MC: LaPonte (39 page)

The Chief looks around.
"Yes."

"Get your useless fuckin
police force out of my fuckin buildings. Prospects will deliver
fuckin Barney to the PD when we're done with him. Brothers will be
patrolling until we're satisfied it's safe for our old ladies, kids
and neighbors. Can't say I'm fuckin impressed with the level of
protection you have to offer. Get the fuck out." He turns and walks
out of the office. Everyone takes a breath.

"Who did we lose?" I ask.
Everyone looks at me. Fuck.

"Was Luke. Sorry Danny."
VP says. I punch a fuckin hole through the fuckin wall.

"How the fuck did he get
in the line of fire. He wasn't a fuckin soldier!"

"He was run down at the
first exit on the highway. He was supposed to just show a
presence." Casper tells me.

"Fuckin Hell." I walk out.
I remember the truck and the crash. I was fuckin there. I sit on
the couch in VPs office. My head is fuckin pounding. I close my
eyes and try to clear my head. Pres comes in. He sits in the chair
and closes his eyes. I get my anger in check. I put everything
where it needs to be and feel calm by the time VP comes in. I have
no fuckin clue how long we've been in here. I get up and find
Tylenol in the kit I swallow four. "Am I on patrol?" I ask
VP.

"No, get up to the
Clubhouse, get some food and sleep. You're on seven to three
tomorrow with Jake."

"Thanks VP." I walk to the
door.

"Danny, you're the best
fuckin soldier I've ever worked with. You're a big part of our
success today. Not out of the woods yet but we're a hell of a lot
closer because of you. Thank you." I don't know what the fuck to
say to that. I just lift my chin to him as I go through the door.
I'm proud I made VP happy today but feel so fuckin low, I lost a
Brother. I want to protect all of the Brothers. I don't want to
lose any more fuckin Brothers to the stupid fuckin shit like Barney
pulled. I collect my gear filling my pockets again and walk
out.

Jake and Zack are waiting.
I throw them chin and get a Brother to collect my bike. "Knight
told us to ride with you to the Club. There are rooms for us. They
threw out all the cops, he wasn't sure they'd let us through
without you." Jake says. He's probably right. I nod taking my bike
from the Brother.

I put my helmet on. "Do I
have eyes for the ride to the Club?" I ask.

"I'm here Brother. You're
hooked to Jake and Zack. Casper's still running the room." Digs
tells me.

"Thanks Brother. Don't you
ever sleep? You've been on with me since this morning."

"I'm afraid to sleep. You
or VP may kill me!" He says in a high pitched voice.

I pull the helmet off
holding my face laughing. "Fuckin Digs." Jake and Zack are laughing
beside me. When I'm calm I put the helmet back on. "Fuckin Digs, my
fuckin eye was already bleeding from laughing today. When you clear
me, go home, sleep, take a drink or three but fuckin relax
Brother."

"I'll come to the Club and
have a drink with you Brother." He says.

"I'll be there. You make
sure you have Security riding with you Digs. I don't want another
fuckin Brother lost.”

"I will Danny."

I start my bike and roll
out. We make it to the club turnoff and here shots. “Fuck!” Digs
says in my helmet.

Fuckin Hell! "What's
happening Digs?"

"Truck coming up on your
right."

I slow down. "Is that
Tiny's truck?" I ask him. Looks like it. What the fuck is he
shooting at? He says it is. "Anyone behind him?"

"Another truck. Trees
blocking the camera." I stop and wait for Tiny. My guns at the
ready I aim at the truck behind him. They fire another shot the
fuckin back window explodes, Tiny ducks fishtailing the
turn.

I open fire and don't stop
until my fuckin guns are empty. I walk to the truck and pull the
body out. When it hits the ground I kick it. "Not losing another
fuckin Brother today." I keep kicking.

Jake comes over and leans
against the truck. He's just watching me kick the dead body. Tiny
comes up to my left side. "Brother. He hooks my neck and pulls me
away from the body and into a man-hug. I'm ok."

I step back. "Thanks
Brother, I needed that." I turn around and go back to my bike.
Fuckin Tiny laughs.

