Steel walked forward. “Did you honestly think we’d miss this, brother?” He held up a leather cut.
Pumpkin’s eyes landed on his road name on the left breast. His old one had been cut off of him by the paramedics who had first treated his broken body. Getting another one filled him with more pride than he could express right then. Carefully, Pumpkin reached for it. He did not want to fall in front of his brothers and family.
Slipping it on, Pumpkin took a moment to feel the rightness of having the leather cut back on his shoulders. He nodded, more to himself than anything. “Thanks, Steel.”
Steel dipped his chin in acknowledgement before asking, “How’s your balance?”
Pumpkin checked himself like his therapists had taught him. “I’m good. Ready to get out of here.”
Steel offered him a rare smile as he stepped out from in front of Pumpkin. “Good to hear, but not quite yet.”
Pumpkin’s eyebrows drew down in confusion at his President’s words until he saw everyone in the hall—aside from Scar, but Tally had two—held a little stuffed pumpkin in their hand.
“Don’t you dare—” Pumpkin started, but it was too late. He ducked and covered his head as he was pelted by the pumpkins.
And laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.
Pumpkin should have knownthe pumpkin theme wouldn’t have ended there. While one could consider the enormity of pumpkin decorations fall or Halloween themed, as it was the middle of September, years of experience told Pumpkin otherwise. Hell, even SJ had a pumpkin blanket covering his legs in the cage on the ride back to Mount Grove. The little stinker…
The immense feeling of relief at seeing the black metal gate that surrounded the club’s property after so long was overshadowed by stark annoyance at seeing the pumpkin garland, cutouts, jack-o’-lanterns, and blow-ups that decorated it.
Normally by the middle of September, the club was starting to consider putting their sleds away for the winter. Mountainous Pennsylvania could turn cold fast in the fall and heavy cold rains were common. As Road Captain, it was Bear’s call when the last ride of the season would be. However, with knowing Pumpkin’s discharge date was approaching, Bear had put off that decision as long as possible. And when the weather held out just a little longer, the club was able to ride out to collect him and escort him home.
Pumpkin had never been on a club run from inside one of the SUVs before. He wasn’t entirely sure he liked it, though the opportunity to nap mid-ride had been appreciated. Prospects Darrin and Viktor were sharing the responsibilities of driving the two cages with the kids and babies too young to ride and any of the ol’ ladies who didn’t want to face the cold. One was Angel and Cage’s accessible vehicle so Bree had her wheelchair with them but could also ride on the back of Angel’s trike.
The sloping drive down to the clubhouse was lined with pumpkin lanterns on stakes. Tall totem poles of varying sizes of pumpkins were placed out in the leaf-covered lawn, and unfortunately, it didn’t end there. A giant pumpkin, standing at least twenty feet tall, was placed outside the clubhouse’s overhang where vehicles were usually parked. The mouth of the massive jack-o’-lantern was open, providing atunnel everyone could walk through to get to the front doors of the clubhouse.
Pumpkin’s jaw dropped. What the fuck? He usually hated the fall time of year simply because the club never let the pumpkin themed pranks go. For the past six years, pumpkin lattes, milkshakes, hell even beer, had been thrown at him. Not to mention the pumpkin bed sheets, blankets, pillows, towels, bath mats, soaps, shampoos, and shower curtains that had been added to his apartment over the years without his approval. Theone timePumpkin had tried to make a complaint about the pumpkin decorations, Lucky had had Scotty bring him a giant stuffed pumpkin with arms and legs to ask ifhecould still bring Pumpkin pumpkin items. Well, how the fuck was Pumpkin supposed to say ‘no’ to that adorable face? Since then, the club had used Scotty, and then added on the other club kids, to help in their pumpkin bombing because they all knew Pumpkin would bite his tongue off before he risked hurting one of his nieces’ or nephews’ feelings.
Fuckers.
When the motorcycles in front of them kept going past the clubhouse, Pumpkin didn’t think much of it. Maybe they needed to park elsewhere because of the giant-ass pumpkin currently taking up half the parking lot. But when Darrin drove past empty parking spots, Pumpkin looked around in confusion.
“Where are we going?”
The motorcycles were heading down the drive that led to the houses on property. Maybe one of the ol’ ladies wanted to host the party in her home instead of the clubhouse? The clubhouse had been made wheelchair accessible after Angel had adopted Bree over two years ago, so it wasn’t like they had to make accommodations for him.
Darrin, though, didn’t answer. Just sat up a little straighter as he slowly followed the procession.
Pumpkin looked to Frankie, who was suddenly extremely interested in SJ’s toes. Then he spotted the new house in The Square.
When the club had first bought the old distillery property, there had been a single-family home in addition to the buildings that wouldbecome their clubhouse and the club’s garage. It was rundown, but livable. Pumpkin hadn’t been a prospect then, but he knew of how the Originals and the club’s first prospects had used fixing up the home to Jenna’s standards as a bonding project.
For years, Steel and his family had been the only members with a house on property. The other members who owned homes lived in town, or like Jumper, had an apartment. Then Lucky’s house had been burned down in an act of arson. Rather than rebuilding, he’d sold his land in town and built a modular home next to Steel’s on club property.
Then Bear and Angel had built their new homes. The way the land had been plotted, the then-four homes had made up a nearly perfect pentagon-shaped backyard, which was then completed by Bulldog when he built his home. Scotty had dubbed the area where he lived The Pentagon, which the others started using to refer to the houses on property too. After Demo started building his home in a different area that had four plots, no one had to even ask Scotty what he wanted to name it before it was referred to as The Square.
As far as Pumpkin knew, Demo’s home was the only one in The Square. Scar and Tally were building a house on property, but it was secluded and away from the clubhouse and main area. Jumper, Pirate, Jasmine, and Sophia owned a duplex on the other side of the property as well. Demo currently lived in his house alone, though Paige and her two sons, Mikey and Nelly Bean were frequent visitors. As in love as Paige and Demo were, Paige hadn’t been ready to move in with him yet after finally gaining back some independence and financial stability following her failed marriage. That didn’t stop Demo from building her and her sons a home and making plans for their future as a family, including legally adopting her boys.
As far as Pumpkin knew, no one else in the club was dating anyone. Maybe one of the brothers had decided the apartment life was no longer for him and wanted to build a house?
Motorcycles lined the road as Darrin slowly passed, finally turning into the new house’s driveway. Pumpkin stared at the house.
In comparison to Demo’s two-story, it was small. But it had aquaint, cozy look about it that Pumpkin liked. The single story ranch had a large front porch with a big bay window. Set at a ninety degree angle from Demo’s, the two had a playset on the shared front lawn that was designed for toddlers. It sat on a raised platform with a beige canopy for shading. A hole next to the platform looked new and the pile of sand bags next to it was telling.
As was the ramp leading up to the front door.
He didn’t remember the house he’d lived in for the first three years of his life. He knew areas from the photo albums his mom kept of his early years when she could afford things like a camera and film orPolaroids. His father was an international bank executive, and money had not been an issue for the man. Fidelity and fatherhood, however, had been. Lawyers had taken care of the rest, leaving Pumpkin and his mom nearly penniless after the divorce. He hadn’t even had to pay child support, swindling himself out of that responsibility too. They’d gone from living in a larger than average home to a one-bedroom apartment in a low-income housing complex.
