Lech
You know it baby
Cant wait to get my hands on you
Same. Same!!!
This is the club thing, right?
You’re coming to set up the charter?
You’ll be here awhile?
Yep. A couple months
He thought for a second and added:
At least
Does my dad know?
Can I talk to him about it?
We just decided
He’s probably hearing rn too
Not a secret anymore, so it’s cool if you
talk about it with him
They chatted for a few more minutes without really saying much, just conveying their mutual excitement at seeing each other in person. By the time they agreed to talk more that night, when they FaceTimed, Zach’s discomfiting ambivalence about the trip was resolved. Yeah, it would be hard to say goodbye to his family, but he could not fucking wait to get on the road.
And he was slightly less pissed at his brother now, so he decided to go talk to him.
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~oOo~
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Jay was working inthe shop today, assisting Apollo on a transmission rebuild, but they hadn’t gotten started yet after church. Instead, the guys on shift were hanging out at the work bench that spanned the garage, drinking coffee and talking about Laughlin.
When Zach walked in, they tried to draw him into the conversation, but he ignored everybody but his brother. Walked right up to him and grabbed him by the shirt.
“We need to talk,” he said and pulled him toward the opposite-side door, which led to a concrete pad that held the dumpster and a random collection of pallets. The guys who smoked did it here.
The guys they left behind knew exactly what was up and made a bunch of shit-giving noise. Jay grunted a wordless complaint and shrugged his hold off, but he came. That was how they worked—Jay might whine about it, he might want to fight about it, but in the end, he usually did what Zach said.
When they got outside, Zach wheeled on him. “What kind of fucking pussy shit was that?Abstaining?”
Straightening his shirt and tucking it back in, Jay said, “You know I think it’s fucking shitty to go to Laughlin, and you know it’s hurting Mom. Iwantedto vote no. Maybe I should have. Not like it mattered. Why are you so bent, anyway? The vote went your way.”
Why was he so bent? Did Jay really not get it? “You’re my brother. Would’ve been nice to have your support.”
Jay shrugged. “Like I said, who gives a fuck how I voted? You got your way.”
For a minute, Zach didn’t know what to do. Hewantedto punch his brother in the face. Like, really punch him. He wanted to shake him until he saw things the way Zach did. He wanted to do something that would make Jay fucking grow up and stand up straight.