Chapter 4
Bolo
Ilooked up as Dad sat down in the rocking chair next to me. We were out on the back porch. I’d needed a little breather after fielding all of Mom’s questions. Isaac was inside doing dishes and Relay was hassling him about being the oldest. Something about always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
Whatever the fuck that meant. I wasn’t getting married.
Not that I wouldn’t. I just knew if I mentioned anything about marriage, Devyn would run so fast in the opposite direction, I’d have to do the drag-her-off-to-my-cave thing that Relay had mentioned earlier, just to get her to stick around.
Ruck wouldn’t be thrilled about me dragging home a woman, so I needed to play this carefully.
None of that stopped Relay from engaging in his favorite pastime, giving our brother massive amounts of shit.
It was his job as the youngest to torment us.
He played his part well and always had. As the oldest, Isaac was probably supposed to be the wise mediator.
That had never happened. Somehow that’d become my role between us brothers.
I didn’t do it very well because I had my own damn temper that Relay knew how to activate. But I was better at it than Isaac.
“What?” I finally asked, when Dad just sat there and stared at the Arizona sunset next to me. There was an air of expectancy rolling off him in waves. I could feel it.
“You doing okay?”
I looked over at him, brows drawn together. “What’d you mean?”
His eyebrows lifted. “You just found out you’re going to be a father, Bolo. Are you doing okay?”
Those words hit me like a sucker punch. For some reason, coming from my own dad, they made me realize the enormity of what was going on in my life right now.
“Breathe, Son.”
His large hand clapped me on the shoulder, forcing me to take a breath. I blinked at him. “Well, I was. Until you had to go and fucking say that.”
He chuckled. “The truth?”
Shit. I was going to have a baby. Potentially a wife, if I could get Devyn to trust me.
If nothing else, we’d be tied together for the rest of our lives because of our kid.
Our kid. My child. My chest was tight. It wasn’t even from panic.
Or maybe it was. But mostly my throat was clogged with some kind of emotion I wasn’t able to identify and no amount of swallowing was shoving the lump down.
I’d been getting sick of the lifestyle. Not the MC, my brothers, or the things we did together.
Never that. I was just fucking sick of the…
temporary pleasures. There seemed to be two kinds of thirty-five-year-old men.
The single guys who refused to grow up. And the guys who’d settled down years ago, gotten married, and had three or four kids.
Somehow I’d outgrown the fuck around and have fun stage.
Was I actually ready for all the responsibility that a family would bring? A grin spread over my face.
Dad chuckled when he saw it. “Yeah. You’re ready.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How the fuck do you do that?” The man was a mind reader.
“You’re my kid,” he said, as if that explained it all. It explained nothing, but he didn’t elaborate. “Think you can get your brothers on board?”
I snorted. “Pretty sure Isaac will be alone until he dies.” I gave him a side-long look. “Or living in your basement until you die, anyway.”
Dad’s top lip curled up. “We don’t have a basement,” he grumped. “And fuck if he’s moving back in with us. I pay him well so he can live alone.”
“Someone’s gotta wash your ass once you’re too old to do it,” I reminded him. “Seems like Isaac is signing up for that gig.”
“Fuck that,” Dad muttered. “I’ll wash my own ass.” He pointed at me. “And don’t change the subject.”
“What subject?” I asked.
“What are you going to do about your girl?”
Sighing, I shrugged. “Fuck if I know. I’ve gotten her to agree to get to know me. And believe me, that took some effort. She’s got one foot out the door, ready to run. She’s scared, and I don’t want to scare her further. That’s about all I can do for now.”
He looked at me like I was the world’s biggest idiot. Which was fair. “You need to woo her, Son.”
“...woo her?” I asked. I stared at him in disbelief. “What the fuck is this? Medieval times?”
“I’m not that fucking old,” Dad growled, frustrated with me.
“Sure sounds like you are. Should I court her, too? Bring her ‘favors’.”
“No. Because if this was back in the day, her father would be pointing a shotgun, or a sword, at your balls right now as you say ‘I do’ at the altar. And I would’ve gotten some goats or something out of the deal.”
I frowned. “You sure?” I cocked my head. “No, I don’t think that’s right. Her father would’ve gotten the goats…right?” I scratched my beard. “‘Cause I’d have to pay for the privilege of marrying her.”
“I swear to God, if you mention any barnyard animals in exchange for her hand, I’m going to make you regret it,” Mom called through the screen door.
We both turned in our chairs and looked, but she was already gone. She’d just been passing by on her way to do something and overheard our conversation.
“What does she take me for?” I asked Dad with a grin.
“A dumbass.”
I chuckled and turned back around, fixing my gaze on the sky again. “I’m doing my best, Dad. I’d be fine with getting married.” I didn’t need to look to know he was wearing a surprised expression.
“Marriage isn’t a game, Caleb.”
Uh oh. He was using my real name.
“Fully aware of that, thanks.”
“You like this girl that much? Enough to live your life with her?”
I considered his question. “Honestly? I think so. I mean, we have a lot to do to get to know one another. But she’s honest, kind…fiery. I like that a lot.”
He laughed. “You just described your mother.”
I made a face. “Well fuck, don’t ruin it for me.”
“The fuck?”
