38. Melody
MELODY
Packing my things is a bittersweet feeling.
It doesn’t make me regret my decision. I’ll never do that.
I’m glad to be with my guys, but this is the house I grew up in.
There’s a little wooden frame in the backyard from when we tried growing tomatoes.
There are markings on the kitchen wall for my height on every birthday until the year Mom died.
It wasn’t the biggest or fanciest house, but it was ours.
“You holding up okay?” Rebel asks.
I nod. “I’m fine. I knew I would have to do this eventually, and it’s not like I was living here anyway. I never wanted to choose, but Dad made his choice when he picked the Brigade over me. I just didn’t expect his way of telling me was to evict me.”
It was a shock when, a month after everything, I got a call from my father informing me that I had to get my shit out of the house or he’d have it hauled off with everything else when he put the place on the market.
Not an ‘I love you’, or even an ‘I wish things had been different’.
Maybe saying I’m fine is a lie, but I have a support network now, so I’m getting there.
I’m not packing very much. The furniture doesn’t mean anything to me, but I had a lot of clothes in the house still, and things like pictures and our favorite Christmas ornaments would hurt to lose.
I open the box with the ornaments and find the little motorcycle that we always put up for Dad. The light on the front hasn’t worked in years, but the wheels still spin. I put it back in the box to bring with me. I wonder if he has anything of mine to remember me by.
Riptide puts his arms around me from behind and rests his chin on my head. “In his own fucked up way, he’s doing this for your own good. Maybe he’s just being an asshole, but if it were me, I’d do it to keep you safe.”
“How? How is kicking me out of the only home I’ve ever had for my own good?”
“You chose us over him, but so long as you’re his daughter and not under his control, you’re a risk.
He needs to cut you out of his life as cleanly as possible so you aren’t used against him,” Mad Dog explains.
“The Devil’s Brigade is in a delicate situation right now.
Not only are they under new leadership, but the change was paid in blood.
He has to secure his place and prove he can hold it.
Any connection to you means a connection to us and people could question if he’s really standing on his own two feet. ”
“Right.”
It feels like losing a second parent. Dad might not have been around all the time, but he was still a constant in my life.
After Mom died, we actually spent more time together, and I’m going to miss it.
Miss his beer in my fridge and miss knowing there would be pizza on the table if I saw his bike in the carport when I came home from work.
Rebel plucks the ornament box from my hands and puts it down. He cups my chin and lifts my face up so he can kiss me. It’s a soft kiss, more for comfort than sex, but the slide of his tongue against mine is a lot more than comforting.
“Is this the right time to surprise her?” Mad Dog asks.
“Surprise me with what?” I pause. “Wait, a good surprise, right?”
He laughs. “Yeah, baby. A good one.”
“Okay, then it’s definitely the right time. Give me something fun to think about.” I wiggle out from between Rebel and Riptide to go stand in front of Mad Dog.
He flicks me on the nose. “Brat.”
“You brought it up! You can’t take it back now.”
“Fine. We put in a request for one of the apartments over the bar, and we just found out there’s one available next month if we want it. It’s only two bedrooms, nothing huge, but—”
“For us? Like all of us?”
Rebel nods. “Of course, if that’s what you want, but we asked about it for you.
We can still keep our quarters, or at least a couple of them so we have the space if we need it, but we knew you would want a place of your own.
When we found out your dad was selling the house we wanted to give you an option that wasn’t just crashing in our rooms. It’s right over the Eagles’ Roost, so easy to get to work. ”
“It’s perfect,” I whisper. “Thank you.”
Sometimes I can’t believe that this is my life now.
That going to one motorcycle rally has changed so much.
I went from being so lonely out here in the middle of nowhere, with my dead-end job and no family, to being surrounded by so much support that I don’t know what to do with it sometimes.
I’m still getting used to having people around who actually want to help me.
Last week, Rory and Sandra were even helping me look at career options. I don’t know if college is something I want to do, but now I feel like maybe I could and I have the breathing room to think about it.
“You can probably get some of the girls to help you decorate,” Mad Dog suggests. “They love that shit. Are you crying?”
I nod and wipe away a tear. It’s a good thing. It’s an amazing thing. “You guys… This might be one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.”
“We love you. Of course we’re going to do nice fucking things.” Mad Dog pulls me into a hug. He pats my back like he’s not quite sure how to comfort me for happy tears.
“You what?” I whisper.
Rebel smiles. “Just because we don’t always say it doesn’t mean we don’t mean it.”
“Too soon?” Riptide asks.
“No, never too soon. I—I’m falling in love with you, too. I just wasn’t sure if I should say it,” I admit.
“Never too soon,” Mad Dog says with a grin. “Are you packed up? I think we should celebrate.”
“Yeah, I think I have pretty much everything now.”
Homes with people living in them feel alive in a way that empty ones don’t. There’s nothing about this place that feels like the house I shared with Mom anymore. The heart stopped beating. I’ve taken a lot of pictures, and I have all the things that mean anything right here.
The three of them.
“It’s a long drive home,” Riptide points out.
“Yup, we should probably get on the road soon.” I’m driving my car back. As much as I like riding on the back of their motorcycles, I waited a lot of tables to buy my little piece of junk, and I’m not ready to give up the freedom it brings.
His grin is pure sexy menace. “I was thinking more along the lines of this is the last chance you have to fool around in your childhood room.”
“No…”
Mad Dog cocks his head. “He’s got a point.”
“No…?”
Rebel raises an eyebrow.
I grin. Without saying a word, I spin on my heel and sprint to the back of the house. Three sets of booted feet pound the floor behind me. An arm goes around my waist, scooping me up and carrying me the rest of the way. I burst out laughing as I’m tossed on the bed and bounce.
Riptide is on me in a flash. He slides his fingers into my hair and kisses me hard. I moan into his mouth, and someone starts tugging on my jeans. If Dad could see me now—no. Ew.
I rip my mouth away with a gasp. “Does anyone have a condom?”
“Who do you think we are?” Rebel asks.
Right. I hooked up with the sexual health Boy Scouts.
“Then what are you waiting for?”