irrevocable

{Nine}

Closer // Kings of Leon

Jackson

Grinder walks in front of Dad and me, leading us down a long gravel driveway. We walk alongside an older bungalow style house, complete with clapboard siding and a full front porch. I pull the bottom of my shirt away from my skin, covered in sweat from the heat, as I look at the place. Jeans and a t-shirt in this weather was a bad idea. Workout clothes would have been better but I wasn't sure about how people would dress. Seeing Grinder in jeans and a new pair of boots paired with nothing but a leather biker vest should have answered that question. I shake my head at how lame I'm being and focus on my surroundings. The house has been well cared for, nothing like the rundown neighborhood Holly lives in even though we're only across town from her. Blue hydrangeas spill from the side of the house onto the path we're taking. It's a sweet place.

As soon as we pass the back of the house, a full garden and backyard come into view. The scene of today's adventure.

A Bitter Reapers get-together.

According to my dad, this is the first official Reapers gathering in years. Most of the members have moved on, found regular jobs and settled down. The club morphed into a leisurely past-time rather than a criminal organization. And I've heard enough to know while most of what they were known for was in fact illegal, none of it was organized at all. The original leader, some guy named Duke, sounds unstable based on the stories Grinder told me late one night. And it's his kid's place we're hanging out at today. Grinder insists the guy is legit, a family man with a thriving car restoration business, but I can't help the edginess in my nerves.

Shit, I grew up around your basic wannabe nightmares, people who weren't motivated enough to form a motorcycle club but talked like they were above the law, harassed the community and gunned their mufflers when they rode through town. Same fucking thing. I shouldn't be concerned.

But it's not my world anymore—or hasn't been since I started college. I threw myself into the academic world and never looked back, to my mom's disapproval. She complained I thought I was better than her. I always told her that was a crock of shit, I just didn't want to struggle my entire life the way she did. But recent things coming to light have me shifting that mindset.

I am better than her and I really don't give a shit what she thinks about that.

"You made it." A woman with long dark hair and a kid on her hip smiles from across the yard. A little girl with equally dark curls runs around the woman pushing a doll stroller and singing.

"Wouldn't miss it," Grinder says as he gives her a hug and grabs the kid she'd been holding. "How's little Rob? Being good for Mommy?" The little boy nods while sucking his fingers.

"Good to know, buddy. Let's you and me go find your dad, okay? Auntie Julie will be here soon with Eric."

"Ehwik," the kid says around his fingers making Grinder smile so big it's almost scary.

"You're talking real good, little man."

"How you been, Savanna?" My dad says to the woman. "This here's my son, Jackson, come to visit for a while. Jackson, this is Brax's wife, Savanna."

"Nice to meet you," she says with hand extended.

I give her a gentle shake. "Thanks for hosting." I look around to see a few other families sitting or standing across the yard. "Nice house. Did you restore it yourselves?"

"Brax did most of it," she says, beaming.

"Brax! Come over here and meet Jackson!" Grinder calls across the yard, gaining the attention of one tough looking man who makes his way to us. He's not quite as tall as Grinder with fewer tats and a buzz cut. But he's got a beard nearly as bushy as Grinder's and a matching leather vest. He's smiling almost as big, too.