Page 184 of Wrench
well and I can tell you¡¯re happy.¡± He exhaled a breath he was holding. ¡°So long as you
don¡¯t end up dead or in prison¡¡±
¡°I won¡¯t.¡± I reached out and placed my hand over his. ¡°Hey, at least we¡¯re moving into
a nice little apartment on the top floor. Much harder for anything bad to happen when I
move out with all the extra security.¡±
I watched his face pale. ¡°Why do you have to talk about ¡®bad things¡¯ right before I¡¯m
about to go mingle with them?¡±
¡°They¡¯re the good guys,¡± I corrected. ¡°Seriously. I¡¯ll be safe. Isaac will keep me safe.¡±
¡°He freakin¡¯ better,¡± he said then sighed. ¡°You know that I don¡¯t exactly love you uh¡
hanging around a bunch of bikers.¡±
¡°Yeah, you¡¯ve made that pretty clear.¡±
¡°But you're twenty-eight now. I know as well as anyone that the best way to push
someone away is by trying too hard to pull them closer. I see that look, you never had it
with Travis. You love him and nothing I say would stop you, anyway.¡± Shaking his head,
he mouthed a cuss word before saying, ¡°All right. Let¡¯s get this over with.¡±
Outside there were more bikes than I¡¯d seen parked there before. Isaac told me there
were clubs from other cities coming down, but I had no idea there would be that many.
There was only room for two, maybe three cars that could squeeze in. When we walked
inside, I could tell my dad felt out of place in the sea of leather, wearing his jeans and
faded Diamondbacks t-shirt.
Immediately after entering, Evelyn came rushing to me through a cloud of cigarette
smoke. Friendly and welcoming as always, I was glad she was the first to greet us. If Crow
had been the first, my dad would have another heart attack. ¡°Happy birthday, sweetie!¡±
She gave me a quick, tight hug before pulling away to examine my dad. ¡°Well, you must
be Mister Parks, huh?¡±
¡°Yeah,¡± my dad said, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°Uh, Nick. Nick Parks.¡±
¡°Call me Evelyn,¡± she said. ¡°So, I heard you were single¡?¡±
My dad flushed red. ¡°Uh¡ªyes?¡±
¡°Perfect. I¡¯ve got a friend from Collinstown over who I¡¯d love you to meet¡¡±
Before my dad had a chance to respond, he was getting yanked into the crowd by
