Kyle didn’t react to hearing about the bet, but I watched a boy start the transition into a man. His fingers curled into fists, but when he realized what he was doing, he quickly laid them flat on the table. His eyes were sharper, focused on what I thought might have been the future.
I made a show of checking my watch. We had a few minutes before we had to go, but I figured Kyle needed to get away from prying eyes. “Yo, VP?” I called down the table, and when Grizz leaned in my direction, I touched my watch.
***
“This is weird. I can’t remember the last time I sat in a car.” Grizz winced as he stretched out in the passenger seat of the club car.
“It’s been a while since I’ve gone for a ride.” I normally drove Liz around, and I didn’t consider the trip I’d taken to get Gerry moved an actual ride.
“Have you talked to Grease about getting a sidecar?” Grizz asked me.
“No. I’m not sure I’m comfortable enough letting Liz sit in one.”
“What’s it like to ride?” Kyle asked from the back seat as I passed the row of bikes parked outside the clubhouse doors. The prospect opened the gate, and we hit the road towards the medical complex in the center of town.
“Freedom,” Grizz and I said at the same time.
“There’s nothing like letting the wind hit your face as you’re cruising,” I said, making the right turn toward the highway. His program was near Liz’s rehab, and while I usually took the back streets with her, I wasn’t taking any chances that Kyle would jump from the moving car.
“The wind in your face on a bike is nothing compared to rolling with the windows down.” Grizz laughed.
I remembered when Grizz’s father had driven through the gates with his son in tow. “When did you get your first bike?” I asked him.
“My eighteenth birthday. Titan bought it the day after my father disappeared.”
I nodded, showing my support as I exited the highway. We weren’t far from the medical center, but each turn felt a little heavier than the previous one, and the cabin went quiet, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
“Do you think I’ll ever be strong enough to ride a bike?”
I shot Grizz a look before I pulled into the parking spot.
Grizz turned around in the front seat, making sure he had Kyle’s attention. “I won’t go back on my word.” Neither one of them looked away. “I won’t do the work for you.”
Kyle nodded. “The last time I tried to get clean, it lasted six days. What if I never get there?” He exited the car before either of us could respond.
Grizz and I watched as he walked through the front door.
“Do you think he’s going to make it?” Grizz asked me.
“Yes, but only because the club won’t let him fail. I’m more concerned he’s going to relapse.”
Grizz’s phone rang, cutting the silence in the cabin. He shot me a look before he reached into his back pocket. “Why the fuck is Sabre calling? We just saw him at breakfast.” Bringing the phone up to his ear, he answered, not bothering to say hello.
I watched as his jaw tightened, not liking whatever Sabre was saying. “Yeah, like that’s not a fucking setup,” he said before hanging up. “The Lopezes are sitting in the tit show,” he said, dropping his phone in the cup holder.
“What the fuck do they want at nine o’clock in the morning?” I started the car and pulled out of the lot.
“They had to have scoped out the place. This is the only morning Count’s the early shift.”
“What’s the plan?” I asked Grizz. “I’m not armed.”
“Sabre’s meeting us there with a few brothers.”
The drive across town passed in silence. The tit show’s sign came into view, and when I pulled around to the back lot, the brothers were already waiting for us.
“About time,” Sabre said as we approached. “Here.” He handed Grizz a gun, and Zook held another out to me. “We figured you weren’t packing.”
“What’s the plan?” Grizz asked, tucking his into the back of his waistband.
