Page 57 of Conan
I put her on a bus after their last tussle, one that had us worried one would eventually end up six feet under if they didn’t get away from each other, and the ticket I purchased at the Greyhound station was for her hometown. Since once upon a time, she was one of us, I want to find her, talk to her, and make sure she isn’t in any trouble.
I knock on the kids’ door and when one of them hollers for me to come in, I do. It’s chaotic when I enter. The older boys are folding laundry, the middle boys are watching over the girls, and the girls, they’re getting into everything—including the folded clothes.
Jordan looks up at me, but I don’t see frustration staring back at me, if anything, he looks happy about their behavior. “How’s it going?” I ask, a slight chuckle escaping my lips when I see Hadley swinging a stuffed monkey around, singing to it.
“It’s good,” Austin answers. “Brooklynn’s never seen so many clothes and toys before that she wants to inspect everything. Feels good to watch her giggle as she unfolds what we just folded.”
“Did y’all get everything you need?” I question.
“More than,” Jordan huffs. “I think y’all went overboard.”
“Jordan,” I say, and when he looks up at me, I continue, “these are necessities, man. These are things you should’ve had all along.”
“We’ll pay you back,” Jordan swears. “As soon as I find a job and get a paycheck, I’ll start making payments.”
“Did we ask for you to pay us back?” I hiss, promising them, “this isn’t a tit for tat thing. You, all of you, are one of us now and we take care of our own. If you want to help out, there are things around here you could do that’d take a weight off our shoulders.”
“Like what?” Austin asks.
“Things around the clubhouse need repairing, one of you could be in charge of keeping the bikes clean after we ride. Laundry piles up around here like you wouldn’t believe… the club girlshave a hard time keeping up with the mass amount. If none of those things are things you’re interested in doing, ask around, somebody will have something,” I tell them.
“It’ll be nice to earn our keep,” Tate voices. “And extra nice that we aren’t fighting for a place to sleep anymore.”
“I have a concern,” Jordan states.
“What’s that?” I ask, nothing coming to mind that should be worrying him.
“The parties. It was loud last night and I had a helluva time getting Brooklynn and Hadley down. How often does that happen?”
“Too often,” I mumble. “Is it gonna be an issue?”
“I hate for us to be a burden, but I think it will be,” Jordan admits. “I’m sorry, Conan.”
“Don’t be sorry, Jordan,” I exclaim.
“You’d think with the way we lived that it’d be easier for us to drown out the background noise, but we aren’t used to the vibrations from the stereo. Usually, it’s traffic noise or chirping crickets we had to deal with. Benbrook isn’t party town, USA.”
“That it isn’t,” I chuckle. “We’ll come up with something, even if it means pushing y’all deeper into the clubhouse. I can’t say that the parties will die off, that’s just not going to happen, but we can try to make things easier for y’all.”
“We’ve been talking,” Tate interjects. “My parents paid off their home, and if we can figure it out, maybe we could move it somewhere close by? We could all live there, it’s only a three bedroom, but we could bunk up and make it work.”
Mulling it over, I confess, “Not sure about all the legal shit that goes with all of that. For all we know, the state took it over, but we can check into it. I’ll get Auto on it, and if that’s what y’all want to do, I’ll finance the move out of my own pocket.”
“We’ll pay–”
“Don’t start that shit again, Jordan,” I growl. “You boys have suffered and sacrificed enough as it is, let us take it from here. Huh?”
“I’ll try,” Jordan chuckles.
“See that you do,” I counter. “I know it’s hard to let the burden of responsibility go after having to carry it for so long but let us help you shoulder that weight.”
“You guys have done more than enough for all of us, it’s not fair to you to take on our obligations,” Austin argues.
“Life isn’t fair, kid,” I remark. “I’d think you’d have figured that out by now.”
“We have,” Tate admits without any hesitancy. “But between the oldest of us, we do what needs to be done so we share the responsibilities equally. Jordan more so than the rest of us, but that’s because he likes bossing us around.” Tate’s teasing has Jordan, Landon, and Austin laughing. Tate shrugs his shoulders but his lips are tilted upward.
“Well, you’ve been added to the Deviant Knights family, and we take care of our own, y’all. So, we’ll get shit sorted so that y’all are able to get the girls to sleep at night, then I’ll talk with my brother and see what kind of chores you boys can do outside of what our prospects are responsible for, alright?”