“Mom’s great,” I said, looking over into his now pissed off face. “But I don’t want to think about marrying her. Jesus.”
He relaxed. “The three of you used to fight over who got to marry her on any given week.”
“We were kids.”
“And smart enough to recognize a good woman when you saw one.”
“That’s why I know this could work.” He arched a brow at me, so I continued on.
“How the fuck would I pick anything but a good woman with her as my example of what a wife and mother is? How would I have anything but a good marriage when I grew up in your house, watching the two of you love each other all these years?”
He smiled and nodded. Pride was radiating off him. He should be proud. It was a damn impressive accomplishment in this day and age. To marry your best friend and keep her happy all these years. And for her to do the same.
“Why the fuck do you think we’ve all been searching so damn hard for the same thing?”
He frowned at me. “What’re you talking about?”
I scoffed. “The three of us aren’t getting married until we find a woman who matches us the way you two match. This is your fucking fault,” I said, pointing at him as I stood up. “And don’t piss me off or I’ll point that out to Mom and you’ll be trying to get back into her good graces.”
He stayed sitting as I went inside, trying to puzzle out whether he’d actually get into trouble for setting too good of an example. Spoiler alert, he absolutely would.
* * *
I went into the living room and sat down in Dad’s recliner, checking my phone.
I’d told Devyn I was having dinner with my family tonight, so my screen was blank.
She was giving me space to hang out and tell them our news.
Not that I needed it. It was more about getting lines of communication open with her.
Getting her used to the idea of me texting and calling regularly.
Movement caught my eye and I looked up and found Relay leaning against the wall a few feet away, watching me. “You’re a creepy fucker sometimes, you know that?”
“I’m not the one who just realized someone was watching him while the other person was being completely silent and still.”
I gave him an incredulous look. “No. You’re the one who’s staring at me while barely breathing. The fuck is wrong with you?”
One side of his mouth kicked up into a smirk as he came and sat down on the couch.
It was rare to see a smile out of him these days.
That smirk was usually what we got. It was such a difference from when we were kids, but I still loved the asshole just as much now as then.
I just wished there was a way for me to help him with his demons.
But he was one of those solitary types who liked to deal with shit on his own and would bite your head off if you tried to help.
Guess we were all a little like that, but he was the worst. I doubted even a damn exorcism would help him.
It would take an army of priests just to get their attention.
“What’s your plan?”
“Here we go again,” I muttered.
He arched a brow. “Take it Dad already asked you that.”
“Yup. And I fully expect this talk from Isaac and Mom at some point, though I can ignore anything Isaac says.”
“Right, the idea is to win her over, not creep her out.”
“Exactly,” I sighed. “I’m doing what I can. If I move too fast, I’ll scare her off. That’s the last thing I want to do.”
He studied me. “You actually like her.” It wasn’t a question, but was said with a little amazement.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Never thought you’d be the first to settle down. Figured that would be Isaac.” I gave him a questioning look. “Figured some weirdo chick would just corner him one day and he wouldn’t argue.”
That was more probable than him securing a family on his own really.
“I always thought it’d be you.” At least until everything had happened and he’d changed.
He snorted. “I have issues.”
“So?”
“Women don’t like issues,” he said with a shrug.
I scoffed. “You fucking kidding me?” Both his eyebrows kicked up at that. “Women love issues. Especially your kind.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“They love that dark, brooding, slightly psychotic demeanor you have going on. The only thing more exciting than a puppy, is a broken puppy that might also eat the neighbors.”
“Slightly?” he asked with another smirk.
“Yeah, alright, completely demented. Whatever. They eat that shit up.”
He shook his head. “Maybe. Doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in anything more. I’ll leave the wife and kids to you.”
I chuckled and shrugged when he stared at me with curiosity. “Keep telling yourself that, Relay. It’s going to hit you upside the head one day.”
“Why the fuck did you just say that?” he growled. “Don’t curse me with that shit.”
“Made me feel better,” I told him. “A lot better, in fact. Thanks, Bro.” I stood up and started heading out of the room. I wanted to find Mom, tell her goodnight, and go call Devyn.
“You never said what the plan was,” Relay pointed out as I walked past.
“Fuck if I know.”
He was quiet for long enough that I almost made it out of the room.
“You should talk to Ruck.”
I paused at the start of the hallway. “Ruck? Why?”
He shrugged. “He’s good with planning shit.”
He was. Our president had impressive skills.
Somehow he managed to maneuver each of us and keep us all happy and alive.
Maybe Relay was right. Ruck could probably give me some good advice on how to handle Devyn.
Not that I wanted to manipulate her. Not at all.
I just wanted to know how to keep from fucking this up.
“Good idea, thanks.” I walked down the hall to find my mom.
There was too much on the line now to wing this.
Too much at stake. This wasn’t just about us.
We had another person to consider and we hardly even knew each other.
We needed to come up with a game plan, and quickly.
But she was mistrusting and scared. And I often put my huge ass foot in my mouth.
It was time to start taking advice from people who knew more about this shit than me.
Mom and Dad would be great for information about relationships. Ruck was perfect for strategic planning. I’d track him down as soon as I could. In the meantime, I planned to stay the course and just keep inserting myself into Devyn’s days, and hopefully nights, as much as possible.
Couldn’t hurt. Right?
Shit. I was screwed.