Wild

by Laramie Briscoe

  “Oh my God, you act like it’s impossible for you not to make a mess,” I groan as I roll my eyes. “When really if you’d just pay attention, it wouldn’t be so bad. Put the damn blueberries in there and stop bitching,” I tell Dad.

  He gives me a look but does as I ask.

  “Want me to turn the stove on?”

  “If that’s not too hard.” I give him some sass, putting my hands on my hips.

  “I love you, so I’m gonna let your smart comment slip,” Dad pushes his hair back from his face.

  I smile up at him, going up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Do you think you can cook the pancakes? I’ll go get Mom’s gift. I picked it up yesterday.”

  “Thanks for taking care of that for us,” Caelin says through a yawn as he comes down the stairs. “Pancakes smell good, Dad.”

  I watch as he shakes hands with Wild, liking the way he speaks to my boyfriend and my boyfriend speaks to him. I’ve never been the type of girl to be so caught up in my boyfriend liking my family and my family liking him. But this is nice, this is everything I wanted but never knew I did.

  As I come back in with Mom’s gift in my hands, she’s coming down the steps. “Happy Mother’s Day.” I go over to her, clasping my arms around her waist.

  “Thank you, Addie. You’re the one who made me a mom, whether we ever would have had Caelin or not, you gave me that title, and I will forever treasure it.”

  I don’t want her to see me cry, because I don’t like people to see me cry, so I hug her tightly. “Thank you for choosing me, Mom.”

  She wipes at my tears and I wipe at hers. “Did you get your dad to cook?”

  “Oh my God, this has been a shit show, but I’m almost positive the pancakes are at least edible.”

  She laughs loudly as we go into the kitchen. Caelin gets up from where he sits, wishing her a Happy Mother’s Day as do Dad and Wild.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she tells Wild, enveloping him in a hug.

  “Okay everybody, food’s done,” Dad says.

  Immediately I go over to help him plate it all and then we bring it to the table to set it out. Handing Mom the gift bag I brought in, I wait patiently for her to open it.

  “We thought,” I look at Caelin, “you’ve probably got enough knickknacks for the rest of your life.”

  She opens the bag and gasps as she sees a printed book. “Are these pictures?”

  “Yeah.” I nod, taking a bite of my pancake, giving Dad a thumbs up when I verify that it tastes pretty damn good. “You always made me and Caelin have one professional shoot every year, remember? This year you didn’t.”

  “Because you’re an adult and I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do anymore.”

  She’s flipping through the book and when she gets to the last page, she looks up at us, tears in her eyes.

  “But we went ahead and did it anyway, because we knew you’d enjoy it.”

  It’d taken us a while to get our schedules worked out so that she wouldn’t be suspicious, then we had to contact the photographer she normally used, but to see the look on her face, it was all completely worth it.

  “I love it, just like I love all the others, in fact I might love it more because the two of you went to all the trouble to get this done on your own. I give the two of you a lot of shit, but you’re turning into the best two kids anyone could ask for.”

  “So you forgive me?” Caelin asks as he reaches for another pancake.

  Wild snorts, having heard the story numerous times.

  “Watch it.” Mom smacks his hand. “You’re on thin ice and will be until you move out. I hope to never have to see your bare ass again, now that I’m not changing your diapers.”

  “Since you’re already pissed at him,” I point to Caelin, “I figure now is as good a time as any to let you know that Wild and I are moving in together.”

  And just as I had planned, no one really bats an eye.

  “Well,” Dad speaks over the rim of his skull mug. “Happy Mother’s Day, Mer.”

  There’s my dad, dry and timely as ever. Eventually a round of giggles is heard and my gaze goes over to Wild who looks like he’s having a good time. Reaching under the table, I grab his hand in mine, and say a little thanks of my own that he’s able to experience the love of a family – thanks to mine.

