A Brother’s Salvation: The Sacred Brotherhood Book VII

by A. J. Downey

  There weren’t nothin’ gonna happen to me that God didn’t intend, anyhow. Dragon had no control over my gettin’ old, or drawing cancer or some other disease out of life’s deck. That just was what it was. When it came to somethin’ happening to me because of him, though. No. I didn’t see it. It wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility. Still, good luck tellin’ my family that.

  “I love you,” I said to all of ‘em in the ensuing silence. “Now I love him, too.” I leaned back against the counter, all eyes on me and shook my head, disappointed in my girl Devon for the first time in I don’t know how long… maybe ever. It wasn’t the same kind of disappointment over a bad grade, or a bad hair color choice. This was a deeply-rooted disappointment and I had to pause and think on how to say it out loud.

  Dylan looked at her sister the same way I was feelin’ and as much as I hated to do it, I had to drop a hard truth on my very pregnant daughter about making snap judgments.

  “I honestly thought I raised you better ‘n this, Devon Lanham.”

  “Mamma, what’re you talkin’ about?” she demanded.

  I sighed, “You’re about to become a mamma yourself, so you’ll know yourself in a few years’ time, but right now? I am about as deeply disappointed in you as I have ever been.”

  Her mouth dropped open in shock and she looked at Dylan.

  “Don’t look at me for help,” Dylan declared and crossed her arms. Devon’s eyes glassed over and Rich got up and went over to his wife.

  “Now, Mamma Marcie, I don’t…”

  “Shut it,” I declared and whatever he’d been about to say, died.

  “This is between me and my daughter, and I can’t be sure you ain’t the one who put these ideas toward hatin’ that man in her head.”

  Devon looked confused, “I don’t hate anybody!” she declared, horrified.

  “Really?” I demanded. “You could have fooled me! Ever since he first set foot in this house, you’ve had your nose in the air actin’ like he’s the devil incarnate. Need I remind you, your Mamma’s the one who killed his friend and his brother? Not the other way around.”

  She shut her mouth and even Rich had the grace to look embarrassed. I shook my head.

  “He ain’t done nothin’ where I’m concerned except shown me forgiveness and grace and y’all been up in here scrutinizing and judgin’ him at every turn, makin’ every excuse as to why he is a bad man and somebody who can’t change or be saved and I’m tired of it.”

  Silence stretched between me and my family and I honestly couldn’t be more pained. I shook my head and said, “Y’all get out except Dylan. I don’t want y’ here right now.”

  “Mamma…” Devon looked a little lost and I shook my head.

  “I mean it. Out. Right now. I can’t even look at y’all.”

  “Mamma Marcie…” Rich tried and I raised my eyebrows. He shut up and nodded. “Next Sunday, then?” he asked.

  I nodded, “As always.”

  I waited for them to collect their things and sighed when they pulled up the driveway. Dylan looked at me and made a somewhat cringy face and asked, “Get the bourbon out?”

  “God, yes, child.”

  She laughed slightly and said, “I know Devon has always been the more uptight of the two of us, but Jesus Christ.”

  “I think it’s just them hormones and her lookin’ to be a new mother,” I said, and dropped into a seat at the kitchen table.

  Dylan trotted off to the liquor cabinet and brought back one of my bottles and I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. She looked a bit startled and said, “The good shit?”

  I nodded, “The good shit.”

  “Wow, I thought it was bad but I didn’t think it was that bad,” she said, and came back with the correct bottle this time. She set it on the table and went to the cabinet above the sink and brought back two glasses.

  She poured a splash in each and I raised my eyebrows. She blinked and added a little more to my glass. I nodded and leaned forward wearily and slid it towards me, taking a drink and relishing the smooth burn.

  “She really hurt your feelings, huh?” my youngest asked me, and I nodded tiredly.

  “I understand it,” I said, “At the same time I don’t, you know?”

  “She’s just worried, Mamma, she’s goin’ to have her first child and she’s scared and probably feels like her body’s in control and not her, and so she’s tryin’ to control everything else.” Dylan shrugged and sipped her bourbon, putting down her glass and smiling at me.

