Page 13 of Cowboy

He realized he was still sitting on his bike, stepped off and went inside. There he found Deacon, his best friend, and the man he’d tapped as VP when he had become president.

“Where you been?” Deke asked as Cowboy pulled out a chair at his brother’s table and sat.

“Out.”

Deke lifted a single brow at him, then turned and waved at the prospect behind the bar, motioning for him to bring them a round, then turned his attention back to Cowboy. “Out, huh? This have anything to do with that hot piece of ass you had your eye on the other night?”

Fury rose in Cowboy, but he did his best to tamp it down. Deke was only using the same terms Cowboy had used himself for years. He had no way of knowing that Ava was different and to jump to her defense would tip his friend off that something was different.

Cowboy wasn’t quite ready to do that. Not yet. After Ava decided if she wanted to see him again. If she was willing to go for a rough biker rather than her usual strait-laced man of God type. Cowboy shook his head at the way his thoughts had turned.

“You have a one-track mind, you know that?” Cowboy said. “Any new trouble?”

Deke shook his head. “They’ve been quiet. Almost too quiet. I feel like they’re getting ready to pull something and I just don’t know what.”

“Me either. Have the rest of the brothers keep an eye out for them. Don’t go hunting them down, but keep your eyes peeled. They’ll turn up again. Especially since they blame us.” Cowboy shook his head and wished things could have been different.

If Tank had come to the club with what he’d wanted to do. If the other men hadn’t gone along, even though they knew it was without the club’s permission. If, if, if. There were a million of them. Hell, if Tank had brought the job to the club, they probably would have approved it. It was that he involved the club in criminal acts without their permission. You don’t do things like that, not to your brothers. At least not more than once.

Stripping them of their patches had been the right move, Cowboy had no doubt. He just wished he wasn’t the one who had to deal with the fall out. While the vote to strip them hadn’t been unanimous, it had been overwhelmingly in favor and most of the few who’d voted against it had remained. They didn’t seem unhappy in the club, just not thrilled that the members they were closest to were no longer here.

“What are you doing tonight?” Cowboy turned his attention to Deke.

“Not much. Sitting here watching the comings and goings. Listening to what’s being said.” Deke tipped up his bottle and took a long pull then set it back down on the table. “Just trying to stay on top of what’s going on with the brothers. The last thing we need is a mutiny – after last winter; that might be the death of the Kings.

“We need something to build us up. Both as a brotherhood and as a family. Where’s Miles?” Cowboy looked around until he spotted the man he was looking for. “MILES!”

When the other man looked his way, Cowboy waved him over. When the other man reached them, Cowboy kicked a chair out from the table.

“Have a seat. We need to talk.”

Miles looked from Cowboy to Deacon and back again for a moment then pulled out the chair and sat.

“What can I do for you?”

“I need you to do some planning for me. We need events,” Cowboy said.

“You can enlist help if you need it. We have several things we want done over the next few months,” Deke said.

“I want at least two rides and one family event,” Cowboy glanced at Deke.

“Per month,” Deke put in. “Every month until at least October. Between now and then we’ll decide what we want over the winter.”

“There can be more, but that’s the minimum. I want one family event a month in town. There can be additional, either here or family runs. The two minimum runs are to be brothers only, but again, there can be more. Questions?” Cowboy turned to Miles.

“Do we have a mileage minimum for any of the runs? Destinations? What is the point, other than to ride?”

“Not sure on milage yet, let’s start with no minimum. But we’ll look at getting a milage goal set up soon. We can also do some destination runs. That would be fun for the family events too. And the point is brotherhood. We have relationships to rebuild, and this is how we do it.”

“All right. I can do this. How soon do you want the first event?”

“Soon. Next week if you can pull it off. You can start with a brothers only run to give yourself time to plan something bigger.”

Miles nodded slowly, as if he was already deep in thought.

“Holidays make obvious times for local family events. Memorial Day is only a couple of weeks away. I’d better get started on that too.” He blinked and gave his head a shake then turned back to Cowboy. “You said I could enlist help. Any limits on that?”

Cowboy shook his head. “If they’re not busy with other club business, you’re welcome to them.”

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