  Twenty-Five

  Addie

  “Thanks for making sure the Mother’s Day stuff got taken care of,” Caelin tells me as we have a seat on the couch in the living room. Wild and Dad are taking care of putting the dishes in the dishwasher and Mom has disappeared upstairs.

  “No problem. It’s my job as the older, more mature one of us,” we laugh as we look at each other.

  “So,” he plays with his phone as he’s slides a glance over at me. “You and Wild are moving in together?”

  “Yeah, that okay with you, little brother?”

  I’ve never asked his permission for anything in my life, but we’ve always been close, even if we haven’t had time to hang out lately. I do appreciate his seal of approval and his opinion on most matters.

  “He seems like a really cool guy, I haven’t hung out with him much, but he looks at you like dad looks at mom, so I can’t complain.”

  Most people would say Caelin doesn’t pay attention to anything, that he’s too wrapped up in himself and his own world to even understand what’s going on outside of it. To hear him say this, makes me smile. “Thanks,” I reach over, ruffling his hair. “That means a lot to me. I hope you’ll start to hang out with us some, when I get completely situated.”

  “I’d love that.”

  “You just can’t use it as your love shack,” I snort as I stick my tongue out at him.

  His face burns a bright red. “Good to know I’ll never live that down.”

  “Never, ever.”

  It’s a promise I know I will always keep. As long as I’m around, he won’t ever forget it.

  “Addie,” I turn my head to the stairs my mom has just come down. She’s dressed with her purse, looking like she’s ready to go somewhere. “Want to take a ride with me?”

  I’m not sure what her plan is, but if it’s important to her, it’s important to me. “Can you let Wild know I’ll be back later?” I give Caelin a glare. “Don’t you and dad fuck with him too much.”

  “Where are we going?” I ask once we’re in the car, heading away from the house.

  “For the longest time I wasn’t sure how to approach things with you, I knew something was going on,” Mom starts. “But I didn’t know how to reach you, didn’t know how to get to you. After what you said, I realize there’s something we should have done a long time ago. You’re old enough now, and obviously you’re struggling with things, and maybe this would have helped. Maybe it can help from now on.”

  Not long after we start driving, we pull up to a cemetery. “This is the cemetery the club uses,” Mom puts the car in park, and motions for me to get out. “Most people buried here are patched members or family. When we got you, we made the decision to have your birth mother buried here.”

  I’m speechless, and so emotional I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to talk again. She’s been here this whole time and no one ever thought to tell me, but then again I also never thought to ask. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” she starts to get out. “C’mon.”

  I can’t get out of the car fast enough, as I almost run around the front to meet up with her. I grab her hand tightly in mine. “I’m nervous,” I whisper.

  “Don’t be,” Mom smiles. “I come out here once a month to clean up the headstone, every three months I put new flowers on, and every once in a while, I come out here just to talk to her. Some of the best parenting advice I’ve ever gotten has come from sitting in this cemetery.”

  “Wow, I had no idea.”

  “No one really does,” we walk towards the back. “I have my own relationship with this place and this woman. I don’t need to explain it to a
nyone else,” we come to a stop in front of a very well cared for headstone. “This is it. Addie, meet your mom, Katelynn.”

  “She had two n’s on her name too,” are the first words out of my mouth.

  Mom laughs. “She did. I bet it’s some sort of family tradition, but we weren’t able to verify that.”

  I bend down, putting my hand on the stone. “She was so young,” I trace the dates with my finger. “She was nineteen when she died. A year older than me right now.”

  “Yeah, she had you young, and by all accounts she lived a rough life. We think she struggled with mental illness and used the drugs to mask it, but it was very hard to delve into her background. She was pretty close to having zero history. What we did find, was mostly by accident. But I wanted you to know this is here, if you ever want to come and talk to her too.”

  I’m overcome with emotion and I can’t make my mouth move. It’s then I notice a picture on the headstone. “Is that her?”

  “Yeah, one of the only pictures we could find of her. You look a lot like her.”

