Flash
Present Day...
Iwalked into the house just as my younger brother, Jamie, jogged down the stairs. “Hey.”
“Hey, Flash,” he said. “How’s your bike?”
I chuckled. “It’s runnin’. Dad’s gonna need to help me with the fine tuning.”
I was restoring a 1974 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead and it had been in rough shape when I found it. Luckily, my dad could fix anything and had taught us all to do the same, so working on it had been more fun than pain. But now I just needed Dad’s magical powers to get it sounding right. It was currently sitting in the club garage just begging for road time.
“Flash?” Dad bellowed from upstairs. “That you?”
“Yeah, Pop.”
“Gotta make a run to Freddie’s for your mom. Need to look at the bike later.”
“Sure,” I said. “She doin’ okay?”
“Cold’s kickin’ her ass,” he said. “And she doesn’t want tostay the fuck in bed.” He turned his head and yelled the last bit toward their bedroom.
“Sod off!” she yelled back, followed by coughing.
My mother was British. High-class all the way... until she wasn’t. She could swear better than any of us, but it never sounded wrong with her English accent.
Dad grinned. “Love you too, Sunshine.”
He pulled his long hair back and continued down the stairs.
“You takin’ your bike or the truck?” I asked. “I’ll tag along if you’re in the cage.”
“’Course, bud,” Dad said. “I’ll grab my keys. Jamie, make sure your mother stays put.”
“Fuck me,” he grumbled, dragging ass back up the stairs. “I should get hazard pay.”
Dad and I shared a chuckle, then he swapped keys, and we headed out to his truck. Truth be told, my brother was a mama’s boy through and through.
“You hear from Tate yet?” Dad asked as we drove.
“No.”
Tate had gone off to college, first undergraduate, then graduate, then she pretty much ghosted me, and I could really only blame myself. But that was a story for another day, and certainly not one I was gonna share with my pops.
“She still pissed at you?” Dad asked as he pulled into the parking lot.
“Why would you think she was pissed at me?” I frowned. “I could be pissed at her.”
