For the Love of Dixie (9 page)

Echo

Leaning against the wall, I watch the card game and work on the beer in my hand. Shadow is playing a game of cards, and I’m scoping the territory. This is my first job in the company of my family since the fight. My father is at the bar with my brother, Shayne, right beside him. Despite the physical distance between us, the tension is damn near unbearable. I’ve been waiting all day for one of them to come at me. Their gazes are laser beams aimed at my back. If looks could kill, I would have been dead weeks ago.

Shayne turns around in his chair and winks at me.

I raise an eyebrow. My gut turns.
What’s this shithead up to?
I finish my beer.

He stands up and walks up to a long legged, brown-skinned club girl.

My jaw drops.

My father turns around and stares at me.

The evil glint in his eyes makes me uneasy. My muscles tense.
How far is he willing to take this game?
I sit up straight in the chair, straining to hear what he’s whispering to the girl who’s giggling, and hanging on his arm.

The loud music and boisterous voices have never grated my nerves like cheese the way they are now.

Shayne wraps his arm around her waist and squeezes the ass nearly hanging out of her tiny blue jean skirt.

I’m not surprised she’s leaning into him and hanging onto his every word. His nickname is Charming for a reason. The man could smooth talk a nun out of her panties.

He nods his head toward me.

They make their way over and I squeeze the empty bottle in my hand, wishing it were his neck. I never thought he’d turn against me so swiftly. We were close once. I did my best to shield him from the fall out between my father and I. Seeing him buddy up to the bastard kills me.

“This is my brother, darling,” Charm says, leaning her across the table in front of me. “You don’t mind if we show him a thing or two, do you?”

“No,” she says.

“That’s a good girl,” Charm says, praising her. She grips the edge of the table and he shoves her skirt up.

I can’t see their bottom half, but the clang of his belt tells me all I need to know.

“You see, my brother?” he asks.

“Don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking at,” I reply, disgusted.

“Then your little bitch isn’t giving it to you right.”

“Watch your fucking mouth,” I warn.

He smirks, and reaches into his back pocket.

I want to look anywhere but at him and her, but I refuse to let him or my father win. They want to test my resolve, rattle me, and find my weakness. I need be stronger, smarter, and rock steady.

I hear the wet sound of him working her over with his fingers. She cries out, pushing back against him. “This is what you do when you want a bit of brown strange.” He rips a condom open with his teeth.

I look away. I don’t need to see my brother handling his dick.

The girl gasps. Charm grabs a handful of hair and yanks her head back. The table moves and he proceeds to pound her. Her throaty cries and pleasure filled face tells me she’s into it.

I’m not sure what I’m missing here. Lost, I shake my head.
What do they think they’re doing?
I look at my father.

“Watch, you might learn something,” Mouth calls.

The girl screams bloody murder and Charm grunts. “You fuck them and you move on.” Charm pulls out, tossing the condom onto the ground. “Now, clean this up and go make yourself pretty. Someone else might want to experience that sweet pussy of yours,” he says.

The girl hums her agreement.

Charm adjusts his pants.

I stand from my chair and stalk over to the bar where my father is grinning like the sick bastard he is. “What the fuck is that?”

“How it’s done. You got a little taste for dark meat? You want to try some exotic shit? I get it. But you don’t bring them home, claim them, and wife them.”

“Why, because you say so? You trying to tell me it’s okay to fuck a black girl as long as I don’t bring her home?” I ask.

“You always were an intelligent one.”

“And you were always an ignorant bigot,” I counter.

“It’s the way of things. Been going on since we brought those spooks over from Africa. You keep that shit as an extracurricular activity and stay pure at home,” Mouth states.

“Pure? What does that even mean? You know how many different things we have swimming in our veins. By now, most people are a petri dish,” I say.

“Not us,” Mouth retorts.

“You willing to do a DNA swab to back that backward ass thinking up?” I challenge.

“Don’t need a stick and a piece of paper to tell me what I already know,” Mouth drawls.

“You still giving Dad shit?” Charm asks coming up beside me.

“What I want to know is why you’re just rolling over and siding with him.”

“’Cause he’s looking out for us, the same as he always does,” Charm replies.

The
duh
expression makes me want to deck him. I spent my entire life looking out for my brother, and helping to steer him right. Seeing him so unaware has me questioning myself.
Did I let this happen on my watch?
“No he’s not, he’s spreading his sickness, and you’re too blind to see it,” I say.

“Damn, that brown bitch has really got you by the balls, huh?” he asks.

I step forward. Our chests bump. “You want to say that again?”

“That nigger—”

The world blurs. My hand explodes in pain and he hits the floor, out cold. Hands hold me back. I cease struggling as I realize what I’ve done. The sight of Charm’s limp body sends me into a slow panic.

“Turned you against your own kin! That fucking she-devil,” Mouth howls.

