Chapter Nine
Archer
T HE NIGHT OF our dinner with Floyd and Judy, I dropped Echo off at her second to last patient’s home, and headed to the store to shop.
I figured I’d do my weekly stock-up while I was there as well and kill two birds, but the second I stepped inside the supermarket, I heard an all-too-familiar voice calling my name.
Fuck me, I shoulda kept walkin’.
“Hey, honey,” Gloria crooned as she walked over to me.
“Gloria,” I bit out .
Gloria was a woman who’d fucked up not only my brother’s life, but Razor’s as well, and as far as I was concerned, she could go to hell.
Gloria used to work at the club shop and had attached herself to my brother moving her way through the single club men, throwing herself at Cash whenever she had the chance, but he wasn’t interested.
He’d ended up with Teagan and never looked back.
At one point, Gloria had dyed her overly bleached hair red, trying to get to the same color as Teagan’s in an effort for Cash to notice, but again, he was having none of it.
Now, her hair was back to platinum and teased high and in the style that Teagan described as, ‘let me speak to your manager.’ Gloria was a few years older than Cash, but with how much makeup she spackled onto her face she looked a hell of a lot older.
She was wearing leopard print leggings that were way too tight and a crop top that exposed a belly ring on her ‘muffin-top’ stomach that flopped over her waistband.
I used to feel sorry for her. You know the type. Prettiest girl in school, and she was home schooled. But she’d fucked with our club so many times, as far as I was concerned, she could burn in hell.
She’d gotten in deep with the Spiders after she’d been kicked to the curb by our club and she looked like she might be using again.
“How ya been?” she said in a way that I think was trying to be sultry.
“I don’t have time to chat,” I said.
“Come on, Archer, don’t be like that,” she said, her lip poking out in a pout. “Can’t everything be water under the bridge now that the Spiders are done?”
“You mean, now that the Spiders are done with you?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed.
I leaned in and said as quietly as a I could, “Razor almost lost his leg because of you.”
“I made a mistake,” she countered. “Surely, you’ve made mistakes before.”
“Bitch, what you did was more than a mistake and you know it.”
She sighed. “I can see Teagan’s poison has spread.”
“Fuck off,” I snarled, and turned to walk away.
“You’re going to regret this, Archer. Your whole club’s going to regret it.”
I flipped her off and kept walking.
The second I was back in my truck, I called Hatch.
“Hey, kid, how ya doin’?” he asked.
“Well, had a run-in with Gloria today, figured you’d wanna know about it.”
“Shit, what’d she want?”
I started my truck, then filled him in on the conversation as I drove.
“Thanks, brother. I’ll bring it up with the officers at Church,” Hatch said.
“Why don’t you sound surprised?” I asked.
“You’re not the first person she’s fucked with. You’re not even the first person she’s fucked with in the last week. ”
“Fan-fuckin’-tastic.”
“Yeah.”
“Let me know if you need me to do anything.”
“I will,” Hatch said. “How’s it going with your warrior?”
I grinned. “So far, so good.”
“You gonna bring her to family night?”
“Not this week, but soon.”
“Maybe Ridgefield, yeah?”
“You’re good with that?”
“Yeah, kid, I’m good with that.”
“Okay, when she feels comfortable, I’ll bring her by.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Anything you need?”
“I’m good. You good?”
He chuckled. “I’m good, kid.”
“Okay, talk soon.”
We hung up and I headed to pick up Echo.
She walked out about ten minutes after I pulled up to the curb looking wrecked. I stepped out of my truck and took her bag from her, holding her door open but before she climbed inside, she wrapped her arms around me and burst into tears.
“Shit, are you okay?”
“I almost lost a patient today.”
I pulled her close and gave her a squeeze. “Do you want to rain check the dinner?”
She shook her head. “No way. I’ve been looking forward to it.”
I smiled. “Me too.”
“Can we just stand here for a minute?”
“Yeah, of course. ”
After a few minutes, Echo pulled away and took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m ready to shop.”
“Already done.”
“Wait, what?” She raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, already done?”
“I ran to Freddie’s and grabbed what we needed for dinner.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“You got everything.”
“Including dessert. Cheesecake. I also got shit to make chocolate cookies if Floyd’s up to baking.”
“Good impression, indeed,” she murmured, and I chuckled.
“Come on, let’s get going.”
She climbed into the cab, and we headed to Floyd and Judy’s.
* * *
Echo
I tried to stop my heart from racing as we made our way to Judy’s. Archer was by far the kindest, most thoughtful man, no, human, I’d ever met. It went against everything I had been raised to believe.
Bikers: Bad.
