Chapter Seven
Archer
I CALLED HATCH as I left Echo’s parents’ place and he answered immediately. “Hey, kid.”
“Hey, are you home? I’m in the area and wanted to run something by you.”
“Yeah. Come on over.”
“See you in five.” I hung up and headed his way, pulling into his driveway a few minutes later.
Hatch pulled open his front door before I could even cut my engine, leaning against the doorframe. I grinned, climbing out of my truck and heading up the steps of his porch.
“Excited to see me, old man? ”
“Who you callin’ old?”
I chuckled, walking inside and giving him a quick hug. “Maisie home?”
“Yeah, she’s bakin’ cookies.”
“Fuck yeah, I love her cookies.”
“I’m aware,” he said. “Come on back.”
I followed Hatch to the back of their spacious home and into the kitchen where his wife, Maisie, was pulling a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven.
“Hey, sweetie.”
“Hey, Auntie,” I said, pulling her in for a hug.
“You want a cookie?” she asked.
“Abso-fuckin-lutely,” I retorted.
Maisie handed Hatch a plate of cookies, and he snagged a couple of beers from the fridge, then led me to his office across from the kitchen.
“So, what’s goin’ on?” he asked as we sat down.
“I’m in a bind.”
Hatch smirked. “The Daily with Bailey thing?”
I sighed. “Yeah. Did Devlin call you?”
He shook his head. “Just figured if Melody name-dropped you, Dev would be fielding calls.”
“She is.”
“And you want off your punishment.”
I grimaced.
“You don’t want off your punishment.” Hatch raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “You like this girl.”
“I like this girl,” I confirmed.
“How does she feel about you?”
I shrugged. “No fuckin’ clue.”
“Ooph. ”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Plus, her brother’s one of Ell’s detectives, so there’s that.”
“Fuck me, so you’re repeatin’ your dad’s sins.”
“Am I?” I asked.
“Little bit, yeah. You should talk to your mom about what she went through with her brother back then.” Hatch ran his hand through his beard. “I don’t know all the details because it was none of my business, but Booker alluded to it bein’ hard on her.”
“So, what do I do, Prez?”
“Well, I can keep her car for a day longer than needed,” he said. “Give you a little more time to get to know her. But other than that, you’re on your own.”
“And my so-called ‘grounding’?”
“You’ve learned your lesson,” he said. “You were done with that after you watched those videos.”
I laughed. “Well, thank you for not telling me then.”
“You’re welcome.” He cocked his head. “I am gonna want you to help me train some of the younger guys with bike safety though. They already look up to you, so it’ll be easier for them to listen to someone they respect.”
“I can do that.”
“Any other life crises I can solve for you today?”
I snorted. “I think you’ve done enough for the moment.”
“Glad I could help. You wanna stay for dinner?”
“I better head out. I need to swing by my parents and have a conversation with my mother about boundaries. ”
“Oh, shit.” Hatch laughed. “Good luck with Don Mom on that one.”
* * *
After hugging Maisie, I walked out of their home and headed to my parents’ place, calling my grandfather on the way.
“Well, hello there, grandson of mine.”
“Hey, Pop. How are you?”
He chuckled. “I’m good. Heard you’ve been causing a bit of a stir around the office.”
“Jesus, are you boarding the gossip train with Mom and Elliot?”
He laughed harder. “Not really my style, but I do like to watch them go when they get all riled up.”
I rolled my eyes.
“What do I owe the pleasure?”
I filled him in on Floyd and Judy, and as my grandfather always did, he listened without interruption.
“So, what do you think?” I asked once I’d given him the low-down.
“Does spending time with Floyd come with time with you?”
I grinned. “Well, yeah, of course. But that would have been a given even without Floyd.”
“Then, I’m in. But you gotta find out if his wife’s good with that. If she’s as sick as you say, are they gonna be okay with being separated, even for a few hours?”
“I’ll check,” I promised .
“Okay, well, you let me know what they say and I’ll make it happen.”
“Thanks, Pop, I appreciate it.”
“Any other world problems I can solve for you today?”
“Can you ground your kids?”
He laughed again. “I’m gonna let Booker handle that side of things.”
“That’s a lot of pressure to dump on Dad’s shoulders.”
“He can handle it, kiddo. Trust me.”
I sighed. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Love you, Arch. See you in a few weeks.”
It was my grandmother’s birthday next month, so we had a big shindig planned. But I had a feeling I’d be seeing him sooner than then.
“Love you too, Pop.”
I arrived at my parents’ just as we rang off, to find my sister and her man, Ruin, sitting at the kitchen island, beers in hand. Daisy slid off her stool and rushed to me. “Hi.”
“Hey, Ducky, what are you doin’ here?”
“Dad’s grilling.”
“No shit?”
“No shit,” Ruin confirmed. “Your mom made potato salad and everything.”
I chuckled. “We know how much you love her potato salad.”
