Page 32 of Crusher

“Thanks, Romeo,” Stroker said and looked overat Cruz. “Cruz, you want to address any problems going oninternally that the club needs to handle.”

Cruz, Enforcer for the club, opened thefolder in front of him, “Just a couple, Prez. Boss and Turk havebeen warned twice for fighting with each other over the last of themarijuana plants that are ready for harvest. Seems they didn’t wantto give that part of the business up to go legal. I’ve spoken withboth men and they’ve agreed to stop fighting with each other andwork together. Flyboy got the plant problem solved.” Cruz lookedout at the members, “You agreed with the assessment, Boss? Turk?” Ilooked over my shoulder to see Boss and Turk in the back sittingbeside each other.

“Agreed, Cruz,” both men said at the sametime. Boss and Turk were real brothers on top of being Black Hawkbrothers. When they weren’t fighting with each other that’s whenyou started asking if hell froze over. If that was the onlyinternal issues going on in the club, meant everyone was doing whatthey were supposed to. “The last thing, which is new and hasn’tbeen addressed, a situation with the ex VP of Haven, one that hasseemed to have made its way to Black Hawk. The problem arising fromthis is that a few of the current members and one of the leadershiphave forgotten that everything that goes on in a club comes throughthe chain of command and lastly to the Prez. They are to beinvolved first before any decision making is held. Those membersbroke that process and recommendation on how to deal with themneeds to be addressed.”

“Thanks, Cruz. We will move onto Flyboy andPreacher. Gentlemen, you can start when you are ready.”

Preacher, the club secretary, opened thefolder in front of him and flipped through several pieces. I sat,lost, listening to them go over each thing dealing with the club. Iturned and looked at my friends and their faces reflected what hadto be on mine. What the fuck? And the part that pissed me off mostwas saving the reprimanding till the end. Like there should be any,we handled the issue and reported when it was over. Not like we hidshit from any of them. Never have we been reprimanded in front ofthe entire club, it was usually handled in Prez’s office. Well, Iwould sit hear listen to their shit and if they wanted to do infront of the whole club, I would voice our side in front of thewhole club. I just wished they would speed it up, I wanted to getback to Carly. I didn’t want her sitting at the cookout with abunch of women she hadn’t met. I wanted to be able to introduce herso she would feel comfortable and not overwhelmed.

Preacher pulled out a paper and set it ontop, “The records are up-to-date on every ride we have done for thecharities Black Hawk contributes to. We have two we schedule everyyear, the funds we make go a long way in helping these groups. TheBoys Ranch and the Girls Ranch provide an opportunity for kids whohave lost their way to get on the right track again. When the onefor the Boys Ranch is held, it is only the men who participate inthe ride. The Girls Ranch ride includes the women of the clubbecause they run that one, but since most of the old ladies don’tride their own bikes, the Black Hawk men join in on it. We expectthe same turnout and fund goal for this year.” Preacher looked overat Flyboy.

Flyboy, the VP, was the only one who didn’topen the file in front of him and thank God, the fucker was fulland had to be a couple inches thick. We’d be in Church till nextweek if he went over each.

“The newest thing is filed and ready to beoperational if the plants Cruz told us about meet thespecifications. I made several calls to the government and I got itapproved that Boss and Turk can continue to grow marijuana formedicinal purposes. We had to jump through a few hoops, call in afew markers but it went through. There are a few guidelines thatwill have to be followed and Boss and Turk have those. We should bein compliance with two months.

“I have all the paperwork ready with thechanges that are required for the Black Hawk Corp and itssubsidiaries. The forms just need to be notarized and filed in thecourts by an attorney. That finishes my part, Prez.” Flyboy lookedover at Stroker who stood and then looked at me and slid his eyesover the others. It was time for us I guess.

“Crusher, Speed, Coast, Devil, Flirt, and Jagsit in front us today for not informing the club of an issue untilit was partially settled. With that being said, I would like tocover a little of what these members have done for this club. Theyhave never failed to support any member who needed something takencare or just someone to talk with. From putting a roof on thegarage, to repairing Soft Tails every other weekend when it wouldget trashed inside from fights. In that aspect they have been theperfect members.

