Page 92 of The Heir

Blaze

“Did your dad calm down any?” I asked May once we were alone under the canopied entrance of the clubhouse.

He snorted in a long, drawn-out way rather than answering.

“That bad–”

“He’s lost his fucking mind. He thought we were going to move to the sticks.”

“Georgia,” I corrected him.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Can you fuckin’ imagine me– In fucking Georgia?” He flubbed his lips. “Them people probably still put folks in jail for jaywalking. My mom said you can’t even possess no smoke down there. Can you believe that shit?”

I had to laugh recalling Trista’s outburst over her weed. She’d been so serious!

“You speak about it, like it’s fuckin’ crack or something. Weed ain’t that serious.”

“Ha!” he exclaimed, “You go tell her that, I’ll wait. My mom lives on weed. She has since before I was born on account of her PTSD and all that.”

I nodded, having figured out that much about her.

“Nothing wrong with it, but surely, they can give her some Xanax or something. She’d be alright.”

The sordid laughter that bubbled and brewed in his throat, lit up his eyes, “Yeah, they ain’t so free in passing that shit out. Everyone is looked at like a fuckin’ drug seeker these days. My mom suffered bad for a long time, man. I remember when I was little, and she had her spells. My dad would lose his job and shit, staying home to take care of her. Now she smokes and the world is a better place. She functions. She doesn’t fall apart at the grocery store, ya dig?”

“I’m glad she had Easy, you know? He gets her.”

“He does. My dad was in the war when he was young.”

“Yeah– The Valentino shit.”

“Nah,” May shook his head, “I mean the real war. Afghanistan. Fallujah.”

“Oh.” I squinted, and slowly nodded, “I vaguely remember him in military uniform– Maybe…”

He gave a grunt of understanding.

The gravel crunched in the distance, and we looked up to see his dad rolling across the lot. Easy parked the bike and slid off like a rock star. He removed his glasses as he crossed toward us and paused a few feet away.

Our eyes locked and my mouth went dry. I couldn’t read him, and I really, really didn’t want Easy upset with me.

He nodded without so much as a greeting and placed a hand on my shoulder before jerking the door open.

“Easy,” I whispered, but he was gone.

“He ain’t mad,” May predicted.

The noise inside died down a little. I cracked the door open and realized the bar area had cleared out. I could see movement behind the blinds in the back office where it seemed they were all gathered.

May fooled on his phone and I leaned against the wall for the next thirty minutes. As quickly as it had quieted, the noise level dramatically rose and they all started to trickle out in a big crowd. One by one, the bikes cleared out until only Mak and Easy’s were left.

“Safe to go in?” I asked May.

His head jerked up and he surveyed the lot, “Probably.”

I pushed the door open and made my way down the length of the bar. Easy and Mak came out of the office one after the other. They didn’t notice me right away because they were talking amongst themselves. When they did, they both started my way.

“Congrats,” Easy spoke up, looking directly at me.