Page 37 of Mac
Elyse closed her eyes a moment then headed to the bathroom and the medicine cabinet."Tell me or don't, Mom.If it's his business, I can wait for him," Elyse knew Mom wouldn't, "or you can tell me for him."She found the prescription bottle in the cabinet and twisted the lid off.
"Well, if you don't care that your brother asked that hoity toity girlfriend of his to marry him, then I won't bother you any longer."
"I'm sorry.I've got a massive headache coming on, Mom.I'm going to have to go."She dry swallowed the pill while Mom sputtered and said goodbye, then said goodbye herself and hung up.She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before pushing away from the bathroom sink and shuffling into the living room where she drew the curtains before lying down on the sofa and closing her eyes again.Maybe if she relaxed a little, the meds would kick in and maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to function tomorrow.
Elyse was startled awake to find the room dark and her heart pounding.She couldn't remember what had woken her and looked around for clues as she sat up and stretched.Her phone chirped, making her jump, but she realized what had woken her.She took a long, slow blink before reaching for the device.Seeing several messages from Mom made her sigh and move on without reading them.She had other messages and scanned them, replying to a few before she found the one from Mac.
Sorry, busy tonight.Hope you're good.What you doing?
Elyse sighed again, wondering what to say.She gave up trying to be cute or coy and just told him the truth.
Just woke up.Took a migraine pill after I got home, and it knocked me out.Hope your evening has been better.
Once she finished with the other messages, she sent a message to Conner.
I hear congrats are in order.
She scrubbed a hand over her face and tried to decide if she was hungry enough to mess with it or if she should just go to bed and back to sleep.She wasn't all that hungry, a headache always killed her appetite, so she pushed herself to her feet and shuffled into the bedroom.After setting her phone on the nightstand, she stripped out of her clothes and fell across the bed, asleep nearly as soon as her head hit the pillow.
CHAPTER17
Mac scowled and looked at the faces at the table, one by one.They were bickering about letting the prospects have a say on whether or not they wanted to get involved with the Souls mission to take out the pedophile ring Tuck had been tipped off about.
"Are you doubting one of them?"He couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer.He dropped his bombshell and watched the faces around him, but they all had decent poker faces and no clue of what they were thinking could be read from their expressions.
They only had three prospects right now, which was as many as they ever had.Too many and they lost control of them and what they were doing.Jake was the most senior of the prospects and had been with the Souls for coming up on two years.The other two were much newer.Sackett had been around a few weeks, not more than two or three months, and Savage had only recently arrived.
Asking them was a risk, he knew, but it was a calculated one.
"Can I say something?"Mac spoke up to be heard over the back and forth going on in small groups around the table.They all turned and watched him a moment, but it was Tuck he kept his eye on.
"Go ahead," the president said after a moment.
Mac cleared his throat and thought about standing but decided screw it, they could hear him from where he was.
"The way I see it, it's a bit of a risk, but it's a calculated risk."He paused a second, glancing around then continued."These guys know what we are, so that's not a risk.They knew before they opted to try to join.The risk is that they'll say no.But if they say no, are they going to have the character to stick this out, to do all we do and to get patched in?It would be a great test for them all."
All the men had been watching him with careful expressions but saw surprise on a few faces and could tell it was an angle they hadn't thought of.The slight curve of Tuck's mouth told Mac the president was pleased with his input.Personally, Mac had no doubts about Savage, and few about Sackett, but Jake had been with them long enough he could have been voted in when they voted Dumbass in, but the votes hadn't been there.It seemed like Mac wasn't the only one who doubted the kid.He was glad he wasn't the one responsible for deciding when the kid had been around long enough and was never going to be patched in.He'd seen it done a couple times over the years but had never had to deal with it himself.
The chatter rose again, but the tone had changed.After a few minutes, Tuck called out for them to sit down and shut up, it was time to vote.It took a minute or two but soon they were all back in their seats, watching the president in silence.He called for the vote and to Mac's surprise, it was unanimous.They all voted to let the prospects decide for themselves.Tuck called an end to the meeting and the brothers stood and made their way out, but Mac stayed where he was.He'd go but he wasn't in a hurry.He'd already let Elyse know he was busy tonight, so he had nowhere to be, so he waited until most of the brothers were gone.He looked up and found Tuck watching him.
"What?"he said, feeling a little defensive.
"You didn't know you have so much influence over the brothers, did you?"Tuck watched him with eyes that saw more than most people were comfortable with.
"I had no clue."Mac leaned back in his chair, there was no point in hurrying out, especially if the president wanted to talk.
"I got that feeling when you were so surprised, I wanted your opinion last night.We've got a bunch of brothers, some who've been around a good while, but you're one of the older still active members.You've seen more than a lot of these guys and while they may not be saying it, they're watching and listening."
Mac shook his head, finding it hard to believe, but he'd just had a live example that Tuck wasn't lying.And that Mac had been blind not to notice it sooner.
"I'm not sure I like that.It's more responsibility that I want to deal with.I just want to go to work, do my job, help my club.I don't want to be someone who makes decisions or has that much weight on my shoulders."
"We don't always get to choose our roles."Tuck sighed and looked away a moment then turned back to Mac."I didn't want to be president.I would have turned it down if I'd been asked, but I wasn't.You guys elected me, so I've served.Sometimes our personalities, or our experiences mold us into roles we would never choose for ourselves."
Mac watched the other man, wondering what the other man was thinking and not saying.It wasn't nothing, Mac knew.
It never was.