  I groaned and put a hand to my face, I didn’t even think about that. I probably should have. I mean, she was overdue and ready to go any minute and as big as a house. I sighed and said, “You’re too smart for your own good and I am the worst mother ever.”

  She laughed, “No, you’re not! Everything you said was absolutely right. She’s not being fair ‒ and I’m not either. I’m just better at keepin’ quiet about it.”

  I started at my younger daughter, who shrugged simply and rolled her lips. I shook my head. Worst mother ever or best one? Sometimes it’s hard to decide.

  “I love you girls, with all my heart,” I said finally. “You’re the best things I ever did with my life.”

  “Thanks, Mamma… We love you too, more than anything, we just want you to be okay. Could you imagine if it was one of us with one of them before you learned all you did? A year ago? Two years ago?”

  I thought about it and said, “I’d kill yah.”

  “Exactly.”

  I sighed and said, “Here’s to my rebellious teenage years – in my fifties.”

  Dylan clicked glasses with me and wincing, said, “Mamma, I think they call that a mid-life crisis.”

  29

  Dragon…

  “Then what’d she say?” I asked.

  “That little shit,” Marcie said savagely. “She says to me, ‘Mamma, I think that’s what they call a mid-life crisis.’ Can you believe that shit?”

  I laughed outright and couldn’t stop laughing right away if I’d wanted to. I wiped tears out of the corner of my eye and said, “I can see right where she gets it from.”

  “Oh, you!” Marcie’s smile came right on through the line and it was like sunshine against my ear.

  “I miss you,” I told her suddenly, out of the blue.

  “I miss you, too,” she said. “How long until I get to see you again?”

  I sighed and said, “Soon as I sort this shit out.”

  “I still can’t believe you’re in Detroit.”

  “Duty calls,” I said ruefully.

  “Well, you’ll have to tell me all about it when you get home.”

  “It’s a promise,” I told her.

  “All right.”

  “Okay, love you.” I cleared my throat. “Bye for now.”

  “Love you, too, honey. Bye-bye.”

  I smiled and hung up the phone, sticking it into the inside pocket of my jacket along with my glasses. Nox looked over from where he was leaning against his bike scowling, and asked, “Can we get the fuck out of here?”

  “Soon as we find this little rat-bastard,” I said flicking my cigarette into the gutter.

  “I was likin’ my nice, quiet life,” my brother muttered and I raised my eyebrows.

  “That makes two of us, but you know how it goes.”

  He nodded.

  It had gone a little beyond a fist fight at the club; one of the Detroit chapter brought a knife into it, cut one of the Denver boys real bad, then took his punk ass off. Detroit, to their credit, were just about as pissed off with his pussy actions as us, so here we all were, tryin’ to find the little bastard and take back what was ours. He didn’t deserve to wear our colors. By unanimous vote, his chapter had put his ass out bad for runnin’, so the chase was on until we got his fuckin’ cut back and made sure his ink was blacked.

  “Yeah, thanks.” Data got off his phone and raised his eyebrows.

  “Fucked-up, burned-out neighborhood east of I-75.” Data
said.

  “That’s a fairly decent sized area,” Rebel, one of the local boys, declared.

  “Uh-huh,” Data said, only half-listening. He was scribbling on a notepad and when he finished, he ripped the page off the spiral wire and slapped the piece of paper against Rebel’s chest.

  “Red house, boarded-up windows, mid-block,” he said and I chuckled.

  Rebel shook his head and said, “Don’t know how the hell you get this stuff,” he said.

  “Above yer paygrade,” I said, chuckling, and put my helmet on my head. Reaver mounted up next to me eagerly. In case anyone had any doubt that I weren’t playin’, I had invited him along.

  “Well, all right then. Let’s get it done,” Tank declared, and I gave a nod.

