“Uncle Bill had his attorney look into it.”
“What?”
“Dad had until noon that day to turn himself in. He took the coward’s way out. He didn’t want to go to prison, Shannon. It was as simple as that. He didn’t think about what this would do to Mom, or you or me. He didn’t think about us at all. And anything in that note that says any different is bullshit. It was a purely selfish act. He was thinking only of himself.”
*****
Late that night, Cole, Wolf, Cajun and Green returned to the clubhouse, walked in and sat at the bar. Crash walked in behind them, grabbed a bottle from behind the bar and moved past his brothers to a dark table in the corner. Cole’s eyes followed him. He hated having to stand by as his brother fell into a deep depression. Not even Crash’s brothers, who had always been a family to him, could help him with this pain.
Not even other women could get his mind off the grief. He just wasn’t interested in them. If one tried to come on to him, he shook them off. The first time he tried to be kind about it. If any of them were brazen enough or stupid enough to try a second come on, he got nasty, usually barking at them to leave him the fuck alone.
Wolf looked over at Crash. “Maybe he needs to get laid.”
Cole tapped his cigarette in the ashtray. “Yeah, but there’s only one woman he wants.”
Mack walked up and took a seat next to Cole. “How’d it go?”
“To hell,” Cole answered.
“What happened? You get the money?”
“Yeah. Artie’s not gonna be a problem again.”
“You sure?”
“After the way Crash roughed him up, yeah.”
Mack could see his VP was still bothered by something. “And?”
“We’ve got another problem to deal with.”
“What’s that?”
Cole lifted his chin towards Crash. “Him.”
“Yeah? How’s he doing?”
“We met up with Wolf, Green and Cajun at Marty’s on the way back.”
“So?”
“Crash earned his name again today,” Wolf put in.
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s just say we owe Marty a new window,” Cole explained.
“Christ, another bar fight?”
Wolf grinned. “You should have been there. He threw this poor son-of-a-bitch through the window, and the guy didn’t stop rolling until he was half way out in traffic.”
Green laughed. “And then he threw his barstool out after him for good measure.”
*****
That night, Cole lie in bed with Angel cuddled up against him, his fingers stroking up and down her arm. “He’s no better.”
“The time back home didn’t help?”