Page 110 of Moonshine Lullabies

“Says the guy without an actual day job,” Bennie said, his shoulders shaking.

“I don’t know what the fuck you talkin’ about, boy – my full-time job is getting this fuckin’ distillery going so we canallhave jobs if we want to.”

“Fuck yeah,” Louie said. “I fuckin’ hate my job.”

“I know that’s right,” Saint declared.

“Alright, let’s get the fuck out of here,” La Croix declared.

We adjourned, made an offering to the Baron by shot of our drink of choice and leaving a shot of rum for him untouched on the alter in the corner on the way out. I didn’t know shit about fuck when it came to actual voodoo, just that our club logo was the Baron Samedi and one of their Loa, or gods.

“Let’s go the fuck home,” Cy muttered, and I nodded. With as much as those pricks were talking mad shit about Cy and our family at home, I was feeling uneasy.

The ride home was uneventful, everything there looked in place when we rode through the gate. We parked around back and went in the back door whichhadgotten replaced and reinforced like a motherfucker.

Jess had locked the doors and Cy and I nodded about that. We were both happy with her, but I was silently upset about it too. Not that she had locked the door, but that she felt like she had to in an area where people still didn’t…

“Well, that went about the way I thought it was gonna go,” Cypress said, handing me a beer. I twisted off the cap and nodded.

“Ah, yup,” I said.

“Tell me about this dragon road thing,” he said.

“It’s a trip, man. I fuckin’ love it. I wanna take Jess with me up that ‘a way anyway to meet my papaw and take her to this place where she can go nuts over the rocks and get a bunch for her skulls or whatever.”

“Cheap?” he asked.

“Stupid cheap,” I confirmed.

“Think it’d be good for Tate to go?” he asked.

“Hell, yeah! There’s a shit ton of stuff for him, too. Got cabins up there in Gatlinburg, go tubing and float down the fuckin’ river. I think we need it. We all been workin’ hard and keep forgettin’ to play hard too.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Let’s come up with a plan and have it by next church. Figure out then when we can do it.”

“Sounds good,” he agreed.

We both sighed and took a drink of our beers in unison and almost had foam come out our fuckin’ noses.

“We been hangin’ around each other too damn much,” he declared and I nodded.

“Fuck, you got that right,” I said.

“I’m wondering if I should start stayin’ at La Croix’s old place instead of here,” he said after a minute.

I shook my head. “Won’t really make a difference,” I said. “They got a hard-on for Jess, and I’d still be here. All it’d do is take us down a man to defend this place.”

He nodded and looking bleak, he said, “You’re right.”

“I’m sorry, man. I wish I wasn’t,” I said. He nodded.

We finished our beers in silence and finally I got up as he drained his and held a hand out for his bottle. He handed it over and I took it into the kitchen to throw them in the recycling.

“Alright, man, goodnight,” he declared.

I nodded and said, “Goodnight, brother.”

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