Separated MC (The Nighthawks MC Book 10)

by Bella Knight

  Damia came in, Ivy right behind her, and the conversations turned to just above whispers. She stood in front of Robert, then turned to her mother. “Mom, the tacos were awesome tonight,” she said, clearly, her voice light.

  “That’s awesome,” said Ivy, trying not to cry. Damia let her mother touch the ends of her hair, and then grinned. Then, she ran away.

  “Whatever the hell you’re doing with my daughter, keep doing it,” said Ivy.

  “Stop feeling guilty,” said Robert. “She can see it, and she doesn’t understand it. She’s happy.”

  Ivy stepped back as if Robert had punched her in the stomach. “Alright,” she said, then let the tears fall. “On it,” she said.

  Alo turned and looked at him, his jaw on the ground. Robert smiled, and Alo nodded.

  Bryce Canyon

  They all took off work, and came to the main house to survey the organization. The boys did a great job of figuring out what they needed. They laid it all out, from insect repellent to tents, and split it up. They packed it before dinner, then ate like pigs —sausage and egg biscuits sandwiches, fruit, and carrots. They took turns showering, and Robert washed the clothes and Little Nico helped roll them up to repack them. Henry had bought cots for the sheer number of people that liked to sleep over. They rolled out their sleeping bags, and put their cots in rows. Then, they went outside. Henry, David, and Numa were sitting by the fire, trading off singing and drumming. Robert and Inola pulled the chairs out of the pool area and arranged them around the fire. Inola and Robert took turns singing. Suni showed up, and she sang as well. The soldiers drank beer, sodas, and flavored waters, and listened.

  “Wow,” said Star.

  “Awesome,” said Pomp.

  “Never get tired of hearing that,” said Wild Bill.

  “I hear you are going to Bryce Canyon,” said Inola. Bella sat next to her, using a stylus to draw on her tablet.

  “Whatcha doin’?” asked Star, nodding at Bella.

  “Book covers,” said Bella. “Gotta pop on a very tiny screen. Gotta be able to read the title.”

  Robert smiled. “She has done book covers for some of our books. She uses the illustrations for some covers.”

  “Wow,” said Star. “How hard is it to write a book?”

  Robert laughed. “Write out your storyline or plot first in bullet points. Makes writing much faster. There’s lots of podcasts, books, and the like about writing, some separated by genre.

  “Podcasts!” said Star. She whipped out her phone, and started pressing buttons.

  “I’ve got audiobooks on my phone,” said Reynolds. He was on the Iron Knights’ side. He had brown hair that was so dark it was almost black cut high and tight, with rippling muscles, and was a whiz with engines.

  “Jane’s?” asked Yuki, referring to a series of military and aerospace books.

  Reynolds laughed. “They don’t go to audio well. Everyone buys them for the pictures.” The military people laughed.

  “We’ve got great road song compilations,” said Henry. “Ivy made them for us.”

  “Give me the lists,” said Robert. “I’ll be in charge of that.”

  “We don’t have mics for everyone,” said Sayan.

  “Gregory’s bringing them,” said David. “He must put his babies to bed before coming over.”

  “That Katya,” said Yuki. “She’s fucking amazing.”

  “She is,” agreed Henry. “She is pregnant with an infertile couple’s baby.”

  “So is Killa,” said Yuki. “You guys have a lot of baby-makers.”

  “We do,” laughed Bella, moving to make the baby happy. “Nantan knocked us up,” she said. The boys looked sick. “Sorry, boys,” she said. “Turkey baster.”

  Tam put his hands over Little Nico’s ears. “He’s just a boy!” he said. Everyone laughed.

  “So, where are you hiking?”

  “We’ll take the 15 to the 14 to the 148 to the 89. Then, we’ll walk the short Hoodoo Trail to wake up, then the Mossy Cave Trail, then the Riggs Springs Loop Trail. We’ll hit up the campsite, then do the Navajo Trail, Queens Garden loop, and Peekaboo Loop Trail the next day. Maybe one more if we have time. Then, we’ll be tired, and back to camping. Then we’ll ride to Medicine Hat, on the 95 and 275, then down to the biggest of them all, the Grand Canyon.”

  “I will go with you,” said Inola. Henry, David, Bella, and Numa all stared at her. “I have business with the Navajo and Hopi,” she said.

  “Oh-kay,” said Bella, slowly.

