Rainbow (Ruthless Kings MC Baton Rouge #1) - K.L. Savage Page 0,37
made a promise to my Sassafras, and I plan to keep it.
He plants his feet, shaking his head as his boots begin to slide against the mud. “Man, this is a bad idea. I can’t get traction!” he answers, wiping the water from his face with his hand. “Just forget about it, Rainbow. It isn’t safe.”
I can barely hear him over the powerful roars of wind. The rain wouldn’t hurt so bad if it wasn’t coming at me sideways at a speed that cannot be safe. Hurricane Jeffrey isn’t even here yet, and the river is already flooding, and trees are already down. I can only imagine the mess that’s going to wait for us when the storm surge hits.
I imagine car accidents, downed powerlines, people buried underneath debris, and fires. But, of course, people are always surprised when a fire happens after heavy rain.
“I have to get this branch out of the way, or it could fall on the roof and do some damage,” I shout down at him as I throw my end of the rope over a different, thicker branch. I grab the handsaw, and take another glance at Hound. My brother wraps his arms around him and holds him down, helping him get that traction he’s been looking for.
I can always count on Mime to be there.
Lifting my sight from the ground, I stare forward and close my eyes for a second. Whenever I have to do something that takes courage and a pinch of stupidity, I get a twinge of fear.
Sure, I run into burning buildings and jump out of planes into wildfires for a living, but that doesn’t mean I’m fearless. I always think about if I’ll make it out alive. It’s in the back of my mind. To do what I’m about to do is fucking stupid, but this branch has got to go.
For the most part, the clubhouse is hurricane-proof, but nothing is as strong as the fury of mother nature. The winds whip around me, and the leather of my boots shines from the rain. I take a deep breath, inhale and exhale, and then leap off the roof, dangling from the magnolia tree next to the house. It’s actually right next to my bedroom window. In the summer, when the flowers blossom, I like to open my window to smell the sweet scent.
Hopefully, the tree is still here after the storm so these flowers can bloom.
The wind blows me backward, and I spread my arms out and shout to enjoy the ride. It’s scary as fuck, but it’s just like flying. There’s no better feeling than dropping through the air.
The gusts pass, and I take the small break as a gift. I swing my body up onto the branch, hook my ankles together, and climb as far as I can before rolling over so my stomach is flat against the bark. I stretch my arms out to reach for the broken branch. My brows pinch together when I see the break.
It’s clean.
I shake my head to clear the rain from my eyes and run my fingers over it. There are no splinters and no jagged edges, which means it didn’t snap. So someone cut it, but that can’t be right. Nobody was up here trimming this tree lately. Maybe this was from months or years ago. Maybe they decided not to cut this branch off, but now it’s a hazard. Leaving it half-cut like this can only lead to serious injury.
A voice in the back of my head tells me this was intentional, but then I scuff it up to my Sassafras getting into my head. I have to stay positive for both of us. With a shrug of my shoulder, I began to saw the branch, biting my inner lip as another strong burst of wind comes accompanied by needles instead of rain.
Fuck, it hurts.
The branch cracks and I grab it, grunting as I fight the force of the wind. I just need to get it to drop next to the house instead of on the roof. I use every ounce of strength I have until I feel like my muscles are going to tear pushing down on the saw to try to angle it, and finally, it drops.
Landing right next to the porch and barely missing the roof by just a few inches. Damn. Close call. I’m ready to go inside.
“Alright, I’m, coming—” the strongest gust yet swings me off the branch, leaving me blowing in the wind.