Stay Vertical (The Bare Bones MC #2)(65)
Finally it was Maddy who said, “I suppose we should get down there and make arrangements.”
“You’d do that?” I knew Madison hadn’t been to visit Ingrid, not in years.
“Of course I would. Anything to help you out. You’ve been through enough.”
“Okay. We’ll go there in a little bit. Let’s enjoy the party some more. We need to leave Fidelia with someone. No sense traumatizing her over some grandma she never met.”
“I’m with you on that.”
With a palpable sense of relief, we stood and went back inside the bar. The party was now in full swing what with everyone having gotten off work, and grill smoke drifted from the kitchen as Bobo Segrist expertly flipped patties and tossed ribs. A drinking game was going on at a long table, and to my surprise I saw that Toby Weingarten was leading it off at the head of the table.
“Look—Land Mines,” said Maddy, drawing me over.
Men roared and hooted as Toby spun his quarter on the table. He was being a good sport at a game he was sure to lose. He needed to chug a beer and then pick up the still-spinning quarter with the same hand he had used to drink. I knew The Bare Bones well enough to know they’d never let a citizen like Toby escape unscathed, and I was right. Duji, Gollywow, Faux Pas, one after the other they smashed Toby’s quarter with their beer cans, forcing him to drink the two shots of beer—well, they used Jack Daniels for the penalty shots.
Toby raised two fists to the ceiling. “Nuclear fallout!” he cried.
“No f*cking way!” yelled Duji. “There’s plenty of room left. Don’t tell me you’re out of f*cking quarters.”
Toby jutted his jaw out at the well-seasoned, grizzled biker. “I’ve got quarters!” he proclaimed, fishing in the pocket of his kelly green high tide pants.
“Spin! Spin!” everyone shouted.
Lytton came up behind me and circled my waist with his hands. “Everything all right? Spin! Spin!”
Toby failed to chug before his quarter hit a land mine. Now he had to down the Jack Daniels and spin again.
Someone clapped Lytton on the back and gave him the soul shake. “Congratulations, brother.” It was a brother from the Flagstaff charter, and I realized there were a few bikers I didn’t know in The Bum Steer. I reflected. How could I possibly think I knew it all after having been Lytton’s old lady for only a few months? Of course there were other Bare Bones charters. I would never know all the patch holders.
There was an annual fish fry and rally coming up, held at the Citadel, where I’d probably see more strangers flying The Bare Bones’ colors. These people, I now knew, were more my family than Ingrid had ever been. I was just stuck with her because she’d given birth to me. But this inked man I’d never seen before giving Lytton a bear hug, he could be relied on. He was trustworthy. He’d go the extra mile for me.
Toby couldn’t choke down the beer before his quarter hit another land mine, and now he surrendered, his hands in the air. “I can’t fit another Dack Janiels into my mouth,” he half laughed, half sobbed.
“Penalty! Penalty!” roared the men, grabbing Toby’s arms.
“Uh-oh,” I said to Madison. “I think I’d better drive Toby back to the ranch. What are they doing?” They were lifting Toby on top of the table.
“Oh, it’s no big deal. He has to squat on the table being a gargoyle until they say it’s okay to stop. Then he’ll probably not be allowed to point and call anyone by name the rest of the night. Sounds easy, but it’s harder than it sounds. You try it.”
During a brief break in the congratulations, Lytton grabbed me by the upper arms and planted a giant kiss on me. He was exhilarated, I could tell, by the events of the evening. “June, June, June,” he murmured against my mouth. “I’m so glad you’re recovering. Wait for me after work tomorrow and we’ll go over the architect’s plans for our house.”
Our house. I’d never really had a house of my own before. The tract house in Cottonwood, the House of Early Sorrows, had never been a home. I had just camped out in Emma’s home, and then lived in a succession of dorms, apartments, and shacks for another ten years. I was currently occupying one of Maddy and Ford’s bedrooms. Our house was something I’d never dared to hope for, for fear it might be taken away from me.
“Wife,” Lytton added, causing me to nearly sob.
To prevent that, I breathed deeply. “I’d best go save Toby. I have some things to do at the ranch right now anyway. I’ll drive him home.”
“Yeah,” murmured Lytton. “It’s hard to ride two up with him when he’s hammered.”
Another stranger grabbed Lytton’s forearm. “Hey, Prospect! There’s no toilet paper in the can!”
Lytton was grinning as he pulled away from me. He didn’t stop looking at me, even when the unknown brother shoved him toward the men’s room. And he never lost that grin. He wasn’t about letting things get him down these days.
“Come on, Toby.” I took the gargoyle’s hand. I had to stop off at Leaves of Grass first before going to the hospice to adjust the sprinklers and make repairs. We were preparing for a harvest, which was as inevitable as change.