Free Steel Me Away by Vivian Lux Page B

the hum of the line and Andy's slow breath.  A bell sounded tinny in the background and I recognized the chime of our old mantle clock.  That sound had tolled away the hours of my childhood, a constant reminder of how time raced forever forward.  I liked to put my ear to the face and listen to the low mechanical hum of the innards, the whir and growl when it prepared to strike the hour was just as familiar to me as the chime itself.
    I waited through the silence.  I could hear him there, his breath as slow and steady as it was when we would camp out in the yard in those peaceful summer nights.  The memory calmed me before his words did. 
    "Okay Em," he rumbled in his new voice, sounding like a man once more.  "I'm coming for you.  Just tell me where to go."

Chapter 16
     
    J.
     
    There were no seats in the circle.  J had to endure the humiliating moments of scraping a folding chair across the floor from across the room.  It felt like a lifetime.
    "Thanks for getting me a seat, asshole," he muttered to Case.
    "Didn't think you were ever going to show up," Case shot back with more venom than J. had ever heard from him.  He turned sharply to look at him, but it was at that moment that Teach brought down the gavel.
    "I'll make this short," he rasped painfully.  J. wondered if his wound was bothering him.  "I've been on the phone all fucking day and my fucking voice is almost gone."  He coughed and reached over the card table that served as his podium and took a sip of water.  "I've reached an agreement with the Storm Riders."
    He held up his hand to ward off the mutters of dissent.  Case sat up straighter in his chair and winced at the pain in his ribs.  Mac took a slug from his ever present beer can.  Crash closed and opened his fists, and muttered obscenities and boasts. 
    "Terms are good.  Livable.  We meet them two days from now.  Six on six."
    "That's all of us," J. couldn't help but notice.  "They've got us outnumbered four to one.
    "Six on six," Teach repeated.  "We get to pick the meeting place.  That's on you, of course," he gestured at Case who nodded seriously, the wheels already turning in his mind.
    But something still nagged at J.  "Why do we need peace with them? It ain't like there's a chapter of the Storm Riders here in Philly.  Who gives a fuck what those assholes do from now on?"
    Teach looked at him soberly.  "It's exactly because there are no Storm Riders in Philly that they want peace.  That fight impressed them.  They saw what we were made of.  That we stick together and don't back down in the face of impossible odds."
    He paused.  "They want us to become a prospective chapter," he announced, his ragged voice dripping with pride.
    Crash clapped his hands together in surprise and Case sat up even straighter.  Even Mac's normal sneer diminished slightly.  J. felt a rumble of panic in his belly.
    "We're strategically located," Teach continued.  "We have this huge clubhouse we barely use half of.  And we're right off of 95.  Getting us on board is a good business decision for them.  And it's a great fucking thing for us."  He widened his hands, inviting them to look around.  "Look at us.  We're only six.  We're small time, a joke.  No one is interested in joining the Sons as a prospect.  But they sure would want to join up with the Philly chapter of the Storm Riders."
    Crash and Case nodded eagerly.  Mac's expression grew less sour, a sign of pleasure. 
    Doctor D. looked at the eager, pleased faces and winced, his long beard waggling in agitation.  "Have you assholes forgotten already? Those fuckers nearly killed us in our own house.  As guests.  Invited fucking guests.  How can we ever trust them again?"
    Teach held up his hand.  "That was a case of one in, all in."  His tone was conciliatory.  "Desmond swore this to me.  They know their guy was a fuck-up, but they had his back in spite of it.  Isn't that what brotherhood is all about?" 
    The slow nods