lame.”
“Lame or not, it’s what I want to do. I love Halloween. I do appreciate you doing this for me. I know you like to sneak off to Tabitha’s.”
“It’s fine. She’s got something going on at the high school.” He shrugged.
“How is she handling the grounding?”
“You already spoke to Eva?”
“Yep. Tiny was waiting for her when she snuck in.”
Simon laughed. “She’s doing fine. She hates being grounded but who doesn’t?”
“Simon, I hope you know if I ever catch you sneaking out and back in, you won’t be able to leave the house for thirty-plus years.”
“Is this because you don’t want to be a grandma?”
“I want to be a grandma,” she said. “What makes you think otherwise?”
He raised a brow.
“Devil,” she said. “Of course. The idea of becoming a grandpa seems to freak him out. Oh, well, just take care. I know we live in a good neighborhood, and the town is somewhat safe, but you know the risks.”
“I know. I get it. I do, Mom.” He hugged her. “I’ll carry this in for you.”
He took the food to the table. Elizabeth and Josh were already fighting and Devil merely watched while he put the cutlery down.
When Lexie came in, everyone was silent as she served up. Extra cheese was passed around to sprinkle on the top.
Simon took seconds, listened as his parents talked about school, and what some of the teachers had said. For all of Elizabeth’s good-girl routine, she’d gotten into a few fights at school. Of course, he’d been there with a couple of other Chaos kids, but seeing as he was the oldest, he never meddled in their mess.
His dad had asked him to allow others to fight their own battles, and with him being older, he’d be in more shit if he did.
He had a couple of friends he’d kept with him who weren’t club members. They were close, not as close as he was to some of The Skulls, but a close second. Dean and Eddie came from rich parents, but they were the kind that had a country club. Both of them were forced to wear polo necks and khaki shorts, and they both hated it. They didn’t completely understand what it meant to be part of club life whereas the guys back in Fort Wills did. He missed them. Tabby the most. He even missed Daisy. There was a time she offered an easy smile but now, she just seemed permanently attached to being a bitch, but again, he didn’t know her. Tabby told him she was going through stuff and it wasn’t his deal, so there was no reason to delve into that kind of drama. This was what made his life different to Tabby and The Skulls. Fellow Chaos Bleeds kids were younger. Even Vincent and Phoebe’s kids were older than him. For the most part, he was alone.
After dinner, he did the dishes with Elizabeth, and his father called him out to the backyard as he picked up his keys. He’d gotten a text from Eddie about a meet-up at the back of the library.
Pocketing his keys, he walked out back to find his dad putting some chair together.
“You okay, son?” Devil asked.
“Yeah, I was just about to head out and spend some time with the guys. That okay?”
“What about school?”
“I’ll be back. You know that.”
Devil leaned on his knee. His father was near sixty but didn’t look a day over forty, at least Simon didn’t think so.
He suddenly realized that one day, he was going to wake up and his father wasn’t going to be around anymore. The club would be his. He didn’t like it. To him, Devil was going to live forever, but he couldn’t deny his dad was constantly getting older. What would he do when Devil wasn’t there?
After pulling out his cell phone, he texted his friends to let them know he wouldn’t be there tonight, removed his jacket, and knelt down. “What do you need?”
Devil chuckled. “I can still put shit together, son. No, I was wondering on our next run if you’d like to come with.”
“Your run?”
“You know, when we have to go and pick out a woman or a family from a bad situation.”
“Oh.” That was what The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds did now. They worked as a protection detail with the Billionaire Bikers MC in helping families or women in fucked-up, abusive situations and provided them shelter, a home, anything they needed. Simon had also heard that they helped to rescue