Page 32 of Callow

“I do. We all do for the most part. There was a guy here a while ago, Sutton, who didn’t get along with Sully. But that was some shit from back when they were kids.”

“Did Sutton leave?”

“Yes, but he always planned to leave.” At my blank look, he went on, “Sutton was never going to stay with us. Fallon was trying to see if he would be a good choice for a president of a sister club.”

“Sister club,” I repeated. “Wow. I didn’t know that was a thing. Are there a lot of them?”

“Two fully established ones right now. Golden Glades in Florida. And Shady Valley in California. Sutton is putting his club together now in Texas.”

“What’s the reason for having sister clubs?”

“Depends on the club, I guess. Usually, it’s a strategic thing. Which is why we have clubs now on three sides of the country. It’s good for… import and export kind of things.”

“Right. That makes a lot of sense. What?” I asked when I caught him watching me with his head tilted.

“You’re surprisingly accepting of it,” he said.

“Your… job?” I clarified.

“Yeah. Most normal people don’t act like it’s no big thing.”

“I dunno. I guess when I was younger, I was around a lot of people with, ah, let’s call it ‘alternative lifestyles.’ I became immune to the shock of it. I mean, I did knowingly date a drug dealer. Sure, it was just weed. But it was illegal at the time.

“Oh, and we used to hang out with some guys who were members of a local street gang. Fifth Street or something like that.”

“Third Street,” he said, giving me a little smile.

“Yeah, that was it. It was wild. They would just party with guns sitting right there on the coffee table. I wasn’t… the most sensible teenager,” I admitted.

“Eh, that’s what youth is for. Being stupid. Give you some shit to look back on fondly when you’re too old to party with local gangs.”

I did have a lot of fond memories, I had to admit. Even if I didn’t want to see my own kid doing the same things.

“So after being young and stupid, you joined the military?” I asked.

“Yep. Mostly wanted to get away from my family. And travel. Doing it this way let me do it for free,” he said. “Well, it had its own kind of cost, I guess,” he admitted, and I could see his arm moving as he absentmindedly rubbed his leg above his prosthetic.

“Would you do it again?” I asked, knowing how life could give you so many gray areas. Like, I wouldn’t trade my daughter for anything. But life would have been easier if I’d waited until I was more established to have kids.

“That’s a hard question,” Callow admitted, likely feeling the same way I did. “I loved the travel and the brotherhood. Other parts… not so much.”

“Is that why you wanted to become a biker when you got back?” I asked. “The brotherhood?”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “I lost two good friends in the service. And while nothing can fill that void, having that closeness again has… helped ease the ache, I guess.”

“It must be nice to have that big of a support system,” I said, nodding.

“Sounds like you don’t have that. Must have been hard raising a kid with no help.”

“I had Britney and Sam. They have a daughter Daphne’s age. And Britney was a stay-at-home mom, and she helped watch Daphne so I could work. They were invaluable.”

“But all you had. Her father was never in the picture?”

“No. Took a while to track him down just to tell him I was pregnant.”

“He’s never wanted anything to do with her?”

“He sent me some money. Once. That was it.”