Chapter 3 Oak
Oak
Hollows Point is a town that no one gives a shit about and it shows.
From the buildings down to the pavement it’s easy to see that this town isn’t cared for.
Not to mention the corrupt cops and how the law chooses to abide only to certain people.
This town reeks of desperation, lost dreams, despair and darkness.
On every corner you either see someone propositioning a person with their body or one getting high out of their mind.
This a town where criminals thrive and the innocents die.
It’s hard to believe that anything good can come from it.
But there are a few diamonds in the rough. Ones who managed to break the cycle of the society they were born into.
Snake is one of them. No doubt this town tainted him but he’s a good man. A loyal one with a black heart that bleeds for the people he loves.
Alice is another. She lived a life of tragedy yet still held onto hope. After everything that has happened to her it hasn’t tainted her soul.
And then there’s the one who I have been actively avoiding. The one who I can’t let get too close because if I do I’ll ruin her before this town ever has the chance to.
I’m hoping that I don’t run into her today. Not after I have been working so hard to make sure that our paths haven’t crossed in the past month.
She has been coming up every weekend with her little brother who might as well be her son.
There’s a guilt I feel heavy in my chest when I know it’s not only her I’m avoiding.
The boy is eleven years old but he has a pure heart of gold. Even in the short time I’ve spent with him he’s managed to crack through my barriers. Ones that I have stacked so fucking high I don’t know how anyone can possibly bring them down.
I think it’s because he reminds me of a younger me. A young boy filled with dreams and a heart that is still intact. There’s hope in his eyes. Hope that I used to have before that day. Before I couldn’t get that hope back.
He’s also a curious little guy. He would ask me question after question about anything and everything. He made me feel like I had all the answers in life when in reality I have no idea what the fuck I am doing anymore.
But it’s his older sister, the one who I have been avoiding, Gracie Mae, it’s her who has done more than cracked my walls.
She’s got inside my head. Infested my thoughts. Sneaked her way inside my dreams. She made me forget the shit going on inside my head when she was around.
And I know what you all are thinking. If she has done so much good why in the hell are you pushing her away?
Because you don’t bring people to a war that is already lost.
“So you want to take over Hell’s Gates and it has nothing to do with Gracie Mae?” Snake asks after we park our bikes in front of the joint.
It’s a sad excuse of a business.
The paint is chipping. The sign is outdated and doesn’t even light. The parking lot is gravel instead of nice smooth pavement. And the inside . . . don’t even get me started on the inside. It’s a fucking wreck.
“Don’t mention her name, Snake.”
He snickers. “Wasn’t aware she became Beetlejuice.”
“You’ve watched Beetlejuice?” Disbelief colors my tone.
“Who the fuck hasn’t?”
“Then you would know you would have to say the fucker’s name three times.”
“Semantics.” Snake rolls his eyes and pulls out a cigarette from his inner pocket in his cut. Placing it between his lips he then pulls out a box of matches.
I raise my brow at him. “I thought you quit.”
He strikes the match and lights his cigarette. “I only smoke when the situation calls for it,” he responds with the cigarette between his lips.
“And this situation calls for it?”
A billow of smoke appears in front of his face and then he pulls another drag of the nicotine.
Pinching the cigarette between his thumb and pointer finger he tips the cigarette towards me.
“Well, when I have my best friend not only bring me back to this god forsaken place,” he pauses and I go to interrupt but he doesn’t let me.
“And he won’t admit the only reason he’s back here is for, she who shall not be named, I think that calls for a cigarette.
” He brings the cigarette back to his lips and takes another long drawl.
I only stare at him blankly.
His lips quirk up in a knowing smirk. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Shut the fuck up.” His smirk turns to a full blown smile.
Fucker.
Taking one last draw from the cigarette he flicks it to the ground and puts it out with his steel toed boot. “When is the contractor going to be here?”
I glance down at my watch, the face of it on my inner wrist. Ever since jointing the military I can’t wear it any other way. Feels wrong if I do. “He should be here within ten minutes.”
“You trust him?”
I nod my head. Jerry is a contractor who is a veteran.
Every one of his employees are veterans as well.
Any man who has served and helps those when they return home have a well paid job earns my respect.
Plus, he has a good name for himself. And he cuts discounts for those who have served or are active military.
