Page 32 of Knocked Up by Her Daddy's Friends

I’m learning that when Angel is upset his go-to emotion is anger to hide his perceived weakness of feeling sad or afraid.

Buzz answers a little more rationally. “He’s still in surgery to try to reduce the swelling on his brain. They can’t tell us much more than that right now.”

“Gunner, let’s go. I think it’s time we paid the Demon Riders a visit,” Angel growls his blue eyes icy cold and full of hate.

“Too right,” Gunner agrees. He’s always stoic, a man of few words who doesn’t reveal his emotions, but even he seems less collected than normal.

“As much as I agree with you, that’s a suicide mission,” Buzz reasons.

“So they’re supposed to get away with this?” Angel snarls, rounding on Buzz, his fist clenched.

Buzz holds up his hands in surrender as Drifter moves to hold Angel back. “Of course not. We will make them pay, but you’re no good to Brewer or the club going in there, guns blazing, outnumbered and not thinking clearly and getting yourselves killed,” Buzz argues.

“You don’t think we could take on some pussy Demon Riders? Fucking assholes beat on an old man,” Angel bites back, still not ready to back down.

“Come on, Prez, be rational, you know Buzz is right,” Drifter says his voice level as though trying to soothe a wild predator.

“Fucking cowards, the both of you. Brewer’s dying in there and you’re too chicken shit to retaliate,” Angel shouts, his face twisted with rage and pain.

“Fuck you,” Buzz retorts.

Angel breaks loose from Drifter’s grasp and throws a punch that catches Buzz on the jaw which Buzz returns with punches of his own. Drifter jumps in, trying to break it up, and then Gunner joins the foray, all four grappling and swearing at each other.

“Stop it!” I shout but my words fall on deaf ears. “Stop it!” I cry again, moving to push them apart and standing in the middle of them, “You’re acting like children, and this isn’t going to help Brewer! It’s not each other you should be mad at,” I shout furiously at them, not caring that any one of them could hurt me accidentally by getting in the middle of them.

My presence seems to calm them down and they finally stop fighting, all breathing heavily and shooting daggers at each other.

“Angel is right, you need to visit the Demon Riders and put a stop to this,” I say calmly. Angel looks smug that I’ve agreed with him, but I quickly add, “But Buzz is right too. You can’t rush in there without a plan or without knowing if it really is them. But most importantly, you can’t leave Brewer now. You’re right where you should be. Brewer needs you here. The Demon Riders can wait.”

To my surprise, the first to speak is Gunner, “She’s right,” he concedes.

The others nod and mumble their agreement.

“Don’t you dare fight like that again,” I order, still mad at them for their behavior, tears pricking in the corner of my eyes.

Drifter chuckles, hugging me. “Sorry if we scared you. But that was nothing, we’ve had our fair share of arguments in the past.”

“Stupid boys,” I mutter into Drifter’s chest.

This makes them all laugh, despite the situation, breaking the tension.

“Right, so now that you’ve all calmed down maybe we can actually come up with a plan and work out what happened. What do we actually know? Are you certain it was the Demon Riders and not a random burglar?” I say, pulling away from Drifter’s arms and looking between them all, my voice no-nonsense.

I feel that taking their minds off the situation and discussing it is the best way to keep them calm and distracted.

Angel takes a breath, calming himself down before gesturing for us all to sit. We do as instructed, and then he begins to speak. “We don’t have much to go on since Brewer was unconscious and whoever broke in was long gone when he was found. Dotty checks in on him each morning. When she arrived this morning, the door was open and Brewer was lying at the bottom of the stairs,” he explains.

“Were there any witnesses?” I ask.

Angel shakes his head, “None. You’ve seen it out there, there aren’t any neighbors close by. Even Dotty’s place is too far to hear anything.”

“What was taken? What makes you think it was the Demon Riders?” I ask, part of me hoping that this was just some random burglar.

The men share a look, as though silently debating if they should tell me. It seems they decide to since Angel replies. “The usual stuff, valuables that can be easily sold, some cash. But I think the thing they were really there for was also taken. The deeds to his land and his will.”

“Why would they want that?” I say curiously, “Surely if the deeds and will are reported as stolen they’re useless to them?”

Angel shrugs, this time Buzz answers my question. “Yes, but we believe it’s to muddy the waters and make it easier for someone to swoop in and buy the land for cheap off Brewer. We don’t think they ever intended to harm Brewer, instead, the documents could be used to confuse or blackmail him into selling. They didn’t count for the old bastard to be such a tough son of a bitch. When Brewer heard people downstairs, he came down with his shotgun. There was more than one burglar by the looks of things since he managed to get off a shot, potentially injuring one but not fatally, it seems another then jumped him from behind. They got lucky, even in his old age Brewer’s a tough bastard.”

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