Page 22 of Carver (Satan’s Angels MC #8)

Carver

B ronte told me about Dravin’s horde comment. I can’t think of a better descriptor for the chaos that has invaded this small blue house on a quiet, unassuming street.

The neighborhood is great. I went with Dravin last week to see the house, as soon as he and Kael got the keys for their new place.

It was already empty, so they got immediate possession.

Even though Dravin is busy with the club, they’ve been moving things over slowly, one carload or truckload at a time.

The club bought most of the furniture for the house when Kael moved in.

Even though it wasn’t that long ago, she was adamant that they let her buy it.

She wanted us to have the fresh start we deserved, and that meant picking out things that were meaningful to us.

When Dravin brought me over last week to take a look at the house and yard, Kael told me that they were definitely taking the bed, because no one wants to sleep where other people have already slept .

Or not slept. She laughed as she said it, promising me that she’d give the rest of the house a deep cleaning too.

And then Dravin walked over and covered her mouth so no further inappropriate words could cross her lips.

Dravin wanted me to make sure the house would suit. He promised that we could look for something else and get it figured out if we didn’t like it.

I know I can’t make anything perfect, but this is our first place together . We’re finally starting our lives. Restarting? Resuming?

I’ve lost track of Bronte. She has Elowen with her, or one of the old ladies is taking a turn, but there are so many people crammed into the house that they’re spilling over into the backyard and even the front.

Bronte’s old truck is parked in the back in the single parking space by the small garage.

She arrived at ten this morning. The street was already lined with bikes and vehicles.

I’d feel the need to apologize to the neighbors for the noise and craziness, if they weren’t already used to all sorts of bikes coming and going already.

Dravin drove me over at seven this morning. Kael had the house spotless. She took Dravin’s tinted out black car and picked up breakfast for us. I thought I was far too nervous to eat anything, but Kael insisted.

Tyrant and his old lady, Lark, were the first to show up.

It’s midweek, so they got here right after sending their daughter off to school.

Raiden and his wife, Ella, pulled in right after them, both riding their own bikes.

It’s just about that time where the weather could turn, so everyone is trying to squeeze out as much riding time as they can.

After that, I basically lost track of who was arriving and when.

People just started showing up, dropping in with items for inside the house and out.

You can’t have a big gathering of people without having a cookout, so a grill was set up and food started appearing like magic, getting laid out on the new patio set that also arrived and was unboxed.

Atlas and Willa came last, pulling their enclosed trailer full of new furniture.

I also had to ask Bronte for a list of things she needed and liked. I didn’t want to do it, but Dravin informed me that if I didn’t give him the details, the house would be filled up all the same, so I might as well get Bronte what she liked.

She was overwhelmed with the whole thing.

The only thing she truly needed was a crib.

Anything else would just be a much appreciated blessing.

I know that Bronte loves her parents’ old farmhouse and all the antiques, so I passed that along to Dravin.

He laughed and said that Willa would definitely have us covered. The club would cover the bill.

Willa’s sister showed up with the truck and trailer, and Lynette’s man, Bullet, rode up behind them.

Crow owns the house, but he’s tattooing and his old lady, Tarynn, had appointments at her salon that she couldn’t move.

Wizard stayed back at the clubhouse to do security, along with some of the prospects, but it seems like everyone else is either here right now, has been here, or will be here.

“It’s a lot for a little wartime house, but they’re getting it all sorted.” Dravin’s voice startles me out of my thoughts. I found a space in the front yard, standing by the chest high hedges overlooking the sidewalk and the street, that at least for the moment, is dead quiet.

“I think they’ve had it sorted for a while. Bronte’s truck was emptied out the second she got here.”

“It’s overwhelming, I know.”

“No, it’s incredible.” Smoke from the grill in the backyard drifts around the side of the house, the smell of burgers and sausages.

“I don’t know any other group of people anywhere who would come together to give two virtual strangers all of…

this. The excitement and happiness that Bronte deserves.

It’s not just moving furniture or getting us squared away.

It feels like people are really glad to have us here. ”

Dravin’s suited up in his usual leather and denim combo. The rest of the men here subscribe to some version of that uniform. I’m quite out of place in my worn wool plaid. Very farm boy comes to the city, even if my family never farmed jack shit.

“How are you doing? A bunch of extroverts descending into one small area can be a lot for an introvert to handle.”

“It doesn’t matter how I feel. Bronte’s smiles and laughter all morning are worth any amount of discomfort.

We’re both still in awe that this is happening.

She was worried about Elowen being a little bit off with a change of routine, but the few times I’ve seen my daughter this morning, she’s been all smiles and giggles. ”

“Every single person here is doting on her and not just the women. There’s something about a little baby that turns even the hardest baddie into a softie.”

“Where are Decay and Grave?” The former Canadian twins rolled up in a giant lifted truck with exhaust loud enough to rival any bike, and they haven’t stopped trying to outdo each other in flexing competitions all morning.

If they were just flexing their muscles, that would be obnoxious enough, but they seem to be a constant competition to see who can be louder.

“Grave is manning the grill and Decay is… uh… walking around being Decay.”

Despite the pressure in my head, the way my brain is spinning, and my body feels as though it’s going to follow, my lips twitch. “You and Kael didn’t get this amount of help. I feel bad.”

“Don’t. Before she moved in, this place was exactly the same. Overcrowded, noisy, and joyful. The club loves days like these. For them, this is what brotherhood looks like.”

I don’t have to say that he’s not a patched-in member yet and at the start, doubted he ever would be because he was just using the club for cover of sorts, or that I haven’t made any decision about prospecting.

No one’s pressured me. It’s never once been implied that there’s anything conditional in this help.

