Page 46 of Striker

“Come on, Doc! I feel great and I won’t go fast. You can’t expect me not to ride! That’s my whole life besides Lilah. And that’s another thing! No sex? Have you seen my Little Lark? I’m supposed to keep my hands off of her?” Doc just laughed while Lilah smacked the back of my head.

“Sorry to say, Striker, but that’s the deal. Otherwise it can push your recovery even further and cause more issues.” Doc signed off on the last paper and handed them to Lilah. She quietly thanked him as he walked out the door. Turning to me, she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head.

“Really, Striker? The whole town doesn’t need to hear about our sex life. You know Doctor Hank is as bad as those gossip hens.” She laughed and gathered up our things that were spread around the room from the past week.

“Oh come on, babe. Who cares?” I helped grab some things and put them in the duffel bag my Pop had brought us.

“Uh, hi! I care! You can avoid people around town, I can’t. They’ll all make appointments here just so they can ask me personal questions. Or bombard me at the grocery store.” I just laughed as we emptied the room of all of our belongings and did a quick clean of everything else. Lilah brushed her hands on her pants and looked around the room “Looks like we got everything. Housekeeping will come through and sanitize as soon as we leave. I have tomorrow off, so let’s get out of here.”

We walked through the Medical Center, hand in hand, stopping to say goodbye to all the nurses. Lilah brought me out the side exit to the staff parking lot, her Pop’s truck sitting right in the front row, all cleaned up and fixed. “Wrench made sure it was ready for me to take you home. He even updated quite a few things, including a tracker.” Lilah laughed as she opened the door and helped me up.

Looking around, I could see all the updates Wrench had done. Brand new leather seats, updated dash with a screen and brand new radio, the windows were all fixed and tinted nice and dark. Lilah hopped in the driver’s side and started the truck up. It roared to life as she shifted the truck into drive and took off out of the parking lot. It was a weird feeling to not be driving and especially not being on my bike. I held Lilah’s hand as I watched the world whirl past me through the window.

The leaves had started to change color, letting everybody know that fall was on its way. I knew that was Lilah’s favorite season and was hoping I could get her to plan a quick wedding. I wanted to be married to this woman as soon as possible. There was no way I could wait any longer.

We slowly pulled up the long dirt driveway of the ranch. I could see the cows in the back field and some of the horses in the pasture next to us. Chickens ran across in front of us and I could hear the dogs barking up ahead. I took a deep breath knowing that we were finally home. Everything was right in the world again.

As we pulled closer to the house, I could see a line of trucks and even more motorcycles parked next to the barn. Music was playing over big speakers placed around the makeshift party area. A bar was set up next to the barn, lights were strung up, and picnic tables were set up in the grass. Five grills and a huge smoker were across the yard, each manned by a different brother.

I chuckled and turned to look at Lilah, “You planned all of this didn’t you, Little Lark?” She had on a big smile as she parked the truck and got out.

Making her way over to my door, she helped me out as everybody stood up and clapped and cheered. “Yeah I did. My brothers helped, and of course, Bambi too.”

“Yeah, Pres!”, “Woohoo!”, “Welcome back, Striker!” All my brothers came over and patted me on the back. Somebody shoved a beer in my hand as I made my way through the crowd. Our other chapters were there too, along with some of our ally clubs. They all came over to congratulate me on coming home and saving my Old Lady. Bambi came running up to me, Ellie Jo not far behind her. Those girls were complete opposites, but went well together.

Bambi wrapped me in a big hug. “So glad to have you back! We missed you!”

Ellie Jo handed me a little pink bakery box. “I made a special cupcake for you. There’s plenty for the others, but I didn’t want you to miss out. It’s the red velvet one!”

I thanked them both as we walked away. Lilah held on to my hand tight as we made our way to one of the picnic tables.

She leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Check you out,Pres.” Then nibbled my earlobe as she ran her nails down my arm.

“Don’t you tease me, Little Lark!” She threw her head back laughing as she got up from the bench.

“Three whole weeks, babe.” Lilah swayed her hips as she walked toward one of the grills to grab us some food.

Maverick and Goose appeared on either side of me and slapped me on the back. “Glad to have you back, Pres!” We clicked our beer bottles together and took a big sip.

“Good to be back, boys. Won’t be long until I’m back on the motorcycle. Three weeks, my ass.” The three of us laughed as we watched our brothers and friends dancing in the yard, the sun setting behind it all.

“So, what’s your plan now?” Goose took a sip of his beer and looked toward me.

“Well, brother, I plan on marrying your sister as soon as possible. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Maverick nodded in agreement as he took a swig of his beer. “Mama wants you two to move in here. Has all these plans for us to build her a ‘granny pod’ or whatever the fuck that is. Some shit her and Lilah saw on that pin site. Pinning...pint...ah fuck who knows.”

I laughed as I imagined Lilah and her Ma showing them all types of building plans. “Pinterest, brother. Better get with that shit if you ever want to land a nice girl.”

Maverick shook his head, “Fuck that. I’m good with playing the field, having my choice of different ladies. I love the single life, man.” We all took a sip from our bottles as Lilah made her way back to us with two plates, heaping with food in her hands.

“You’re missing out, brother. This right here is the best feeling in the world.” Lilah bent down to kiss me and she put the plate down behind me.

“Come on, Maverick. We can’t be the only ones to be popping out grandbabies for Mama. Your time to settle down is coming, I can feel it.” We all laughed as we sat down to eat our food.

As I watched my Little Lark eat, surrounded by our loved ones, I knew this was the life. Forget a different girl every night, I had the best one all to myself anytime I wanted. I could never get tired of my Little Lark. She looked up at me and smiled, her green eyes sparkling as the stars started to come out.

“Whatcha starin’ at, cowboy?” She winked as she scooted closer to me.

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