Page 70 of Demo

“That settles it then,” Steel said. He turned to Bulldog. “Merrick is yours.”

Bulldog looked to Ghost. “I’m taking Abby out on a date tonight. I worked him over good yesterday. Take him his last meal tonight and let him say his prayers. I’ll take care of him in the morning and then the prospects can clean up the mess.”

Ghost nodded.

“Which brings me to our last topic of discussion before we adjourn,” Steel said, “we need to vote on patching in Sara and Will?—”

Loud laughter rose from the other end of the table. Demo was one of the few around the table who looked confused. Bear looked like he was torn between amusement and nausea while Lucky let out a long groan and laid his head down on the table.

“Kill me now.” His voice was muffled by his arms and the wood table, but Demo was close enough to hear him where others probably couldn’t.

“What’s going on?” Demo asked Ghost, who was keeled over laughing.

Steel smacked his gavel down on the table numerous times. “What the fuck is wrong with you? If something happened that would prevent either Sara or Will from being patched in, I need to know about it.”

The table quieted down, but most of the members were looking at Lucky expectantly.

“Lucky?” Steel demanded. “Is something going on with Sara?”

The question was a reasonable one. At Christmas, Lucky’s daughter, Sissy, had come out to the club as bisexual and was dating Sara, the club’s female prospect. Rumor had it that Lucky had not handled this revelation well. Not because of his daughter’s sexuality but because Sara had not come to him to ask permission to date his daughter. After whatever family confrontation had taken place, Lucky had pronounced to the club that he supported and approved of their relationship. No one had said a word about it since. It just was.

Like the action pained him, Lucky sat up. He did look a little green in the face. “Scotty was really excited by the news that Sara’s going to be patched in soon.” He spoke as if he had something sour in his mouth. “He asked Sara if he could give her her road name like he did with Grumpy and Pirate.”

Snickers came from around the table again but were silenced by Steel’s intense glare.

Lucky tried to speak but failed. Demo seriously wondered if he was going to throw up. Finally, he was able to get out, “Apparently, Scotty overheard Sissy and Sara talking about…scissoring and,” he winced, “howgreatSara is at…scissoring…” Lucky swallowed hard. “So he wants to give Sara the road name of ‘Scissors’ and then asked Sara to see her scissor collection.”

There was a collective silence before the entire room, aside from Lucky and Steel, burst out into uncontrollable roars of laughter.

Once everyone calmeddown enough for the votes to be cast, it was unanimously decided that Will and Sara would receive their patches the following week. Viktor and Darrin, the club’s newest prospects, would be arriving around the same time. Mitch’s vote wouldn’t be until mid-March.

Lucky got outvoted as to whether Sara would be named ‘Scissors’. Since no one had a specific name for Will, he got to choose his own. Once Demo had his road name, he would be able to order the rockers and patches necessary for their new cuts.

Demo also planned to ask Sara, or Scissors, if she wanted him to order her a property cut for Sissy. Once Sara was patched in, she could claim Sissy as her ol’ lady. Demo didn’t want to presume but he was ordering a property cut for Paige and denim cuts for her boys for when she was ready. Dare he hope by the first club run of the year?

The clubhouse was crowded as the patched members descended the stairs. Before heading to Church earlier, Demo had dropped Paige, Mikey, and Nelly Bean off at Harper and Lucky’s house. The four of them were heading to Johnstown after the meeting to spend the afternoon at a trampoline park that had a toddlers’ foam pit.

The sight of Paige and her boys mixed in amongst the ol’ ladies and club kids did something to Demo’s insides. It settled a part of him that he hadn’t even realized had been unsettled within him. The only other time he had ever felt something like it was his first time returning to American soil after his deployment. Like walking off a ship you hadn’t realized was rocking until you stepped back onto solid land.

He walked right up to her, sidestepping where the boys were playing on a rug with Caleb, Abby and Bulldog’s boy, and leaned over where she was sitting on the couch to kiss her.

He felt her lips curve into a smile against his. “Hi,” she let out in a chuckled breath.

“Hey,” Demo said.

A tugging on his pants had him looking down to see Mikey had seated himself on Demo’s right foot and was holding himself to his calf. Realizing this, Nelly Bean followed suit with the other foot. Looking disheartened that Demo didn’t have a third leg—the immature boy that resided in Demo’s head let out a snort at the unintended innuendo—Caleb started to pout.

Unable to resist, Demo dropped his right arm down so the toddler could leap onto it and swing like Tarzan on a vine.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Demo said down to a smiling Paige, “I have to go walk over there,” he pointed randomly over his left shoulder with his thumb, “for no apparent reason whatsoever.”

“Of course,” she answered while also taking out her phone. “Don’t let me stop you. That’s a very important reason to head in that random direction.”

Weighed down by three giggling munchkins, Demo hobbled his way around the clubhouse. The parasites currently attached to his legs and arm laughed and giggled as he took exaggerated steps and swung his arm needlessly. Demo waved to his club brothers and even stopped at the bar to have a very animated conversation with Ranger behind it. Then he made his way back over to Paige on the couch.

The adoring smile she gave him was totally worth it.

“Good thing I wore a belt today,” he commented as he sat down on the opposite side of the couch from her. He turned on his butt, swinging legs and children up onto her lap. He brought Caleb up onto his chest.

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