“I think that’s because I’ve seen in my brother.”
“How so?”
“When he joined the club, and maybe even before that, Scott always had a bit of the two-sided coin thing going on. He has theside of him, the Frenzy persona that the club and public sees him as, but to me and my dad he was always just sweet, kind Scott.”
“Wait . . . what club?”
“Oh, yea,” she looks up at me with a cat who just ate the canary grin. “Did I not mention that my older brother is in an outlaw motorcycle club?”
That sure as hell gets my attention. Being in the mafia, I sure as hell know a lot about the MC world and some of the things the various clubs get into, we even work with some of them, but just thinking about Saylor being in such close proximity to the life, I hope whatever club her brother is in isn’t one I know is straight up bad news.
Not wanting to scare her, or accidently push any buttons, I save my judgment for when I know all the details.
“What club is he in? And is he fully patched?”
“Do you know the Kings of Anarchy MC? I know there are chapters in just about every state, and even a couple here in Texas I think.”
I can’t help but let out a deeper sigh than I realized I was holding in. The Kings may be an outlaw club that breaks various dark degrees of the law, but at least it’s not a club the family has a beef with.
“I do know the Kings, at least from a few of the various chapters. I can’t say much more than that, but I am familiar with the name.”
“Do you know the Wisconsin President, Seamus?”
“I recognize Seamus’s name, yes. I’ve never been to the clubhouse up in Wisconsin, but now that I think about it, isn’t it haunted or something crazy like that?”
“I don’t know if its haunted for real or not, I’ve never come across any ghosts when I’ve been there, but I do know that the clubhouse used to be an insane asylum. If even a fraction of the stories are true, they had some crazy, freaky people up in there.” That really makes her giggle, and it’s infectious.
Once our laughs calm down, we pick up right where we left off.
“Do you know my brother? Frenzy is just a regular patched member, no title or anything big?”
“Sorry, sweetheart, I don’t recognize the name.”
“That’s alright,” she says with a small shrug. “he probably would want to admit me to the loony bin if he knew where I was right now. He has always been against me being with a biker, I can only imagine how much steam will roll out of his ears when I tell him about you.”
As soon as she realizes what she said, inadvertently talking about us and a future, Saylor’s eyes get super big and she slaps a hand over her gaping mouth.
“You want to introduce me to your big, scary brother, huh, mo mhuirnín?” I peel her hand feel and lace her tiny fingers in between my much bigger digits. “I think I like that idea.”
“I didn’t mean—”
I cut her off with a quick peck on the lips. “It’s okay. I would be happy to meet your family whenever you feel the time is right. Your brother and your dad. Maybe we can invite them down to visit so they can meet me in person, and see where you are going to be spending most of your time. That way they will know that you’re safe and taken care of with me.”
“Oh, my God, Corrin,” Saylor jumps to her feet and starts pacing the length of the living room. When she finally comes to a stop, her rests her hands on her hips, cocks her hips to the left, and takes a deep breath. “That whole last speech has a lot to untangle, but let me say thank you for not freaking out at what I said.”
“It’s okay, darling. If anyone else would have asked me last week if I would be discussing meeting the family of a woman who I just met, I’d have probably shot them in the foot for talking so stupid. But there is just something about you, Saylor, that makes the idea of it be something I am more than okay with.”
“Me too.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“But there is one part of that scenario that has somehow fallen through the cracks in our talk.”
“What’s that?” This whole night has been a wild ride, so I don’t think much else could surprise me at this point.
“My dad died back in May from lung cancer.” I take my previous statement back. With the way she was talking about being raised by her dad, and referring to him and her brother in the present tense, I got no inkling about him being gone too.
“Saylor. Oh, honey.” I’m up on my feet and have my arms wrapped around her in an instant. “Both your parents . . . I have no clue what to even say, because I know that sorry will never be enough.”