  Didn’t take us long to find the house, took us a little longer to find the squirrely little bastard. We did what needed doing, and then, rather than stick around, we started straight for home. The parts of the ride where my mind wasn’t a quiet blank, it was stuck on how much I was glad we were movin’ away from doing shit like that. It also kept wrapping around the fact, that unintentional as it may have been, I’d brought a lot of drama into Marcie’s life.

  I was wrestling with that by quite a bit, and by the time we pulled into the club a day or two later, all I wanted was a shower, about twelve hours’ worth of sleep, and to just get the bad news over. I’d come to the conclusion that when it came to Marcie, I just loved her too damn much to make her life hell.

  I laid down to sleep and passed right the fuck out, and I think I dreamed…

  “You are one dumb fuckin’ son of a bitch, you know that?”

  I opened my eyes to Doc sitting in the recliner in the corner of my room and scowled.

  “Am I dreaming?” I asked, out loud, my voice rusty from smoking and the road.

  “Well you damn sure ain’t awake, or did you forget I offed myself?”

  I rolled my eyes and asked, “So why’re you here?”

  “Hopefully to knock some damn sense into that fat head of yers. That woman is a good woman, and tough as all get out. Now I know it ain’t the same, but it’s good, and contrary to your stupid belief that you don’t deserve nothin’ good, you do. So suck it the fuck up and keep on keepin’ on, brother.”

  “This your idea of a pep talk? ‘Cause if it is, you suck at it.”

  He laughed, blue eyes twinkling, and nodded, “That was always your thing, the pep talks. I’m just here trying to prevent you from making the second-worst mistake of your life.”

  He knew I would never let losing Tilly go as my number one, so I nodded and asked, “How’s life in the afterlife?”

  My best friend grinned at me and he shook his head, “You’ll see when you get here, which ain’t gonna be for some time yet. Just don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.” He got up, I blinked, and he was gone. Just like that. I let my head fall back onto the pillow and closed my eyes again, or at least I think I did. Really wasn’t accountin’ for the fact I never even really woke up in the first place.

  In any case, when I woke up for what I think was for real, I opened my eyes to a pair of true blue ones under a vibrant copper shock of hair. Marcie smiled at me and stretched luxuriously and I couldn’t help but smile, too.

  “What’re you doing here?” I murmured, and cupped her cheek, and damn if Doc wasn’t right. I could no more crush her heart than I could my own, by walkin’ away from her. Still, I felt a kind of stiff sadness in my chest over it. The feeling like I was dooming her to somethin’ by havin’ her by my side.

  Didn’t seem like she much had the same opinion, though, so I had to stuff it down for now and chalk it up to just my usual brooding.

  “I called, your boy answered your phone said you left it on the bar. Said you was back.”

  She was smiling and way too excited for just me bein’ back here so I asked, “What ain’t you tellin’ me?”

  “It’s a girl!” she crowed, throwing her arms around my neck and it took me a minute to think what she was talkin’ about.

  “Devon?” I asked.

  “Uh-huh!”

  “Well, I’ll be damned!” I grinned, sharing in her joy, then it hit me and I pulled back to look her in the eyes.

  “You left the hospital, your daughter, your new grandbaby, just to see me?”

  “Well, yeah. I missed you, and mamma and the baby could use the rest… I wanted to see you, to tell you.”

  I silenced her by covering her mouth with mine and I couldn’t tear her clothes off fast enough. I lucked out that she was wearin’ one of her long skirts, so really, all I had to get through were her panties.

  They gave with a swift jerk, the material making a popping noise before tearing away. Marcie cried out, but her hips rose and she helped me get between her thighs, her mouth finding mine and feeding at it, but I was the one taking all the nourishment her kiss could provide. I shoved my cock against her and pretty much dry-humped her like an awkward teenager for a few, both to make sure she was excited enough to take me and because it felt so damn good.

  Sliding into her was like coming home, and the satisfied moan she let off into my mouth tasted like love and hope and a brighter future. I was surprised to realize I wanted it. I was done punishing myself, isolating myself, and the way Doc died? Alone… I didn’t want that to be me. I was probably going to hell anyway, and I loathed that I may or may not be dragging Marcie down there with me. Yet, as I pushed myself into her, her hips rose to meet mine, and it was pretty clear to me she was willing and along for the ride.

