Chapter 11
About eleven o’clock, the Pride started arriving. The first was Lazarus, and his family.
Riley and Remi were busy checking their masterpieces and deciding if it was time to pull them off the grill when the back door flung open and Lazarus stepped out onto the back porch.
“I, am here!” he announced, as he struck a pose with a beer in one hand and his fist resting on his hip as he looked off into the sky.
Riley and Remi both looked up at him and laughed.
“Now the fun begins,” Riley said.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Lazarus said. He stepped down off the porch and walked over to the massive barbecue grill. He fist bumped Riley, then held out his hand for Remi to take hold of.
Remi took hold of his hand, then Laz pulled him and bumped shoulders with him.
“How you doing, my friend?” Laz asked.
“I’m good,” Remi said.
“Oh, so you two know each other?” Riley asked.
“Oh, yeah. We buddies,” Lazarus said. “Me and Roman met him at Havoc’s wedding, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s right,” Riley said.
Lazarus glanced back at the door when it opened again and his mate was standing there. “Come out and say hi to Remi, baby,” he called out.
A tall blonde stepped off the porch and walked over to Laz.
“Remi, you remember Alex, don’t you?”
“I do, and I’m glad to see you again. It’s always easier in a new place when you see some familiar faces.”
“It is good to see you again,” Alex said.
“I thought you were waiting for us,” Lucas called out from the back door, as he shouldered the door open and turned sideways to get his big frame through it with the four six packs of the apple flavored soda Remi loved.
“I knew you knew where it was and the Mrs. and the child were anxious to get here,” Lazarus said.
“I have the opposite problem. Kind of. My Mrs. is here, the girls are late, as usual. I left them at home getting ready. They’ll get here when they get here.
” Lucas said, then made a beeline for the set of ice chests Riley kept for when everyone came over so people could grab their drinks from there rather than opening Maia’s fridge non-stop all day.
“I got you four six packs of that apple crap you and Roman like.”
“Thank you, Lucas,” Remi said, walking over to accept one of them as Lucas held it out to him.
“You’re welcome. Laz said he would, but I was going by the store, so I just grabbed them.”
“Does it matter who grabs them, as long as they’re grabbed?” Lazarus asked.
“I got four because I figured Roman is going to help you drink them,” Lucas said.
“I’m going to do what?” Roman asked as he joined them in the backyard.
“Help Remi drink that apple crap,” Lucas said.
“It’s not crap! It’s good stuff,” Roman said. “And Riley, Darcie called and said she can’t get away today. She’s working with a little girl that’s having a hard time fitting in with her foster family.”
“I tell you what, Darcie might be doing the most important work of any of us,” Riley said.
“She’s good at what she does. She lived it, so she knows what they’re facing, what they’re feeling,” Roman said.
“Well, tell her that I said that I’m proud of her and I’m sure that little girl will be just fine because Darcie’s helping her. Tell her I look forward to seeing her whenever she’s got a chance to run home for a day or two.”
“I’ll tell her,” Roman said, taking a long swig of his apple soda. “Damn, that’s good.”
“It really is,” Remi agreed, as he went back over to the barbecue pit to see what Riley was pointing at.
“It supposed to bubble up like that?” Riley asked.
“Yep. It’s getting sticky. That’s what you want it to do,” Remi said.
“Ohhh, yeah. That sticky part that sticks to your fingers when you bite into a rib…. can’t wait. I might even send a picture to Kaid with no comment at all,” Riley said.
“He’ll know. He’ll know exactly what you’re saying,” Remi said with a chuckle.
“So, I’m seeing that y’all been bonding already,” Riley said, turning his back to his grill as he looked at his Pride members.
“Yep. We’ve been porch sitting in the evening when it’s late,” Roman admitted.
“I wasn’t invited to porch sit,” Riley said.
“Come over anytime you want. It’s usually after their run, they stop by and I’m sitting there, just watching life go by,” Remi said.
Riley looked at Remi, his eyes narrowed. “I know what you’re watching.”
“I am. But I’m also just sitting on my porch, unwinding, letting go of some stress, and getting to know my neighbors. But yeah, I’m watching over my mate. Wouldn’t you?” Remi asked.
“Yeah, I would. But don’t make me have to become the part of me that nobody likes,” Riley said.
“I wouldn’t have asked for sanctuary if I planned to do that,” Remi said.
“And we’d have already taken care of it if we thought that was an issue,” Lucas said seriously.
The screen door opened and Amanda came outside.
“Hey, baby! You remember Remi from that wedding we went to in Louisiana?” Lazarus asked.
“I do,” Amanda said, coming into the yard to join her father. “Hi, Mr. Remi.”
