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"Surprised you've got space left for anything else." I reach across and slam a loose fist into his gut.
He coughs, immediately lurching left to contain me in a headlock. "Didn't think you could get away with that, did you?" The fucker rubs his knuckles across my head, ruffling up my already messy hair.
We're fucking ten years old all over again.
And all because of a girl.
"Where you assholes been?" Minion hollers from his spot next to the grill. "You realize it was your turn to cook, Dig?"
I give the bastard a mock salute. "That I did."
"It's all good," Hammer quips with no shortage of sarcasm. "I swapped out with you." He gives the barbecue tongs a couple of snips in my direction as Tyke and I approach. "You can cook next week. I kept some shit warm on the grill for you fuckers if you’re hungry.”
“We won’t be here next week, remember?”
“Fuck. Yeah, right.” Hammer grins. “Guess the rally saved all our asses, then, huh?”
I flick both hands up, middle fingers raised. My short attention span usually means burned patties and undercooked steaks. I glance around the group of people, leaning back to check every inch of the undercover area. "Where's our guest?"
He shrugs. "Inside, I think."
Minion tips his bottle toward the clubhouse. "Maddie's just gone in to get her."
The intention is clear as day in Tyke's stare. I step between him and the door inside, jostling him toward the grill. "Help yourself, brother. Sate your hunger."
He cocks an eyebrow. “You tryin’ to get me outta your way? No special treatment, remember?”
“I remember.” He grunts when I give him a placating slap on the back. I'm the only fucker that can get away with doing so.Anybody else, and the disrespect to the patch would earn them immediate punishment. “Cool your jets and soak up some of that fuckin’ liquor in your gut first.”
“Fine.” He gives the door one last look and then turns back to the men. “How’s Jamie?” Tyke accepts a steak from Hammer while waiting for Minion to answer.
“Spared the worst of it, so she’s okay.” Our enforcer rolls his bottom lip between his teeth, gesturing toward Tyke's youngest son, Harvey, with the tip of his head. "You inducting the boy into business already?"
“What do you mean?”
“He was in the truck with her,” I explain.
Tyke glances between the two of us. “I thought he just came with you to pick me up.”
Minion frowns, folding his arms. “You didn’t send him on the run?”
Tyke's jaw sets hard. “Of course, I didn’t.” His attention shifts to me. “You knew about this?”
“Only after it was too late to send him home.” Sneaky little fucker slipped into shotgun with Jamie before she rolled through the gate. None of us realized he was there until Minion glanced in his mirror to check on his daughter, only to find her head tossed back, roaring with laughter at something her passenger had said.
Tyke’s no idiot. He understands his kids are destined to share the same path as him. But he’s also a father and a father wants to protect the innocence of his children until he’s forced to acknowledge there ain’t none of that blissful ignorance left.
“I saw Kane talkin’ to Harvey before he left,” Hammer notes, focusing on the patties he flips. “May be a good place to start if you want to find out why your boy thought it’d be a good idea to sneak out.”
Tyke finishes his mouthful of hot meat before answering. "I'll have a word with the fucker.”
The soft spot he has for Harvey is only superseded by one thing: his oldest boy, Kane. A weakness the arrogant little fucker exploits to his full advantage.
It was Kane who first found Charlene passed out in another man's bed. It was Kane who had to dress his momma and coax her home to save his father from turning lethal on the club member who dared take the VP's wife. Kane who held his mother's hair out of her face while she vomited up the after-effects of a night full of booze and pills. A fruitless exercise, considering Charlene slipped straight back into the brother's bed, and Tyke dealt with the issue with no shortage of respectful rage.
Damn idiot blames himself to this day, letting Kane get away with far too much due to nothing but guilt.
"I'll go see where the kid’s at." I lean in, murmuring in Tyke's ear, “Now might be a good time to talk to him about his bossin’ Harvey around while everyone's relaxed and havin' fun. Takes some of the tension outta it.”