Not that Vipers MC needs it with how well we are doing but a little saving has never hurt anybody.
The sound of a truck has us both looking in the direction it’s coming from.
In comes Jerry, the fifty-eight year old man, in an older black Chevy Silverado. Once he parks he steps out of the truck like a young man rather than one who will be entering his sixties soon.
Jerry isn’t that tall but he keeps himself built for the job.
His eyes aren’t kind, they resemble mine.
I feel as if every person who has experienced battle has that same look in their eyes.
We can fake it with everyone else but you can’t fake it with someone who has experienced what you have.
His head is shaved but he has a brown beard with grey mixed heavily in it.
Wrinkles etch his forehead and crows feet are planted by his eyes.
He meets us and I immediately go to give him a firm handshake. Manners from my mother and respect drilled in me from the military have me do it on autopilot. Taking his hand in mine I give him a firm shake followed by, “Sir.”
His brown eyes squint up at me causing his crows feet to deepen. His handshake is as firm as mine but I expect no less. “Oak, I take it.”
I nod my head. “Yes, sir.”
After we finish our handshake his eyes assess me from head to toe. “Marine?”
“Yes, sir.”
He nods his head. “Same here. I was a sniper.”
“Sergeant, sir.”
He nods his head again. “Ooh Rah.”
“Ooh Rah.” I don’t say it with as much heart as I used to and neither does this man.
“Good to be home isn’t it?” He asks me.
“Yes, sir.”
He laughs at that. A deep chuckle that vibrates in his chest. “It will be. Give it time.” Patting me on the shoulder he then glances behind me. “A friend of yours?”
“My brother, sir.” Doesn’t matter if we are blood related or not but that man will be my brother until the day I die. “His name is Snake.”
Snake hears his name and then decides to join us. Instead of sticking his hand out for a handshake he nods his head at Jerry. Jerry nods his head back with an amused expression. “I take it you didn’t join the military like your brother.”
Snake smiles but there’s a dash of sinister in it. “Not all wars are fought in uniform.”
“No,” Jerry pauses, taking in Snake in a new light. “No, I suppose they aren’t.” He turns back to me and gestures with his arm for me to lead the way.
As we enter Hell’s Gates, Jerry immediately starts assessing the place. I let him do his work as he goes through the entire joint with a fine tooth comb. He scribbles down on his notebook on what I assume is a lot of shit that needs fixing.
Taking a look around myself I notice this place is worser than the last time I was in here and that’s saying something.
After Jerry is done he signals for Snake and me to follow him outside. As we do Snake asks under his breath, “You thinking a lot of damage?”
I nod my head in reply while keeping a close eye on Jerry and my surroundings.
It’s a tough habit to break. Once you’re overseas your eyes are opened to everything around you. Paying attention to all the details even the tiniest.
“Will it be worth it?”
“It’ll be worth it.”
Glancing up at me his classic knowing smirk appears. “And this has nothing to do with she who shall not be named?”
I clear my throat because it feels like it’s tightening. “No.”
He laughs. “Okay, man. Sure.”
We wait for Jerry to come back and when he does he has a piece of paper in his hand with what I assume is the damage.
“You were right about one thing,” Jerry begins as he makes his way over to us. He then continues when he meets us, “that place is a shit hole.”
Snake barks out a laugh but recovers quickly when I glare at him through the corner of my eye. Then throwing up his hands in mock surrender he bows out and heads over to his bike. I watch with dismay as he pulls out another cigarette.
Alice, no doubt won’t be too happy about that.
“You sure about fixing this place up?” Jerry asks me, regarding me with doubtful eyes.
To be quite honest I’m not sure about jack shit these days.
Every day that I wake up breathing I can’t help but question why.
Why me? Why out of all six of us was it me that survived? Why did the bullet that nicked my lung not pierce through it causing it to collapse?
I thought that enlisting would give my life purpose. Serve my country and save lives.
Instead when I returned home that purpose I was searching for left me with an emptiness. I went to save lives yet too many were left behind.
Jude, Miguel, Isaac, Roman and Darius.
Five lives changed forever that day. Their deaths affected their families, affected their communities, stopped family lines and changed the course of life for everyone that knew them.
Yet here I am still breathing and I can’t help but fucking question why.