The Road Reapers: A Biker Romance

Chapter 5 - Red

There's something about the way home smells that makes you never forget it. For Red, his home always smelled like sage smoke and marijuana. Sometimes whatever his mom was cooking would be in the mix too, but sage and pot were the base of it.

When he walked through the front door that's all he noticed. A smile softened his face and he followed the sound of someone rummaging through drawers, finding his mother in the kitchen doing just that.
"Hey, mama."
She gave him a slight glance.
"Hey, honey baby, how you doing? It's been a while."
Red eyed her curiously. She was acting rather strange.
"Yeah it's been a few days mum. What you looking for?"
"Weeks ago I dropped a rose quartz marble and it was nowhere to be found. I had a dream I'd find it in a drawer. This is the first one I thought to check."
Sure enough, with one last shuffle of the junk drawer her fingers closed around a small pink sphere. This had happened numerous times throughout his childhood and it still gave him shivers down his spine.

Lost treasure found, Red's mother pulled him in for a hard hug, silently slipping the sphere into the back pocket of his jeans.
"So, my boy. Tell me what's new."
"Ma you know I can't tell you about club business."
She held up her hand.
"I'm not talking about the club. I wanna know about that gorgeous woman you met who has you all in a tizzy."
Red's cheeks blushed.
"Well," he cleared his throat. "That's kind of club business... In a way..."
At that, his mother stood up rather abruptly and strode from the kitchen. After a few seconds Red followed her out into the living room.
She already had her signature black velvet table cloth laid out on the coffee table. The gold stitching spelling out her name, "Aurora," glittered under the dancing candle flame. Red swallowed, knowing that what she was about to show him: there would be no coming back from it.
Silently, his mother passed him a deck of cards. His fingers held their familiar weight, and as he began to shuffle he felt his mind unloading all its troubles and confusions onto the tarot deck. It was relieving but also slightly alarming. He hadn't done a reading in a long time. (Too busy being a badass).

When he was done shuffling he drew the top five cards and put them in a line from left to right. His eyes caught the gaze of his mother. She looked absolutely - sickeningly, Red thought - thrilled.