Crash paused with his hand on the clubhouse door and warned them, “This is not the place you want to find out you have a drinking problem, understand?”
They both nodded.
Crash led them inside. He sat at a table with them and motioned to Crystal. A few moments later, she brought them each a beer.
Shane smiled up at her, “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Ooh, I love a man with manners.” Crystal smiled down at him.
Shane’s smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll remember that.”
“So, you knew Trevor?” Crash asked Jake.
Jake nodded. “Well, we called him Shaw. Well, to tell the truth we called him Face-Plant.”
“Face-Plant?”
“Yeah, he got that nickname by the platoon in airborne school after his first jump. Kind of self-explanatory.”
Crash smiled. “Really? Face-Plant, huh? I think he neglected to mention that little piece of info.”
Shane grinned, “I’m sure that was because he hated that nickname. Didn’t matter, though. He was stuck with it.”
Crash nodded with a laugh. “Yeah. That’s kind of how it goes around here, too.” He took a pull off his beer. “You boys on leave?”
“Naw,” Jake replied. “Our deployment was up in February. We got shipped back.” He nodded to Shane. “Both our enlistments were up at the same time, and we chose to get out.”
“Had enough, huh?”
“Not really. It wasn’t that. We both loved the action. We’re trained soldiers and damn good at it. Loved when we got to actually see action. There’s nothing better than doing what you’re trained for and what you’re good at.”
Shane picked up on that. “Things over there are winding down now, though, and if we’d re-upped we’d end up stateside on garrison duty. And that blows. After being in the thick of it over there? To have to pull a boring duty like that? Fuck no.”
Crash nodded. “I can understand that. So, you’re just traveling around the country?”
Jake shrugged. “Kind of struggling to readjust, man. You know? What I miss, well, what both of us found out we missed most was the brotherhood. You know what I mean?”
Crash could understand that. “Well, if it’s brotherhood you want, we got that right here. We’re always lookin’ for new members.”
“We were hoping you’d say that. We were both kind of interested to see what the MC life had to offer.”
“You guys got a place to stay?”
“Naw. Just hit town,” Shane replied.
“Well, you got a place to stay. You’re welcome to stay with me for a while, if you want.”
“That’d be great, man,” Jake said, smiling. “We’ve got some photos and stuff in our packs we wanted to give you. Some stuff I think your brother would want you to have.”
Crash nodded, not sure he was ready for all that. “Yeah, okay.”
Shannon walked back downstairs with Angel and followed her to the bar where Cole was sitting. When she didn’t spot Crash, she turned to Cole and asked him where he was. He nodded toward the table across the room.
“A couple of guys from his brother’s unit came by to see him. Maybe it’d be best if you gave them some time alone. Sit here with Angel and me.”
She nodded. Of course. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt them. He patted the seat next to him, indicating he wanted her to sit between them. She couldn’t help but wonder if that was his way of protecting her from any more of his brothers hitting on her. She sat, and Angel sat on her other side.
Cole looked over her head at his wife. “Mack wants Crash to bring her to the party Friday night.”