Braxton
Walking into the clubhouse, I look at Hatchet and Twisted and say, “Okay, what did Mom do now?”
“Follow me,” Twisted says, a grin breaking out across his face. We go through the kitchen and he turns left before we get to the bar.
“All we have are storage rooms down here,” I tell them as we start down the hall.
“Not anymore,” Hatchet replies, before he bursts into laughter.
Oh for fuck’s sake, what did Mom do now? I swear I’m gonna be bald and what hair I have left on my body is going to end up grey! Stopping at the first door on the left, I see a sign on the door where there wasn’t one before that says “storage.” Raising my eyebrow, I open the door and my jaw drops. When we looked for a clubhouse, we bought an old school and knocked down walls and made it into what we wanted. The kitchen was already an industrial-sized one, but we upgraded the appliances and added a pantry, as well as a walk-in deep freezer. Several of the brothers like to hunt and fish, so we have wild game processed and packaged, in addition to the normal chicken and steak that we all enjoy. But this room here? There are rows of shelves neatly organized with non-perishable items. “What in the hell?” I ask, more to myself than anything.
“Your mom thought it made more sense to be fully stocked for any occasion,” Twisted finally says, before bursting into laughter.
“Like what? The zombie apocalypse? Christ on a cracker, that woman is going to make me old before my time,” I mutter.
“Christ on a cracker, what are we twelve?” Hatchet cracks up at my verbiage.
“Fuck, don’t give me hell,” I tell him. “I’m raising a little girl, I can’t continuously have the mouth of a sailor…continue,” I tell him. When he finally relents from his laughter he does.
“Anyways, there’s a method to her madness,” Hatch replies. “The grocery store was closing down so she got most of it at a deep discount. Plus, with it being early spring, we’ll be cooking out more and shit. It won’t go to waste, Axe.”
I’m busy counting the cases of paper towels. And toilet paper. We’re set if anyone comes down with Montezuma’s revenge. Sighing, a grin playing on my lips, I say, “Her heart is in the right place. And, we’ll let the prospects keep the inventory up. May as well, right?”
“Oh they’re gonna love that,” Twisted says. “But wait...there’s more,” he continues, sounding like one of those game show hosts. I half expect to see a woman in a sparkling gown come forward waving her arms.
We leave the room and he goes to the next door and opens it before standing aside. Taking a deep breath, I walk in and my jaw drops. There are multiple flatscreen televisions with every kind of game system available hooked up on one side of the room, and a long table with laptops on the other wall. “What the hell is this?” I ask.
“She found out that a few of the prospects didn’t have their diplomas and said that they had to work toward their GED so they can ‘become productive members of society and the club’.”
“How is playing video games helping them do that?” I question.
“Oh, they have to earn their playing time. She holds the controllers hostage until they’ve completed whatever assignment she gives them. Why didn’t you mention she used to be a teacher?” Hatch asks.
“Must have slipped my mind,” I mutter. “Hell, are the prospects okay with all of this shit?”
“Yeah, actually. Smokey and Bandit have been teaching them computer skills so they don’t delete the hard drive, and Law’s woman, Ava, has been coming in and helping your mom.”
“When does she find time to do this? She watches Lily for me!”
“Oh, she does it while Lily’s in school.”
“For fuck’s sake, I was gone for a week! Seven-motherfuckin’- days, how is possible for one person to get all this done in that time frame?” My mother both amazes and shocks me at every turn.
“There’s still more, Axe.”
“More?” I’m not sure at this point I can handle any more, but I decide to pull up my President boxers and motor on. “Show me.”
We head out of the new classroom with me still shaking my head in bewilderment at how my mom managed to accomplish all of this in a mere week. Sneaky woman!
“Okay, you know how we’ve got a few kids now, right?” Twisted asks.
“Uh, last I saw, we had two. Two children,” I reply. “Tig and Lily.”
“And... your mom is including Luca in all of this, apparently.”
Of course she is, the scheming matchmaker! “Go on…”
“She decided that the kids needed their own space inside in case we ever have to go on a lockdown.”
“A lockdown? What in the everloving hell is she talking about? We’ve never had to have one. Ever. We’re not that kind of club, for fuck’s sake.” I need a beer. Or ten. Hell, at this rate, I may as well drink a whole case.
“C’mon, Axe, you know we love your mom and if I hadn’t agreed, none of this would have happened,” Twisted says.
“She must think this club is made of money…” I mutter to myself, causing Hatchet and Twisted to crack up at my supposed joke, which it wasn’t by the way. We’re doing well financially, but that’s just the thing, we are right now, but we need to prepare for a rainy day. I have employees that would like to still be able to feed their families if we ever come into a rough patch.
We go back down the hall and to the other side where she has created two more rooms. The first one is an indoor playroom that is sectioned off to have a small ‘house’, and then a game area, a craft area, and a video game area. Games and puzzles are neatly stacked on the shelves, along with books. Leave it to Mom to create something like this for the few kids we do have in the MC so far. The second room is a bunk room designed specifically for kids. Along one wall are cribs. Cribs? Oh for fuck’s sake. “Why are there cribs?”
“Wishful thinking on her part? I don’t know, man. I mean, right now, I’m the only one with an old lady, and you and I are the only two with kids. Then again, if we have any friendlies visiting, they might have kids, so maybe it’s not a bad idea?”
“She also set up a movie room,” Hatch blurts out. “But that’s for everyone, not just the kids.”
“Please tell me she didn’t go into our room where we hold church?” I ask. I’m normally a patient man, truly I am, but I think her antics have pushed every last button.
“Nope. But...that’s only because Chief stood in front of the door when she tried,” Twisted admits.
“That’s it, I’m taking her keys away,” I mutter, and her credit cards, I think to myself. “How in the hell can I command respect when my mother does something like this?”
“Actually, Axe, I approved all of it, and the guys? They’re thrilled. They’ve been around more, hanging out, shooting the shit, that kind of thing. She wanted to start a Sunday movie day, but I told her we had to vote on that,” Twisted says.
“Hmm, yeah, like we won’t say yes,” I reply, looking at all she accomplished. Next thing we’ll be having weekly dinners if she keeps this up. In addition to the cribs, she has bunk beds throughout the room, not just the twin-sized ones either. Nope, she has the twin over full-sized bunk beds.
“Tell me we still have our gym?”
“Yep. Although she ordered a hot tub. Said something about it helping our muscles relax once we’re done working out.”
“I’m taking her credit card away as well.”
“Axe, your mom has been more alive this past week than I’ve seen her in years,” Twisted says. He should know. He was there when my dad died and he saw how she grieved. She spent three months making pickles and baking bread. I know when I had her move in with me to help with Lily, she started coming back even more.
“And the guys are all really okay with it?” I ask, running my hands through my hair. Shit, is it falling out? I wonder if Caraleigh likes men who are bald.
“Yeah, man, they really are,” Hatch confirms.
“Okay, let me go tell Miss Mischief Maker to slow her roll a little bit. Maybe she can clue me in on what else she envisions for our clubhouse so I can bring it to a vote?”
“You can try but she’s in her element. Hell, Chef has been singing her praises ever since she put in the garden.”
“The...what?”
“Garden. She said fresh veggies and herbs would be good for all of us and you know him, he loves to cook, so he helped her get it planted and everything. Be prepared, man.”
“Fuck my life.”