Chapter Twelve
P at sat on the back porch of his father’s old cabin.
He remembered his parents had this dream of retiring away from civilization, and just going off the grid.
They had grown tired of society and wanted no part of it.
They would often laugh that they were turning into grumpy old people.
Now, his father was just a grumpy old man.
He looked up as his old man stepped out. There was no blood on him, no sign of anything he had just done.
“How is he?” Pat asked.
“Out for the count. I’m going to keep him here for observation, and then we’ll see how it goes. It hadn’t gone too deep. He has to be one of the luckiest sons of bitches I ever met.”
“Yeah, tell that to his balls,” Pat said.
“I won’t be talking to his balls.”
Pat smiled. His dad, at times, was so literal. “Thanks.”
“You know I will still do anything for the club, but the garage being hit—that’s bad news,” Doc said, sitting down.
Pat took a long swig of the coffee. He didn’t know what his dad did to make it taste so good.
“It’s the cartel.”
“Fuck me,” Doc said. “I always said that shit was going to bite him in the ass, and is that still happening?”
“Yeah, it is. You need to watch your back.”
“Son, I don’t ever not watch my back.” He let out a breath. “You should have gotten out. That could have been you on the table.”
“But it wasn’t,” Pat said.
“You want to play the wiseass card now?” Doc asked.
“No, I don’t. I’m just glad Rusty is okay.”
“Look, son, I have let you do what you want to do. The club is everything to you, and I get it. It was everything to me as well, but you got to know when it’s time to call it quits.”
“Dad, I know why you did. After losing Mom, I can’t even imagine what that was like. It’s not like it was before, okay? This shit with the cartel, we’re aiming to end it.”
“And what is this I hear about one of those Ranford assholes?” Doc asked. “You’re working for him?”
“No, we’re not working for him. We’re helping him.”
“That is the problem right there. You think you’re helping that asshole, but men like Ranford take advantage. They see a whole different story that is penning right out in front of them. You become nothing more than his property.”
“Dad, the cartel chopped off his brother’s head while the kid was alive, and sent it to him. He’s trying to find the rest of his brother’s body and take out the cartel.”
Pat looked toward his dad who was silent.
“I was not aware of what happened,” Doc said.
“But knowing the cartel the way I do, he’s never going to find the body.
The cartel, they are ruthless. So ruthless that even the original Reynolds was terrified of them.
Do you think Bull’s father made those negotiations by chance?
The man lost his edge, and it cost him his mind.
He fucked up big time.” Doc sighed. “None of the fucking club wanted to deal with that kind of shit. None of us. But Reynolds said there was no other way. We didn’t have a chance. ”
“You know it is us or them,” Pat said. “It’s the ultimate showdown now.”
“Then you need to be careful. Now more than ever. They hit you where it hurts. They make you feel shit you wish you never had. And if they are the ones that hit the garage, it means they are already in town.”
Pat ran a hand down his face. This is why he didn’t want to come to his dad. He already knew what this shit meant, and it wasn’t good. This was bad.
“You need to come back to the club.”
“I don’t need to do shit. What you boys need to do is be willing to make the sacrifices no one else was willing to make.
The cartel doesn’t come to take prisoners, Pat.
They come to destroy, piece by fucking piece, and trust me when I say this, they fucking will do that as well. It is what they are known to do.”
Pat looked toward his father and sighed.
“I met someone,” Pat said.
There was no way he could keep talking about club stuff. Doc was not a member of the club. All he could do was warn him.
“You did?” Doc asked.
“Yeah. She’s a good woman. Young.”
“Young? How young?”
Pat sighed and then shrugged. “Twenty-four.”
“Fuck, that is young. You sure you want to be dabbling with a young girl?”
“She was a virgin,” Pat said, and his dad burst out laughing.
“Trust me, son, that is what they all say.”
“No, Dad, she was,” Pat said. “And Ava is not ... she’s not someone I want you to laugh about. I mean it.”
He put his cup down as his hands clenched into fists. “Wow.”
“What?” Pat asked.
“You’re acting the way I did when I met your mother.
That woman was a firecracker.” Doc laughed, and Pat heard the sadness in his voice.
“Fuck me, that woman was a force to be reckoned with. You know, one of the days I made a date with her, and I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I didn’t show up for the date.
I was hanging out with the boys, and they told me I didn’t need to go and do what a broad wanted me to do.
