What It Takes // Aerosmith

Jackson

"What crisis do we have to solve this time?" Brax asks as he enters the garage, pulling up a crate to sit on. He's bouncing his son on his lap as he looks around the room at the few assembled Reapers who came running as soon as Grinder called.

Grinder approaches Brax, arms out. "Give me my boy."

Brax smiles, shakes his head and hands his son, little Robby, over to Grinder. The boy smiles a drooly smile and tugs on Grinder's beard.

"Every time," Grinder grumbles as he disentangles his beard from the kid's chubby fingers.

"You wanted him." Brax shrugs. "Savanna is making my favorite tonight and I don't want to get home to a cold dinner. What's going on?"

Grinder looks across the room at the hardened club members, wrinkled with age and I suspect a level of cynicism. These guys are weathered. All of them came willingly but I wonder if they're here more out of obligation than desire. Grinder's the leader by default, not by their choosing based on what I've heard. From what he's told me, he's changed the club drastically from what they once were, no longer thieving or running illegal businesses with heavy hands. Grinder insisted this was the next step needed to deal with Judge. The club decides together according to him, and this falls under club business. So be it. I cross my arms as I lean against the wall and look on. I don't have a say in any of it, but I'll be damned if I keep quiet at the first sign of anyone brushing his actions under the rug. Holly doesn't deserve this. Neither does her mom. It's long past time something was done about it.

"I want to hear anything any of you knows about Judge's comings and goings. He's now a liability and before I remove him from club status, I want the facts." Grinder proceeds to catch everyone up to speed on what's been going on with Holly and her mom, what we know about the interaction he's had with my mom over the years, and the hints we have about him being involved in illegal activity.

"Jeez," Brax groans, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm getting some deja-vu here."

"True," Grinder says. "But in this case, Judge isn't running the show the way your uncles did. He's a worker bee for something."

The guy next to me clears his throat. He's called Mud, another crazy club nickname. I've never met him before today but when Grinder called him, my dad told me he's a long time Reaper. He looks the part of a biker club, too. Long hair pulled back into a ponytail paired with a scraggly beard that rolls over a beer gut makes him appear almost homeless. If it weren't for his refurbished Harley and the leather vest with the Reapers emblem, I'd think he was asking for a handout.

"Mud, you got something to say?" Grinder presses the guy who I must admit, looks uncomfortable with the conversation.

"Well, see, I don't exactly know." The guy pulls on the back of his neck. "Judge is a tight-lipped guy, but he made mention of a woman he frequented a time or two."

Grinder looks on with a raised brow, waiting for the guy to continue. I feel a little sick to my stomach so it's fine with me if he doesn't want to say more.

"Ya know, he never mentioned her name but would smirk a lot. Mostly at gatherings when Butch was around. Judge would give him a greeting then retreat to my side, nudge me and say something lewd about men who couldn't satisfy their wives. Anyone in the vicinity could hear. We'd all chuckle a little and move on. That was pretty much it, but I always thought it was strange he'd say things after talking to Butch. Took me a while to notice, but once I did it was like something I couldn't unsee. He did it every single time, like clockwork."

Grinder stays quiet, patting little Robby's back as he bounces in place. My dad is looking at his feet but says nothing. I watch him, wondering what's running through his head at this conversation. I'm uncomfortable for him. I don't want these guys to make him feel worse. My heart races, knowing I'm about to step into the pile of crap that I should probably avoid.

"My mom never talked about Judge directly," I say causing my dad's eyes to shoot up at me. All eyes, in fact, are trained on me, making my nerves burst out in full force. I don't let them show, however. "She's been seeing him for a few years from what I remember. She called him Jay, which I recently realized is his initial not his name." I look at my dad, the one who dropped that nickname and brought me to acute awareness.

"What did she say about him?" Another guy who's name I don't know speaks up. Gone is the sense of cynicism replaced with morbid curiosity. I get the sense everyone in the room knows that anything associated with Judge is bound to go badly.

"He'd come into town once in a while and stay with her, once I'd moved out to college about five years ago. Before that I'm not sure but it's possible they'd meet up away from the trailer park where we lived. She'd go out for a 'girls' night' every few months but to be honest I don't know what girls she'd have been with. She doesn't have any friends." I blow out a breath. "I always thought it was weird but figured whatever she was up to she didn't want me to know about."

Grinder grunts. He's now pacing with little Robby in his arms. "There's got to be more."

Mud clears his throat. "Yeah, I think I got something."

"Speak." Grinder orders.

"Judge been talking about an opportunity he got for me. Every time I seen him the last couple years, he smacks me on the shoulder and asks when I'm finally getting some balls and jumping on board."

"On board what?" Brax asks from his spot on the crate.

"Don't know. He always kept it hushed. We all know what that means."

"Illegal," Dad says. His first words since the others arrived. "Damn." My dad sounds disappointed. I wonder how blind he's been to Judge's true self over the years.

Mud continues. "I do know he's got something stashed in his place. The garage I think. He'd tell me if I ever changed his mind to stop by, that he had something to show me. I'd laugh him off and make light of it, because I knew he was up to no good."

"And no one fucking did anything?" I can't hold my tongue any longer. "Do you know how much Holly's suffered with that man?"

Mud flinches to his credit. The rest have the good conscience to look ashamed. Even my dad.

"Like I said," Grinder speaks calmly. "It ends now. Mud, do you have any other ideas about what he could be doing?"

Mud shoves his hands in his pockets and looks at the concrete, rocking on his heels.

