Chapter Seven #2
“What did we just go through, Dani, huh? What the fuck has this club just been through? We nearly lost Hatch for Christ’s sake.
I am not about to stand back and let anyone come anywhere near you or our kids.
Not even your goddammed, mother fuckin’, asshole of a brother.
I will fuckin’ strangle him with my own bare hands before I let that happen. ”
“Wow,” Cash mouthed.
“You think I’m overreacting?” Dad snapped.
A knock at the front door cut off whatever my mother said, and I stepped to it, pulling it open. My uncle stood on the porch and smiled. “Hey, kid.”
“Ah, I don’t know that you wanna be here right now.”
He chuckled, stepping past me and into the foyer. “I think now’s as good a time as any.”
Daisy made her way to him for a hug, but Cash kept his distance, giving him a nod in greeting instead.
I heard footsteps on the stairs and then my dad’s growl, turning to see him scowling. “Outside, dipshit.”
“Honey,” Mom breathed out.
“Woman, do not!” Dad ordered, grabbing my uncle’s shoulder and shoving him through the house and out the back slider.
“Dad knows Uncle Elliot’s armed, right?” I asked.
“So’s your dad,” Mom countered.
“They’re going to kill each other!” Daisy cried, as Teagan put her phone to her ear before walking into the family room.
“Nice one, dickhead,” Ruin snapped, pulling Daisy to him.
“They’re not going to kill each other,” Mom said.
“Maybe we should go,” Ruin said.
“No, don’t.” Mom shook her head. “You’ve seen the first act, might as well stay for the rest of the show.”
“Turtle?” Cash called. “What are you doing?”
“Hm?” she raised her head and slid her phone into her pocket. “Nothing.”
“Teagan, what the fuck did you just do?”
“I called my dad, okay?”
“Fuck,” Cash bit out. “Really?”
“What?” Teagan snapped, pointing to the back door. “They’re out there screaming at each other. Don’t you think the club president should know his VP’s about to be in a knockdown, drag out with the fucking chief of police?”
A few minutes later, Mack came through the front door, followed by Hatch.
“That was fast,” Cash said. “What are you, Batman and Robin?”
“Where?” Hatch growled, ignoring Cash.
“Out back,” Mom grumbled, and Hatch and Mack headed that way.
“We’re gonna talk about this later,” Cash warned Teagan. “In detail.”
“Bring it,” she sassed.
We all looked at each other, collectively shrugged, and made our way, as a group, outside to see the action unfolding.
“I don’t care if the fucking Ghost of Elvis told you to sell all your possessions and buy a goddamned volcano to build condominiums on!” Booker yelled.
“Look, I’m not gonna stand here all night explaining to you how campaign strategies work. My managers have laid it out in black and white, and I need to do what they say if I hope to stand a chance come election time,” Elliot said.
“It’s really fuckin’ great to know that you’d sell out your family for just a shot at a political career,” Booker shot back. “You know what? You’re actually perfect for politics.”
“Oh, grow up, Booker . You’ve been playing with all the other lost boys in your playhouse for so long now that you’ve lost touch with the real world.”
“What the fuck do you know about the real world, you mother fucking pencil pusher? I live in the real world. My club rides in the real fucking world. Our kids go to school in the real world. Where is your ass all day, huh? I’ll tell you.
You spend all day at the top of a big blue ivory fucking tower.
Looking down at everyone through a cop’s eyes.
Taking the side of every badge in your department instead of serving the public like you swore to do when you took office.
But now we know the truth. Chief of Police was just a rung on the ladder of your political ambitions. ”
“That’s not true,” Elliot bit out.
“Cut the shit,” Dad hissed. “You’ve always acted like I wasn’t good enough for your sister, but I’ve always put my family first and I’ve never been a two-faced sack of shit like you.”
“Austin, what is going on?” Mom asked.
“What’s going on is your asshole brother wants to be mayor. And the high-priced spin doctors he’s hired have told him he needs to cut ties with his family and denounce our wicked ways.”
“Elliot?”
My uncle sighed. “Yes, I’m going to formally announce my candidacy for mayor. And no, I have not been advised to denounce the Dogs of Fire. Just to distance myself from the club.”
Booker unraveled an imaginary scroll and began to read from it. “You were told to ‘Cut ties with any known associates of the notorious Dogs of Fire Motorcycle Club, including family members.’ Isn’t that what you told me?”
Elliot scratched the back of his neck.
“This whole time, I’ve defended you to Booker,” Mom said, poking a finger into Uncle Elliot’s chest. “I’ve tried to keep the peace. To help him see the best sides of you, but he was right all along.”
“Danielle, I—”
“You’ve been cold and distant for weeks now. Maybe longer. Now you’ve turned your back on your nephew, when you should have vouched for him. You’re a dickless weasel and I should have let Booker do this a long time ago.”
Mom gave a single nod to my dad who then punched Uncle Elliot so hard both his feet actually left the ground. It looked like something out of a cartoon. It was as if that one single blow contained the power of every punch my dad had ever wanted to throw at him.
Elliot’s limp body hit the ground with a thud. The kind of thud that could only be made by an unconscious man. My father had just knocked the Vancouver Chief of Police, and possible future mayor, into another time zone.
My father simply looked down at Elliot’s limp body and said, “Fuck him,” and walked back into the house.
“Now I know why you call her the Don Mom,” Teagan said.
“You prepared for the hell the club’s going to pay for this?” I asked Hatch nodding toward my uncle, now just starting to get up off the ground.
Hatch grabbed a beer from the outdoor fridge and popped the top. “Wouldn’t be the first time the club’s caught hell.”
“Yeah, but he might tell his boys in blue to start paying a little more interest in the comings and goings of the club.”
Hatch took a pull from his beer. “I suspect he will.”
“You don’t seem overly concerned about that.”
“If I worried about everything that could happen to this club, I’d never be clear-headed enough to run it.
” Hatch raised an eyebrow. “I learned a long time ago not to worry about trouble that wasn’t ahead of me.
Of course, I check my mirrors to check that no one’s creepin’ up, but otherwise, I keep my eyes on the road. I suggest you do the same.”
“Heard,” I said, giving him an informal but respectful salute .
“You probably better get your uncle to the emergency room. He took a pretty good hit back there.”
“On it.”
As I helped Mom carry Elliot to the car, I heard Hatch ask Cash, “Hey, by the way, in your fucked up superhero fantasy, which one of us was Batman and which one of us was Robin?”
I never heard the answer.