His voice is static in my head. My brain is too full. I shrug off the brothers holding me and scream. Spearing my fingers through my hair, I storm from the building. Shit is hitting the fan so fast, I feel like I’m stuck in a monkey exhibit. I never meant for this to break my family. I didn’t realize my father had his hooks so deep into Charm.
And my dumb ass just gave him a reason to cling to him further.
I never intended this; to alienate my brother, and cause so much drama. If I start fucking with the mojo at the club, Stone will step in. I need to reconcile this before that happens.
But how can I without insulting D’Rose?
I pace the length of the clubhouse and back. When did love became something you had to fight a war about?

“What the hell was that, brother?” Butch asks. The President of the Nevada chapter is solid, greying, and stern. His square jaw is tense and his grey eyes are narrowed.

“Family problems.”

“You sure about that? We don’t need any fuck ups on this run,” Butch says.

“Yeah, I’m positive, it won’t spill over.”

“Better clear that with your old man and brother. I get we have to clear the air sometime and that involves fists and blood, but this shit runs deeper. Ain’t no mystery what your old man thinks or who you’re dating, news spreads fast.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say sighing.

“Go squash it, Echo. Never had a problem with you, man. I don’t want to start now.”

I nod. “I’m on it, P, just give it a minute to cool down, yeah?”

“Long as it’s done before you ride out tomorrow,” he says.

“It will be.”

He pats my shoulder. “Good man.”

Pulling out my phone I walk to the opposite side of the parking lot. I hit speed dial and wait.

“Hey, babe, how’s the run?” D’Rose asks.

Her voice is a siren’s song making me forget the mess waiting for me. I close my eyes and imagine her face. “Better now.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of that,” she says.

“You shouldn’t.”

“What happened?” she asks.

“Mouth and Charm—”

“Charming?”

I can hear the surprise in her voice.

“Yeah, not what I expected either,” I say, utterly disappointed in the path my baby brother is choosing.

“That’s sad, worse than your father. It means its spread down to another generation. God, it’s never going to stop,” Dixie Rose says.

“Racism?”

“Yes—no. I mean, within this club. The disrespect, the comments, and stares. Jesus Christ, it’s the twenty-first century. What’s the point of me hanging around?”

She’s rambling. I hate hearing her like this when I’m a state away. “D’Rose, calm down.”

“How can I do that? We both know what’s going to happen if this shit starts affecting the club.”

“It won’t come to that,” I assure her.

“And how do you know that?”

“’Cause I’m going to fix it.”

“How? You think Mouth is suddenly going to see the light and become understanding?” she snaps.

“Look, don’t take this shit out on me. I called you because I just knocked my little brother out cold, over you. A little support and understanding would be nice.”

Silence floods our connection.

“I’m sorry. I know you’re getting dragged through the mud, and I sympathize. This is hard for me, too. Mouth is my boogie man. The monster lurking not under my bed, but among my family, waiting for me to let down my guard, so he can slink over and crush me. All my life he made me feel wrong. I wasn’t light enough. I wasn’t
good
enough. Do you know how that fucks with a kid’s self-esteem?” Dixie Rose asks.

I close my eyes. My temples begin to throb. I feel like I’m drowning under the weight of our past, my father’s unrelenting trail of destruction, and the pain I can never erase inside of my woman. There’s nothing I can say right now. Telling her to shake it off is out of the question.
Can I even ask her to stand by me while I make nice with my father for the good of the club?

“Look, you’re my man, and I’m going to stick by you. I know how it works. I’ll do what I need to. Don’t think for one second it’ll be easy, or that I’ll grin and bear it while I suffer in silence. That was my life once before I left. Hell, it’s the reason I bailed and rarely looked back. I can’t return to living that way.”

The determination in her tone tells me she’s serious. I can’t blame her. I brought her back into this kicking and screaming. I need to find a way to make sure it’s still worth it for her. I’m not vain enough to think me or my love is enough to make up for the bullshit my father is about to put us through.
Keep the carnage at a minimum.
“I’m not asking you to.”

She doesn’t respond, but I know I just lied. It’s precisely what I’m requesting.

“You don’t have to reassure me. I knew what I was getting into with you, Joel. I’m not stupid, or young enough to believe you standing up for me will change things. That’s going to take time and will. I have both. But you need to understand this is a scar I’m reopening and trying to heal instead of plaster over. I stayed away because …” She trails off.

My stomach knots. “What?”

“It’s not important now. Another time. Now is about you.”

Her diversion raises a red flag. “No, what?”

“Hey, tonight is about you. Tell me what went down,” she states firmly.

“My dad running his mouth is nothing new, but seeing Charm act like that…hearing that crap come delivered directly from
his
mouth threw me. He crossed a line with me, and I lost it. I blanked out. The next thing I know, he’s on the floor out cold.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. You punched him?” she asks.

“Anyone who talks like that about you should expect to get their head taken off,” I say unrepentantly.

“You can’t fight the whole world. There will always be someone who doesn’t approve of us.”

“I suggest they learn to do it silently. This is as much your home as it is mine. Why should you walk around trying to avoid landmines you didn’t even place?” I seethe. I’m never going to feel like I’ve made up for the way things went down between us.