"I'm relatively certain it's some kind of smuggling. He'd roll back into town with a bankroll, treat everyone to a drink and act like a king. No one returns from a long haul with cash like that unless they're doing something untoward and paid under the table."

My mind races with what the guy might be smuggling. Drugs? People? I wouldn't put any of it past him.

"Nah, he works for a legit company," another guy in the back says. "I've seen his paycheck myself."

Mud looks at the guy. "Doesn't take much to shove something extra in the back of the trailer."

"My mom lives near the border. Just an hour to a crossing." I say after a long stretch of tense silence. That fact ties a bunch of the loose ends together. There's little question left about what Judge has been up to. He could have stayed with her before or after crossing over to pick up a stash of whatever he's smuggling.

My dad straightens up, staring at me. His eyes are sad, disappointed. Not in me, but in two people who betrayed him. Two people he'd cared about most of his life that discarded him for their selfish gain. Two people who didn't deserve a second thought.

Grinder looks at me. "Get the keys from Holly. We need to look in that garage." Then he looks at the rest after passing little Robby back to Brax. "Try to find out where Judge has gone. If you know, I better know within ten minutes. Understood?"

Grumbles of agreements sound throughout the room. I grab my phone to call Holly as I move toward the exit.

"Jackson," my dad calls. I turn to face him as he approaches. "Be careful." There's a grave look in his eyes as he speaks. He doesn't need to say more. Somehow, I know.

Judge is dangerous.

I nod. "You, too."

"I have nothing more to lose."

I pause to look at him. Total seriousness on his face.

"That's not true." I point behind him to the garage filled with Reapers talking about how to take Judge down.

"You've got them." I step closer to him.

"You've got me, now. But there's no way you're going to lose me because I'm not going anywhere." I have a feeling he's used to people walking away. Now he's going to have to get used to people sticking around.

"And I know Grinder has been by you this entire time, so don't bother telling me otherwise."

"Grind tolerates me. But I can tell I bug him."

"Dad, anyone can tell he's a grumpy old goat. I don't know how he got Julia to marry him. She's sunshine and roses. He's kind of a tornado."

"You shoulda seen him before Julia showed up in his life. Now, that's a story. She kissed the hell outa him the night they met. Right there in the shop for everyone to see. He hasn't been the same since."

I know the feeling. Holly came along and I can't remember what life was like without her in it. In fact, I need to bring this conversation to a close so I can give her a call. The guys are preparing to head to her mom's place to search the garage for clues. We need Holly's keys.

"Are you heading over there with us?" I ask as I pull out my phone.

"Nah. You all don't need me."

I glance up in time to see a broken look on his face.

"You sure? I bet we find something on him. Give you the upper hand this time."

He shakes his head, still looking worn out. Then he hugs me before heading back to his spot in the shop.

I guess he's already lost too much where Judge is concerned. I don't blame him for not wanting to dig through his shit.

I move to a quiet corner to call Holly. She answers on the first ring.

"Hey, how did it go?" she asks immediately. Traffic sounds in the background causing me to wonder where she is. Julia's house isn't on a busy street.

"Fine. They think your dad might have something stashed in your garage, so we need to grab your keys. Where are you?"

"Oh. I needed to grab somethings so I'm out. I'll meet you there."

"No, no. Don't go to your house. What if he's in the area?"

"I need to get something, anyway. Besides, a bunch of burly bikers will keep me safe, right?"

Her voice is lighter, putting me at ease.

"Of course we will."

"We? Since when are you a burly biker?" Holly's laugh fills me with warmth.

"Oh, I don't know. I've been thinking of joining up. Don't you think I'd fit in?" I'm only half kidding. I've already decided this is my home. These are my people. Maybe I will join the Reapers. Although I'm not sure I'd ever be comfortable on a motorcycle.

"I can't picture you in a leather vest with tattoos and a beard. Are you seriously considering this?" She's still laughing but I can hear the curiosity in her voice.

"Anything's possible. First things first. Let's keep you out of danger."

"Yes, sir. See you soon."

"Can't wait."

We hang up then I check in with the others. We'll ride over in two groups, Grinder and I being the first to go, just in case Judge is keeping an eye on the place. That way he won't be immediately alerted that something's up. If the entire club pulled up out of the blue, he'd definitely figure out we're looking for him. But I'm there all the time. And Evelyn's staying at Grinder's house. It makes the most sense for us to scope it out first.

"You ready?" I ask him as he's shrugging on a full leather jacket.

"As I can be. Not looking forward to whatever confrontation needs to happen. Brax is calling a buddy of his over at the police station once he gets Robby down for the night. The guy investigates this kind of thing so he might know something."

God, I hope so. I hate worrying about Holly. I hate not knowing what's around the corner. It's a familiar feeling that I'm all too ready to remove from my life. Maybe when this is all settled with Judge and Holly doesn't have to deal with him anymore, I'll finally have a sense of peace.

But for now, I need to resolve myself that shit's going to get worse before it gets better. I can't see it unfolding any other way.

I've actually done some plotting, which got me to actually sit down and write! We should be back on track and ready to roll. On a side note, I saw an episode of Impractical Jokers this week(one I've seen before) where Joe's punishment is to interview the famous motorcycle club, Hell's Angels. He of course didn't know what he was walking into, and the other guys wrote the questions (he had to keep referring to their motorcycle club as a gang and holy hell their response was hilarious!) If you know the show, look it up. I got Grinder vibes from one of them, haha!

Thanks for reading! This song is a little on the breakup side of the love song spectrum, but I felt like it was a good vibe for Jackson just wanting to keep Holly safe and what would it take to get back to that feeling that it's all going to be okay.

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See ya soon!