Rome (Marked Men #3)(72)

He was serious and that was important to me. We had always been close, but after learning about Remy and trying to navigate how I fit into his life now that he had Shaw, I had let distance and my own pride come between us.

I clicked the edge of my glass against the edge of his beer mug.

“I lucked out in the brother department as well. Not only do I think you will make a rocking husband, but I think you’ll be that baby’s favorite uncle.”

He laughed and turned around so that he was looking out into the bar. “Won’t I be the only uncle? Cora is an only child.”

“Semantics.” I copied his pose and was going to see if I could work any info out of him about Cora’s ex when the door to the bar opened and we both went stiff and on high alert. Now that I wasn’t under the pool table, I had no problem recognizing Torch and his lieutenants from the motorcycle club. Not that there was any missing those cuts or the badass biker vibe that rolled right in with them.

“Brite said he sold you the bar, kid. Congrats.”

I shook his hand because really, what else was I supposed to do? I introduced Rule and cocked my head to the side.

“Why do I think this isn’t just a friendly social visit?”

“Because it’s not.” The prez tilted his head toward the back of the bar where the pool tables were. I nodded and asked Dixie to go make sure the area was cleared out for just a few minutes. Rule put his hand on my arm and gave me a concerned look.

“Do you know what you’re doing? Those guys put Asa in a coma and left him for dead.”

“Not those guys in particular, and as I understand it, Asa messed up good in order to get to that point. Torch, the chapter president, has history with Brite. He kicked the guy that trashed the Dodge and robbed the place out of the club. I need to see what he has to say.”

He didn’t look happy but he didn’t stop me when I followed the herd of bikers into the back room.

“The place looks brand-new, kid.”

“I worked hard to make it that way.”

“I had a feeling about what that old goat had in mind the minute he mentioned you. The Bar is a Sons’ place; that means you got us at your back, kid. This shit with the rogue prospect isn’t how we do business.”

“You don’t mess with a man’s ride.”

“No, you don’t. You need to know he’s gone to ground. I’ve had eyes out for him since Brite called about the robbery, but we haven’t seen or heard anything. His old man was patched into a club for years, went to the pen for some heavy shit, so the kid knows some people. Not hard for him to lay low or get his hands on all kinds of stuff that can make trouble for you and yours. You read me, kid?”

Yeah, I totally read him. The scrawny punk was not only pissed but he was pissed and probably armed to the teeth. It sounded like Asa was lucky he just took the cash.

“I hear about the people in the Sons’ circle. I know you’re a good one, kid. I also know you got some heavy baggage you’re carrying around from the desert. You okay to deal with that and keep an eye on your six?”

I don’t think I wanted to know how this guy, this MC club leader, knew anything about what was going on in my head, but I couldn’t deny that he looked more understanding than most people who tried to talk to me about it. I cleared my throat and leaned a hip on the pool table. I met his gaze because that’s what you did when you were trying to be on the level with a man that not only offered you his respect, but also his protection and approval. The gray wasn’t going to suck me under, not when I had so much color in me because of Cora.

“Most of the time I’m straight. Had a few bad months, almost blew it with the best thing to ever happen to me, pre- or postwar. Brite made me feel like shit, gave me Neil’s number, and told me to go talk to him. When I can’t get out from under it on my own, I do. Otherwise that best thing takes all kinds of care of me and nothing in this world could matter more for me to keep an eye on my back.”

Torch laughed and nodded in agreement.

“I had one of those once. Was too much of a stubborn idiot to hold on to it. You got a girl that stays by you when you wake up in the middle of the night shaking, covered in sweat, and not knowing where you are, that’s a girl you don’t ever let go of.”

I could do him one better and say that I had a girl who not only stayed but generally put me back to bed by sucking me off or riding me until I couldn’t see straight, but I doubted Cora would appreciate the baddest-of-the-bad biker club in the union having that much info on our sex life.

“I have no intention of letting her go, or of letting some little punk with a grudge get anywhere near her, or me, for that matter. It all needs to be put to bed, and the sooner the better.”

“We are on the same page. Anything else comes up, you call me not the cops.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about having his number in my phone, but I also didn’t think telling him that was a good idea. I programmed it in and pushed off the table, when he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

“We were all you at one point in time, kid. Dismissed, lost, and trying to figure out what was next. For some of us, what was next came out of the blue. The open road, the brotherhood, the family, it was like being back in but on our own terms and fighting for things that mattered here.” He thumped a hand over his chest where his biker heart was covered by a leather cut. “Some of us found it in the love of a good woman and making a family; others, like Brite, found what was next by helping the most lost of us onto a better path. Whatever your next is, kid, it’ll find you or you’ll find it. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”