“Your mother’s not gonna let me come to Thanksgivin’ unless I apologize to you. You know that’s not my way,” his old man said, staring him straight in the eyes. He kicked at the gravel on the lot. “But I should’ve held my temper. I got shit goin’ on…”
“Like what?” Dev pressed, completely out of character.
Maybe if he could get whatever information the feds wanted, he might never have to look at Cash or his sister again. He and the girls, maybe his mom, could hit the road. Start new somewhere else.
“Boy, you just don’t know. I need an active second,” his father said in a rare moment of honesty. “I’m gonna be true with you. Not to piss you off, just the facts. I like Diesel a lot better than I like you. He’s like the son I’ve never had. He holds himself together better than you do, but that second spot is rightfully yours. I want you, no I need you, to step up and take it.”
And there was theinCash needed. He felt the shackles of the ruse tightening around his ankles, binding him into an unwanted life. He should say he’d do whatever his old man needed, be what the club needed him to be, and he would say it, just not right now. Too much bad had hit him at one time. He had to have a minute to settle in.
“So is this your apology?” Dev asked, digging his hands inside his jeans pockets to hide the fists.
“Yeah, I guess,” his old man said, looking dejected, maybe even crestfallen. “How’s it gonna work for you that Tena took off? Your mother shouldn’t have to raise your kids. Nobody raised my kids but me and your mama.”
Of course, he came with the bullshit.
Instead of explaining what a shitty life he’d had to live because his old man refused to ever be a true parent, Dev stalked toward his bike. “My kids are none of your damned business.” Right before Dev reached for his handlebars, he stopped and poked a finger into his own chest, surprised he didn’t break the digit with the force he used.
“Tena ain’t been any help to me in years. Mom wanted to spend time with the girls and asked me if she could, so back the fuck off.” His father’s hands lifted in the air in surrender again. “And from this point forward, you make another wisecrack about how I parent, and you’ll be eatin’ the pavement, I guarantee. Got it?”
Based on his father’s grin, he didn’t lay the threat down properly. The old man would learn soon enough. “Fair enough. That guy you’re datin’… He gonna be their new mama?”
The hate radiating over every pour in Dev’s body wanted him to execute one of his perfect right hooks, knock his old man’s lights out. He’d love to drop his father to his knees.
Instead, he began his undercover operation. Fuck everybody. He didn’t give a shit who was responsible for whatever theft Cash was there to investigate. He promised himself his old man would take the fall. Spend the rest of his shitty life in prison. The idea brought immense demented joy to his heart. “Remember that kid that got beat up by the street gang when I was younger?”
His father looked confused at the sudden change in topic as he thought over Dev’s question. The silence spoke to a memory that should have been etched in his parental heart. Any other father would surely remember the day his only son was left bruised and bleeding while trying to save another person’s life.
“His parents were hippies that stopped by, and you ran ’em off?”
“Was the dude tall with a long beard?” his old man asked, smiling. Clearly, he remembered.
“How the fuck would I know that? Anyway, that kid’s him.” He again tossed his thumb over his shoulder to where Cash had driven out of the parking lot.
Dev sealed the credibility for Cash’s presence. They had a long-standing connection that meant more than the high-class slumming it with the low-class. It should keep his old man from sniffing around Cash’s background until Dev had something more concrete to say.
He caught his father’s surprised expression. Dev might have been married but he’d never had a relationship with anyone before. He didn’t know how it worked or how to imply a committed coupling. He and Tena could barely stand one another in the best of times.
Dev finally finished the thought when nothing else to say came to mind. “We reconnected, I guess.”
“Okay,” his father said and shook his head. “Don’t really care. Think about what I said. It’s time for you to take on your responsibilities. Let me know what you decide at the barbeque this weekend.”
His father nodded and left Dev standing there, going back inside through the open warehouse doors. The overhead light flashed back on as he drew the cargo doors closed from the inside.
At least he had until Sunday to get his head straight.
He mounted the bike, grilling himself. He had to do better with the explanations.
~~~
“What the hell are you doing, Ryan?” David met Cash in the front foyer of the apartment building.
They’d been busy on the interior of the building today. The apartment directly below Dev’s had its door propped open. David and team had left the unit across the street and moved in. Their new apartment was already outfitted for their use. Which meant several card tables filled with monitors and computer equipment were set up in the middle of the living room. Nothing else was there.
Cash had been so consumed with exactly how fucked he was he barely noticed the newly installed window coverings in the front windows of the building, all closed tightly. Nothing could be seen from the street. There were two large cameras installed on both the ceiling and the base of the stairwell.
They were no longer hiding while inside this building.
Cash rolled his shoulders, wishing for a home gym where he could go for the next few hours and beat his body up. Since the mind couldn’t think of two things at once, the pain of such a workout might give him some coveted peace inside his head. A pretend sense of calm until his termination papers came through. “I’m assuming you’ve seen the video?”