  The way her hands cupped my face, the fierce look in those blue eyes as I struck a swift but easy rhythm. The way the bottom of her foot caressed up and down my calf… she was fully present when we had sex and I loved that about her. That she was here and present all of the time when she was with me, a soul-deep connection despite my malfunction.

  I let myself drown in her soft skin, her wet heat, her delicate scent, and I didn’t want to come up for air. It was startling, frightening, to care about her as much as I did. I’d never in a million years thought there would be a second chance for a bastard like me.

  “What’re you lookin’ at me like that for?” she whispered, her fingertips gently grazing my cheek.

  “Just so in love with you it hurts,” I murmured back, and the smile that she graced me with was enough to turn my world on its end, which ironically, was the direction it needed to go for everything to just fall into place.

  Epilogue

  Eleven years later…

  Marcie…

  “He’s struggling,” I murmured into the phone, my heart breaking, my voice wavering with barely-suppressed tears.

  “Is it time? Should I get over there?”

  I nodded, realized Dray couldn’t see it, and said, “That would be best, yeah.”

  He hung up without saying another word and I lowered my phone to the kitchen counter. Dragon let out another rumbling cough from his hospice bed in our living room and those tears I’d been holding back slipped free.

  I went over to where the machine was set up and checked his oxygen levels; they were bad. Real bad. He looked at me from over the cannula in his nose supplying his cancer-ravaged lungs with oxygen, his face sunken, his color sallow and he reached out a hand, weakly.

  “Gonna… gonna miss you, babe,” he rasped out, and I took his hand and squeezed my eyes shut, sobbing quietly. He chuckled in that way of his, which ended with another fit of coughing, which led to gasping and an almost ten-minute struggle to get his air back.

  “Come up here, read to me like you do,” he rasped. I nodded and lowered the bed rail on one side and climbed up into bed with him. I had just lifted the book we were reading from the rolling tray table when Dray came in the back door.

  “How you doin’, Pops?” he asked with false brightness.

  “I’m dyin’, son. How you think I’m doin’?” he asked. “Sit down and listen a while with me. Marcie –“ He gasped for breath. “Marcie’s gonna r
ead to me.”

  Dray pulled up a chair and reached through the railing, grasping his father’s hand and sitting with us while I read.

  Midway through, Dragon raised a hand and said weakly, “I love you, all of you. My boy, his wife, my girl, her girls, my grandson, the club… I love all of you.”

  “We love you, too, Pops,” Dray said. “Try and get some rest.”

  I closed the book and carefully cuddled into Dragon’s side as he drifted. It was the last thing he said to us before slipping into what can only be described as a sort of death-coma, that transitional place where all you could do was pump him morphine and hope he wasn’t in any pain.

  I looked across at Dray and the sorrow in his eyes made my heart bleed.

  “It’s gonna be okay, Mamma,” he said. “He’ll be with us forever.”

  It was a cold comfort to my ravaged heart, even though I knew it was true. He would be with us forever. Forever and beyond. He was Dragon, and that was how he was.

  Tenacious, fearless, and the only rules he followed between heaven and earth were his own.

  Author’s Note

  Dear readers, thank you for holding on with me through the four year journey that has been The Sacred Hearts MC. It breaks my heart that their story is concluded, but at the same time, it is time. I hope you’ll stick with me to see where the Indigo Knights go as I have a lot planned for them. Much love, and all the best from me to you.

  Also by A.J. Downey

  The Sacred Hearts MC

  1. Shattered & Scarred

  2. Broken & Burned

  3. Cracked & Crushed

  3.5 Masked & Miserable (a novella)

  4. Tattered & Torn

  5. Fractured & Formidable

  6. Damaged & Dangerous

  * * *

  The Virtues

  1. Cutter’s Hope

  2. Marlin’s Faith

  3. Charity for Nothing

  * * *

  The Sacred Brotherhood