He raised his beer and toasted me. “Fuck yeah, it’s the best.”
Daisy cocked her head. “Mom said she was going to text you. ”
I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and pulled it out to see a text from my mom. “Just got it.”
Mom walked in from the back yard and grinned. “That was fast.”
“I was here already.”
“You were stopping by just because?” She grinned. “I love that for me.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Well, no. I actually need to talk to you.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“Okay, we can talk over steaks,” Mom said, pulling open the fridge.
“I think we should talk in private,” I countered.
She turned to face me. “Why do we need to talk in private, baby boy?”
“Because I need to have a conversation with you about boundaries.”
Daisy snorted while Ruin studied the granite countertop.
Dad strolled in and glanced between me and Mom. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Arch thinks he’s going to chat with Mom about boundaries,” Daisy sassed. “Exactly how many times did you drop him on his head as a baby?”
Dad sighed. “Why do you need to have a conversation about boundaries with your mother, Arch?”
I turned a pointed stare toward her and asked, “Do you want to tell him or should I?”
“What did you do, Mommy?” Daisy pressed.
“Nothing.”
“Danielle,” Dad warned .
“Oh my god, take it down a notch,” she hissed. “Elliot called me—”
Dad dropped his head back with a groan. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, your brother’s involved in this?”
“No,” Mom snapped. “One of Ell’s detectives did some digging and discovered that his baby sister was being driven by Archer, so Elliot called me to make sure it was all above board.”
“Dani, this is so not cool,” Dad said.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s none of his goddammed business.” Dad frowned. “And why is your brother checking up on his own fucking nephew?”
“Don’t make this a thing, Austin,” Mom warned.
“It’s already a goddammed thing,” Dad said, pulling out his phone and storming back out the slider.
Mom threw her hands up. “Well, shit, kid, thanks for that.”
“I told you I wanted to speak privately,” I pointed out.
I heard the front door close and then Cash and Teagan showed themselves, and after hugs all around, Mom’s phone pealed from its place on the kitchen island.
She grabbed it and glanced at the screen, then scowled. “Hi, Ell.”
“Oh, shit, ” Daisy hiss-pered.
“What’s going on?” Cash asked.
Mom waved her hand to shush us, and Daisy grinned. “We’ll fill you in later.”
“No, I… you don’t understand the… no, that’s not what happened. If you would shut your pie hole for long enough for me to explain, I could tell you.”
She walked out the back door, and I turned to my siblings.
“Uh-oh, you’re in trouble,” Daisy sassed.
“I highly doubt that,” I countered.
“What the fuck’s goin’ on?” Cash demanded.
“Archer stopped by to have a convo with Don Mom about boundaries.”
“Rookie mistake, little brother,” Cash said with a laugh.
“She dragged Elliot into it, Cash,” Daisy gossiped.
He scowled. “What the fuck?”
“Maybe we don’t throw Mom under the bus?” I suggested.
“I was agreeing with you,” Daisy whined.
“Daisy’s right, brother, that’s not cool,” Cash commiserated.
Mom stormed back into the kitchen and bellowed, “Family dinner’s canceled,” before stomping up the stairs.
Dad wasn’t far behind with a shake of his head. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
The three of us shuffled to the bottom of the stairs, just like we did when we were kids, while Teagan and Ruin kept their asses in the stools at the island watching us like we were out of our goddammed minds.
Maybe we were, but how else would we hear what our parents were fighting about?
“He’s my brother, Austin, what was I supposed to do?” Mom snapped.
“You tell him to mind his own fucking business is what you’re supposed to do, followed up with, ‘fuck you for questioning his nephew, my son,’ and followed up next with, ‘talk to my man who’s gonna put your dick in the dirt if he ever pulls this shit again’!”
She grumbled something I couldn’t quite hear, and then Dad bellowed, “I fuckin’ am gonna put his dick in the dirt, Danielle. I don’t give one single fuck if he’s the chief of police or that it might be hard to find his dick in the first place, it’s goin’ in the goddamned dirt.”
I bit back a laugh, as did Cash, while Daisy let out a quiet gasp, before glancing at her man. Ruin held his hand out to her, but she shook her head and focused back on the stairs.
“I’m sick of his shit, Dani,” Dad continued. “I don’t care! Jesus, he’s comin’ for our kid now? No! It’s bullshit and you know it.”
“What is she saying?” Daisy whispered.
I shrugged.
“It stops now,” Dad continued. “No, I’m gonna fuckin’ handle it.”
“He’s the chief of police!” Mom screeched.
“I don’t care if he’s the mother fuckin’ mayor of munchkin land! Dick. Dirt. Period.”
“How?”
“Plausible deniability, baby. But you’ll know when he knows.”
“Oh my god, don’t you do anything that fucks with his family. ”
“Like he’s doin’ to ours?”
“He’s not fucking with ours,” Mom snapped.