Shank was one of the older members and had been a prospect when Hawk, the man I called my dad, was a young member of the Ankeny chapter. Shank was a mean sonofabitch, but a loyal as hell brother.
“I doubt it. He and Mama were supposed to leave tonight for New Orleans; that’s why he was excused from church. His truck was acting up. Now they’re supposed to be leaving in the morning so they can check on Granmè and visit with the boys down there,” I told him. He nodded to me as he blew out a cloud of smoke.
“Well, I’ll sure as hell miss him, and I know everyone else will too,” he said. My dad had been a member of the club since he was twenty-two and fresh out of the army. That was another reason I’d joined. It made it a bit of a family tradition. Hawk was VP for several years, and only recently stepped down to “let the younger guys run shit,” as he put it. The Royal Bastards were family, though and they’d probably always be that way for all of us.
By the time Mom and I got up to Iowa, Hawk was about twenty-five. It didn’t take long for romance to blossom between the two of them, but he’d already stepped up and, along with the other members, was more of a father figure than my own had been for the first six years of my life.
“You have any idea what it is De Luca wants with us?” he asked me quietly as he took another drag on his smoke.
“None,” I said with resignation.
“I guess we’ll wait and see. You better get going. Catch you tonight,” he said as he blew out the next cloud in a series of rings.
Giving him a chin lift, I walked to my bike, slid the shades on, and roared out of the lot with a wave to the brothers who were outside. The trip home took a bit longer than the way there because I got stuck behind a truck going slow as fuck.
Finally, I arrived at my house. Since I had to cage it to get Zaka to the vet, I pulled my bike into the garage. Zaka was raising hell when I shut the bike off. He recognized the sound of all of my vehicles and was always tripping out when I got home. If it was anyone else, he was quiet and stealthy until he knew if the person was friend or foe.
A giant, black, furry form barreled into me as soon as I stepped inside, head shoving into my stomach. “Sit,” I said firmly, and he immediately dropped to his haunches.
Dark brown eyes stared excitedly up at me, and his entire body quivered with anticipation. The jet-black German shepherd waited anxiously for me to play. He was going to be pissed when he realized where we were going.
“Wanna go for a ride?” I asked him. His thick tail started wagging. I grabbed his leash and opened the door to the garage. “Load up!”
He bounded up into the Jeep and sat on the seat with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. If I’d had the doors on, he would’ve been whining to get in. With a chuckle, I put his harness on him and latched it to the rigging I’d installed on the seat. If I was gonna have to cage it, I didn’t want to feel enclosed, but I also didn’t want to take the chance of my dog falling out.
As I backed out, I looked over my shoulder, and he did the same. When we started down the road, he seemed to smile as the wind blew his hair. I chuckled at his antics.
The minute he figured out where we were going, I knew. His mouth snapped shut, his ears lay back, his eyes narrowed, and he swung his head in my direction as if to glare.
“Oh, come on, buddy. It’s not so bad. It’s just a checkup.” He blinked at me, and I swear he fumed. “You like the doc,” I said with a grin. Hell, I liked the doc.
He stared me down the last few blocks until we parked and I shut off the Jeep. I unclipped the harness and jumped out of the driver seat.
“Let’s go,” I said as he continued to sit his big ass in the seat. I waited for him to get down. “Dammit, Zaka, come.”
Still, he refused. “You are not winning this battle of wills, young man,” I said as I rounded the hood. He sat there looking down his nose at me.
“Motherfucker,” I muttered as I reached in and lifted his big ass out of the Jeep. He had to grunt and grumble as I did it, too. Because it was clinic policy, I clipped the leash to the harness.
When I started toward the door, he wouldn’t budge.
“Oh, for crying out loud! It was a joke!” I said as I threw my arms out and leaned slightly toward him. He had the nerve to turn his head away.
Laughter sounded behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at the vet tech, Veronica, sticking her head out of the door. “Is he still mad from the last time, when you told him he was getting fixed?”
Palming my face, I nodded.
“Surely he didn’t really understand that?”
I raised a brow in question. “You think not?”
“I know how to get him in.” She gave me a teasing grin, chuckled, and slipped back inside.
“Now look what you’re doing. You’re making me look like a shitty owner. Like I can’t control my own dog,” I grumbled as I stood with my arms crossed. I gave the leash another tug and tried to coax him toward the door. He wouldn’t budge.
“Zaka. Don’t you want to come see me?” I didn’t have to turn around. I knew exactly who had spoken, because my dick was hard.
My traitorous dog tipped his head to look around me. His big, fat tongue fell out of his mouth, and I rolled my eyes. “You’re pathetic,” I muttered, like I wasn’t the one with a boner.