Page 3 of Pirate

Gus smiled too.

Scotty turned to Gus again. “Is it true you’re a pirate?”

Again, Gus had no idea what the kid was talking about. “A pirate?”

Scotty nodded. “Uncle Jumper said you lost your leg but you have a fake leg. That means you’re a pirate!”

Gus looked to Steel and Marshall. He knew his brother went under the road name of ‘Jumper’ here. That was going to take some getting used to. His moniker in the military had been ‘Cap’. Gus had a suspicion why Marshall had changed his nickname but had not yet had the nerve to ask Marshall if his morbid assumption was correct. Road names were important in motorcycle clubs. Gus knew, if he joined, he’d need to get used to calling his brother ‘Jumper’.

Not knowing what else to say or do, Gus lifted his right pant leg enough for the teenager to see the prosthetic. It was a shade of peach skin tone that didn’t quite match his own but looked like a real limb. His fake foot even had toes and toenails. They were fused together like a kid’s doll and he had no control over the individual digits.

Gus had a BKA, or a Below the Knee Amputation. The black cap surgically implanted to his leg sat just below his knee joint. Any prosthetic he used—he had two different ones—attached and detached from his body using that cap.

Scotty’s eyes went wide at the sight of his fake leg. “Wow,” he breathed out in awe. Then he looked up at Gus, “Youarea pirate.” Then his eyes narrowed, so suddenly Gus was taken aback. “Wait, if you’re a pirate, where’s your hat and eyepatch?”

Gus blinked. “Um…”

Scotty didn’t wait for him to answer. “Don’t worry! I’ll get you some! We have some in our Halloween boxes you can use!” Then he quickly ran off, shouting for his Aunt Jenna.

Feeling like he had a case of whiplash, Gus turned to Marshall and Steel. “I’m a bit confused about what just happened.”

To his shock, Steel actually had a trace of a smile on his lips. He clapped Gus on the shoulder as he walked past. “That was the Welcoming Committee. Don’t worry, son. There’s nothing more important to us than family.”

Gus looked to Marshall, eyebrows raised.

Marshall just shrugged. “Told you, you’d fit in just fine. Let’s get some lunch. I’ve got a lot to show you before our meeting in town.”

Not knowing what else to do, Gus followed his brother further into the clubhouse.

CHAPTER 1

Gus “Pirate” Sager glanced over at his older brother in the passenger seat of his sleek blackDodgeCharger cruiser. Anxiety radiated off of Jumper in waves. Aerial, Jumper’s German Shepherd service dog, whined from the back seat. Unfortunately, the Charger was not big enough for Aerial to join them in the front seat, making Pirate wish they’d taken Jumper’s truck instead of his Charger. At least the truck had a bench seat for Aerial to curl up next to Jumper and help calm him.

“Breathe, brother,” Pirate reminded him. Marshall was five years older than Pirate, but Pirate often felt like the caretaker of the two. His big brother had a severe case of PTSD from his times with the teams. Pirate didn’t blame Marshall in the least. If he blamed anyone, it was the Navy and the traitorous bastard who’d led Jumper and his Navy SEAL team into a trap, killing four out of the six teammates.

It had been almost a decade since then, but Jumper only recently showed signs of improvement. Though there was nocurefor PTSD, there were ways to help him. One of the first steps had been getting Jumper a decent therapist, one who sympathized with not only his trauma but also his alcoholand prescription drug abuse. Dr. Rutenberg deserved a medal in Pirate’s opinion. The man was a godsend and was always available to Jumper, day or night. He also went out of his way to get Jumper a service dog, which was how Aerial had come into their lives. Aerial was a former police dog who had been shot in the line of duty and retired at the young age of four. After going through additional training, she got her certification to be a service dog as well. But her former training as a police dog meant that she couldn’t go to just anybody. As soon as Dr. Rutenberg had gotten word of Aerial, he’d worked tirelessly to get her for Jumper.

Having Aerial in his life had given Jumper a sense of security he hadn’t had in a long time. The dog was amazing at sensing Jumper’s emotions and was trained to alert when a panic attack was imminent. She also was the reason Jumper now had Jasmine in his life.

Dr. Jasmine Sharpe, DVM, had been Aerial’s vet for nearly two years before Jumper got his head out of his ass long enough to ask her out. PiratelovedJazz—like a sister. The curvy vet was shy but had a take-no-shit attitude. Best of all, though, she loved Jumper fiercely and was willing to workwithhim and his anxiety rather thanput up withor ignore his struggles. Jazz had such a good heart and his brother was a lucky bastard in Pirate’s opinion. Though the two were engaged and about to be married in two months, Pirate already considered Jasmine a sister and a part of his family.

Unfortunately, Jasmine’s presence in their lives also meant putting up with her trouble with a capital T best friend.

Sophia Groveton.

Pirate ground his jaw together. If he didn’t go to jail for murdering that little minx before Jumper and Jazz said, “I do”, it would be a miracle.

“She’s not answering her phone,” Jumper said suddenly through gritted teeth.

Jumper’s head injury from last August was mostly healed. Other than the occasional headache, all of his most recent scans had come back with positive results and his doctors had very high hopes that Jumper would suffer no lasting effects. Due to the injury, Jumper had been prohibited from driving until the doctors cleared him and then he had to go to the DMV to take a test to get his license unsuspended. Which was why Pirate had accompanied Jumper to Pitts on his day off today.

Jasmine, Sophia, who was Jazz’s maid of honor, Beatrice Groveton, Sophia’s mom, Zoe, who was Sheriff Carlos Santiago’s girlfriend, and Amanda, Jasmine’s receptionist from her animal clinic, were attending Jasmine’s final dress fitting. Pirate knew that Jasmine’s parents lived in Florida and Jasmine had a rocky relationship with them. Mr. and Mrs. Groveton, Sophia’s parents, acted more like parents to Jasmine than her own did. Pirate hadn’t been paying much attention to the details of the outing, but he knew that Jasmine’s mom was attending the fitting via a video call.

It wasn’t often that the lovebirds were apart. Since Jumper was unable to work due to his injury, he went to the vet clinic with Jasmine during the day to lend a hand there. During their first dress shopping excursion, Jumper, Pirate, and some of their club brothers went to Pitts with them but hung out in the city while waiting on the women. It was only Jumper and Pirate today. Jasmine wasn’t traditional in the fact that she cared if Jumper saw her dress before their big day, but she was aiming to surprise him.

“I’m sure she’s fine.”

Jumper and Pirate had been at an indoor golf course across the city when Jumper got a text message from Sophia to get tothe shop. Neither Jumper nor Pirate knew why because neither Sophia nor Jasmine were answering their phones.

---