  “Then, we’ll take the 64 to the 40, then back up the 93. Thought we’d camp at Lake Mead, then come back,” said Nico. “Can I ride behind you, Inola?” he asked.

  “Of course,” said Inola. “And, I worked as a civilian on Nellis Air Force Base, said Inola. “Paid my way through college.”

  “You have a degree?” asked Robert.

  “Have a vet tech degree,” said Inola.

  “Well, hot-damn,” said Yuki. “Girl power!” The women bumped fists.

  “We gonna get hot on the trail,” said Pomp. “We gotta load up on water.”

  “Absolutely,” said Sayan. “We’ve got collapsible poles for walking, water filtration bottles, all sorts of things. We’ve gone as light as possible, too. This isn’t Baghdad.”

  “Amen to that,” said Thandie.

  They all sat in silence for a moment. “I cannot imagine what you saw and heard,” said David, softly. “I was not there. But this is a different desert, a quieter one. There are beautiful things here.”

  “My desert is even more beautiful,” said Robert. “More things grow on Zuni land. It is surrounded by the Painted Cliffs. It has the ruins of an ancient pueblo, the Hawikuh Ruins. Perhaps… but it is a bit out of the way for this trip.”

  “Dude, I think ‘out of the way’ is the point of this trip,” said Sayan.

  Gregory came out onto the patio. Yancey and Jasperson (called Jas for short) were with him. “Do I need to drag out some chairs?”

  “I’ll get them,” said Thandie. They brought out more chairs, and sat down.

  “What did we miss?” asked Gregory.

  “The mission briefing,” said Mike. He brought them up to speed.

  “Sounds like a fun trip,” said Gregory. “My wife actually sounded genuinely happy to get me out of the house.”

  Henry snorted. “The woman worships your footsteps.”

  Gregory laughed out loud, accepted a beer, and sat next to Mike, who made a place for him and his chair. “I worship her. She needs something, I try to get it, including my time.” He groaned. “Bannon is doing the client hand-holding for a few days. The man deserves a medal.”

  Sayan chuffed laughter. “You have that right. The teen band were all wanting to snort coke and screw any passing… um, person. We got them to learn to drive race cars, while not high, and got them to their rehearsals, studio time, dance practice, and performances. We kept them sober until they got back on their plane. Yes, certain substances are legal here, but they’re underage.”

  Yuki perfectly mimicked a bored, angry teenager. “You know, weed is perfectly legal. You’re violating my, like, human rights.”

  “Like, man, you’re lowering my cool,” said Sayan. He took his sunglasses and put them on, and lowered his head to a mulish angle. “You get it?”

  Everyone laughed. “They flew out today,” said Gregory. “The can do that shit on their private plane.”

  “With three hundred pieces of luggage,” Yuki exaggerated. “Those boys must have two makeup bags each.”

  “Private plane,” reiterated Gregory. “If their pilot allows it… they can bring it.”

  “Unless someone investigates the plane,” said Yuki.

  “Not my jungle, not my monkeys,” said Gregory. “I’m not calling the DEA to waste resources on a few lines of coke and a couple of spliffs of weed. They’d be out of jail in six minutes, anyway. And the pilot’s plane would be seized.”

  “I like the ‘not my jungle, not my
monkeys’ philosophy,” said Inola. “I got some animal rights activists all hot and bothered this week when I told them an eleven-year-old girl was my best pony wrangler ever. Some thought I was working a child into the ground. One old biddy got in my face. I told her this particular girl had autism, and the ponies were part of how she saw the world. How she related to it, what she could reach out and touch, and really understand. I told her to keep her jumping to conclusions and judgmental mindset to herself. She actually went white. I then told her our latest vet bill, and how much it actually cost to rescue horses and ponies. I then asked her how much she was really willing to pay to rehabilitate abused animals. She took out her checkbook and wrote us a check. I told her we do the same with teens and oldsters —and anyone else who needs to find a place to get (and feel) useful, like where you can have a purpose.” Mike wiped tears from his eyes. Gregory rubbed his back.

  “Gregory’s PA is amazing,” said Yuki. “I want her for my PA.”

  “So is mine,” said Bannon. The tips of Yuki’s ears turned red. “He’s awesome, but he’s coming undone a little. Having a teen in the house is making him a little psycho.”

