Lyon
Chapter 37

Now I’m pissed. Jared was closest to us as usual, so he was the one who tried to stop me.

“Remember the code, bro, you can’t go there.”

“F**k the code, that’s my f*****g woman.” I threw his arm off as the others got up from their seats, but he held me down by the shoulder.

“You can’t man, besidesª” He broke off as we both turned to watch Katarina literally jump over the table. I guess all those damn stunts she’s been doing paid off.

Samantha the clueless didn’t know what to do when five foot two of fireball landed in her chest. I gave some serious thought as to how far I should let things go before jumping in, but then I thought better of it.

I stood up and went to get my hellcat, and by now the other patrons were peeping around the door at all the racket. Angel was using Samantha’s head to pound nails into the floor, or at least that’s what it looked like.

My men were no help as they, and their women, egged on their champ, and the first waitress was grinning from ear to ear. The manager soon came running over to see what the f**k was going on, but before he could say anything the waitress whose name was Pamela spoke up.

“Samantha started it, she threw water in the customer’s face The customer was just defending herself.”

“That’s it, Samantha, you’ve been warned now it’s time to take action, sir, ma’am, I’m very sorry about this, your lunch is on the house.” He wrung his hands together probably thinking we were either gonna sue his a*s or tear his place apart.

“That won’t be necessary sir, we’re fine but thanks for the offer.” I used a cloth napkin to clean up Katarina’s face while the way beyond embarrassed Samantha struggled to her feet.

“Well let me at least buy a round of drinks for the table.”

“We’re drinking light my friend, sodas and juice.”

“Well then sodas and juice on the house, Samantha, you’re fired.”

My obnoxious crew set up a round of applause, and Jared and Tommy picked Angel up on their shoulders and walked her around the room while she folded her fist and fist pumped the air.

“Get down from there you ham.” I reached up and took her down.

“Damn, Angel, you’re a feisty little scrapper aren’t you. Maybe I will do you in the bathroom.”

She grinned at me, and I put her back in her seat. Pamela came over and cleaned up the spilled water, and she set the table back to rights. The manager, trying to save face, sent over platters of wings and mozzarella sticks for appetizers, and I got my baby some chicken fingers to munch on until her food came.

Things calmed down rather quickly and soon all that could be heard was the noise of eating and laughter.

Katarina’s eyes almost fell out of her head when she saw the size of her porterhouse steak. “Holy… I can’t eat all that.”

“Eat what you can and leave the rest baby.”

“I can’t do that, that’s wasteful.” She fussed at me.

“Damn, Angel, for the love of…are our kids going to be as fussy as you are?” You could’ve heard a f*****g pin drop as all the nosy f***s at the table were suddenly all ears. Katarina, meanwhile, was looking at me like she wanted to get the show started.

I chose to ignore them as Katarina asked Pamela to bring her a to go container before she even started to eat.

“What are you doing, babe, you’re not eating any leftover steak later. If you get hungry again, then we’ll get you something to eat.”

“No-no, maybe we’ll pass a homeless person on the way, and I can give it to them.” She meticulously cut off a huge chunk of meat and put it in the container.

“Uh-huh, I know what that means.” It meant that she’d make me go out of the way, if need be, to find one. No problem, if it’s what she wanted, then I’ll make sure she got it.

Lunch was noisy as was to be expected with this bunch. I was proud of Katarina for carrying on as if nothing had happened. She just went right back to laughing and joking around with the others like business as usual.

I watched the way the other women interacted with her and was more than happy to realize that they genuinely liked her. They weren’t just getting along because she was with me, they loved her because she was mine in every sense of the word, and they could see that, but more than that, they liked the person she is.

After a hefty tip for Pamela, we were back on the road in less than two hours. Katarina found her homeless guy almost twenty minutes after we left.

I wouldn’t let her approach him alone, and she tried giving me shit, “You’ll scare him away, Colton, let me do it.”

“Nope.” I walked her over to the guy who was sitting on the sidewalk with a sign.

“Sir, I’ve got some food here if you’d like.” She was very tentative and respectful, and the old guy looked at her a bit skeptically before reaching his hand out.

“Much obliged little missy.” When he opened the container and saw the large piece of steak with all the trimmings that Katarina had insisted on ordering along with it, his eyes welled up.

They started a running conversation about his life, and I got the impression that she would’ve stayed there all day if we didn’t have shit to do. I could see her heart as she spoke to this complete stranger like he was a long lost friend.

“Sir, is this your usual hang out?”

“Barring snow or rain, young man, you can find old Cyrus right here on this corner.”

“You don’t have a place to stay?”

“Well the shelter makes us leave by a certain time in the morning, and you can’t go back until evening time.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here? I heard you tell my girl that you’re a Vietnam vet, and you were once a mechanic.”

“Well now, the wife got real sick a few years back, and with one thing and another the money ran out. Had to get rid of the house to pay for the medical bills, at least it gave her a few extra months, but she passed anyway in the end. I’m just glad she’s not here to go through this with me, this life is hard.”

F*****g thieving f***s, I hate this shit. I looked around for a place, and there was a motel across the street a few blocks down. The town wasn’t the best, but it would have to do for now.

“I’ll tell you what, Cyrus, you see that place over there, how about I pay for you to stay there for a week, and I’ll pick you up on the way back this way. Here’s my card…”

“Young man I don’t understand, what does this mean?”

“Are you attached to this city, Cyrus?”

“Well no son, can’t say as I am.”

“Well then, that card means that after I’ve taken my girl here to see her mom, we’re going to swing back here and pick you up. We’ll find you a home in Washington. That’s as good a place as any, right?”

“Well, I don’t’ is this one of those new fan dangled TV shows?”

“No sir, you see those guys over there, we’re bikers, and we have a shop where we build custom bikes back in Washington. I’m very serious.”

“Well I’ll be damned.”

“Actually, sir, I think it’s quite the opposite.”

“Well then I thank you son.” Those tears were now falling.

“Not me, thank my Angel.”

“Angel, that’s right fitting I’m thinking.” I wasn’t surprised when my guys came over and started dropping some heavy bills in Cyrus’s little box and shaking his hand.

After we got Cyrus Reeds squared away with a room, some money for food, and some new clothes, we were back on the road.

Katarina was like a kid in a candy store, and she never stopped nattering away in my ear as we rode the wide-open road of I-5. She already had a million plans for poor Cyrus.

I hope the old guy survived her. He’s sixty- eight after all. I’m not sure he should be learning stunts on a bike at his age. I’ll have to keep an eye on the two of them.