Page 25 of Rattler
I rolled my eyes.“He was taking it easy.Trust me, some of his jokes would make a dead guy groan.”
She laughed, and I reached over to pet Scrapper who had claimed his spot on her lap.
Looking down, Lily traced the tattoo of a rattlesnake that wound around my forearm and ended with the head on my hand.Its mouth was wide open showing the fangs as if it were about to strike.“Is this a rattlesnake?”
“It is.See those two dots in front of it?”
She nodded, moving her finger to that spot.
“Those are where I got bit by a rattler.Damn near died that time.Those fucking things hurt like hell, and that’s before the poison starts to work on you.”
She stared up at me, eyes wide.“Is that why they call you Rattler?”
I nodded.“Yeah.We were doing practice maneuvers at a base near here when I first enlisted.We were crawling through the underbrush so the enemy group didn’t see us.Ace was ahead of me and he disturbed a rattler.He didn’t see it, but it was poised to strike the back of his neck.I jumped up and grabbed it, so it bit me instead.Luckily we had a medic in the group and he carried the antivenom in his kit, so I got a shot right away.Still not a fucking walk in the park, but I lived.”
“Wow!”She traced the outline of the snake.“You saved his life.Is that why he made you his Vice President?”
“Nah.He’s saved mine just as many times as I’ve saved his.We’re a team -- like a family, only better than a lot of them.We look out for each other without expecting anything in return.It’s what we do.”
She blinked away the moisture that flashed in her eyes.“I can see why Jack wanted to come here.”
I turned and wrapped my arms around her, careful not to disturb the sleeping kitty on her lap.“He was a great guy.He would have been welcome.”
Someone pounded on the door, breaking the spell.Beast’s voice echoed through the solid wood.“Pizza’s here!Come and get it before it’s all gone.”
Chapter Six
Lily
The impromptu pizza party was amazing.Instead of being upset or trying to decide who to blame for the kitchen fan fiasco, everyone was laughing and joking.Boxes of pizza were laid out on the picnic tables, and the coolers overflowed with drinks.Ace, the President of the Riptide MC, stood and held up his hands for silence.
When he had everyone’s attention, he shook his head.“I’m not sure what happened, or why the fucking fan came crashing down, but I just wanted to say this.”He paused to make eye contact with his brothers.“Next time you want a pizza party, just ask.Damn fans are expensive!”
The group howled with laughter.I looked up at Rattler.“He’s not mad?”
Rattler shrugged.“Why should he be?No one got badly hurt.It’s just a piece of equipment.Replaceable.And we’ve been talking about giving the kitchen a new coat of paint for over a year.Guess it’s finally going to happen.We told Mom to pick out a paint color.”
“Nobody’s in trouble?And we get to have pizza every night until it’s fixed?”I’d just spent years living with a guy who got mad over everything or nothing.Something like this would have caused a major blowup.I was having trouble wrapping my head around this reaction.The take-it-in-stride attitude of these guys was going to take a bit of getting used to.
Rattler took a bite out of the slice in his hand before he answered.“I’m okay with that.As long as they don’t put those damn mini fish on them.Fish do not belong on pizza.”
“You mean anchovies?”
He nodded.“Yeah.Those crappy little bits of fish.Probably some new-age guy in LA thought that one up.Next thing you know they’ll have vegan pizza.Tasteless crust with grass on it.”
I almost choked on my piece of Hawaiian pizza as I struggled not to laugh and spew it all over.“They had fish on flatbread way back in ancient Rome.I don’t think some guy in modern L.A.invented it.”
“But I got you to laugh, didn’t I?”His eyes twinkled with mirth.
I wrinkled my nose.“You did.Does that mean you actually like anchovies?”
He gave me a look of mock horror.“Fuck no!Can’t stand the little bastards.”
“We could pick them off the pizza and feed them to Scrapper,” I suggested.
“Or we could just buy Scrapper a can of tuna.Then we wouldn’t have to touch the slimy little things at all.”
“Right.Note to self.No anchovies.Ever.”I pretended to scribble a note on my hand.“Anything else I should know?Maybe you have a thing about chicken?Pineapple?Vegetables?”