That doesn’t mean I fully understand it, or that sometimes I wake up feeling as though I’m living a dream life.

“Are you okay, Dom? Really?”

Bronte’s family has come to feel like my own, but I don’t have that same bond with her brother that I shared instantly with Dravin.

I love Gabriel, but there are people you meet who you feel as though you’ve known forever.

People who see things you don’t want them to see and hear all the words you’re silently screaming.

That doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t send a chill through me or that I’m not clawing back uncomfortably.

It’s hard to be this seen , even if at the same time, I’m incredibly moved and grateful.

“Does Kael really call you Daddy Dray?”

He bursts out laughing. “Fucking hell, man, don’t ever say that again. I haven’t even pissed her off lately. Why on earth did she tell you that?”

“Just for the fun of it.”

He’s still smiling, but totally somber at the same time.

“Sometimes it scares me half senseless, making a life with her. I love her. I’d do anything for her.

I… it’s useless to try and describe the way I feel.

I just know that she’s the one and she’s always going to be it, but it’s terrifying at the same time as it’s the greatest blessing I’ve known. ”

“Yeah.” Fucking rights, that’s exactly it.

“Bronte chose me. I’ve always had trouble making friends.

It’s ironic because Bronte and her family have told me how kind and magnetic and smart I am.

They say that anyone would want to know me.

The first thing she ever did was share her lunch with me, that was when we were back in school.

But she started looking out for me and after me.

She noticed I didn’t have clothes that fit properly…

” I glance down the street, my face heating at the old shame.

Bruises? They were obvious, but neglect was too.

“She brought me some of her older brother’s things.

She said he didn’t need them anymore. She knew that I was scared to go back home most days, so she invited me to ride the bus with her.

Her mom would drive me back after dinner, even though we lived so far apart.

No questions asked. Her family fed me, clothed me and gave me safety.

We were fourteen and we stayed friends until we were sixteen.

I wanted to get her a gift for her special birthday.

I was already sculpting, and I’d sold a few small things.

She’d helped me build a website and get that going and…

anyway, I had a bit of money. I would have bought her anything, but when I asked her what she wanted, she said me . ”

I wish there was something I could hold onto, but there’s only the hedges in front of me, so I wrap my hand around my bad arm and cradle it instead.

“It’s hard to believe that was almost nine years ago that she formally made it known to me that we were going to have a life together.

She claimed me. Right from that first day she sat down with that extra lunch, I’ve belonged to her.

No matter how far I strayed into myself, she waited for me to come back.

I want to give her the world, and it kills me that I can’t.

This day, this house, this welcome… I know you don’t want thanks, but thank you.

Thank you for the bike, for coming out and showing me the way out.

I’ll be asking why for a long time to come, even if you tell me not to, but I’m also so grateful. And terrified.”

A shout turns both our heads to the backyard, but it’s followed by loud male laughter.

“There’s Grave. If we needed proof he’s still in the backyard and not causing trouble somewhere else, we have it.”

I have no idea how he knows that’s Grave and not Decay. They look similar, act similar, and sound about the same. There’s a reason people come up with the saying terror twins.

Dravin thumps his chest with a fist, bringing us straight back into a serious conversation.

“A regular man knows gratitude and terror, but for men like us, who’ve been given a second and third and eighth chance, it’s different.

We see living and dying differently. It’s okay to be that way.

It’s okay to be exactly who you are, because who you are is who she loves. ”

I don’t know if there’s a special book of sage knowledge that I missed the memo on, but it’s uncanny how Dravin and Bronte both have my number.

“Kael might have said that you get poetic.” Dravin just laughs.

“She told me she painted you.” Now I have his attention.

He freezes, and I have to wonder what’s in those paintings.

“You moved all the art before I could see it here, you bastard.”

“You’re going to be sharing a studio space with Kael. If she decides to display them, you’ll be the first to know and see them.”

They can’t be that racy then. Kael was probably just playing. She has a dark, dry sense of humor and she seems to get quite a lot of enjoyment over causing Dravin to half lose his mind.

“I’m half worried now,” Dravin says, but he’s not really. “She seems to spill all our secrets to you guys.”

“It seems like you’re well equipped to handle the mortification.”

I know Kael can’t hear us from over by the hedges. She just has the most incredible sense of timing. She cracks the upstairs window and shouts out to us. “Daddy Dray, did you guys get burgers yet? They’re all cooked out there and going fast.”

Dravin sighs, but Kael just presses her face against the screen and gives him the widest grin. She waves at him before cranking the window closed and latching it so hard that the sound echoes outside.

“It’s not just me who needs friends. Most of Bronte’s moved on, but she stayed. She’s away from her family. It means so much that the whole club turned out, but it’s nice to have a couple we can be friends with.”

“Doing suburbia right,” he quips.

I roll my eyes. “We probably should go get a burger. Those guys will have them polished off in no time.”

“There’s always sausage.”

“That probably went first.”

“Okay, Daddy Dray. Lead the way.”

His eyes narrow at me. “I’d offer to rearrange your face if it hadn’t already been done for me.”

It’s a testament to how far I’ve come that I can laugh about my face now. “You missed the part where it would be an improvement.”

“Revenge is sweet,” Dravin promises ominously as fuck while we walk down the narrow front sidewalk and around to the gate that will let us into the backyard. He rubs his palms together. “So sweet.”

I unlatch the gate and turn around to wink at him. “I can’t wait.”

Truly, I can’t. Today is a day for new beginnings.

This is the first night that Bronte and I will ever spend together in its entirety, and we’ll be doing it as a family in a house lovingly put together by people who want the best for us. Her family is going to come for a visit in two days.

Our life started a long time ago, but this is a refresh. It’s a day for joy, for laughter, for jokes with unexpected friends, for belonging, and for us.