Page 30 of Property of Doc

I chuckle because several of my brothers will do the same thing. “Eh, he’s family and we’re allowed to pick on family, right?” I ask.

“All day, every day!” Soulless exclaims. “Now, I’m off to find my own plate of sopapillas.”

Gretchen does her best to hang with us, but I finally take pity on her and send her up to bed. With brothers from two different chapters here for tomorrow’s funeral and wake, the alcohol is now flowing after we went on a ride once dinner was done. I’m trying to pace myself because I’ve found that the older I get, the harder it is to recover from a hangover, but then I realize I have the means to make myself a ‘banana bag’ in the morning if I have to get rehydrated quickly.

“Remember the time we had to stop at that truck stop to work on Cue’s bike? The brother’s our fucking road captain, yet it washisbike that broke down on a run,” Preacher asks, before he bursts out laughing. “There we were, four of us crouched around his bike as we tried to figure out what was going on and Pokey wasstanding watch since several of the other brothers were inside grabbing drinks. All of a sudden, a lot lizard comes over and tries to hit on Pokey.”

By now, several brothers who were on that run are laughing so hard, they’re slapping their thighs or the table in remembrance. I was working a double shift at the hospital at the time, so I missed out on the live version. Still, the story is funny, so I continue listening, sipping at my latest whiskey.

“He looks her up and down, then does it again, before he asks, ‘Why the fuck would I pay for the likes ofyou, when I’ve got girls who look a shit ton better waiting on me at home?’” Preacher says. “Well, she took offense to what he was saying about her looks and started hitting him with her purse, which was more like one of those tote bags. So there he is, ducking and dodging her swipes while trying to keep her away from all of usandour bikes, when Rio walks out and sees what’s happening. He yells for her to stop, then proceeds to tell her that she’s taking her life in her own hands by trying to fuck with the Kings. The chick nearly pissed herself as she scuttled away, still cursing at Pokey but doing it a lot more quietly than she was. By the time the brothers got done fixing Cue’s bike, we were somewhat surrounded by the truckers. Seems the lot lizard had a lot of friends who took exception to what Pokey said about her looks.”

“What happened then?” Soulless asks. “I mean, I assume you guys got out of there safely.”

Big Daddy, who’s been listening and laughing along with the others, points at Rio and says, “That fucker calledme, told me I was on speaker and to go along with it, then he asked if I had the electric chair ready or not because they were going to be heading that way with a few test subjects!”

At this point, everyone’s laughing as Rio shrugs. “Hey, it worked, didn’t it? Paps always told me that if I ever got in a position where I needed to prove who had the bigger balls, to make that call. Those fuckers ran so fast back to their trucks it shook the ground. We didn’t waste any time either, and got back on the road as quickly as humanly possible.”

“Nobody fucks with the Kings!” Abyss exclaims, causing a round of shouts from the brothers who have been steadily drinking.

“You got that right,” Big Daddy roars.

As the night drags on, more stories from the road emerge. Some are funny, others not so much when it comes to times where brothers were arrested for little to no reason. Since some of the chapters dabble on the grayer side of the line, everyone in a Kings cut is earmarked as a potential suspect forsomething, even when they’re out on a simple drugstore run for their ol’ lady, as one brother shared.

Still, despite the solemnity for why we’re all gathered, it’s good to be able to see brothers that we otherwise don’t unless we go out to the rally in Anarchy, California. We obviously see Riptide and the East Texas crew far more often, of course, but there’s never a lack of things to discuss.

It’s about three in the morning before I finally give in. Looking at Rio, I say, “Gonna try to get a few hours of sleep since it’s going to be a bit hectic later on.”

“Good thing shit won’t kick off untilI’mup,” he retorts. “Well, me and the other two presidents, that is.”

Snickering, I head to the stairs, waving at the brothers who call out their good nights. I finally make it to my room and grin when I see Gretchen splayed across the bed, her hair a messy tangleacross the sheets. While I want nothing more than to crawl into bed beside her, I smell like a fucking brewery thanks to Richie Rich spilling a mug of beer on me. So, instead, I take the quickest shower known to mankind and soon, I’m slipping beneath the sheets to wrap myself around her.

“You’re here,” she mumbles.

“Yeah, baby. Go back to sleep,” I reply, kissing her temple.

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Gretchen

I wake up the morning of the funeral and realize that Doc isn’t going to be getting up with me when I see him burrowing further under the covers. Undeterred, I dig out the clothes I’m going to wear and then head into the en suite so I can get ready for the day.

Once I’ve showered and gotten dressed, I quietly slip out of the bedroom and head downstairs. Ironically enough, the only ones stirring are the women, so I find myself in the kitchen eating breakfast as Constance and Maria bustle around putting last touches on various side dishes they’re making for the wake.

“I take it all the men are sleeping last night off,” I say as I look at Issy.

“You can say that again,” she replies, smirking at me. “Not sure what time Doc went to bed, but I know Rafe came up around five or so.”

“I wasn’t looking at the clock, but maybe around three, I think. I read most of the night and had put my phone down about two thirty. I was in a doze heading to deep sleep when he came in,” I say.

“Sounds like the presidents might have closed the bar down then,” Van states, giggling. “Because Riptide came up around five as well.”

I shake my head while smiling. “There are gonna be some sore heads around here today, that’s for sure.”

Constance calls out, “I’ve got their food ready to cook when they start getting up. Lots of greasy stuff to soak up the alcohol.”

We all burst out laughing as Big Daddy’s woman comes walking into the kitchen. “Coffee, I need coffee,” she murmurs, barely sparing any of us a glance. Once she has a mug in her hands and is doctoring it with creamer and sugar, she looks at us and states, “Who knew these men could drink that much? I mean, our brothers can party with the best of them, but why on earth do the men in charge think they have to prove they’re top dog?”