Page 15 of My Three S**y Bikers

Steel smiled as he put his comb in his back pocket. Then he walked out, not waiting for Randy to join him.

Randy seemed to be lost as he couldn’t look at me or Dad as he headed out, too.

Dad and I stood frozen as we processed everything that had just happened.

“We have four weeks to get out.”

I repeated the words we’d heard, just to break the fucking silence.

Dad shook his head. “Over my dead body. I smell a rat, and it has Steel’s name all over it.”

I nodded, but I didn’t want to spend more time with Dad than I had to. He’d lied about the land being given to him, because he was a former Devil’s Legacy. I had enough lies for tonight, and I couldn’t deal with Dad’s excuse, so like Randy and Steel, I left.

Dad didn’t say a word, but I heard him sniffling, no doubt for the loss of the old man. They’d been close, but I couldn’t deal with that. I would find somewhere to sleep tonight, even if it was at the back of my car.

* * *

I’d sleptat the local motel. I couldn’t face going to the house, to see either Dad or Mel. I thought for some reason Dad wouldn’t be here working because he’d be trying to sort out his fucking mess.

“No!” I replied a little too quickly, and then I picked up a spanner even though I hadn’t put on my overalls. I just felt like getting straight to work. “Business is down, so I need to figure out ways to make it better.”

He chuckled. “Son, don’t bullshit a bullshitter. Put the spanner down, and let’s talk.”

I was going to tell him I didn’t feel like talking until he waved a couple of bottles of beer in my face, even if it was a little early in the day. I could do with a drink. I had the thirst of a lion. He didn’t need to ask me twice as I grabbed a bottle and dumped the spanner on the side.

I hated him for luring me into this type of situation. We didn’t express our feelings. We talked about bikes, women, sports and the business.

That was the way I liked it, and he did, too. I didn’t know what had hit him on the head that he’d become Mr. Sensitive.

“I know what you’re going to say…” He motioned for me to sit in the office opposite him.

“When did I get so sensitive?”

He shut the door, in case anyone heard the conversation. “I remember the day I met your mother. Sometimes, it feels like only yesterday.”

He reminisced about the past while I sipped on my beer, thinking I’d heard this conversation one too many times, but only after Nan had told me the truth when things got really bad with Ken.

“Honestly, Dad, I don’t give a fuck. I didn’t give up on being a doctor to come listen to you pining about Mom.”

Especially now that she’s dead!

I did want to hear their one night meant something to him, but I knew it couldn’t take away the pain buried so deep inside of me.

Nothing could.

Sometimes, I hated Mom for dying.

Sometimes, him for not fighting for her.

Sometimes, myself. I drank as if the beer could take my pain away.

“She told me that she was with another after we’d already done it.”

He meant he fucked her, but somehow, saying it about Mom probably made it vulgar to him.

“Well, Melinda and I were a thing. Then two minutes later, she went and hooked up with another guy. Then had a baby for him. Do you know how much that hurts?”

I jumped up in search of another beer. I really needed to check my drinking, but not today.

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