Page 15 of Daddy Issues

They’d never find bodies. We made damn sure of that. We’d dug that hole real deep and left some breadcrumbs that placed that disappearance over the southern border. But Cam hadpulled that trigger. Keeping him clean was all that mattered. He didn’t have the same level of protection from the cops as Merc.

He couldn’t come back until the dust settled. I couldn’t touch Kenna until then, either. And what would happen when I did? If I did—

“Band Aid ain’t talking and won’t, the shit with Archer was enough to bring him over to seeing things our way,” Dekes added with a shrug of a bony shoulder as he lit a cigarette. “The rest that were there have sworn they were here.”

All things we knew, but it was good to lay it all out.

“That leaves the kid.” AP slid his cobalt gaze toward me. “I told you to stay away from the girl, I want him thinking we want him around.”

And if we really did, I’d respect him too much to fuck his ex. But we didn’t and I didn't. “She had work done at the shop.” I held my hands up, palms out, and acted innocent. They didn’t need to know what happened behind closed doors.

Then he glared at Jester.

“It was a fucking strip club. I smacked her ass a little, played tongue hockey. I didn’t tie her up or anything.” But he was grinning big. “Besides, you didn’t say shit to me about it.”

“Jesus Christ, if you’re going to make this hard on me, kid. He’s yours. He needs a new sponsor, someone to keep him in check until we get shit sorted.”

I laughed out loud when all the color drained from Jester’s face, and his eyes grew like saucers.

“Are you fucking serious, AP?”

“All in favor?” AP held up the gavel, but the expression on his face said if we weren’t in favor, we were fucked.

“Sorry, bro, yay.” But I couldn’t keep from snickering.

Merc was laughing, too. “Fucking yay, man.”

“Watch where you stick your tongue, bud. Yay for me.” Dekes chuckled.

“I’m afraid I’m next up. And I don’t even get to mouth fuck some hot little piece. Yay, mother fucker.” For the first time in weeks, Drop Top was grinning, too.

The gavel clacked down. “There it is. Ghost is your probie. Cam is back end of the month. We’ll plan the big vote from there. Let’s find guys to fill these seats.”

“David’s new ole lady wants him in here.” Merc leaned back in his chair, rocking it precariously on the back legs.

“He won’t do it,” Dekes piped up. “Hated it when he was here.”

“Cam said Ivan’s looking for a change of scenery with less responsibility,” AP murmured, drawing all our attention. “I’m all for it.”

“That leaves one seat empty,” I added. “Who we looking at?”

Drop Top thumbed through his notebook. “Guys who have said they’d do it are Band Aid, Kickstand, Rowdy, Pork Chop…” He continued to rattle off names.

There for a while, being in this room left me itchy, anxious. The brotherhood and comradery I’d needed when I’d left professional hockey had been stolen from this place. It was back or would be when Cam took his seat again.

I missed Archer. He’d brought me into all of this. But Preach…nah, I never liked him. I liked Ghost even less. But that was more to do with Kenna than him.

“Puck and Dekes, I need you to flank Jester with us on the run south tomorrow,” AP said at last.

God-damn it.

Mom wouldn’t be able to pick Eli up after school for the rest of the week. She had some sort of procedure tomorrow. Some of the patch bunnies had offered to keep him. But I wouldn’t trust half of them to keep my boots clean, much less care for my kid.Fuck.

I could call Kenna. Eli had been asking about her.

The excuse to make the call propelled me out the door when AP adjourned the meeting. When he said stay away, her keeping an eye on my kid wasn’t what he meant.

That shit in the office at the shop? Yeah, that one held some weight.

---