Page 60 of Her Brother's Keeper

Still, where Lucky and Moira were concerned? The dude was dense as fuck and wouldn’t make ‘em official which was total bullshit. I always thought Moira deserved better than that. It was a weird dynamic, those two. Of course, who was I to judge? Like Rush pointed out, I was the thirty-six-year-old perv with a seventeen-year-old girl. Even if she didn’t feel seventeen in my head, or even when I was with her, it was still there. She was above the age of consent, sure, but I was smack in the middle of the fucking Bible belt. Consent would be inconsequential to a bunch of these motherfuckers out here. Just sayin’.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me sometimes, or if I said it never occurred to me, Maren’s age. Sometimes it didn’t, but then, sometimes, like tonight, when she freaked out so heartily over the loss of her fuckin’ minimum wage job at the fuckin’ corporate ninth circle of hell, well… then I was reminded and reminded hard that she was still brand fuckin’ new to this life shit. She should probably still be writing in her diary about her latest crush and not being a parent to her snot-nosed little brother, or worrying about how she’s going to pay the fuckin’ electric bill.Or hooking herself up to a dude old enough to be her father. Right, you damn prick?

I shoved the voice of self-deprecation away and instead thought to myself how her situation was so damntragic. All I wanted to do was fix it… but it wasn’t my job to fix it for her all the time. That’s how we landed in this mess with a bunch of millennial fuckin’ whackjob kiddies in the first place. Mommy and Daddy doin’ everything for them and not letting them do for themselves.

That wasn’t my goal as Maren’s boyfriend. My goal was to be there when she fell to help her back up, sure, but she had plenty of this shit to do on her own. I could encourage, I could love her, but I couldn’t do itforher, as much as I wanted to. The girl had just plain been through enough and she couldn’t do itallby herself. Assists were needed…

“Hey, Nox.”

I turned around and lifted my chin, “What’s up?”

Dragon, who I’d last seen in the club’s barroom, didn’t say anything right away, but finally, he came out with “Be careful, it’s icy.”

“Yeah, sure, P; no problem.”

That was weird,I thought to myself, as I shrugged into my jacket and cut, and picked up my helmet off the edge of my dresser. Dragon had come all the way back here to my room in the outbuilding, just to tell me to be careful? I mean he was a good dude and an even better President, but he’d never done that before.

I didn’t know if it was more of a silent comment or judgment on myself and Maren, the age difference, or what. For the most part, I could ignore the looks of concern, but every once in a while, like with what just happened now, my brothers made it hard to ignore. I found my president smoking a cigarette under the eaves of the main club building, outside its back door. I set my helmet aside on one of the picnic tables and leaned a shoulder against one of the posts supporting the little slant of the roof to keep the weather off the back stoop.

“Got something you wanna say, D?” the conversation had taken a turn I didn’t like, to be sure. I dropped the honorific of ‘P’ and went with ‘D’ instead. It was bordering on disrespect but wasn’t quite over the line. I needed the outlet, though, and I think my president could sense that because he didn’t call me on my bullshit.

Instead, he sighed, and blew smoke into the night, “She’s a looker, Nox. Ain’t no one denyin’ that, but yer playin' with fire an’ it’s more ‘n just a lil bit here, isn’t it? Just be careful, right?”

“Just a few more weeks,” I muttered.

“Ain’t gonna change us worryin’ about you none. Not ‘til the statute of limitations runs out. You know how it goes.”

“Not really sure I take your meaning, D. You tryin’ to say I’m breaking club guidelines on the jailbait clause? ‘Cause I ain’t. I know our by-laws just as ready as the next dude and its fuckin’ bullshit the way everyone walks around here with accusations of shit that ain’t happening in their eyes.”

“No one is sayin’ you’re breakin’ club doctrine –”

“Really? Because it sure as fuck sounds like that’sexactlywhat’s goin’ on here. Not only from you but from my own fuckin’ twin. I wouldnever, Ihavenever. Maren and me, we’ve kissed a couple of times, but that’s it, D. Not that I really have to fuckin’ explain myself to any of you on that.” I shook my head, “Jesus Christ, I’m getting tired of the side-eyed looks around here.”

“Can you blame us for being worried?” he asked simply and took another drag, I sighed out harshly and raked a hand back through my hair.

“I can’t,” I said. “Still would be nice to feel like y’all had a little more faith in me than what you do, though.”

Dragon chuckled, “Is that what you think? That we ain’t got any faith in you?” I stared my President down and he shook his head ruefully and said, “Nox, if we didn’t we wouldn’t be keeping our mouths shut.”

I arched an eyebrow and asked, “And this is what this is? Keeping your mouth shut?” Dragon gave me a flat look, bordering on unfriendly, but not quite there yet.

“You’re really done in by this girl, eh?”

“She’s mine,” I stated flatly.

“Ever done that before? Declared someone your property?”

“Nope always hoped someone would come along, but no one did, not until Maren. I’d lay down my life for her without a second thought.”

“That’s what we’re worried about, Nox. Might not be her that asks it of you, you see what I’m sayin’? There are other ways to give up your life other than just dyin’. You know that, though, don’t ya?”

“Yeah, I know. Blue almost did it, and Cell, for this club.”

“Yeah, yeah they did. You’re straight telling me she’s worth risking it all?”

“D, if she weren’t worth risking everything for, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” I said tiredly. “Now if you don’t mind, Maren is out there, she’s scared, she’s tired of being run through the mill, and she needs me right now. I know her, she wouldn’t ask if she really didn’t need me. She’s made of some pretty tough stuff. You should try and get to know her a little bit more past the fresh face.”

Dragon looked thoughtful, “I reckon I should.”

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