“Yeah, but for you to think that I didn’t know about the Thunder Crows…”
“You knew?”
“Why do you think I got smashed?” he asks. “That was the first time I got drunk.”
“Wait, so Father told you?”
“He recruited me or tried to. You know I wasn’t really interested in motorcycles, so I didn’t care for the bike he got me when I turned fifteen.”
“Who gets a kid a bike at fifteen?” I mumble.
“He wanted to convert me over, but the motorcycle club is just a sham, and he wanted to lure me in, and he told me everything, about how it’s powerful and how he figured he would one day be in charge, that it would mean I would be, that he had all kinds of plans for expansion…”
“Like what?” I ask. My entire body has turned to ice, and I’m shivering.
Father has the opportunity now to expand and do whatever he sees fit, and that thought utterly terrifies me.
“I don’t recall everything he said. Trying to process all of that wasn’t easy, and I’m scared.”
“Scared?”
“He might’ve threatened me when I told him I wasn’t interested, that I would never join… He’s seriously fucked up in the head. He catfished my girl, trying to lure her away from me, and she fell for it.”
“Wait, how did he manage to do that? If she wasn’t trying to find someone to cheat on you with…”
“He pursued her.”
“Did he actually…”
“He convinced her to meet him at a hotel. He wasn’t there. I was.”
“You?”
“I was given a note that said I should go there, that I would find out something interesting, and when Carla showed up… We had a long talk, and she admitted that there was someone else, someone who had spent money on her, someone who she thought could take care of her… I called her a gold digger and a lot of other nasty terms, and as much as I thought about forgiving her because my father went after her to get to me, I couldn’t forgive her because she fell for it.”
“Fuck, and I thought the shit I’ve been dealing with was awful.”
“What shit? Is Dad stirring the pot?”
“No, it has nothing to do with Father.”
“Then who?” Kyle demands. “Do you need me to come over and knock some heads together?”
I laugh. “I doubt that would help any.”
“You never know. What do you need? What’s going on?”
I hesitate. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“While I don’t deny that…” He pauses. “Mom?”
“She’s fine.”
“I haven’t been able to get a hold of her.”
“Has Father gotten a hold of you?”
“No. He… Coming home after shit hit the fan with Carla… Seeing him again… I never want to talk to him ever again, never want to see him.”