I decide to park that for now.
We get to the clubhouse in record time and Sean looks conflicted when he gets out of the truck. “Did you teach Ash to drive?” he asks me.
The kid has a sense of humour. Who would’ve thought?
I give Selkie a quick kiss and leave her standing outside. One of the great things about Selkie is that she doesn’t need coddling. She’ll head inside and pour herself a drink if she wants one.
When I get to church, all the brothers are there including Hangman who looks like he wants to skin me. “Where the hell have you been?”
I try to think of an excuse that won’t sound like shit.
Hash gets out in front of me. “Taking the kindergarten out for food.”
I slump into a chair. “Too fucking soon, Hash. I’m not done with you.”
A hush goes through the room. Even Hangman seems speechless.
“What?” I exclaim. “What the fuck’s wrong?”
“Your fuckin’ sitting in Rider’s chair.”
And yellin’ at people. And looking like my face isn’t a block of wood. Now I get it. “Where’s Rider?” I deflect.
“Hospital,” Joker replies. “Apparently, he got too close to the llama again.”
The brothers break into laughter.
Guess he’s not hurt bad if the guys are finding it hilarious.
Hangman scowls as he looks closely at Hash. “Llama get you too?”
Hash shakes his head. “I accidentally walked into Eight’s fist.”
“Had it comin’, asshole,” I mutter.
A murmur goes through the room because I don’t lose my cool. I don’t sit in chairs. I don’t fuckin’ raise my voice.
“What the fuck were you doing knockin’ Hash around?” Hangman says.
“It’s Hash,” King laughs. “What do you expect?”
I sigh, figuring it’s time to come clean. “When we raided the 311 Boys clubhouse, Lola and Benji were right in the middle of inking Oscar and Henri. Our little shits hid it from us, but Hash found out and took them to Sailor Jerry’s to clean them up before they got infected.”
Hangman glances from me to Hash, then back again. “And how is that a problem?”
Hash clears his throat. “The tats looked like a pile of shit, I tidied them up a bit.”
I get pissed off. “You didn’t just tidy them up. You gave them fuckin’ Hell’s Jury tats.”
“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” Joker says.
Hash takes out his phone and thumbs through his pics, then hands the phone to King, who’s next to him. “First one’s before, second one’s after.”
As the phone is passed around, there are a lot of snorts and sniggers. It finally gets to Hangman, who keeps flippin’ back and forth. Then he looks at me. “Why you got your panties stuck up your ass? This is a good fix.” High praise coming from the prez. He squints. “Hey, there’s even HJ in the wings.”
“And you said no one would notice,” I growl at Hash.
Hangman looks between us. “Why no color?”