  I do, and finally I have a connection with someone else on this planet. A tether I’ve been needing to keep me grounded. Breathing easy for the first time in a long time, I have a seat in the grass. “You mind if we stay for a little while?”

  Mom grabs a blanket out of her bag. “I thought you might like to. Let’s sit on this instead.”

  I get up, helping her spread it out, then she surprises me by pulling out a wax paper bag from Harper’s bakery with our favorite cookies inside.

  “I know it’s not much, but I thought we could have our own Mother’s Day celebration with her.”

  When she pulls out a single rose, handing it to me, I know this is perfect. I lean forward, placing the rose on the lip of the tombstone. “Happy Mother’s Day, Katelynn,” I whisper, before I place a kiss on my fingers and then transfer press against the surface, heated by the day.

  Meredith Blackfoot, who loved me from the moment she saw me, looks on, tears in her eyes, a smile on her face, holding my favorite cookie in her hand. As I wipe off the tears, she winks. “So tell me about Wild, he’s hot as hell now that he’s not bedridden.”

  I giggle, a wide smile spreading across my face. “Mom, you have no idea.”

  “I’m all ears, girl. Tell me all about it.”

  Funny thing? I do. Tell her everything. And when we pack up our stuff to leave a few hours later, I feel lighter than I ever have in my entire life.

  Twenty-Six

  Addie

  June

  “What do you mean it fell on him?” I hear Mom saying as she walks down the stairs of CRISIS, her cell phone to her ear. Her voice is tempered with a measure of fear and anxiousness. “Is he okay?”

  I want badly to ask what the hell is going on. If it’s someone I know who has been hurt. All the pertinent information. Immediately I’m worried for my dad, Wilder, and Caelin. For some reason my heart is in my throat as I wait for her to get finished. When she does, she sets the phone down on the desk and takes a deep breath.

  “I gotta go, there’s been an accident at Walker’s Wheels and someone needs to go sit with Jessica.” She’s already grabbing all her stuff up, putting it in a bag as she puts her purse over her arm.

  I’m almost ashamed that the fear leaves my body as I hear it’s not someone I’m close to. Then I feel guilty because even though I’m not close to them, they’re hurt, and I know immediately it must be her husband.

  “What happened to Layne?”

  She shakes her head ruefully, almost like she can’t believe what she’s going to say. “He was helping your dad, and the hoist slipped in an engine they were lifting. It fell on Layne’s hand. They’re saying it crushed a few bones and he might have to have surgery. Tyler’s saying everybody’s calling it his skull mug curse again, but he swears it was fine before.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No.” She purses her lips as she texts something on her phone. “I want you to go check on your dad. He didn’t sound right when I talked to him.”

  Nobody has to tell me twice. I’m already packing up my stuff. “Is he at home?”

  “Yeah, he went home after what happened, I don’t think he liked being at the scene of the accident. He sounds really shook up. When he got to the shop this morning, he apparently told them it looked like someone had been inside, and everybody disagreed with him. Now this happened and he feels responsible.”

  I know he does. As badass as my dad is, he’s also very attuned to others. If he hurts them without meaning to, he feels guilty for longer than most people do. I shoot off a text to Wilder telling him I might be late getting home tonight and then make my way out to the house I grew up in.

  It’s quiet when I get there. Dad’s truck is parked in the drive, as is his bike. Using the key I still have, I enter, making as much noise as I can. No matter how old he gets, you never want to sneak up on him. “Dad, you in here?”

  “In the kitchen.” His deep voice travels through the house.

  When I see him, my heart breaks. He’s sitting at the kitchen table nursing a beer. “You okay?”

  He’s quiet for a few moments, before flicking the top to the beer he’s drinking into the trash can. The sound is loud in the almost silence of the room and I can’t help but jump. Any other time I would have laughed, but it doesn’t seem appropriate right now. Not when he seems to be in this weird headspace.

