Page 115 of Dirty

My heart was in my throat. I swallowed hard, looked down at the bag, and held my gaze. I couldn’t look up. I’d been through way too much, and the emotion was getting to me.

“It’s…It’s uhhm. That’s mine? No shit?”

He patted me on the shoulder again. “Sure is. Keep it somewhere safe and spend it wisely.”

I pressed my tongue against the roof of my mouth and nodded. “I’ll do it, Brother.”

“I’ll help you get it loaded up,” he said.

I followed him to my bike, and finally overcame my emotions enough to speak.

“I uhhm. I’d like to. I’d like to give some of it to those fellas that came and saved me, Brother? The other guys.”

He barked out a laugh. “My brothers from another mother?”

I nodded. I owed my life to them, that much was sure.

He shook his head. “They don’t do it for money, or for fame,” he said. “They do it for the same reason we do. For the brotherhood.”

“But…”

He shook his head. “We’ll all go out and have a beer, how’s that?”

As he split up the money and loaded equal amounts into each saddlebag, I nodded. To understand the level of commitment those men had, all I needed to do was look in the mirror.

I had gained enough self-worth to know the man looking back at me was one exceptional human being.

FORTY

Lex

I leaned forward and rested my chin against his right shoulder. “Where are we going, again??”

He tilted his head back. “South Oceanside.”

“To bid a remodel?”

“Something like that,” he said.

I relaxed against the backrest and let the wind clear my mind of everything but the feeling of flying.

In no time, we were off the highway and rolling slowly through one of the city’s fancy neighborhoods.

“This is nice,” I said.

“Not bad.”

A black Mercedes-Benz was parked in the driveway of a home in the middle of the block. In the yard was a realtor’s sign announced it was for sale.

I imagined what it would be like to live in such a neighborhood.

Adam pulled in behind the Mercedes and parked.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“We’re going in to look at it.”

“To do some work?”