Smoke and Steel (Wild West MC #2)(26)

He nodded. “I’ll call Hellen.”

Beck took a beat to study him before he turned to the table.

“Now we gotta vote on these Greeks. In favor of putting a stop to their shit, say aye.”

Every hand went up and every man said, “Aye.”

That was easy.

It was also expected.

Core smiled because his brothers were the fucking best.

“You’re point on that,” Beck declared, eyes to Core.

Core nodded again.

Beck’s attention was back to the table at large when he said, “That’s that, anyone else got anything while we’re here?”

There were some nopes, nos and nahs.

Beck hit the gavel, declaring, “Great, then. Janna’s holding supper for me. We’re done.” And again to Core. “But we’re talking.”

“Right,” he agreed, kept his seat, but called out, “Eight, don’t leave. Want to brief you on what I’m thinking on the Greeks and get this ball rolling.”

“Fuckin’ A,” Eight replied and ducked out after the rest, needing to do that ducking because the bastard was seriously tall.

Core and Beck were left alone.

Beck didn’t beat around the bush.

“You gonna go there with Jagger’s sister-in-law?”

Core shook his head. “No, man. She’s somethin’ else, but not my type.”

“Sounds like your type.”

“Well, she isn’t.”

“Right then, what’s your type?” Beck asked.

Core was thrown by the question.

“Say what?”

“Kiki was a long time ago, brother,” Beck pointed out, and Core felt the back of his neck get hot at the mention of his ex. “You get your fair share of pussy, but nothing serious since her. So what’s your type?”

“Not Hellen.”

Beck sat back in his fancy-ass, black leather swivel chair, one of eleven around the table.

He then said low. “You’re allowed to be happy.”

Core wasn’t doing this shit. “I gotta talk to Eight.”

“Me, more than you, had reason to go dark after what we did. Then I met Janna. I’ll never wash completely clean. I still have nightmares, brother. I still stop in the middle of what I’m doing and feel the rush of filth flow through me. But Janna reminds me every day I’m not that man anymore. I gotta live with what I did, we did, but I’m not that man anymore. Rosie’s moved on. Snap’s moved on. Chaos has moved on. We share we never forget by taking their backs. But straight up, Rosie’s the one who has to give it to us, and she has. That was another lifetime…for all of us. So what’s fucking with you?”

“Nothing’s fucking with me, Beck,” he lied.

“We all put some serious shit out there in those woods, brother. So I know Eight isn’t settling because I figure he’s going for the gold to beat out Gene Simmons on how many women he can fuck before he finds the one that’s gonna do it for him. Muzzle keeps jacking shit up because he’s got shit taste and attracts bitches, but he also hasn’t yet learned how to treat a woman for a long haul. What’s your deal?”

Core was done with this.

“I don’t have a deal,” he clipped. “She’s just not my gig.”

“You brought her friend’s shit to our club and asked us to deal with it.”

“I caught her putting her ass on the line to extricate her friend from a bad situation. She’s loyal. We value that, am I wrong?” Core bit out.

Beck’s eyes narrowed. “Why you pissed at me?”

“Because you’re acting like I’m fuckin’ fifteen with a crush and straight up, brother, this is none of your business.”

“I love you, brother, and I want you happy, so fuck you, it is,” Beck shot back.

Goddammit.

What did you say to that?

Core said nothing.

“Janna worries,” Beck said, toning it down. “She thinks the world of you. She says it’s a waste no woman is getting what you got to give.”

“I just haven’t found one yet. For fuck’s sake, are you my brother, my president, my friend or my dating advisor?”

Beck put his hands to the arms of his chair and stood.

He looked down at Core and finished it, “All right, I’ll let it go.”

Thank fuck.

He then walked to the door as Core rose out of his seat too.

But Core made no other move because Beck stopped at the door and looked back at him.

“Your dad was scum, you fucked up, there’s a difference,” he stated. “Punish yourself for what you did, I get it. I’m right there with you. But don’t punish yourself for the man he was. Because you are not that man.”

And after delivering that successful parting shot, Beck walked out of Resurrection’s meet room.





7





SHE SHED





Hellen





I was shutting down to leave the office in order to go to Mom and Andy’s for dinner, when The Mandalorian theme came from my bag.

I was feeling anxious because I’d made a decision, called a staffing agency and scheduled a meeting to discuss finding an assistant.