Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(150)
Show took a long drink. Staring at the shelves of liquor behind the bar, he said, “You and I are a team, Isaac. We always have been. Far as I’m concerned, we always will be. I kept the gavel in your absence. I don’t want it in your presence. Simple as that. I’ll sit at the end of the table with you.”
His eyes burning sharply, Isaac reached over and clapped his hand on his best friend’s shoulder.
oOo
Isaac supported the vote, and Badger was unanimously elected the fourth President of the Night Horde Motorcycle Club of Missouri. He named Double A his VP and Nolan—Havoc’s kid, who was twenty-f*cking-five years old now—his SAA. Damn. The times had really changed.
The leadership change happened first off, and Badger led the rest of the meeting. Listening to the new President discuss club business, seeking input and mediating discordant opinions, Isaac tried to remember the skinny, nervous, shy kid with the zits who’d come in as a Prospect fourteen years ago. It was hard to reconcile the confident, mature man at the head of the table with that urchin of the past. He still had the same long hair and beard, but otherwise he was almost unrecognizable. He even seemed taller.
And Nolan—he was a man. A young man, but certainly no kid. Isaac saw an edge to him, a shadow.
That kind of darkness was an asset to an outlaw SAA, but in these quiet times, he could afford some light.
The only thing the Horde seemed to do that was even remotely dangerous was some legit protection work.
There was no longer a call for a man who could use pain to make someone talk or pay.
Other than the change of leadership, most of the business—all new to Isaac, who’d been almost completely out of the loop since he’d been transferred to Pennsylvania—seemed routine, except for a charity run coming up the next month. It was a massive national run, cross-country, coming straight through Horde turf. They were picking up with it at home, opening the clubhouse and business buildings for an overnight stop, then joining the run all the way to LA, where they’d meet up with the Night Horde SoCal, where Bart was still VP.
Isaac wanted on that run. He didn’t know how to make it work with his parole, and he didn’t know if his back would let him get all the way across the country, but he was going for it anyway. He’d see if Lilli and the kids would drive along. The rally in LA was a big, family-friendly do. A vacation in sunny Southern California. A chance to see Bart. A national charity run. There had to be a way. There had to be a string to pull or a palm to grease somewhere to get him okayed for that trip.
He stopped his thinking right there. He’d ask for approval. If he didn’t get it, then he’d stay home and be content to party during the stopover. There would be charity runs when his parole was over. Until then, he was keeping his promise to his family. He would not risk violating.
Badger gaveled the meeting to a close, and the Horde went to the bar to toast the new officers. As they tossed back a third shot after a third toast, Isaac searched his heart to see if there was disappointment or resentment lurking there. Sitting at the opposite end of the table—the place for the wise old men—would be an adjustment.
But no. He was glad. He’d told Badger long ago that he would be the future of the club. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment in all the years he’d held the gavel was that he’d recognized that fact, that Badger’s heart and brain would someday take the Night Horde in the right direction.
Seeing Badger and Show talking together, Isaac went over. The new President turned with a goofy grin, and they embraced.
“I’m proud of you, brother. You’ve come far. You’ll go farther. You’re an impressive bastard.” Isaac meant it sincerely.
Badger nodded his thanks. “If that’s true, I didn’t come alone. You and Show and Len? You showed me how to be Horde. You showed me how to lead. Fuck, you showed me how to be a man. You left the trail. I just followed it.”
oOo
Supper was a chaotic, joyful, delicious mess, with kids running everywhere, people laughing, food and drink being shoveled faster than it could be served. For a while, Isaac sat and floated in the chaos, so much lighter than the kind of mealtime din he’d grown used to in prison.
This was his home. It was different from the home he’d known. It was happier, for one thing. Safer.
More robust. But it still had room for him.
He’d spent the past week learning about the new Signal Bend and doing a turn around town, reuniting with old friends. He felt a step out of rhythm with his life, but he knew he’d catch the beat eventually. In the meantime, he was in sync with his family. He and Bo were finding their way together, and he and Gia were tight as ever. Tighter. That was enough.
And Lilli? Nothing would ever come between them. The cosmos had thrown every damn thing it could think of in their way, and they had climbed over all of it. Battered and bleeding, sure, but alive and together and strong. They were indivisible. They were one. They were forever.
What they had was a love for the ages, and every price he’d paid in his life was worth the chance to spend the rest of his days in her company. In their love. He had everything, and now he had the chance to set his burden down and make a life that could be as strong as the love it held.
She was sitting across the room after supper, talking with Cory and Shannon. Badger had already taken Adrienne, pregnant with their fourth, home. Tasha and Len were tucked into a dark corner, getting raunchy.