Chapter 10 Leo #2
“Know how to find him?” Morris presses. “It’s the easiest way. You find this fuckup. Blood or not, he’s fucking you solidly up the ass. You find him, and you turn his junkie dick in too.”
“Wish I could,” I said. “Wouldn’t hesitate to send his ass away, especially if it means keeping the house.”
I think about telling Morris my plan. “I’ve been thinking about just…going.”
“Going where? Where the fuck you want to go?” Morris looks confused.
I shrug. “Anywhere the road takes me. Just ride a while?”
Morris’s scoff nearly sears the hair on my ears.
“You serious? You’re going to hit the road?
” He paces the living room harder, and I’m wondering how he’s not getting rug burns in his bare feet.
“That’s fucking bullshit, man, and you know it.
You have a business, you’ve got a house.
You’ve got a family here, Leo. What would Zoey think if her uncle Leo up and left? Ran off?”
“Well, I wouldn’t have to answer any more questions about gestation.”
Morris nods. “You and I both want that, but not that way. Listen.” He comes around the couch and sits across from me, crossing his legs and dropping his heels onto the coffee table.
“I know things have been dicey for you this last year. I get that. I was your age once, and I didn’t think too much farther than the handlebars on my bike.
I wanted to fuck three different women in one weekend, I did it.
Bar fights, make money, lose money… You name it, I did it.
And that shit was right for me. But look at all the years I spent drinking too much.
Throwing away precious years I could have had someone like Alice, someone like Zoey in my life. ”
His eyes never leave mine as he continues.
“I’m not telling you don’t be young. I’m not saying don’t get on your bike and ride off, in some kinda ‘don’t be like me’ lecture.
I’m saying don’t do it because Tim’s got you backed into a corner.
Don’t do it as a reaction to some other asshole’s bad decisions.
You wanna get on your bike and ride, I’ll take the first leg of the trip right there with you, brother.
But don’t you even think about running away.
A man stays. Faces his problems and kicks them in the nuts.
And then, and only then, when you’ve given everything you have to the people you love and to the things that matter to you—if you want to walk away, at least it will be on your terms. Leaving nothing on the table. ”
I can’t look at him anymore. I listen, letting his truth soak in. I haven’t had a talk like this with anyone in so, so long. Only Lia. But somehow, coming from Morris, this lands different.
“Let’s talk about Lia,” Morris says. “Fuck the house. Let’s assume you don’t give a shit about the house and you’re fine with this fuck-all taking it over.
Fine. Lia’s a good woman, Leo, and whatever you two think you’ve got going on over there, she loves you.
Every single one of us knows that. Why do you think Tiny’s so hard on you? ”
“Why?” I ask. My stomach is tense now as we move the conversation to Lia. I haven’t been honest with anyone about her, about what we’ve got there. About how I feel. Fuck, I probably haven’t even been honest with myself.
“A man knows when his daughter’s in love with a no-good biker.
” Morris cracks a smile. “Think about that, Leo. Think about her before you leave. She’s a good woman, a beautiful woman.
She’ll be all right. She’ll find someone else.
But do you really want to walk away from her?
She’s under your roof. She’s yours to care for right now, roommate or whatnot, whatever you kids call these mixed living situations. ”
“Mixed living?” I practically choke on my laughter. Morris really is showing his age.
“Whatever.” He waves a hand in the air. “Guys and girls not married, not fucking roommates. Call it what you want. But do you really want to take a chance on losing her when all you have to do to keep her is not give up?”
When I think about Lia, sitting here in Morris’s house, my palms sweat, and my chest feels tight. We could have this, couldn’t we? We could. If she weren’t out with Josh tonight.
“I may have already lost her,” I admit.
“In two days?” Morris says. “I haven’t seen her in a day or so, but I don’t think there’s anything that could come between the two of you in twenty-four hours.”
Morris hasn’t met Josh “Arrow” Aronowicz.
“If you do get on your bike and go, be sure you haven’t held anything back. That’s all I’m saying.”
“It’s a hell of a lot of money, Morris,” I remind him. “My house…”
“Fuck the house. They take that too, you move in here or get a room at the compound. A man doesn’t walk out on his family. Ever.”
I feel like this is a message about the club as much as it is about Morris, Alice, Zoey, and Lia. But it doesn’t upset me or piss me off. It makes me realize that maybe I have more here than the leftovers of my brother’s bad decisions.
“It’s getting late. You’ve got a wife and kid.” I drain my beer and stand up. I’m not mad. I’m not pissed off by anything Morris is saying.
I need time.
Time to think.
“If I know Zoey, she’s asking for one last question. I’d better get up there and play bad cop.”
“Right.” I’m sure Morris is the Mr. Pig in the situation. A tough bear on the outside, but a plushie inside.
I take my empty beer bottle to the kitchen and toss it into the recycling bin. The fact that I know where it is and that Morris expects me to do that reminds me that I really am family here.
This may not be my house, but here, I’m at home.
I head back to the front door where Morris is waiting. “Prospect.” He stops me with a hand on my shoulder. “You go if you’ve got to go. A man has to make his own way, and sometimes starting over is the only way. But going and running ain’t the same. Choose the kind of man you’re gonna be.”
I nod and thank him for the beer. I head out to my bike and watch while the lights inside Morris’s house turn off one by one. Finally, I see a bedroom light go on upstairs, and I back out of the drive.
I don’t want to head straight home, so I ride through the deserted streets, thinking about my future. What I want. My house means something to me, but Morris is right. It’s only a house. The place I’ve laid my head since I was a kid, lost and without a family.
Maybe losing that place will be a blessing in disguise.
A new start.
A fresh start.
The harder thing to admit is how I feel about Lia.
She’s never been just convenient. She’s never been just a roommate.
But goddamn, sleeping with someone you live with is complicated.
It’s not like we’ve ever even dated. We were friends and roommates first. How do you change something that’s not broken?
Maybe how isn’t as important as why.
Changing what we have so we can have more…
Morris is right.
What I have is worth fighting for.
What I want is not the house.
Not the business.
I’ll work my way back somehow, if I have to scrub Tiny’s toilets for five years to earn his trust.
And the house? I’ll live some place. I’ll work harder, fix cars faster, take on side projects. What I’ve got is worth keeping, and what I lose was never really mine anyway.
The only thing that stands in the way of my future is Arrow.
I may not be able to fight him on the house shit, but I sure as fuck can fight him for Lia’s heart.
As I round the corner and head up my street, I realize I won’t have to wait too long to fight Josh for Lia’s affections.
His fucking truck is parked in my driveway.