Ivy league men like my ex, Ezra: Good.
But Archer was blowing all of those opinions out of the water.
And I liked it.
We pulled up to the house to find Floyd waiting for us. I jumped out of the truck and rushed to him. “ Is Judy okay?”
“Yes, she’s doing okay,” he said, handing me the notebook. “I wrote everything down.”
I relaxed a little and Archer handed me my bag as I glanced over Floyd’s notes. “This looks great, Floyd.”
“You wanna help me carry these groceries in, brother?” Archer asked, and Floyd lit up like a pinball machine.
“Yes, I’d love to help.” He faced me again. “Go on in, Echo. Judy’s waiting for you.”
I nodded and we all masked up then headed inside.
Judy was sitting up in bed looking brighter than she had in a few days and smiled when I walked into the room. “Hi, Echo.”
“Hi there,” I returned. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel pretty well. A little pain, but only at about a five. Pinky gave me some pain meds about twenty minutes ago.”
“That’s what his notes say.” I smiled. “Let’s get those vitals checked.”
I grabbed my stethoscope and checked her heart, lungs, and belly.
Then went through my questions. What was her name, where were we?
Do you know what month it is? President?
And a few others like, what was her husband’s name, her date of birth, etc.
She answered everything correctly, so I moved on and checked for wounds, and skin tears.
She looked great, which meant Floyd was the perfect husband.
He’d even marked down the times of her bowel movements and indicated when she was due for med refills, which wasn’t for a week, so she was set.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
“I am a little.”
I grinned. “That’s a good sign.”
She nodded, reaching for my hand. “It’s not going to be long, Echo.”
“I know, honey.”
“I need Floyd to be taken care of.”
“About that,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Archer’s grandfather has invited him out on his boat and his mom wants to come and sit with you while they do that, so you won’t—”
“Yes.”
I chuckled. “You haven’t heard all of the details yet.”
“He needs to get out of this house, even if it’s for a few hours. Make it happen, Echo.”
“Okay, honey,” I said. “I will make it happen.”
Floyd walked in a few seconds later to check on his wife. “Hey honeybee, do you want to join the fun, or stay in here for a bit.”
“Join the fun, Pinky. Definitely join the fun.”
“Would you like me to change the bedding?” I asked.
“You don’t get paid for that,” he said.
“I know.” I smiled. “I don’t mind doing it, Floyd. You know that.”
“Don’t wear yourself out.”
“I won’t,” I promised, as Floyd lifted Judy gently into her wheelchair and wheeled her out to the family room.
I made quick work of changing the sheets and then started a load of laundry for them before joining the little party.
* * *
Archer
Saturday morning, I headed to Trina’s house to mow her lawn and take care of a few other things around her yard.
Trina’s name wasn’t actually Trina, it was Lindsay, and she was a seventy-seven-year-old widow living two doors down from my parents.
When my parents had moved in, my dad kept calling her ‘Trina,’ because ‘the woman looked like a fuckin’ Trina,’ and it didn’t matter how many times my mother corrected him, he couldn’t get Lindsay to stick in his brain.
Dad might be a genius who could hack anything, but he was not great with names.
My mom made the mistake of telling Lindsay this fact and she laughed so hard, she started coughing so badly Mom thought she might have to take her to the ER.
In the end, Lindsay said if anyone in our family called her anything but ‘Trina,’ she’d hire a hitman.
That was when we laughed, because, you know…
I didn’t knock because I knew where the lawnmower was, and she liked to sleep in on Saturdays, so I headed into her shed and grabbed what I needed.
I’d managed to get half of her yard done when she came running out her front door, waving her arms. “Archer!”
I cut the engine and frowned. “You okay?”
She shook her head. “My sink’s overflowing and I have no idea how to get it to stop.”
“Okay, let’s see if I can help.”
For the next half-hour, I did everything I knew how to do to unclog a sink, but I didn’t have the right tools.
“Should I call a plumber?” she asked.
“We’ve got a couple of plumbers in the club, sweetheart,” I said. “I’ll see if they can come out. Call Mom and tell her what’s goin’ on in the meantime.”
I called Buzz first. He was retired now, but had been a plumber for over twenty years before he’d decided he was ‘done uncloggin’ rich people’s shitters.’
“I’m kinda with someone right now.”
“Dude, pull your dick out and come and help a sweet old lady with her sink,” I hissed.
“Did you just call me old?” Trina snapped.
“No,” I lied. “I would never do that.”
“Buzz, get your ass over here,” I growled, then hung up and texted him the address.
Mom arrived ten minutes later, my dad right behind her, and I filled them in on the situation.