Page 80 of Whiskey Shivers

“You, okay?”

“What?” I looked up from the absolutevatof greens I was stirring over the hot stove the pot so big and tall I had to stand on a stupid stepladder to keep it going under the watchful eye of Miss Mary Thurgood. She was running this kitchen with military precision andno onedared to question her authority. Heck, evenIwas scared of her and I couldn’t begin to tell you why! She was an iron lady born of the bayou and, I guess, knew how to feed a small army of people good food, quick and thus she was in charge of getting the cooking done for today’s hungry horde of riders.

Hex was staring at me, and I blinked at him before finally catching up to the fact that he’d just asked me if I was alright.

“Oh! Yeah, just a little frazzled,” I said.

“Well, you best unfuck yourself, baby, ‘cause these fellers ain’t gon’ wait on you forever,” a woman near me said, and she held her hand out for the giant long-handled wooden spoon I’d been turning in the giant pot. I stepped down and held my hands out in anafter youmotion and she took my place.

Hex took me gently by the elbow and led me out of the kitchen and into the club and asked me again, “Are you okay?”

I grimaced and said, “Honestly, I’m overwhelmed and what’s going on with you has me really upset and… I don’t know.”

He sighed and took me into his arms and held me tight and that? That just seemed to somehow make everything okay. Like… it grounded me like no other thing ever hand.

“Hey, don’t you worry about any of that,” he said.

“But Iamworried. It’s like they figured out we’re a thing and they can’t do anything to me directly because of the lawsuit, so they’re targetingyou.”

“Fuck ‘em,” he said with a shrug and I sighed, resting my forehead against his chest while the guilt swirled in my chest.

He’d been pulled into the office the last day before winter break and had been told that he was under review and that it’d come to light he was a member of the Voodoo Bastards and with the club’s history of legal complications it was being decided on whether he would be able to remain and I quote here – “a part of the Lakeside family.”

When he’d said those words, my mouth flooded with the metallic tang ofI’m going to puke.

It’d been a shock to the system and didn’t seem to matter one wit that we’d put in all of this work and effort to the benefit of the school – a benefit they were contradictorily willing to take with all kinds of surface and very public gratitude, but oh, no, no! Hex wouldn’t be able to continue as a custodian there. Not if he remained a member of the club.

“Gods above and below,” I muttered. “Just make it make sense.”

Hex chuckled and took me by my shoulders and held me at half an arm’s length.

“People in power are like this, babe. Do as I say not as I do. What’s good for one ain’t for the other. This type of corrupt bullshit is a tale as old as fuckin’ time. You’re going to either kill ‘em in court or get yourself a fat settlement and they gotta have their pound of flesh and pint of blood. They’re just too fuckin’ stupid to realize they’re just cuttin’ off their own nose despite their face.”

I sighed and looked up at him and felt my shoulders slump as I said, “I feel like I’m a walking poison and that I’m ruining your life sometimes.”

His face grew more serious than I think I’d ever seen it and he shook his head.

“Don’t you ever say something like that again,” he said, and his tone was as deadly serious as I’d ever heard it.

I scraped my top lip between my teeth and nodded and said, “Well I hope you’re right. I hope I take them to the cleaners and I hope it hurts, and I swear to the God and Goddess, if theydofire you; I quit. Because fuck that noise. I am so sick of these people and places standing there like they’re some paragon of fucking virtue when they do things so wrong headed and intentionally awful – no,spitefuland they expect us to be the responsible ones under all this pressure for these kids when they’re acting like- like – like a bunch of mean girls!” I sputtered the last with my increased agitation at the situation and then put on a mock whining voice and said for emphasis, “You can’t sit with us!”

Hex’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter and finally he just pulled me to him and hugged me tight, saying, “Come ride with me. They got this, let’s put our knees in the breeze take the wind therapy, and enjoy the day because—”

“Fuck ‘em,” I said, voice muffled by his leather sleeve as I burrowed into his arms.

“Exactly! Now you’re gettin’ it, Fable.”

I rested my chin on his chest as the club and kitchen and kids volunteering scurried about to making things ready and said, “You’re so smart.”

He smacked a kiss to my forehead and winked at me. “Nah, I just figured out when and what I needed to just chuck it in the ‘fuck it’ bucket and move on. You’ll get there.”

I grinned like a loon. “Chuck it in the ‘fuck it’ bucket. I like that – but also, language. I know these kids know it and have heard and said it all but let’s try and lead by example.”

“Oh, okay, Ms. ‘Fuck that noise, fucking paragon of virtue, fuck ‘em McGee.”

I laughed at that; I mean, he had me there. I’d let myself get worked up enough that I’d maybe let fly just a little too casually but hey, I think I’d earned a few f-bombs with the stress of the last few days.

He hooked an arm over my shoulders and guided me over toward the office, taking out his keys and unlocking it. My coat and riding gear was in here with a bunch of the other things in the club we didn’t want or need lying around – like the booze from the bar which was now being set up as a serving line.

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