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I went on to tell him everything. How I felt about said doctor. How I felt about Linc. How I’d inadvertently outed Linc as my baby daddy to my non-existent baby.
By the time I was done, Hoax’s smile was huge.
“I’ll bet that just made Linc’s day,” Hoax admitted.
I thought about that for a long moment and then grunted. “To be honest, he wasn’t really all that upset about it.”
Hoax grinned but didn’t laugh.
“That’s because you just gave him exactly what he wanted without making him work for it. You practically tied a pretty little bow to your sweet little head and then said, ‘Okay, take me, big boy,’” he explained.
I frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Hoax rolled his eyes toward me, avoiding an answer. “Even if you hadn’t introduced yourself, I would’ve eventually known who you were.”
My brows went up. “Really? How?”
“Linc,” he said, shrugging his shoulder slightly, then wincing. “Linc’s been talking about you for so long that I can’t even pinpoint an exact day. I know it’s at least been going on since he joined the club, and when we were talking about switching the name from the Dixie Wardens MC to the Bear Bottom Guardians MC.”
“What?” I was surprised. “You were once a Dixie Warden?”
He nodded once. “Yep. Originally, anyway. We chose to set up here because it was pretty localized to clubs that were friendly with the Dixie Wardens already. Mostly all of us were sons of original members of different chapters. For instance, my granddad is a member of the Benton chapter. Dixie is his name.”
I blinked once in surprise. “My stepfather is Big Papa.”
“I know,” he replied. “I told you I’d know who you were despite the intro. But that is due to Linc never shutting his trap about you, not because I ever saw you there. I was in the Marines until we branched off and changed our name to Bear Bottom Guardians.”
“Hmm,” I finally said. “I take it that the older generation wasn’t happy about y’all wanting to change the name?”
How had I not heard this before? I felt really stupid for not knowing.
This time Hoax couldn’t hold the laugh in. “Oh, hell no. That was also when I started to hear about you nonstop.”
But before I could get him to expound on his answer, the sirens drowned out our conversation and the lights started to color our world with a wash of red and blue as the emergency personnel arrived on scene.
Something touched my arm while I was busy looking up, and absently I swatted it away before I could think too hard on it.
But something big splashed in the water to my side, causing me to turn and look at what, exactly, it was that I’d swatted.
And that was when I saw a large snake slithering toward me, pissed off as all get out.
Before I could scream, let alone even blink, Hoax’s hand flashed out, and he caught the snake around the neck. The massive slimy thing opened its mouth and showed off his impressive fangs.
I swallowed as the snake’s lower half started to twitch and writhe as it tried to get away, but with the hold Hoax had on it, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
At least logically.
“If it’d have come up on my other side, we’d have been boned,” Hoax said just as my name was called.
“Down here!” I yelled, my heart still beating a mile a minute.
Picking up the flashlight, I aimed it in the direction of the voice and looked upward to find a man leaning over the guardrail staring down at us.
He obviously couldn’t see us since my light was shining him straight in the face, but he at least knew where we were.
“Okay, darlin’,” the man called back. “We’ll be down there in a minute.”
“You’ll need a backboard!” I called out. “Oh, and a gun. A bolt cutter of some sort that’ll get you through rebar, and possibly a neck brace!” The last muttered words were for Hoax’s ears only. “And a vomit bag. God, I hate snakes.”
Hoax laughed…or started to. That laugh turned into a groan when he jostled the rebar that was currently in his side.
“That was the club president,” Hoax said gruffly. “Bayou.”
I grunted. “Good. Before I got here, I called Linc and told his ass he better get the boys here fast.”
Speaking of, I looked back down to my pocket, only then realizing that it was partially covered with muddy water.
“Well, damn,” I muttered, looking at the now black phone. “Guess I’ll have to go get me another one tomorrow.”
Hoax grunted in affirmation. “Me, too.”
I smiled and moved to the side, hearing the men that’d come with Bayou tromping down the same trail I’d taken on my way down here.
Only, they did it much more expertly than I did.
