Right.
“We’re at a stalemate and we’ve agreed you’re the deciding vote,” Archie told him.
He wasn’t sure that was a good thing.
He didn’t start with that.
“First, do I show anywhere, and you don’t say ‘hey’ with a kiss?” he asked her.
Archie grinned the grin he liked so much, came to him and pressed close with her body and then her lips.
“Okay, La-La, we’re screwed,” Joany declared while Archie did this. “And also, if I don’t find a man who claims my mouth like that upon sight, I’m gonna search for a convent.”
“You’d last two hours in a convent,” Lafayette replied.
“Why? I love God and Jesus is my jam,” Joany retorted.
“I’m not sure nuns are allowed to wear makeup and fake nails,” Fabe shared.
“Okay, I’m out,” Joany decided.
He really liked Archie’s friends.
But he had plans with his woman, his brother, and his brother’s woman, and this wasn’t part of them.
So Jag tucked Archie to his side and told the crew, “We got shit to do and places to go so what’s going on?”
“Who wants to start?” Joany asked.
Lafayette did and Jag knew that because he waded in.
“Well, we’ve learned lots has been going down at Casa de la Harris Family,” he announced.
Fantastic.
Jag looked down at Archie.
“Things to know,” she started. “Both of Aaron and Allan’s parents have recently been incarcerated. Not county lockup. The big house. And neither of them are coming back anytime soon. Apparently, they’ve been in trouble with the law a lot. The mom’s folks gave up on them ages ago. The dad’s mom has been posting bail and paying for counsel and such, but she’s recently gotten fed up and washed her hands of them. So now they’re in the pokey.”
Jag’s lips twitched when his woman used the word “pokey.”
But his mind was on the Harris brothers.
Mal had had no issues with them for some time, for two reasons.
One, his posse finally posse’d up and took his back, and Jag had been right. Bullies shied away from bad odds.
Two, having bikers ride to your aid and then give your gramma an honor guard escort at her funeral carried some weight in the middle-school world. Mal and the S.I.L. crew had earned reputations as badasses, or at least were known to be badass-adjacent, which worked.
And on these thoughts, Jag wasn’t sure if he cared what was up with the Harrises.
Therefore, he shared the honesty.
“This is only mildly interesting to me.”
Archie’s smile got more smug.
She enjoyed being badass-adjacent too.
“Well, Momma Harris took in the boys and she isn’t feeling the love all around for when they mess up,” Joany pitched in. “And obviously, Aaron broke the record for messing up after he moved in with Granny. Unlike his folks, who had no fucks to give about their kids, Granny thinks a stint in juvie might help him see the error of his ways. And according to the kids, Allan is o-v-e-r over his brother’s damage and getting clipped along with him for shit he A, isn’t a fan of doing, and B, half the time doesn’t even do. So he’s on the straight and narrow at Granny’s house and Aaron is awaiting a judge telling him how long this lesson he’s gonna learn is gonna last.”
And again, Jag was right about how far brotherhood went when only one brother was acting like a brother.
Interesting to know.
He still had no idea why they were sharing this info with him.
“And I’ve been ambushed when I show at the store for this…why?”
“Mrs. Harris came to S.I.L. We have a rep and it’s a good one. So she wants Allan back in group,” Fabe shared.
Oh fuck.
“Now, here’s the real sitch, ’cause me and La-La say no,” Joany told him. “He was never the ringleader, but who knows how long Aaron will be gone, who else is in their crew that might come around and cause a ruckus, and generally, this family is bad news. Sure, three quarters of them are now doing time, but even though that takes them out of the picture for right now, it also proves my point.”
“Let me guess,” Jag began, looking down at Archie. “You think he should be allowed to come back.”
“Me and Fabe, yeah,” she said.
Of course she did.
“I don’t think he should have to pay for his brother’s mistakes,” Archie told him. “They were only in group a month or so, and I didn’t get to know Allan very well. The most insidious bullying Aaron did was overshadowing his brother like he did. I think he’d benefit from group. I think it’d be good for him to learn what community really is.”
Shit.
She wasn’t wrong about that.
Likely realizing she was losing ground, Joany belatedly laid out the rules for Jag’s engagement.
“Important note, you can’t vote with her just because she’s giving you the goodness.”
“You are very wrong about that,” Jag contradicted.
Archie chuckled.
Joany did an eye roll.
“All right, Allan was never a problem,” Lafayette (who, incidentally, today was dressed like Jim Morrison on the bottom with tight black leather pants, but up top he was John Lennon with a “New York City” T-shirt, though his was cropped and showed his stomach). “But it isn’t about Allan. It’s about the other kids. The group is tight. They’ve bonded. And no shade on Allan, but we have to think of his influences and what he’ll bring to the other kids.”
“Have you asked the kids what they think?” Jagger queried.
This appeared to flummox them.
All of them.
He was surprised and again looked down at Arch. “You haven’t?”
“It’s our responsibility to make these decisions for them,” she said. “And that’s a responsibility we took on for them, and the trust their parents give us.”
“They aren’t five, Arch,” he replied. “Pretty soon, they’re gonna have to be making a lot harder decisions. You gotta guide them now, so when they get there, they make the right ones. Hell, Mal considers himself the man of the house already and he isn’t even close to having his first shave.”
After he finished talking, Arch smiled up at him then turned to the team.
“Powwow with the kids next week. We’ll get their input and decide from there.”
The crew nodded their approval to this plan.
“Just to say, I don’t want to be the tie-breaker with you guys,” Jagger put in.
“Too bad and too late,” Joany declared. “You are. Next up is a discussion about the kickass couch Archie found. Fabe and I want to rearrange the front of the store into a pseudo-living room that you see the minute you walk in. Archie and La-La want to rearrange the entire book section so the shelves surround the couch that’s, again, set up in a pseudo-living-room-style scenario. What’s your vote or do you need to see the couch?”
Weirdly, Jag kinda wanted to see the couch.
But wisely, he said, “I’m not weighing in on this.”
“And I’m not lugging a ton of books around to rearrange the book space,” Joany returned. She then stated the obvious, “So I need you to vote with me.”