  “Have ‘em in the house, right where you can see ‘um,” said David, smiling at the teens across the fire from him. “Tell him to have Netflix, and video game consoles. Keeps their butts where you can see ‘um.”

  Tam said, “I vote yes on the game consoles.”

  “How will you survive without Nintendo on the trip?” asked Gregory, putting a sad look on his face.

  Little Nico laughed, and held up his cell phone. “Got games here, too.”

  “But power outlets will be few and far between,” observed Sayan.

  Nico and Tam both pulled out battery packs. “We’ve filled ours up,” said Nico.

  “Good move,” said Gregory. “Looking ahead. That’s good.”

  “The boys came up with our packing list,” Mike told Gregory. “They’re learning to be prepared.”

  Gregory laughed. “Boy Scout motto.” He held up two fingers.

  “We were doing those things centuries before you did,” said Little Nico.

  “Point to the peanut gallery,” said Gregory.

  “We learned it in the military,” said Star. “We learned to walk it, talk it…”

  “Eat it, drink it…” said Wild Bill.

  “And do it day in, day out,” said Sayan.

  “Getting out, where people don’t live like we do, and have no fucking idea what we sacrificed for them, has been a tad hard,” said Mike.

  “Just a tad,” said Pomp, dryly. “Those people didn’t lose hands or feet, or legs or arms.”

  “Or have any idea how it is to live without them,” said Mike, quietly.

  “Some do,” said Inola. “We’re thinking of buying the Wolfpack a 3D printer, so they can print limbs for kids without them.”

  Gregory pulled out his credit card, and silently handed it over. Inola blinked back her tears, pulled up a website on her telephone, and made the order.

  “Well, that’s awesome,” said Sayan. “Cutting-edge technology and helping little kids at the same time.”

  “They’ll need them printed again as they grow,” said Mike. “Teach me how to do it. I’ll do it, too.”

  “Hell,” said Pomp. “I’ll contact the organizations that do that. There’s two that I know of. Do it for soldiers, too. Get a bigger printer for them.”

  “Record what you do,” suggested Gregory. “Every damn-move you make. Make it replicable, so people can do, rinse, then repeat.”

  “Gonna eat up materials,” said Pomp.

  “We can all work extra shifts, and fund it,” said Star.

  “We’re fixing to grow more veggies,” said Mike. “But we’ve got to pay back the new beds. Be a while.”

  “If you want to bank an hour or so with us a week, do it, and I’ll flag it for this project,” said Gregory. “But I don’t want you putting in an extra twenty. Be smart and strong. Driving yourself into the ground doesn’t help us, our clients, or our bottom line. We’ll do this as a tax write-off.”

  “Fun,” said Tam. “Looking forward to doing it.”

  “Awesome,” said Pomp. “Should be here when we get back.”

  “I think we need s’mores,” said Vi, coming out with a box of chocolate graham crackers and one of cinnamon. Then, candy bars, marshmallows, and metal spiked sticks. Gregory and Tam both stood up to help her. They passed around the crackers and chocolate. Inola and Henry spiked the marshmallows on the sticks, and passed them around. Vi went back in, and left them to their fun. They joked, laughed, and had to send Little Nico in for tissues.

  Inola sang, Stay with Me. Afterward, Bella sang, You’re All I need. Their voices melded as they sang together. A Sam Smith song; the one with a great chorus. It was so beautiful that everyone went silent. They kissed, and Inola took away Bella’s tablet and took her back into the house.

  “Those are two of the best women on the planet,” said Thandie.

  “Damn right,” said Gregory.

  Henry looked at David and smiled. David smiled back. Henry stood, and said, “Stay up as long as you like,” he said. “But, keep in mind that you probably want to be up early.”

  “Yes, Grandfather,” said Little Nico.

  They waited until David and Henry had gone back in, then Pomp let fly with an impressive stream of curse words. Everyone laughed.

  Gregory was confused. “Rope-braiding butt-thumper?” he said, making everyone laugh again.

  “One thing about Pomp,” said Wild Bill. “He makes shit up. Impressively so.”

  “We bet him once to curse for three minutes without repeating himself,” said Star. “Cost us a pitcher of beer.”

  Gregory laughed. “He curses with our clients. Makes them laugh. Most of the people we take care of aren’t choirboys. There’s usually a reason they’re afraid for their safety. The thing is, Pomp had an entire soccer team come by. Irish. Cursed with them in Gaelic.”