  “Something is going on, Addie. Something bad. I can feel it.”

  He’s had these feelings for as long as I can remember. Some people call them premonitions, he just knows that when he feels one strongly, something is about to happen.

  “Why do you say that?”

  He leans forward, taking a drink before he speaks. “Somebody messed with that hoist on purpose.”

  My eyes widen and I have a seat across from him. “Are you sure?”

  “I looked at it after Layne left. The chain had been partially cut, so the friction of us continuing to use it would have snapped it. Add that to Caelin almost getting run over, and Jagger having a blow out on the interstate a couple of days ago, which made no sense, because that tire was brand new, and I feel like someone’s gunning for us. All three of them could have been killed. Hell, I’ll even add Wilder getting stabbed into that equation. I told them I thought someone had gotten into the shop overnight, but there was nothing on the cameras, so they all thought I was being paranoid.”

  Fear creeps into my stomach for the men in my life I care about, for the family I’ve grown to love and adore. If someone is threatening our way of life, we have to fight back, figure out who it is, and come out swinging.

  “Are you going to say something to someone?”

  “Everyone thinks it’s my mug.” He gestures to his favorite coffee cup. “I mean I get it. It’s legendary, but there’s something foul going on here. I think if people took a closer look they’d see it.”

  “Then it’s up to you to make sure they do.” I reach over, grabbing his hand in mine, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “People listen when you talk. People love to hear you talk. They respect every word you say, if you say something they will listen.”

  “Then I’m gonna do some talking because I’m afraid someone’s going to get fucking killed.”

  As he says those words, I pray to God it isn’t him.

  Wild

  There’s been a silence in the garage since we watched the ambulance drive away. I’ll be honest when I say I’ve never heard someone scream the way Layne did, never heard the sound I heard when that engine block fell. Tyler had lifted it up with his bare hands as Drew had drug Layne out from underneath it.

  Even now when I close my eyes I can see the scene replaying, can hear the screams of the men involved. Jagger comes to stand next to me.

  “I think we’re gonna close up for the day. Don’t nobody wanna be here after all that went down. I think we’re all numb after that.”

  Nodding, I watch as
the guys all slowly walk to their bikes. “What the fuck even happened?” I ask softly. “I was over there, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.”

  “If it were me, I’d say it was another incident of Tyler’s mug, because everyone knows how superstitious I am about it.”

  “But you aren’t saying that?” I’m trying to read between the lines of what he is saying and what he’s not saying.

  “I don’t know what I’m saying, but all these things happening to us? It feels odd, much more sinister than Tyler and what everyone sees as a cursed mug.” He runs his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know, maybe I’m looking way too deep into it, hoping there’s a reason everybody’s been so clumsy the last few months.”

  As he says the words, I kind of feel it too, like maybe all of this is part of a bigger situation, but I don’t say anything. I haven’t been here long enough to really form an opinion either way. “The best thing we can do is just keep our eyes open.” I grab my cigarettes, lighting one up as we walk to my bike.

  “Hey.” Jagger stops me as I’m about to hop on. “Be safe, yeah?”

  “Always,” I promise him.

  I try to ignore the way my neck tightens as I leave the shop. Even with Jagger at my side, it doesn’t stop me from speeding like a madman to get to where Addie is. There’s strength in numbers, and judging by the way everyone left in groups, we’re all feeling that something just isn’t quite right.

  Twenty-Seven

  Wild

  “I need you to go help Charity and Mandy move their new office furniture in. Dalton and I would go, but Tyler’s asked to speak with us today and then we want to go check on Layne.”

  This isn’t the first job I’ve been given since I started to prospect for the club, but it’s the first one I’ve been given that deals with these two important women. After talking with Addie, I know Tyler is going to bring his concerns to the club. While I wish I were able to sit in on that meeting, I know I don’t have the seniority or clout to do so. What I can do is hope that some shit gets resolved.