“Either way, we have to be careful. More than ever,” Reese said. He reached into his pocket and took out the obituary. “We can’t forget the sins of our past.”
He slid the paper across the table and stood up.
“Shit,” Hawk said. “I almost forgot about that.”
“I didn’t,” Reese said. “Remember that time? When we fought too many wars at once? When the badge pushed hard at us? When we pushed back? When we thought we had fucking friends?”
Levi clamped a hand to Reese’s shoulder. “That’s where you were today? Digging through memories?”
“Digging through the past, Levi,” Reese said. “Because the past gives us a hint to the future.”
President and VP had a short stare down. Reese would never back down from Levi. Even if it was a sign of disrespect. It was up to Reese to look bigger than Levi could. Reese was royalty when it came to the club. Levi had simply worked his ass off to get the patch. So, respect flowed both ways for the sake of the club.
“Let’s have a drink,” Levi said. “To our fallen brother, Laszlo.”
Just hearing his best friend’s name made Reese writhe inside with anger.
Zac slid his shot glass across the table to Hawk. “Drink mine. I’ll drink from the bottle like a man anyway.”
“Here, here,” Levi said. “Let those black angels guide him along the dark road and find the freedom we all keep in our hearts.”
Everyone took a drink and slammed their glasses down to the table.
Reese smacked his lips together and wanted another drink.
“What’s the plan, Prez?” Hawk asked.
“The plan is to talk, vote, push forward with the MC,” Levi said. “That means our deals stay on and stay strong. We keep our eyes open for anything with the badges. Keeping contact. You, old man…” Levi nodded at Luca. “Use a goddamn phone.”
“Over my dead body,” Luca said.
“You realize the technology in these things?” Zac asked. “I mean, it’s not what you think anymore.”
“Technology,” Luca said with a groan. “I don’t need that shit in my life right now.”
“Dead horse,” Reese said. He lit up a fresh smoke and casually looked around the table as it seemed that everyone was looking at him for some kind of advice or something. “Look, I didn’t dig up that picture to stir up old shit. Lasz was my best friend. We grew up like brothers. I still keep an eye on his stepsister.”
“I bet you do,” Hawk said. “Do you make her call you herbrotherwhile you’re fucking her?”
Reese could handle most of Hawk’s bullshit. But not when it came to a comment like that. Reese grabbed his empty shot glass and tossed it at Hawk’s head. It hit him perfectly square in the forehead. It didn’t actually cause any damage, but it was enough to get his full attention. Hawk jumped right up, lip curled, anger burning in his eyes.
“Don’t ever say that again, brother,” Reese said, strangely calm. “I would never do that to Lasz and I would never do that to Steph. I’m making a fucking point here.”
“We get the point,” Levi said. “There was a time when too much was happening at once and we lost more than we bargained for.”
“His life wasn’t a bargaining chip,” Reese said. “And none of our lives will be either. I say we have Ellis double check the books and find out where we are with our cash and our inventory. And we actually figure out where we stand from a business standpoint. And as a club.”
“Hey, the front part of this is working just fine,” Levi said, referring to the plumbing and repair business that was run out front. “We are getting by without issue.”
“This shit is going to catch up to us,” Reese said. “Hopefully we’ll control it before the badge does.”
“Let them try and fuck with us,” Brett said. “Watch what happens.”
“I’ll take a bullet to the head before I get charged with anything for this club,” Jason said.
The enforcers were in full swing, as they always were, ready for war.
Reese knew the club was strong and would stand strong. But they were also stubborn. The business end had been widened in the last few years, giving them all a cushion. Reese had planned for that cushion to give everyone a chance to see what could be, but all it did was fuel the fire that burned in their outlaw blood. Not that Reese could argue with it. They owned a massive piece of land where they had the building for the plumbing company. They had a lot right next to the plumbing business for custom work on motorcycles. Then at the very end of the property was the salvage yard. Taking a page out of their brothers from Frelen, it was nice to have junk lying around, because sometimes it came in handy when hidingthings.