Crash stepped into Magnum’s path and, after chin-lifts, they clasped hands and bumped shoulders.
“Brother,” he greeted.
“Brother,” the Dark Knights’ sergeant at arms greeted back.
“Where’s your ol’ lady?” It had been a minute since he’d seen Dawg’s daughter, Cait. Ever since she hooked up with Magnum and popped out Asia, their daughter, he hardly ever saw her around DAMC’s church anymore.
“With her sisters and Asia,” Magnum answered.
Cait probably spent more time now at the DAMC compound with Dawg’s family than bothering to stop over at church to hang out. Magnum was super protective of his wife, and Dawg was still very protective of his oldest daughter.
Cait and Magnum did not live in the DAMC compound and didn’t plan on moving there, either since he, and now Cait, wore Knights colors. Though, Dawg and Emma would prefer they lived close.
Crash didn’t live over in the gated community of homes, either. He still lived above church with the rest of the single members and some of the prospects. Most of them a fuck of a lot younger than him. A total different type of generation than when he was that age.
He really needed to move the fuck out. At now forty-four, he was getting too old to live in a tiny room with an even smaller shitter. Living there rent-free for all these years let him save up enough scratch that he could buy a really nice place elsewhere and not go into hock to do so.
But if he did that, Zak would push him to build a house in the compound and Crash wasn’t sure he was ready for that or to drop that kind of dough. A single guy didn’t need a big house. He only needed something small and simple, just a place to rest his damn head or for privacy for when he needed it.
Yeah, all he required was a huge bed, huge shower and a huge flat-screen TV with surround sound for action movies and video games. A kitchen would be good, too, even though he’d be lost in it, but at least it would have a fridge to hold beer.
There were many bonuses to still living above church. One, the commercial kitchen between the clubhouse and The Iron Horse, with line cooks and Mama Bear to keep him fed. Two, a help-yourself stocked bar on both the public and private sides of the building. Three, sweet butts at his fingertips whenever he was in the mood to get down and dirty. Four, sweet butts and prospects available to clean that tiny room and even smaller shitter.
Yeah, fuck moving out. He had it damn good where he was.
“Where are you stayin’?” Crash asked the man who had to be three inches taller and a good fifty pounds heavier than him.
“Some kind of emergency housin’ setup on the other side of that tree line. Daddy Dawg and Emma decided to camp so they could have some ‘alone time.’ Lee-lee and Lily’s stayin’ with us.”
“Surprised Lily wanted to come.”
Magnum arched one dark brow. “She didn’t. But Daddy Dawg said… Hold on, let me quote what my daddy-in-law said to her, ‘Your ass ain’t stayin’ in this house alone when all of us are goin’ north. Fuck that. We’ll come home to the house in fuckin’ shambles.”
Crash barked out a laugh. “Yeah, that sounds about right. She just turned nineteen, of course she’s gonna go wild when the ‘rents are gone for a few days. We might be old but we remember bein’ that age.”
“Speak for yourself. I was bustin’ ass at that time ‘cause I already had two kids. Both of who made me a grandfather a while ago. Daddy Dawg also told Lily he’s got enough grand-fuckin-kids already and that he ain’t old enough yet to be a grandfather for a second time.” Magnum grinned. “My answer to that was ‘you’re fuckin’ welcome.’”
Crash laughed again. “Sure that put him in a good mood.”
“Can’t pass up a chance to remind him I knocked up his baby girl and plan on doin’ it again soon.”
“That probably spurred him to drag Lily along for the weekend.”
“He would lose his goddamn mind if Lil got knocked up as young as she is.”
“She ain’t young,” Crash reminded him.
“Right. She reminds us how old she fuckin’ is several times a day. Thank fuck Cait ain’t annoyin’ like her younger sister.”
“What the fuck happened to that sweet, innocent little girl?” Crash asked.
“Who? Cait?”
“Lily.”
Magnum chuckled. “All of us. We’re all a bad influence.”
“Don’t think Em is too worried about it.”
“Fuck no. ‘Cause even though we’re bad influences, we’ll kick someone’s motherfuckin’ ass if they fuck with her.”
“Just like you with Cait?”
“Didn’t fuck with her. Made her my ol’ lady and then put a ring on her finger before plantin’ my baby in her belly.”
“That you did,” Crash murmured. “Where you headed now?”
“Meetin’ in their church. All the prezes, VPs, and sergeants at arms.”
“Fuckin’ badass church, ain’t it?”
“Better than ours. Thinkin’ we need to find a new place other than the shithole we have now.”
Crash grinned. “Sully officiatin’?” Sully had married Diesel and Jewel a while back. And some of his other brothers when they finally decided to make their ol’ ladies their wives, too. Being allies with another club who had their own ordained minister had its perks.
“Yep.”
“Sounds good, brother. Go do your thing.”
Magnum paused. “Where’d you end up? One of those fuckin’ tents?”
Crash snorted and shook his head. “Fuck no. Hate campin’ and too fuckin’ old to sleep on rough ground. Rig and me are sharin’ a room at the Fury’s motel in town, think it’s called The Grove Inn. He checked us in, haven’t been over there yet.”
“Club here’s got a nice mix of businesses.”
“Tell me about it. They’re certainly buildin’ a fuckin’ empire.”
“Nothin’ wrong with that,” Magnum answered. “All right. Gotta go, brother. Catch up with you and the others later.”
Crash found himself standing alone again.
He watched Magnum walk through the wide-open double doors on the side of the Barn. As they’d all arrived today, they were told the bar inside was fully-stocked and to help themselves if someone wasn’t manning the bar.
But what he needed first was fucking food. Then whiskey or a beer. Or a couple of shots of whiskey, then a beer or two. After that, maybe a woman, if he could find one who caught his interest.
With what he was seeing so far, he’d have no trouble finding one. All the ol’ ladies were told to wear their “Property of” cuts today to identify them as off-limits, even if they normally didn’t wear them. This weekend it wasn’t an option.
Even as young as Diesel’s girls were, they each wore a “Property of Diesel” cut in denim instead of leather. Of course, not for the reason the older women did, but because he liked to make it known who his girls belonged to.
Who his girls would always belong to.
Crash pitied any man trying to take his daughters away. And not even in a kidnap type of way, but simply by trying to date them.