Ride with Me Read Free

shit in perspective. No job is perfect. This job fits our lifestyle. We work for the club. Roundman gave us everything. We have women in our lives who understand. Do I get tired? Sure, but I provide, and I provide well, for my family. I have a club that, even in my absence, protects what’s mine. Really, brother, it don’t get better than this.”
    “I just need time.” I blow out a breath in frustration.
    “What are you wanting, Rex?”
    If that isn’t the million-dollar question. I want to turn back time so I can do right by my son in the first place. That isn’t possible, so I want the chance to get to be with him. I want to make an honest woman out of my ol’ lady. I want to have babies with her so I can watch something that is a piece of her and a piece of me grow. I want to live up to the last name “Crews” and make Pops proud of the men we have become. I want to have time to take my mom on vacation with all of us—Tripp, Doll, BW, Me, Lux, and Axel—so she can see how her hard work and sacrifice has paid off with her grandchildren.
    What I want is time. I want time off the road. I want time when I’m not waiting for the next call to leave. I never thought the day would come when I wanted to slow down and simply be with my family.
    “I want to have time,” I answer honestly.
    “For what, exactly?”
    I fidget in my seat. “First, to get married. Second, for us all to go on vacation with Mom.”
    Tripp busts out laughing. “That damn honeymoon to Disney with Shooter and Tessie really got to you.”
    “What is it they say, ‘it’s the land of magic’?”
    He turns his head toward me. “You’re fucking serious.”
    “Mom did a lot taking us on after Pops died. She did the best she could. Now she’s got grandkids. I want her to enjoy them. You know BW is as much her grandson as Axel. We could even bring your mom if she can stay sober.”
    He smirks. “You been talking to Doll or some shit?”
    “Nah, man, just want some family time.”
    I laugh at myself. There was a time not too long ago when the thought of family time would have made me need to puke or have a serious drink. My how things change. Now there is nothing I want more than to have uninterrupted time with my ol’ lady, my boy, and my mom.
    “Remember when Pops took us on his version of a vacation?” Tripp laughs as we think back on the memories.
    Tripp and I were going on and on about signing up for boy scouts. Some kid from school brought it up or something, and we got it in our heads that we wanted to join.
    I laugh and change my voice to have more Carolina twang and a boom like our grandfather had. “If you boys wanna be boy scouts, I’ll teach ya. We’ll make a genuine vacation out of it. No need to go to meetings and earn some belt loops when we can go camping and hunting all on our own. You can learn to survive off what you really have in front of you, not some pre-planned game of pretend in a backyard.”
    Tripp sighs. “Oh, Pops taught us so much. I didn’t realize how much I listened to him until I got older. I thought he just talked a lot, but damn if some of it didn’t stick with us.”
    I run my fingers over my chin. “We may have been wild, and we may have lost our way a time or two, but in the end, I think we’ve made Pops proud. We’ve carried the Crews name well.” Thinking of our last name, I think of Lux and making her one of us, too. My mind goes back to taking her and Axel fishing not long ago.
    “I can’t believe you two are getting me to fish. Y’all could do this and leave me home to read a book or something.”
    Axel beams up at her. “Lux, we want time together, and we don’t want to miss time with you, too.”
    “You melt my heart, Axel.”
    “Lux, you’re like deluxe and stuff. Plus, you sneak me donuts sometimes, so heck yeah, you gotta come fishing. Uncle Tripp says it’s, like, a Crews thing to do. Pops used to take Dad and him when they were my age,” my son spouts off