Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“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.”
“And your parents…”
“My mother took off when I was young. My father worked and drank himself to sleep. When Daphne was about six months, I got the hell out of there and never looked back.”
“Christ, you’ve been alone-alone,” he said, breaking off a piece of his pie with his fork.
“Yeah. It was a lot rougher in the years before Daph went to school. Once she did, it made work… somewhat easier. And thanks to Britney, I had someone to pick her up on the many school holidays and such. And help over summer vacation when she was too young to be home alone. My job is not forgiving of unexpected, or even planned, days off.”
“Where do you work?”
“The Hamlet Hotel,” I told him. “I started as a maid pretty soon after Daphne was born. Worked my way up to the Head Housekeeper.”
With it came a nice salary bump that had made things easier the past few years. But it also came with the added stress of the boss being on my ass all the time about any small thing that may have gone wrong with one of the maids. Everything from someone calling in sick to a missing bar of soap was my fault now.
“Do you like working in hospitality?” he asked.
“Oh, God no,” I said immediately, getting a chuckle out of Callow. “It’s, you know, a job. Not everyone has the luxury of working their dream job. But it doesn’t mean I hate it. It’s nice just being able to leave it at work. If it was something I really cared about, I imagine I’d be stressing about it nonstop.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“If my boss wasn’t so overbearing, it would be the perfect job, honestly. I really like everyone else.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Callow said. “Most people don’t quit jobs; they quit bosses.”
“What’s your boss like?” I asked.
“Fallon is chill. He’s a third generation biker president, so not much gets a rise out of him. He’s seen or done it all himself. Brooks is more our direct ‘boss,’ if you will. He used to be wound a little too tight. But he’s chilled out now that he’s got a girl and a life outside of the club.”
“Do a lot of the bikers have significant others?” I asked.
“Most of them. They eventually get sick of the partying and shit, find a girl, settle down, have kids. Very domestic. The only single guys now are me, Sully, Nave, Perish, and the twins.”
“By choice?” I asked.
“I guess?” he said, looking confused by the question. “I mean I think it’s more of a… the right person hasn’t come around sort of shit? At least that’s how the other guys who’ve gotten shacked up explained it. They were perfectly fine with life the way it was. Until the right woman came around and knocked ‘em on their ass.”