  “Well, fuck a duck,” said Star.

  “Not now,” said Pomp. “I’m a little busy.” Everyone laughed.

  “So,” said Gregory, “you’re the king of cursing.”

  “Nope,” said Pomp. “Learned it from Sargeant Jenson. He was the greatest person at cursing in the world.”

  “He didn’t make it?” asked Star.

  “He got married,” said Pomp. “Cleaned him right up.” Everyone laughed.

  “Da-da-da,” sang Yuki.

  “Da-da-da,” Wild Bill responded. They then sang 500 Miles together by the Proclaimers.

  Gregory stole David’s drum, and Tam ran back in for the guitars they had left just inside the door. They sang the Kongos’ Come with Me Now, and The Cranberries’ Zombie. They finished off with Gregory’s haunting version of Lonestar’s I’m Already There, and a very quiet version of Aerosmith’s Dream On. They packed up, put the drum away, and filed in to sleep. Bannon went home, and he would run the business while Gregory took the trip.

  They were up at oh-god-thirty. They decided to hit up a diner on the way, and they took off as the sun rose. Their bikes roared under them. Inola had Tam, Pomp had Josh, Gregory had Nick, and Robert had Little Nico.

  Little Nico had the first hour of music, and kept them in Psy’s Gagnam Style and Luis Fonsi’s Despacito, bouncing all over the charts. Tam took over with Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion and Angel, pleasing the group to no end.

  They hit up a coffee shop, and the pancakes, bacon, biscuits, honey, and sausage were all served on platters, to keep up with growing boys. They also went through three pitchers each, of orange juice and coffee. They then hit the road again. The boys traded riders, although there was some competition to have Gregory or Robert. Robert’s calm and Gregory’s enthusiasm were big draws. Gregory got Little Nico, and Nick went to Inola. Tam got Robert, and Pomp got Josh.

  They rose in elevation, and the air went from hot, windy, and dusty to cool and quiet. They smelled the evergreens. Everyone had sm
iles on their faces as Josh took over, and played Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again. They flowed with the curves. The boys whooped when heading down hills, making the soldiers grin.

  They parked under the trees, and went on the first hike. Gregory took the lead and Robert was last, and the boys were spaced out in between. They had collapsible walking sticks. At first, they enjoyed the silence. Then, the giggling boys sang 500 Miles, and then the military people took turns with various chants. Gregory did a chant about a drill instructor that a young ranger had the audacity to call old. Another one was about monkeys with no tails in Zambonga, an old Navy cadence song: O, the monkeys have no tails in Zambonga. O, the monkeys have no tails in Zambonga. O, the monkeys have no tails, ‘cause they were chewed off by the whales. O, the monkeys have no tails in Zambonga. The boys made up other things that whales could chew off, making everyone laugh.

  They got to the overlook, and all songs stopped. They gaped, and looked out at the sandstone, the thousand colors of red, ochre, brown, and black were mesmerizing. The rocks looked painted. Inola took a small pipe out of her pack, piped, and sang. Everyone was silent, looking out. Then, they walked to the next trail. Inola sang at the overlooks, and piped, and they were respectful of the view, and of the mountain. They kept a net trash bag, which Robert carried, to be taken back for recycling.

  The boys tired, and they made it back to the bikes. They went back out to a taco stand, and ate until they were stuffed full. They recycled the trash, and rode to the campground. They found a campsite, with an actual platform. They pitched their tents, made a fire, and grilled hot dogs and burgers. They also had chips, sodas, and waters. They sang songs and played counting games like Buzz Nantan and Chayton Taught Robert. The kids had to say “Buzz” instead of a number while counting… like, 1, 2, buzz, 4, 5, 6,7,8,9, 10, 11, 12, buzz, and so on. If you missed a “buzz” you dropped out. Robert altered the game for addition and subtraction. Inola and Gregory both did rounds. Then, they did more songs, and the boys listened (wide-eyed) to Inola’s stories of the road, and the soldier’s highly edited stories of desert roads and basketball games. And of horrible pizza, tea and goats with friends, this guy from Arizona —and that woman from Connecticut. They cooled down the jokes, and, luckily, quite a few of them went over the kids’ heads. They dragged the sleeping bags out, and the younger boys crashed out. They sang Billy Joel’s Goodnight Saigon, and the Kongos’ Come with Me Now. They exchanged more stories, then went to bed.