Riding up the hill Jake
tells Zack, "told you he was a lunatic with a gun."

I crack up waiting for the
Prospect to open the gate. Tiny follows us in.

"I'm out Brothers." Digs
tells us.

"Roger that. I'll find you
at the bar." I say taking my helmet off.

"Could use a hand with
this shit." Tiny says. A Prospect from the door helps him carry
bags in. I grab a couple and hear Jake and Zack grab some. Tiny
drops the bags in the hall. "Names are on them; get them to the
right rooms." He tells the Prospect.

I drop the bags with his
and go to the bar. "Need a shot of Jack." The Prospect slides it to
me. I slam it back for Luke. "For you, my Brother Luke." I say then
leave to find my old lady and kids. I take maybe five steps and
hear a squeal. I know that sound. I fall to my knees and wait. They
jump on me all at once. People are laughing. I stand up with them
hanging from me. I hold as many as I can and laugh with the
Brothers. They're cute kids. I bend so they can touch the floor and
hold onto Ally and Arron for an extra squeeze. I put them down and
talk to Darren. He's telling me he watched over the little ones
with Little Ben and Jessie. I ask how they were. He looks at
Jessie, 'they were ok until the teenager gave them candy, we lost
control for a while there, then they took naps'. I hold my face and
laugh with the Brothers that are watching.

"What did he say?" Zack
asks. A Brother tells him. He cracks up.

Jessie laughs. "After that
it was a piece of cake. We're watching the teenagers from now on
though." He's fuckin serious. I bend over holding my
face.

"Uncle Danny you need to
see Doc." Little Ben tells me leading me down the hall by the hand.
I can't stop laughing so I follow. "I got another one for you
Doc."

I laugh more. Fuckin kids.
"Are you ok?" I stand up looking at my Beautiful K. I shake my head
no. "Laughing again?" I nod. "Thank you Little Ben. Did the kids
calm down?"

"Yeah, you were right, a
nap did the trick." He tells her.

"Fuckin Hell." I'm bent
over laughing again.

"Maybe Uncle Danny needs a
nap too?" He says looking up at me concerned. Fuck!

"I got him from her Little
Ben. Can you keep the kids busy til we get him fixed up?" He throws
chin and walks out. Fuck. I'm holding my breath trying not to
laugh. She pulls my patch and hugs me. I hold on trying to replace
all the fuckin bad from today with good. Beautiful Kate.

"Thank you. It's been a
rough day." I tell her hearing the emotion in my voice.

"I heard. Let me fix you
up so you can have drinks with the guys." She starts cleaning me
up, but asks Doc to look at it. Fuck.

While we're waiting on Doc
I hold her hands. "I need to have a drink with Digs. He kept my ass
covered all fuckin day. By tonight he was stressed. I promised
him."

She nods leaning in to
kiss me. "I heard about Luke. How are you doing with
that?"

"I'm so fuckin glad you
didn't say sorry. I hate that. What can you say to sorry? I think
it sucks. I stood outside the club and repeatedly kicked a dead guy
trying to get rid of the anger. He wasn't a soldier. He shouldn't
have been there. It was on the highway when we were following you.
I didn't even know he was run down. I was so focused on keeping the
suv clear. My whole fuckin world revolved around that, I never knew
he was even fuckin hurt."

"Would Luke hold it
against you for keeping your family safe?"

"No! He wasn't the most
standup guy but he lived for the Club." He did too.

"He died too freakin soon
but he did it with honor and loyalty. Standing up for his family,
doing what he needed to keep us safe."

"I love you baby, you're
right and that feels a fuck of a lot better." I hug her and don't
let go.

"Can I break you up to
take a look Danny?" Doc says.

"Yeah." I let her go and
let Doc check me out.

"I've been worried about
this for some time now. I think when they put the graph the skin is
stretched too much. It's not healing the way it should be. Couple
week’s back I called a friend and asked about what we can do about
it. I didn't want to bring it up unless we had more problems. We
have problems. They can place a graph across the eye covering the
area that keeps ripping open at the bottom. That is the quickest
most painless procedure. They can do a lot more with the scar and
eye reconstruction but recovery is lengthy..."

