
Matthew Rhodes used to sneak into the clubhouse and party with us. It was fine for a while. But one day, Jay didn’t like him for some reason. If he’s going into the ministry, I guess his parents straightened him out.
“Maybe he changed.” The way Matt’s eyes dart at us every so often, he doesn’t want anyone to know he knows us.
“Don’t care,” Jay grumbles.
“Come on, brothers. Let’s go for a ride.” Hendrix stands and leads the way to the parking lot.
Getting my cousin out of here is a good idea. I still wanna know what’s going on with him. It’ll have to wait, though. Jay’s a very private person.
“I hear you brought an angel,” Bankz says to Shepherd when we reach our bikes.
“Yeah.” Shepherd tosses a leg over his bike.
“She’s with Mom,” I add.
“She’s still here?” Bankz pauses before putting his helmet on.
“Yeah.” Coty snickers and grins at me. “From what I hear, she may not leave.”
Hendrix reads between the lines and snaps his head toward me. “Really?”
I don’t say yes. I don’t say no. I can’t say anything. I can’t get close enough to Lily to figure out what’s going on. Thankfully, none of my brothers makes a joke right now.
Bankz nods once. “Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help her.”
“Thanks, guys.” No more needs to be said. A ride would help clear my head, though. “Let’s ride.” I look over my shoulder at my cousin. “Lead the way.”
For the next two hours, we roam the back roads of the county. I let the wind and pavement soothe my troubled spirit. Riding with Jay and our brothers is the best medicine I could hope for. Still, more times than not, my mind drifts to the beautiful angel I’ve silently sworn to protect.