“I know nothing about guitars, but it’s beautiful.”
I laughed. “He wasn’t famous. But in custom guitar circles, he was well-known. Getting your hands on a River Dog Custom is the holy grail for high-end collectors.” I patted the guitar. “This one? I mean, to me it’s invaluable because of the memory, the sentimental value. But to someone else? Shit, this thing could go for…thirty grand, easily, probably closer to forty.”
She blinked.“Wow. I had no idea.”
“He’ll never make any more, obviously, and their quality is second to none.”
Myles laughed. “I’ve known Crow my whole life, and was half raised by River Dog, andIdon’t have one of his guitars.”
“Oh.”
Gesturing to Crow, Myles said, “I been after his ass for years to try his hand at making one, but he won’t.” He sounded easy breezy, but his eyes were shuttered. “You want a drink, Charlie?”
She shook her head. “No. I want the story.”
“Why?” Myles asked.
“I need to know.”
“You won’t sleep for a week, I’m warnin’ you.” He stared her down, gave her a rare glimpse at serious Myles. “And it won’t change anything. He is who he is. It’s history.”
I took another pull. “Just tell her, Myles.”
“Everything?” He sounded skeptical.
“Everything.”
“You had enough?” he said to me, gesturing at the bottle.
“Hell no.” I handed him the bottle. “I’ll share, though.”
He accepted the bottle and took a swig, handed it back. “All right, well, here we go. I’m guessin’ he’s given you the broad outlines of his life. Dad and Uncle founded AzTex MC. Those two were matches and dynamite, Coyote and Na’ura. Your mom was a badass bitch, man.”
Lexie bristled. “Myles.”
I cut her off. “That would have been the greatest compliment you could have given my mother. Don’t go taking offense on her account. She’s dead anyway.”
Myles chuckled. “One time, we were, what? Eight? Nine? She’d brought you and me and Tania to a pizza place. Had her leather on with the club patches an’ everything, but since she had us, she was driving a truck. No clue where she got it. But anyway, she had us, the three of us, loud and wild youngsters all crazy on Cokes and gummy bears. And these four college douchebags started talking shit about us for being out of control brats or some shit. Na’ura didn’t like that.”
I had to laugh. What a memory. “Mom gave those assholes a thrashing I guarantee you they never forgot.”
“With a pizza tray. One of those metal ones they serve pizza on, you know? She whupped ‘em up one side and down the other, till the manager begged her to stop. Those little bitches ran off crying. The manager probably would’ve tried to kick us out, if not press charges, but he’d seen Mom’s colors and knew better than to fuck with the old lady of an AzTex patch.”
Charlie offered a small smile. “She sounds amazing.”
“She was,” I said.
Myles sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about this, Charlie. I had to do Skype sessions with a therapist for weeks to get past this shit. I donotwant to unbox it all.”
She let out a ragged, hoarse sigh. “I’m sorry. I just…after what happened, I need to know.”
Myles looked at me again. “Crow. Your story, man.”
I shook my head. “Not telling it. Can’t. But I’m fine with her knowing. She’s already scared of me, so I may as well put it all out there for her. I just…I can’t. Sorry, brother.”
Myles sighed. Hung his head. “Fine. But I’m gonna need another hit of that.” He drank from my bottle, rested it on his knee, and drank again. “Shit. Okay. Fine. Here you go.”
And he began talking.