” Doc chuckled. “I was at the clubhouse, around the back. We had a nice little fire going. I was drinking, smoking. A couple of girls were getting naked and teasing the other guys. Your mother came around, and trust me, she stood out like a sore thumb. She had on one of those fifties’ kind of dresses.
It was tight against her waist and had this big, poofy skirt.
Fucking ugly thing, but she looked so beautiful. ”
“Her hair was curled around her face, and she looked so striking. Black hair, as well. Glossy. There was fire in her eyes, and she stormed right up to me, took my bottle, and threw it to the floor. She told me I had one chance with her, and if I wanted to stick around, boinking, and yes, she used that word, boinking trash, then my chance with her was done. She was a good woman, a nice woman, a hardworking woman, and if I didn’t get my head out of my ass and see it, then the next thing I would see was her, married to a man that did deserve her.
” Doc chuckled. “And she slapped me around the face for good measure. After that, she spun on her heel, and I was a fucking lapdog. Never looked at another woman since.”
Pat remembered his mom. She had been a firecracker.
It had taken her and his dad a long time to finally have him.
He wasn’t sure on the details, but he believed his mother struggled to have kids—he believed it was called endometriosis—or his father had a low sperm count.
Back then, he didn’t know if it had a name.
Kids would not be likely, and it was a miracle they had conceived him.
There hadn’t been any more children, even though he knew his mother would have loved more.
He didn’t talk about his past. If he was honest, he didn’t talk about a whole lot.
It was a hard time for Doc and Bull, and the club. He knew Bull felt bad because he didn’t stop his own father in time from messing up the club.
“Mom was one of a kind,” Pat said.
They were silent for several minutes. The only interruption was the sound of a deep voice, the clearing of a throat.
“Sorry to interrupt the ... reunion, but, uh, Bull is on his way, and he’s got Ava and some kind of sister and a dog with him.”
Pat looked toward his father. “What?”
“Yeah, so it would seem the news of the shoot-out at the garage made the rounds in town. Your girl found out, and she marched into the clubhouse. She refused to leave and was being a pain in the ass. From what Maddie told me, she put her foot down and told Bull he was to get his ass in her car and take her to where you were, so she knew you were okay. I don’t think Bull likes your girl.
Anyway, they’re not in her car, but they are in Bull’s car and should be here soon. ”
Grant had a busted lip.
Pat got to his feet. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?” Grant asked.
“Punching you.”
“Please, I deserved it, and don’t go apologizing for shit you don’t need to. I’ll lose respect for you.”
“So, does this mean I get to meet your girl?” Doc asked.
Pat didn’t know what to say, and it wasn’t like he had a long enough time to say anything as he heard the car coming into the driveway. They were around the back, so he followed his dad to the front. The porch went all the way around the cabin.
He spotted Bull’s car, and before it had even parked, Ava and Bernice were out and rushing up toward him. Pat didn’t get the chance to hold his arms out before she threw herself at him.
“Thank God you’re okay. I was so worried.
Mrs. Henderson came to the shop, and she said there had been a shoot-out, and I drove past and saw the blood, and no one knew for certain what was going on, and I didn’t know how to reach you, so I went to the clubhouse, and . .. you’re okay.” Ava cupped his face.
Pat put his hands on top of hers, and he stared into her eyes. He wanted to ask her why she snuck out, but with his father close, and Bull there, as well as Violet and Grant, he was not about to embarrass her, or himself.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” He leaned down and kissed her.
Ava wrapped her arms around him.
“Well, this is disgusting,” Violet said. “I seem to know everyone here but you, old man. I’m Violet Beckett.”
“Doc,” his father said.
Pat pulled away and watched as Violet and Doc shook hands. “I’m her sister.”
“I’m his father.”
“No fucking way,” Violet said. “That cannot be true. You look like his brother.”
Pat didn’t like this. Was Violet flirting with his fucking dad? That was impossible.
“You have just earned yourself a slice of cake and some of the finest coffee around,” Doc said.
His dad liked Violet. Pat didn’t know how he knew, he just did. His dad never offered cake to anyone.
“And you too, young lady. I think it is only fair I get to offer you cake for putting my son in his place.”
Ava’s face had gone bright red. “I am sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. Men need a good, strong woman who will not take any shit. That is exactly what you did, and you should stick by it.”