Chapter 25: Love Fist Fury
Claude woke up to the smell of smoke, he stood up and walked out of the room. The smoke came from downstairs, he ran downstairs to find a fire working it's way through the garage. Panicked Claude ran back upstairs, he ran into his bedroom and woke Regina up. "Reg, Reg wake up!" Claude yelled at her. "What's going on!? What's that smell!?" Regina shouted back. "Run downstairs and get out the door. I got the baby." Claude replied. Regina ran downstairs to the exit, she noticed the fire making it's way to the barrel of gasoline that Claude had stored in the corner. Claude grabbed his son and ram downstairs, as he ran toward the exit a beam fell from the ceiling on his left arm. The flames on the beam burned his arm, Claude grunted in pain. He ran outside with his son, Regina took the baby and looked at Claude. "There's a barrel of fuel in there, the garage is going to explode." Regina told him. "Run to the other side of the street." Claude replied. He and Regina ran to the other side of the street, the garage exploded scattering flaming debris everywhere, Claude noticed a matchbox by the fire hydrant. He picked up the matchbox and looked at it, it was decorated with Love Fist logos.
After Claude talked to the fire department, they drove to his parent's house, he and Regina were both in their sleeping clothes. Regina wore her very short white silk nightgown and a red g string thong, Claude was in his black tank and blue ball shorts. The baby was in a pair of pajamas with green dinosaurs on them. "One of those bastards torched my garage." Claude told Regina. "Who?" Regina asked in response. "One of the members of Love Fist." Claude replied. He pulled out the matchbox,and handed it to Regina. "This was found outside of the garage. It wasn't random." Claude told her. "You don't think somebody dropped it as they were walking by?" Regina asked him. "Open it up, there's one match missing. Whoever it was used the match to start the fire in my garage." Claude replied. "Why didn't you show this to the firemen?" Regina asked him. "Because, I wanna settle the score myself." Claude replied. Regina held James in her arms, Claude popped some painkillers and drank a sip of whiskey as he drove. Regina was nervous about him getting high while driving
Claude pulled up and parked at his parent's house, he and Regina got out of the car and walked to the door. Claude knocked on the door, he kept knocking until the door opened. Stephanie stood there with an annoyed look on het face, she wore a pair of blue booty shorts and a pink tank. "You better have a good reason for showing up here this late." She told Claude. Claude and Regina walked in tbe house, David walked downstairs and looked at his son. "Why are you guys here in your sleeping clothes?" David asked Claude. "Mu garage got burned down, we need to stay here a while." Claude replied. "Oh shit. How'd t garage burn down?" Stephanie asked Claude. "One of those rock punks Mandy's been fucking set it on fire." Claude replied. Regina sat on the couch and crossed her legs, she held the baby in her arms and rocked him to sleep. Claude walked into the kitchen and poured himself a drink, Steph and David joined him. "We'll help you, but we know you have money. You have a week to find a place." Stephanie told Claude. "Okay mom, I have enough shit on my plate this was the last thing I needed." Claude replied.
Stephanie looked at her son, David looked at his daughter in law and his grandson. "How'd the arraignment go?" Stephanie asked Claude. "It's going to trial, McReary hasn't held his end of the bargain." Claude replied. "Son of a bitch." Stephanie said frustrated. "You need to beat this son, can't leave that girl and that baby. Being behind bars won't do them any good." David told Claude. "I know, I need to get Nathan to keep his word." Claude replied. James fell asleep, Regina laid him on the couch. She put a throw pillow next to him to keep him from rolling onto the floor, she stood up and walked into the kitchen. Claude poured Regina a glass of juice, she sat next to him and took a drink. "What are we gonna do?" She asked Claude. "We're gonna stay the night here. Tomorrow we're going to look for a new apartment. And I'll call the insurance company to get the payment for my garage." Claude replied. "What are you gonna do with your pay off?" David asked Claude. "I'll rebuild my place, I loved that garage. I'll have my apartment fixed up, and we'll move back in there." Claude replied. "That place is too dangerous to live above. There's a lot of combustible shit in a mechanic garage." Stephanie told Claude. "Yeah, that barrel of fuel just blew up, we can't have our babies living in those conditions." Regiba added in. "Okay, how about this? I buy us a house, I'll find one with a big garage and run my business out of it." Claude replied. "That will work." Regina replied. She put her head on her husband's shoulder, David and Stephanie stood up. "We're going to bed, you too have fun." Stephanie told them. She and David walked upstairs, leaving Claude and Regina in the kitchen.