Page 16 of Porter (Dirty Misfits MC 2)
My brother had his arm tossed around Porter’s neck and my heart stopped in my chest. But that didn’t stop the guilt from blossoming stronger than ever. Porter once struggled just like my mother had. At one point in time when I’d known him, he did nothing but drink his sorrows away. And instead of staying to help him out, I ran.
I ran to L.A. and never looked back.
I’m so sorry, Porter. You deserved better than me.
I put the picture down before placing the glass against the bedside table. I couldn't stomach the idea of looking at it. They both looked so happy, and it only reminded me of how things were whenever I wasn’t around. It only reminded me of the mistakes I’d made and how it altered the rest of my life forever.
Maybe if I hadn’t run away from home, Brooks and I would be closer.
Maybe if I hadn’t run all the way to L.A. to escape things, Porter and I would be together.
“Maybe if I wasn’t such a damn nutjob, I’d have a normal life,” I murmured to myself.
A scurrying sound behind the wall caught my ear and it pulled me from my trance. I furrowed my brow as I walked over toward the sound, dreading what I was about to do. The scurrying noise stopped, and I placed my hand against the wall, waiting for the opportune moment.
Then, I knocked against the wall with my knuckles.
Before the scurrying started up quicker than ever.
“Damn it, there’s rodents in the walls,” I hissed.
I added a call to an exterminator on my long list of things to do to get this house in shape enough to sell.
There was no use in dwelling on old memories, especially with the paths we had taken in life. So, I lost myself in more cleaning as I went room to room upstairs. I tied a shirt around my mouth and nose to keep the bulk of the dust out and I vacuumed the carpet over four times before that nasty smell even thought about dissipating. I threw open every single window as I bounced from room to room, doing everything from stripping the beds of their sheets and throwing them away to cleaning the windows and washing the fucking popcorn ceilings.
“Those are gonna be a bitch to fix,” I grunted.
By the time I made my way back downstairs, I’d been upstairs for at least four hours. And I heard a dreaded sound that I knew would keep me occupied for a while. I rolled my eyes as I set everything down, including the vacuum cleaner, and I backtracked the sound of dripping water all the way into the kitchen.
And when I looked in the sink, I found the smell of the stale carpet that I thought was from the floors.
I gagged. “Holy shit.”
The water sitting in the sink was brown, and the drain smelled as if it were clogged with old hair and diapers. I tightened the shirt around my face and threw open the cabinet doors beneath the sink and rolled my eyes when I saw the rotting wood. I had no idea how long this sink had been dripping for or why Brooks hadn’t popped by to check on things after turning on the damn utilities for me, but I knew this job would take up the rest of my night.
So, I went digging around for Dad’s old toolbox so I could find a way to fix the leaky pipes.
And get rid of the damn clog in the kitchen drain pipe.
Nine
Porter
I watched Brooks clench his fists at his side. “You don’t seem too concerned with this meeting.”
Chops shrugged. “Had you not gone and caused so much trouble, maybe they wouldn’t want to meet.”
Brooks’ eyes narrowed. “You know damn good and well that if I hadn’t made some sort of move, they would’ve killed Raven. Flat out.”
Chops tucked his helmet beneath his arm. “And had you stood down and not attacked them, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.”
Brooks cocked his head. “Are you not hearing a fucking word I’m saying? They took Raven!”
“And instead of coming to me so we could come up with a plan, you went behind my back, over my head, and caused irreparable damage! So, as far as I’m concerned, this meeting is all your fault!”
Brooks growled. “You’re our president. You always back up our actions.”
H shrugged. “Hyde might have done things that way, but not me. You’re the one who went off on your own without informing me. You're the one who blew shit up in an attempt to rescue someone without my permission. So, as far as I’m concerned, this is your meeting and your issue. Not the club’s as a whole.”
I hated the fact that Chops had a point. Brooks did go off on his own to do this shit. And while we had a great reason as to why, it wasn’t as if we could tell Chops that. Holy fuck, he’d have our heads if he knew the real reason why we galivanted off like that.
