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After helping Maggie and the rest of the Hoez carry out all the food, Mountain let them get utensils and the rest set up then joined Hollywood and Free at a table.
Free was attempting to talk Hollywood into an icepack for his shoulder, but he was waving her off. “It’s not like we have a limited supply,” she snarled at the man unwilling to accept help.
“You need it more,” he replied. “Don’t tell me holding on was easy on the ride back, I know better. I’ll flag someone down and get one later.”
“When your shoulder is swollen three sizes.” Free slipped her jacket off with a strained wince and placed the ice pack on her shoulder.
“Has anyone heard anything from the hospital?” Mountain asked the bickering couple, since their bickering was over who needed care more, you couldn’t really count it as a fight.
Hack and Preacher Girl walked up to the table, each carrying a plate of food. Hack took a seat and his wife sat next to them.
Lil’ Mama came next with Maddox on her hip. The mother of three very adept and balancing a plate of food and at least one child.
Behind her Chaos and Mayhem, her twins were each carrying special plastic plates with dividers and colorful forks. Braxton and Murphy, were nearly three, but it was the four-year-old Beno trailing behind them all that broke his heart.
Getting called in too late on a rescue gone bad had left the kid an orphan. Lil’ Bit and Baldy immediately took the then toddler into their home. Now the parents he’d known and loved for a year hadn’t come home when they said they would. The air in the clubhouse was thick with worry anyone, even a preschooler could pick up on and now, only his auntie and cousins were around a table should have been filled with family.
“Let me help you,” Mountain said, when Beno placed his plate on the table and started to crawl on the chair. “How about you sit on my knee, instead of us finding your booster? That okay with you Beno?”
The little boy with Hispanic coloring and thick curls they’d let grow because he wanted to be like his daddy, Baldy, nodded in approval. Even at four, the kid couldn’t weigh more than forty pounds. Hell, Mountain might have weighed that much before his second birthday.
“Hospital? Anything?” Mountain asked again, as the kids seemed focused on the macaroni and cheese on their plates.
“Red called, Bal—Bryan,” Hack said, going for given names because the kids weren’t used to hearing those and there was no need for little ears to worry. “Is awake and very crabby. Red’s not sure if it’s the head injury, the drugs or that they’re going to keep him for observation that has him ticked. It might be a week at least. Lil’—Kristy broke her leg and she has to stay overnight because they need to do surgery and repair it. A few pins and they’ll send her home. Said if it had been earlier in the day, she could have gone home tonight. Everyone else is being discharged after they get treatment. A few Snoopy Band-Aides and they should be getting ready to come home. I sent Slug and Half-Wit with vans to pick everyone up. Bryan is going to be pissed off when he sees his bike. It’s nearly totaled.” He shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” Hack said with a smirk. “And no one had even held his beer this time.”
Tension broke at the table from an inside joke from before Mountain’s time. One he hoped someday to be in on, but knowing the tales were usually shared with full members over a beer.
Mountain stomach rumbled a bit since he hadn’t grabbed a plate of food yet.
Beno’s head turned up to him, the deep brown eyes wide from the noise.
“You heard that huh?” he questioned.
Beno sweetly held a fork full of mac and cheese up.
“You finish, I’ll get mine when you’re done.”
“Sure?” he questioned. “Daddy’s tummy rumbles and mama says we better feed him before the monster comes out.”
“Believe it or not, your daddy’s monster is way scarier than mine,” Mountain replied. “Besides, mine only eats three-year-olds.”
Murphy gasped and put her hand over her lips before blurting out in laughter. “You’s funny Tin.”
Braxton didn’t look as at ease as his twin sister. Then again Murphy feared little, even when her daddy Casanova wasn’t around. That man made her braver than any Army Ranger, SEAL or action hero after their love interest had been threatened. Yes, in Murphy’s world, no one would ever touch her because her daddy wouldn’t let them.
“Well, I’m glad everyone is going to be okay,” Mountain said. “Especially Ba—Bryan.”
“Yeah, me too.” Hack took a bite of his food, then stared at Beno. “But kid, we might need to cut your hair different if you’re gonna keep up with your daddy.”
Beno placed a hand on the little man bun he was sporting, since Baldy wore those in the shop all the time, the kid usually had his curls pulled up in one too. “I don’t wanna be jarhead like you Uncle Hack,” he said.
“First things first, I’m a squid not a jarhead, I have a brain,” Hack said as he smoothed the side of his high and tight. “Second, I make this look good.”
