I shout back, “Open the fuckin’ door, Dwight.”
Dwight Forrester shouts back, “But what do you want?!” voice shaking.
“He’s got a heat on,” Scratch mutters to me.
“No shit. Alright. Step back. I’m kickin’ it in.”
A loud bang sounds from inside. Then a scuffle. I suck on the inside of my teeth as I wait. The door opens and there is Honey Badger. “Beat ya.”
We walk in and see Dwight groaning on the floor. I turn to our brother. “Where’s Tonk?”
“I didn’t let him in yet.”
Scratch and Fuse start laughin.’ Not loud and gleeful-like, just low and privately.
That’s how we do it. Always.
“I’ll get him,” I smirk, walking by Dwight. As I do, I kick him. “Hold tight, friend.”
“FUCK!” he groans, turning on his side to the fetal position.
The side door has a nice window where I can see Tonk glowering at me. I tap on it and call through, “What? Ya didn’t want to hurt your new manicure?”
“Just open the fucking door.”
“You do it,” I tell him, heading back to the living room. “Pick him up. Put him on the couch.”
Honey Badger sneers at Dwight as Scratch and Fuse grab him and throw him onto a couch littered with one pizza box, loads of rank, used napkins, and fast-food burger wrappers. There isn’t an empty spot on the coffee table, either. It’s covered with booze bottles — empty, all but one.
A loud crash sounds in the kitchen and Tonk grumbles into the room. He’s our newest member. Also the youngest and the largest. He has a lot to learn. He knows this, which is why even though he’s shooting bullets at me through his eye-sockets, he keeps his trap shut.
“What do you want?”
“We want you to clean up,” Scratch says. He’s our club V.P. so I don’t mind that he’s speakin’ up. Even if this mission was given to me. Surprising as it was.
Dwight looks around. “Okay! I’ll clean all this up by today! But how did you know…”
“Not the mess, you lost fuckin’ soul,” I sneer. “You. You need to clean up. Get sober. This whole grief thing you’ve got goin’ on. It’s over. It’s time to be a man now.”
Dwight stares at me. “Who are you?”
“Doesn’t really matter, does it?”
He shakes his head a lot. “How do you know about my son?”
“I know all about you. Friends of yours are worried. They need you. It’s time to clean up and get back to livin.’”
His eyes go red and he starts to cry.
“Oh fuck,” Honey Badger groans. “Stop being a pussy.”
“My son died! He was only twenty and his future was ripped from him! I taught him how to talk! How to do everything! And I’ll never see him again! Do you know how that feels?”
The room is quiet. Scratch has a boy. So does Fuse. We all want children of our own at some point. Being in the brotherhood has a way of cementing loyalty and family in your blood so much that you know nothing else matters as much as that.
But still.
“Listen here, Dwight. That sucks that your kid ain’t here. It really fuckin’ sucks. Nothin’ is every gonna make that right, but there is no way he’d want you livin’ your days like this. You gave up drinkin’ for him when he was a boy, right?”
“How did you know that?”
“Do you think he’d want his father eatin’ fuckin’ crap like this and pollutin’ his body until he’s a bloated piece of shit that ain’t got nothin’ left to offer? You were running that plant. You inspired the men who worked under you. Who the fuck are you inspirin’ now because I’m here to tell you that life ain’t worth shit unless you’re offerin’ somethin’ to it.”
Dwight stares at me like he didn’t expect profound truths to come out of a nasty mouth like mine, but that’s the fun of surprising people. They always underestimate bikers. Always.
“Here’s what you’re gonna do,” Scratch says, pulling focus. Dwight stares at him like a sponge thirsty for water. “You’re going cold fuckin’ turkey. We’re not leavin’ here until you’re dry. You’re goin’ to AA meetings. We’re takin’ ya. Then, when you’re good and ready, you’re goin’ back to work so that your son can look down and be proud of his fuckin’ father. As long as it takes.”
“I got goosebumps,” Fuse mutters.
Honey Badger grumbles, “Shut up, Fuse.”
I turn to Tonk. “Since you have an intimate knowledge of the kitchen, bring us the biggest garbage bags you can find.”