“Now as a dad to one of these gentleman, Iwould like to speak to this club. Me and the gentlemen beside me,including the empty chair to represent Cutter, raised these six,but not alone. They were raised within Black Hawk, with everymember playing a part. And at times, they were thorns in the samemembers’ sides with the mischief that young boys can get into. Wecelebrated achievements with them, we even cried as a club whenthey were given the choice to leave so they could experience theworld to see if this is where they wanted to be, and they took it.Not one member voiced their concern as each year passed by and theycontinued to stay away making their homes elsewhere.

“They came back one by one to Black Hawk andas their parents we had hopes they would take over this club intime after learning how the inner dealings of it worked.” Strokerstopped and picked up the glass of water in front of him and took adrink.

I don’t know how the others felt about whatStroker was saying, but the quiver in the voice that I picked upon, shook me. It was like a father pleading his son’s case before ajury. For a brief second the thought of what I would do withoutthis club had me sick to my stomach. This was home and no matterwhere I was sent in the military, Black Hawk was the one thing Iknew that would still be here when I came back. Stroker looked outat the members again.

“As parents we wanted them to succeed andhoped they took our teachings to heart and could run Black Hawklike us. Speed in his short time back filled Cutter’s positionalready. Son, know your dad is here in spirit participating inthis.” Stroker turned to the others who stood, putting each of themshoulder to shoulder. I imagine as young men in the military theywere intimidating.

“What they have done is surpass us at everyturn. From the young me who left for their own adventures in lifeto the men who sit in front of us now—they have proven they areready to take Black Hawk over and keep it thriving into the future.So as President of Black Hawk and my last order of business andwith the unanimous member votes—I turn this club over to my son,Russell “Crusher” Davis, Black Hawk’s new president and his fellowleaders. May their reign be as enjoyable as ours.” Stroker smiledand held out the patch to me. I stood and walked to him, taking thepatch in my hand and looking down at it.

To say I was speechless would be anunderstatement, I looked over my shoulder at my friends and smiled.In a way, we had spent our entire lives preparing for this moment.I looked back at Stroker it couldn’t have been easy on him or theother dads to deal with six boys and yet, they’d done it, not oncecomplaining. I couldn’t have picked a better dad even if I had beengiving the choice. I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled himinto a hug, I owed this man a lot and I loved him.

No one had yet spoken or made a sound.Stroker stepped back after I released him. “Well, Prez, you mightwant to have the others hand their patches over and then maybe endthis meeting so we can have a drink and attend that celebrationcookout the women are putting together.”

I turned to the other dads whose grins splittheir faces. “Enjoy retirement, gentlemen, and know your legacy isin good hands.” Preacher, Romeo, Cruz, and Flyboy held out thepatches for their sons to take from them. The exchange was made andI faced the club as the Prez for the first time.

“We’d like to thank you for your trust, yourloyalty, and most important, your friendships. Now let’s end thismeeting and fucking celebrate.” The men stood and the club explodedwith noise. We were hugged and slapped on the back so many times Iwould have sworn something was going to get knocked lose insideme.

“Holy shit, when that started I thought wewere done,” Jag walked up beside me. We’d finally gotten a break inthe congratulations. Our dads joined the other members in a toastfor all their years taking care of them. Each of us would talk withour dad later, that would be the father/son private moment on whattook place today.

“I know, thought you were right and we pissedthem off. Was worried there a second that we were getting kickedout.” I shook my head. They’d pulled off a good one. None of us hadhad a clue.

“That shit was so fucked up.” Coast walked upto join me and Jag. Speed, Flirt, and Devil walked toward us.

“Did you ever think this day was actuallygoing to come? I thought for sure they would drag it out,” Flirtsaid.

“Me too,” Devil said.

“You don’t know how close I came to rippingmy fuckin’ patch off when that shit started. Only thing kept mefrom doing was the respect for them,” Speed said.

We talked with members, and shook hands untilthe only ones left in Soft Tail was the five dads and us. At thebar, shots were poured and a toast for the future and the shotswere thrown back. Stroker’s phone rang just as we set the shotglasses back on the bar.

It couldn’t be good, and I sure as fuck hopeit wasn’t the sheriff calling because someone wrecked. But while helistened to the caller his eyes met mine.

“Yeah, we are still here. Got it covered,Sue. Uh huh, stay in your house. We will be there in less thanfive. Don’t do anything to let on you know.” Stroker disconnect thecall.

“Stone and his buddy are in town. They areheld up in Sami’s old place,” he paused and my stomach dropped.

No fucking way, I left her in bed. She wasgoing to help Sami so there was no way she was there.

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