“Oh, my goodness. Please. Just Remi,” Remi said. “Mister makes me sound so old.”
“You are old,” Lucas said.
They all laughed, even Amanda. “Mom said do you want a deviled egg?” Amanda said.
“Oh, Lord, yes. She finally took the cover off those things?” Laz asked.
“She did. We can have one now,” Amanda said. She looked over at Remi. “She won’t ever let us sneak one when she’s making them to bring over for family gatherings. So we have to wait until she finally takes the top off over here.”
“Come on, let’s snag one or two,” Laz said, escorting his daughter with his hand between her shoulder blades.
They paused at the back door as Scotty came outside surrounded by three already arguing little boys.
“Uncle Laz!” they all three shouted almost in unison.
“There they are!” Lazarus yelled and proceeded pick them up and drop them over his back and onto one another, where they started fighting again.
“I will come out there and spank each one of you! Get yourselves under control. We are not at home anymore!” Candy shouted at them as they took off at a run the moment their feet hit the grass.
Remi looked at Roman with his eyebrows raised.
Roman started laughing. “She means the kids, not us. She’s their mom.”
“Poor lady,” Lucas said.
“Hey! I resent that,” Scotty said.
“They listen to her better than you,” Riley said.
“They’re just being boys,” Scotty said.
“Let me ask you something,” Riley said, “honestly, aren’t you glad she’s a little scary so she can be the bad guy with them?”
Scotty looked around to make sure Candy had gone inside with Laz and Amanda. “Oh, yeah. I much prefer being the fun parent. But they get in line when I let them know I’ve been pushed too far, too.”
“I know, we’re just ragging on you,” Riley said. He pointed to Remi. “Scotty, this is Remi. Remi, this is Scotty. Scotty is Travis’s brother, and a Pride member. His wife is Candy. She’s human and was adopted by Lazarus.”
Scotty smiled at Remi and shook his hand. “Hey, Remi. Welcome. Glad you’ve joined us.”
“Thank you, Scotty.”
“They are Dillon, Easton, and Evan. Dillon’s the oldest, Evan is the youngest. And while they’re wild I’ll admit, they are good kids and just love rough and tumble.”
“I’m pleased to meet all of you.”
“That woman that was just yelling at them, Candy, is my wife and mate. I gladly let her wear the pants in the family. I just run with the kids and when she says stop, I stop, too,” Scotty said with a good natured grin.
Scotty was a very nice, down to Earth male, and Remi liked him right away.
“You brought them all, didn’t you?” a deep voice said as its owner made his way down the steps.
“Travis! Glad to see you made it,” Riley said.
“Yes, I brought them all. They’re your nephews, you’re supposed to love them,” Scotty said indignantly.
Travis chuckled. “Good. I’ll need somebody to wrestle with later. They like to triple team me.” He looked over toward Remi and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Travis. You must be Remi.”
“I am. I’ve heard a lot about you. Thank you for your service,” Remi said.
“It was an honor to serve,” Travis said.
“Honey?” Libby called from the back door. “Do you want a drink?”
“No, thank you. I’ll just grab something out here,” Travis said. Then he pointed at Remi. “This is Remi,” he said.
Libby smiled and waved to Remi. “Hi, Remi. I’m Libby.”
“Hey, Libby. It’s good to meet you,” Remi said.
“We’ll get a chance to chat later,” Libby said.
“Looking forward to it,” Remi said.
“I’m gonna take these ribs in and let ‘em rest,” Riley said, using a huge barbecue fork to remove them from the grill and put them in one of the over sized roasters. Almost as soon as Riley headed inside, a group of young men came out with Cristie on their heels.
“I don’t care! You’re wrong! You wrong, you wrong, you wrong…
” Sebastian sang at the top of his lungs to the rhythm of a popular song, resorting to putting his fingers in his ears and raising his voice to a deafening level in an attempt to drown out his sister — Cristie — who followed him out through the back door, as he tried to get away from her.
Two more males that looked to be about Sebastian’s age squeezed around Cristie — who was yelling at Sebastian — to catch up to Sebastian.
“Excuse us,” a male that looked a lot like Richie said, nudging her just enough to the side to ease past.
“You’re just as bad as him!” Cristie accused.
“I am not as bad as Sebastian,” the male said as he slipped past her.
“Sorry, Cristie,” a younger version of Roman said as he waited for her to step aside to go join his friends.
“It’s not your fault, Cruz, they’re asses,” Cristie snapped.
Sebastian watched as Cristie turned around and stomped back into the house, then he circled around and came up to Remi, performing some complex handshake that only Sebastian fully understood. “What’s up, what’s up?! It’s me, Bastian, remember?” he asked excitedly.
“Of course, I remember you. How you doing, Bastian?”