Page 31 of Found Through Fire

I feel jealous of my “siblings” at that moment. Not only did they have each other, but they had two parents that loved them and wanted to be around them. They got a mom that doted on them, and a dad that gave them understanding and patience. Parents that cared about if they got their school work done or tried to shelter them so they could have a childhood.

I, on the other hand, got a Step-cunt that was selfish and only pretended to care about me until I started making her life of aperfect family difficult. I have Maggie, who is a spoiled piece of shit, and a dad that never fuckin’ cared about how his child was feeling, only about how I could benefit the club. I spent the first part of my life with no one wanting me around until I could be patched in.

I love my club, and would take a bullet for any of my brothers, but I’m starting to wonder if I would have chosen this life if I was raised by Mom and Michael.

After saying goodbye to Michael and the guys, I surprise myself by offering to bring Willow to the airport tomorrow. She accepts, and I ride back home feeling settled for the first time since the letter showed up from the law office.

After getting back, I closed myself in my room at the clubhouse, still reading Mom’s journals. Flame knocks on the door as he opens it, which, sadly, is progress for him, since he usually just walks in. He immediately starts asking questions about my time with Willow; I know it’s killing him not to have all the details. I usually tell him everything, but I need to work through this first. I can tell he is trying to give me space, but boundaries have never been something that Flame understands.

After I let him get out some questions, I decide to bite the bullet and invite him tomorrow. If Willow wants to get to know me, she should probably get used to Flame being around.

CHAPTER 12

FLAME

Today’s the day—I’m finally meeting Willow. I would call her Smoke’s sister, but I don’t know what head space he is in with that whole thing. At this point, I’m just following his lead, and I’m not sure what to make of him inviting me to come along with him. Is he letting me go because he doesn’t want to be alone with her? He’s never been good around new people.

They better not be showing an interest in him just because it’s what his mom wanted. My best friend has been let down enough from both his found and blood family lately.

We leave our rooms and make our way towards the front of the clubhouse to get to his truck. He seems normal to me, but I can also sense some excitement coming from him as we go. As we head down the hallway, we pass my dad’s office, and he calls out for our attention.

“Hey, come here before you guys head out. We have a meeting at 10, and you guys will need to be back from the shop by then. I’ll send you the address,” my dad says, not looking up from the paperwork in front of him. He thinks we’re going to the shop like every day. Before all this came out, Smoke would have told him about what was going on. I can tell that he wantsto keep this to himself by the way that he tenses up next to me. Normally, I would step in and tell my dad that we can’t make it, but I have no idea how Smoke wants to play this.

“We have a meeting, too, so we probably won’t be able to make it. We’ll get the details from you guys later tonight when we get back,” Smoke responds in a calm tone. He isn’t lying, but he definitely isn’t giving my dad details. I’m not sure if it’s because he thinks my dad lied to him or because he doesn’t trust him not to tell Griz.

I’ve noticed that Griz has been out of the clubhouse more than usual the past few days. I’m not sure if he is avoidingjustSmoke, or the entire club since Blitz aired out his dirty laundry in front of everyone.

“This is a meeting that all of the officers need to be at. It would look better if our next officers in line were there,” he says as he finally looks up from the paper in front of him. He fixes a stare on us, and I think he notices the indifferent look on Smoke’s face, letting out a heavy exhale.

“You can fill us in after. We have a meeting that was already on the books,” Smoke says as he turns to the door, dismissing the conversation. I take a second to understand what exactly is going on. I stand there, looking from Smoke’s back as he walks away, back to my dad’s shocked face. Smoke has always respected my dad and his position. I know he’s mad at him right now, but he has never been disrespectful.

The most shocking part is that my dad lets him walk away. He would never take a slight like that from another Brother, but I think Dad understands that he fucked up and is giving Smoke some space to cool down. Dad just goes back to his paperwork without saying a word, and I take that as I am dismissed, too, turning around and rushing to catch up with Smoke.

“That was new,” I say while opening the truck door and getting in.

“They don’t need us at the actual meeting if it’s for the officers. We don’t have to deal with the bullshit until we have the title on our cuts,” Smoke says as he starts backing out of his parking spot.

“Is it just because you want to fuck up two of the current officers?” I ask as he pulls onto the road that leads to the opposite side of town. I begin to memorize the route to Willow’s house.

“I want to fuck up so many people currently in that clubhouse, it’s better that I give them space. They all knew, and they all lied. I have seen them support baby mamas of Brothers that got locked up, or Brothers that were killed, my entire life. But they just let my dad kidnap me and threw my mom away.” His knuckles turn white as he tightens his grip around the steering wheel, probably imagining that it is his dad’s neck.

“I get it. Take your time and get to know your family if that’s what you want to do. We are going to have to handle things with the Brothers eventually, though,” I say while looking out the window.

“We?” Smoke looks over at me, confusion plastered on his face.

“If you’re pissed, I'm pissed. What they did was fucked up, and you were my brother way fuckin’ before we were patched in,” I say while questioning his intelligence. He has always been the smart one out of the two of us. His brain has got to be fucked up about this if he thinks I’m staying out of his business. Smoke looks over at me for a second, and then turns back to the road, apparently done with talking about it.

“So, you aren’t going to tell me anything about the talk last night? I’m assuming it went okay, or we wouldn’t be driving Uber for Willow,” I say, trying to get an idea of what I’m walking into.

“It was good. Awkward as fuck at first, but she’s easy to talk to. She ended up making dinner for her dad and brothers, and I stayed,” he says as he keeps driving, eyes fixed on the road.

I was not expecting that. Smoke has always been the one to gather all the information before handling a situation. For him to be okay with changing a plan and meeting more people with no notice means a lot. He must be comfortable with Willow.

“You met the rest of them? How were they?” I ask. I wasn’t sure what to think after Blitz told us that the dad ran a mercenary business. I pictured a family of cold, calculated people. Like the Addams family, mixed with a little Hannibal Lecter.

“Not what you think. I mean, they look how you would expect. But you can tell that they center around Willow. They joke around, they talk, they’re the closest family I have ever been around. It’s weird as fuck at first, but it got normal after a while. They…included me…” Smoke drifts off, deep in thought after saying the last part. I know he has never been included by anyone except for my dad while growing up, but really, my dad and I were a broken family, too, after Mom died.

This sounds like a sitcom family, but more bloody. I decide to stop asking, and I can feel out the situation when I get there.