Page 93 of Benga's Rise
“I don’t have enough for two at least?”
Banks looks confused. “You have enough for a fucking fleet. The Club has enough for one right now.” Fucking grandparents and stock shit.
Cort’s back to happy. “I want six.”
“Cort, do four and let’s see if we have a use for six at a time. Major has two so you’d have six if they’re needed.” I don’t know what the fuck we’d do with four, but it’s better than six.
He nods. “Four for right now. I want military choppers. Blackhawks and shit with all the guns and we need crews for them. There are training centers like here. We could even become one.” Jesus fucking shit. Now we’re chopper training?
Falcon and Hade are watching me with big fucking smiles, I shoot them a bird and let Cort know I heard the new crazy for today. “Roger, Pres, I’ll get the information.”
“I can help, Boss, I’m pretty good with choppers, gear and on boards.” Mounty has to encourage this.
“I will too. I never bought a chopper. This will be better than negotiating with Ducati.” Now fucking Banks is excited. Jesus.
Cort looks at me “See, this is good, this is progress.” That politician smile sets me off.
I stand up. “If you give me a quote about happy in the moment, I’m fucking shooting you, so I’ll be happy in the moment while you bounce for four fucking minutes.”
Everyone freezes. Cort smiles. “Lorelei is good for you. I was going to say I want to expand and the choppers will help and can give us an easier path. You got a problem with an easier path?”
I sit. “No, Pres, I just wish it meant that mine was. I meant no disrespect.” Now we’re expanding again with choppers, more area, Brothers and chopper training.
Everyone is laughing. Fucking Brothers.
~*~
I ride to the lot seeing Cort, Web and an Enforcer team already here. Web is still lost. I hand him the orange juice I stopped for, he takes a drink and I give him the sandwich and bag of trail mix. He eats the trail mix while looking around.
This is a nice sized lot on the opposite side of the office grounds from me. Paul pulls up in his truck and gets out with plans in his hand. “Pres, Brothers.”
We acknowledge and Cort points to the plans. Paul rolls them out on the hood of his truck so we gather around. “Fuck, that looks nice, Brother,” Cort says leaning closer.
I step to the side letting Web stand beside Paul. He flips a page showing the first floor. “So, master is here on the first floor. Grand room is open with the high ceiling. Stairs here are on the side and lead to the open room at the center, with four bedrooms against the back of the house. They have jack and jill bathrooms between them. The same set up here.” He flips a page. “This is the first floor behind the kitchen. The fifth bedroom has its own bathroom. The office abuts it on the side of the grand room, but I didn’t want a shared bathroom with an open-to-guest room. There are two bathrooms here off the kitchen and off the grand room.
“The garage is off to the side here, but opens to the pantry and kitchen.” He flips another page and I smile. “The back has the infinity pool from the deck in between the first and second floor. I would have more, but I was running out of time.”
I laugh. “This is amazing, Brother. What do you think, Web?”
Web looks up surprised. “This is huge, Boss. The pool in between floors is good while Caelan is young.”
Cort smiles. “It’s not for me, Brother. At some point, you’re going to want to live in more than one room. A real house that feels like a home. A family home, Brother.”
Web takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. I turn Paul and walk when I see the tear. We get to the other side of the lot and Paul asks. “The IT kids are his family? I thought this was for Pres. He said it’s personal.”
“It’s for Web and his family. It is personal to Cort, Web’s his family too.”
Paul nods. “That’s a nice thing to do. They’ll love it. They love the pool in the activity center.”
I nod. Cort and Web are walking around the outside. Web is animated and Cort is smiling. It’s a good day. The walking zombie thing worried me. When they meet up with us, Cort tells Paul to see Web for changes or anything he wants to add.
We watch them walk back to the truck and look at the pages again. “He’s moving again.”
“Yeah. I told him if they aren’t clear, I’d put a wall around the whole property with a gate from the office side. They’d still be able to move and live in a house alone like a real family.”
I shake my head walking back. “You’re a good Brother, Cort Masters.”
“I didn’t realize how limited even Web was until we got the call. The Brother never leaves work because he lives there. He doesn’t go anywhere, but occasional meals with us and rarely rides unless we are. He probably hasn’t seen a store besides the Cowboy’s in years. He needs a home, not another institution like the orphanage he lived in. This can be his home. If they’re clear, it’s open, if not, I’ll surround them in block and surveillance. It’s big enough they won’t feel like it’s a prison.”