I wave my hand stopping
him. "Do what needs to be done, the quickest way to stop my fuckin
eye from bleeding every time I laugh. I don't give a fuck about the
scar. I just want to stop bleeding and scaring the fuck out of
people."

"Ok, when things settle
down I'll make the appointment and we'll get it done. In the
meantime, I'm going to use a different bandage, like a plastic
coating that will hold the skin together. I'll need to change it
for you every couple of days. I think it will work better than what
we've been doing. Beside, my friend said so."

I crack up. "Fuckin Hell
Doc!" I slap a hand to my eye, he slaps my shoulder and gets the
supplies. Kate gets me a pill and some water. I swallow it down and
kiss her lips. She holds gauze on me and kisses me
again.

Doc sits and bandages me
up. Kate cleans my patch, she hooks it to my belt telling me it
needs to dry. Fuck. She walks to the back and comes back with a
mirror. There's plastic covering my eye with gauze under it. I
smile for her. "It doesn't look so bad and it doesn't hurt to
smile. Thanks Doc." I kiss my girl and tell her I'm going to find
my baby and grab a drink with Digs.

Finding my boy with Nancy
I take him out to find Digs. I slap his back and get us drinks.
"Thanks for having my six Digs. You saved my ass all fuckin day. I
didn't want the day to end without telling you I realize and
appreciate it. You got me through another day so I can see my kids
and old lady."

He nods; I can see the
emotion in his eyes. "Thanks Brother. No one ever thanked me
before."

"Maybe today is the start
of a new policy. Every day that you get my ass home to my kids,
I'll say thank you."

"You're different than the
other guys; I don't think they notice me." He says.

"No one noticed me for
five years Digs. No matter what I did, they didn't see it. I know
how that feels. Let's change that starting now." I turn toward the
room. "Hey everybody!" I yell. Everybody looks my way. "This is
Digs." I slap his back. "He kept my six all fuckin day making it
possible for me to walk through the door and see my kids, my old
lady and you, my Brothers. He's one of the behind the scene guys.
He keeps the guys with the guns alive to protect all of us. Make
sure you thank him for that." I hold my shot up. "To Digs!"
Everyone yells 'Digs.' Brothers are slapping his back. I smile and
lift my chin as he's swallowed up by the crowd.

"That was nice Danny."
Zack says on my side. "Looks like Doc fixed you up."

"Yeah." I smile. My kids
come and find me. Ally wants me to pick her up. Zack takes Devan
for me. "This is my only girl Ally. She's one of the twins." Tiny
comes over with Alex on his shoulders. "That's her twin Alex." Alex
signs 'you're big'. I tell him what Alex signed and he laughs.
Darren climbs on a stool. Tiny asks him 'where's his brothers?' He
signs 'with Little Ben and Jessie watching a movie. Ally and Alex
left the room; I didn't want them to be out here alone.'

"Good looking out for your
family Little Brother." VP says and signs from the side of me.
Darren makes us laugh, 'always'. He signs and throws us
chin.

"Fuckin kids. Little
Badasses in training." Darren puts his hand out. VP digs out a buck
and hands it to him. Tiny laughs his ass off.

"You want to go watch the
movie you're missing?" I sign and say.

'You got them? I don't
want to leave them unless you have them.' He signs.

"I got them. Go watch your
movie, you're missing it." He nods taking a step back to the kids
room then turns back, 'I'd miss them more, that's why I watch.'
Fuckin kids. I throw him chin.

"Fuckin kids." VP says.
Alex and Ally hold out their hands. He digs another buck for each
of them. “Every fuckin one of them shakes us down.” He
laughs.

"You got some cool kids
Danny." Jake says.

"Thanks, I think so." My
stomach growls. Ally jumps trying to reach VP. He laughs and takes
her. I get Devan from Zack. "I need to find some food." I tell
them. "Do you want me to take them back with the other kids?" They
both say no. "I'll be in the kitchen." Zack and Jake follow. Sam's
still working. "Anything left Sam?"

"Have a seat Brothers,
heard you earned a meal today. I got chicken parm and meatloaf.
What will you have?" He smiles over at us.