Page 177 of Wrench
let alone a beautiful woman, before that night. She changed my life.¡±
Lightly snoring, Isaac shifted his neck which drew my attention. Smiling, I reached out
and stroked his fingers and mused over the parallels in the room. Evelyn¡¯s burst of
laughter brought me back to her.
¡°Oh, you should have seen her face when I brought Tank back home that night, all
liquored up. Ha! Not so boring now, am I, Nancy?¡± She finished chuckling to herself like
she was still reveling in spite. ¡°Anyway, where were we? Right! That¡¯s what I see in you,
Samantha. Your brains. I¡¯ve seen Isaac almost fall asleep talking to women. None of us
thought he¡¯d find a lady who he¡¯d fight for. But you¡ you¡¯ve got him hooked.¡± She looked
over her shoulder to Tank. ¡°And that¡¯s why I am appalled that they¡¯d treat you the way
they did.¡±
I didn¡¯t know what to say so I looked at my lap with pursed lips.
¡°Samantha, I can¡¯t lie to you. We do live a dangerous life. Every night I worry about
Tank. All the boys, actually. Any of them, any day, could get killed.¡±
¡°Then¡ then why do you do it?¡±
Tank answered for Evelyn. ¡°Loyalty. You haven¡¯t experienced what it¡¯s like to truly feel
like you belong somewhere until you¡¯ve joined a club. If you¡¯re ever in need of anything,
even money, twenty men will have your back. The means of how we do that, you might
not like. But it¡¯s a surreal feeling.¡±
¡°Exactly,¡± Evelyn said. ¡°We don¡¯t do these crimes to hurt people, we do them to protect
ourselves. Each other.¡±
¡°And we do a hell of a lot more to control the drug problem than any cop in Mascid,
that¡¯s for sure,¡± Tank growled. ¡°We do more good than people think. That¡¯s why this
bullshit with the Freeways, them robbing your clinic, making meth in people¡¯s houses
while wearing our colors¡ is almost killing us, some literally. We are getting slandered as
the enemy and we won¡¯t put up with this bullshit.¡±
¡°I see¡¡± I finally said, absorbing their information.
¡°When we met Isaac¡¡± Evelyn said, glancing at him to ensure he was still asleep,
¡°Well, let¡¯s just say that if it weren¡¯t for Tank, I¡¯m not even sure he¡¯d be alive.¡±
Instantly I was brought back to me screaming at him for lying about his history with
