Page 61 of Sully

It was just a quick peck. Because with the way she melted, I didn’t trust myself to have my hands on her for longer than a second or two. Or I might decide to skip the church meeting as a whole.

“See you in a bit,” I said. Then I walked out of there before I changed my mind.

By the time I made my way out, the clubhouse was practically bursting. A mix of the current club members and the retired ones were scattered all around.

“Mood’s dark in here,” I said, moving in beside Callow.

“Been a bit since we had to do a lockdown like this. Everyone is… antsy.”

That was putting it lightly.

Once the meeting started, it was full of complaints from the brothers who had legitimate businesses they needed to run. A few of the older members spoke on behalf of their daughters, who had a lot to say about the lockdown too.

“I’m just saying, no offense, but this seem to be about Sully,” Seth said. “I don’t understand why my business has to be closed.”

I wasn’t offended.

I had to admit that I’d kind of been enjoying the lockdown myself. But it wasn’t that way for the others. They had lives. Families. Places to be.

As much as I wanted to just spend my days endlessly with Bonnie, showing her the fun side of life and relationships, I knewI had to split my time. I had to figure out who was so bent on fucking with me.

That started with giving my list to Fallon once the meeting was over.

“Good. It’s something. Everyone’s getting pissy already,” he said, looking around the club. “Don’t remember all this bitching during the many lockdowns when my old man was running shit.”

“Because you were a kid,” Reign said, walking up behind his son. “Trust me, you get enough of men who like to party, and you force them to stay in the house and be celibate, shit gets ugly fast. Just wait until the tensions get high enough for them all to start taking swings at each other.”

“‘Cause I don’t get enough of that with the kids at home,” Fallon said with a head shake.

“You were a real fucking handful as a kid,” Reign said, his smile wicked. “This is the universe evening shit out. Hair’s getting a little gray there,” he added. “Just wait till the girls start dating.”

“They’re never fucking dating,” Fallon grumbled.

I had to admit, seeing the two of them interact made me suddenly very aware of my own tense, barely existent relationship with my own father. There was no lighthearted teasing. All I’d ever known were exacting and impossible standards and getting the belt when I didn’t meet them.

I dunno.

Maybe, if I hadn’t enlisted, if I hadn’t seen and done the shit I had in the name of my country, if I hadn’t been determined to leave all that dark shit behind once I left, I could have reconnected with my old man, seen if there was a different dynamic now that we were both adults.

There was no going back now, though.

I had a different family here.

Better, in a lot of ways.

And while I’d never have what Reign and Fallon did, I did get a bunch of random fatherly figures when the OG members were around.

Hell, maybe one day, I’d have my own kids. And we’d have that same dynamic Fallon and Reign had.

It wasn’t the first time I’d considered kids.

The club kids and I, we all had a hell of a good time when they were over. Sure, their parents might have had some objections to the permanent marker tattoo parties or the whipped cream shootouts. But, hey, that was an uncle’s job, wasn’t it? To be a bad influence.

What was new now, though, was I suddenly had a face for the mother.

Bonnie’s.

Now, wasn’t that some shit?

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