Page 28 of Deserter

“You look good, Grey.”

I smirked. “Well, you look like shit. Look, I’m sorry that me and the guys missed your seventieth birthday while you were locked up.”

That one earned me the finger as he sank down on the loveseat. “Fucker, I don’t look a day over forty. How the fuck are ya?”

I sat down on the edge of the desk across from him. “I’m doing good. Glad you’re on the outside again. Were Lucy and the kids surprised?”

His face lit up at the mention of his family, making him look more like the man he’d been before. “Yeah, Luce started with the fuckin’ waterworks and apologized for not having a four-course dinner on the table. I told her I didn’t give a fuck because all I could think about was getting her naked and moaning underneath me. The kids loved that.”

I shook my head. “I bet they did. That’s an image no one needs.”

Wolverine chuckled before turning serious again. “I’ve been hearing a lot about your leadership over the last couple of months. You stepped up after Dragon met the Reaper.” He made a sign of the cross before adding, “Motherfucker almost destroyed my club, God rest his soul.”

I’d been working my ass off since the showdown with the Serpents to put the club back together. I couldn’t stomach the thought of Wolverine getting out, only to find that he had no legacy.

As the acting Pres, I couldn’t leave the clubhouse without an army of enforcers by my side, but that hadn’t stopped me from buying up real estate within the city limits.

Restaurants, tattoo parlors, small grocery stores—we were going to run it all. I’d even taken Phantom along with me and found a perfect second location forGreene’s Custom Shop.

“Our numbers are creeping back up and I think that all the chapters are finally on the same page. It’s not even close to where it was when you left, but it’s a start.”

He lit up a cigarette. “Not where it was? Son, it’s fuckin’ better than it was before. I just wanted to ride with my war buddies and be left the fuck alone. You? You’re building a goddamn empire. I love that you’re gonna be running shit right under their noses.”

The desk creaked as I shifted my weight forward. “Me? I did this for you. You’re going to be running drugs and weapons right under their noses… sir.”

Old habits died hard.

Wolverine exhaled a stream of smoke. “Grey, look at me. I started this when I was your age. I’m in my forties now, and for this kind of life, too fuckin’ old to run things. This club needs someone young.”

He was handing over the keys.

I should’ve been scared shitless, but I was being given a chance to run things my way. To rebuild this club from the ground up.

“You really think they’ll support that?”

“Fuck, son. They already do. I founded this club on my love of bikes and partying, but you’ve surpassed that. You’re running it as a business; one that will provide for years to come.”

I nodded and thought about what he was saying before cracking up. It was the goddamn name of the club. “It’s Silent Phoenix, how fuckin’ perfect is that?” At Wolverine’s narrowed eyes, I elaborated. “The club… you named the club Silent Phoenix.”

“Jesus, Grey, you hit the sauce early tonight?”

My eyes ran with tears and I clutched the edge of the desk as my laughter turned hysterical. “The club is exactly like the goddamned bird you named it after. You created it and Dragon ran the motherfucker into the ground. Now, it’s been reborn into something better and stronger. So, you see, I’m the founder now.”

“I hope you don’t throw your shoulder out yanking your own dick. You wanna consider yourself the founder, be my fuckin’ guest, but just know that you’ve got some big boots to fill.”

“I’m gonna make you proud.”

The smug expression slipped off his face and he came over to stand in front of me. “You already have, kid. Even before you ‘founded’ this. That first night I met you, I saw something in you that reminded me of myself. You’ve got drive and you’re always looking to make this club better, but there’s something else there too. You’ve got heart and all the money in the fuckin’ world can’t buy that.”

His words triggered the memory of seeing my ma and Angel together, bringing thoughts of Mikey with it. “About that night, why’d you tell me that my ma was helping Donald earn his three-piece.”

Wolverine folded his arms across his chest. “What’d you want me to say—that your straight as an arrow mother was tripping and decided to let her hair down with a man who wasn’t your old man? Fuck no, it was better you didn’t know.”

He was right. Some things were better left in the dark.

I smiled. “I can’t picture Mary Katherine doing acid.”

He shook his head. “We did a lot of shit in the sixties and seventies that I can’t imagine doing now. Maybe I’m too fuckin’ old.”

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