193 - Coffee

193 - Coffee
Without coffee, Trigg has two settings. Nonfunctioning brain cells. Can kill from nearly a mile away. Until he has his second cup of coffee in the morning, it’s best to leave him the fuck alone. - Sid

Two weeks before school started, the house and apartment on the new cul-de-sac was ready for them to move into. The morning that the furniture was being moved in, Darkness got up early, leaving his usually insomniac wife asleep in her childhood bed. The last several days, she had been sleeping more than her usual three or four hours. As her doctor and midwife explained, creating a human takes a lot of energy.

He met Trigg in the kitchen as he stood watching the single serve coffee maker make his coffee. Darkness had learned quickly that his father-in-law truly was someone who did not function before his cup of coffee. He was just grateful that this morning, the other man was wearing clothes. There had been a few mornings that Sid had to send her husband back to their room to get dressed. Darkness had now seen more of his father-in-law than he ever wanted too.

Without looking away from his brewing coffee, Trigg declared, “Sid made me get dressed before leaving the room.”

Darkness chuckled, “And I am eternally grateful for that.”

The machine gurgled and hissed as the last little bit of coffee dripped into the travel mug. Grabbing his coffee, Trigg moved out of the way and towards the sugar that his wife refilled more often than she cared to admit. Darkness changed the pod and started his own cup.

Within twenty minutes, they both had coffee, Trigg was on his second cup, and were in the pickup. Darkness chuckled as he thought about the last time that he was in this pickup with Trigg. He had taken Darkness to the clubhouse and wanted to know what his intentions were for Camille.

Pulling into the fast-food drive-thru, Trigg looked at him. “What’s so funny?”

“Just thinking about the last time that I was in the pickup with you.”

Trigg smirked as he stopped at the order board. He ordered two dozen breakfast burritos and just as many sausage biscuits. And two more coffees.

Looking at Darkness, he asked, “Did you want another coffee?”

Smiling, he nodded, “Please.”

“Make that three large coffees.”

The woman read everything back to him and then gave Trigg the total. As they pulled up to the window, Darkness pulled out his wallet and offered his credit card. Trigg waved it away as he pulled out his own card and paid for the large order.

Armed with more coffee and food to bribe the brothers that showed up, they headed for the rented storage unit across town. By the time that they arrived, Trigg only had half a cup of coffee left. As they got out of his pickup; Dutch handed his father a fresh cup of coffee.

“I’m not turning it down,” Trigg replied as he traded the coffee for the large bag of breakfast food.

“How many cups has he already had?” Werewolf asked.

“Four,” Darkness grinned and held up his own cup. “This is my second.”

“So, he’s reaching minimum level for functionality,” Viper smirked.

“What I’m hearing is that you boys think that I should sit over here and supervise,” Trigg said as he pulled a camp chair out of his pickup bed and set it up. Next came a small folding table and a cooler of water that he used as a footrest when he sat down.

Dutch shook his head as he watched his dad pull a Nintendo Switch from his pocket and turned it on. “Dad, it looks like that was your plan all along.”

Trigg shrugged, “It’s good to be the president.”

Chuckling, Darkness unlocked the storage unit and rolled up the large door. The wooden furniture that he had made for the house in Baton Rouge filled this unit. He remembered how heavy it was moving it up to the second and third floors. Those memories were why he had agreed to movers packing the house and driving the furniture up here.

Now he was looking at having to move it all again. Sighing, he reached for the bundle of bed slats that were at the front of the unit. The sound of a large truck, he turned to see the delivery truck of Sticks’ company park with the back facing the unit.

Sticks slapped him on the back, “Let the professionals handle this. Go see if Trigg has another chair.”

Darkness started to argue, but Trigg gave a loud whistle. “Come sit down. Sticks and his guys packed the damn thing, let them unpack and when they’re ready for us, he’ll let you know.”

“Us?” Dutch asked as he was handed an end table and told to take it to the truck.

“Ok, you guys,” Trigg replied, not looking up from his game. “Once again, it’s good to be the president.”

“Took you long enough to figure that out,” Toad said as he set up his own chair on the other side of the table. “Came to watch the show.”

With Sticks directing everyone where to put the furniture and boxes, under the careful supervision of the two presidents, they had the two storage units empty in just over an hour. Everyone there then loaded up in the various pickups, delivery truck or straddled their bikes to go to the new house. Trigg pulled through the gate of the cul-de-sac and parked on the curve of the street in front of his daughter’s house.

Colton backed the large truck into the driveway with no issue and parked exactly where Sticks told him. Trigg shook his head and motioned to the truck. “That boy can drive anything and back it up better than professional drivers.”

Darkness looked at the truck that was parked perfectly in the driveway. “I know grown men that can’t back up that well.”

“Same. Let’s go see if my little girl is here.”

Trigg was out of the pickup before Darkness could point out that she was now his wife. Rolling his eyes, he got out and headed into the house. Trigg had an arm around Nicki’s shoulders as she was telling him about her room.

She had black tile, gray walls with a purple tint and black trim with purple LED lights behind the crown molding. The room was very much her own and Darkness was glad that she felt comfortable enough to ask for what she wanted. When they first got custody of the kids she would never have thought of asking for dark walls or floors.

“You can show me your room after I ask my daughter a very important question.”

Camille was in the kitchen of the open floor plan where she and Sid were putting away groceries. “Yes, dad, I have a coffee maker.”

“No, that I know. What I want to know is why in God’s name do you have a fake Christmas tree?”

She turned to look at her father. “Because Toad would kill me if I bought a real tree from anyone other than him.”