“I’m sending my girl back to college early.” Justin drummed his fingers on the table. “Do we have a spare prospect to send with her? I’ll pay for it myself.”
I raised my mug, cutting my eyes at my VP who managed the prospects. “Raul, what do you think?”
Raul considered my question. “With all the shit going on, we need to keep our most experienced here. We could send that pretty surfer dude with Emilee.”
Justin growled. “Hollywood?”
Some of the guys called the prospect Hollywood because of his perfect blond hair and tanned skin. The nickname seemed to stick.Heartthrobmight’ve been a better name. Not very tough for a road name, but neither was Hollywood.
Raul turned toward Justin. “He’s strong and muscular but has little experience. Although, he can handle a gun well.”
“You could send Ire with him. He could use the rest,” Track suggested. “He won’t admit it, but I know he’s still recovering from his head injury.”
I refilled my mug. “Yes. Send Ire with the prospect. Now, we have the run coming up next month. It’s not been on my mind because of the fuckin’ Hunters.” I paused as some brothers dug into the food. “Hero’s been on it.” I nodded to my SAA. “But we need these maggots gone. We can’t do the run and leave the compound vulnerable. I don’t want to call in a marker for reinforcements.”
Grunts came from around the table. We needed to preserve the few markers we have. Burning another one, so soon after the Fallen Soldiers helped us last month, was stupid as hell.
“I’ll need a minimum of six brothers.” Hero looked around the table. “But I’d prefer ten.”
I reached for a slice of breakfast pizza, thinking. “What do we have, two or three weeks?”What is wrong with me? I should know everything about the run.
Hero scratched the top of his head, mouth full. “Not quite. Eighteen days.” He drank his coffee, then cleared his throat. “The Italians don’t play games up in Canada. I want to be there in sixteen days, in case we run into any problems.”
“Shit.” I gritted my teeth. “Continue getting the arms in order.” I turned toward Justin. “If you want to get your girl out of town, do it by Thursday. We’ll be moving to eighteen-hour shifts on Friday.” I made eye contact with each man. “School resumes soon. I don’t want my woman going back to work if the Hunters haven’t been eliminated.”
My brothers grunted.
“Okay, let’s take care of shit.” I hit the gavel on the table, ending church. “Eat up.”
We powered down the food and coffee. As the room cleared out, I told Track, “I need you to stay behind.”
He eyed me with a curious expression. “Yeah?”
“Let’s take a ride into town.” I cracked my neck, getting up. Taking this step with Angel was insanity. Never in a million years did I think I’d want to get married, but here I was, wanting to propose to my girl.
“Where to?”
I stared my best friend in the eyes. “The jewelry store.”
Fuckin’ Track flashed me a Colgate smile. “For what?”
“What the fuck you think, brother? You’re not this stupid.”Jerk.
“No, no, I am.” The damn fool smirked. Only Track could act like an idiot with me and get away with it. “Gimme the words, brother.” He laughed, fake punching me in the gut.
“You’re an asshole, you know that? I want to buy my girl a diamond ring.” I shook my head, leaving the room.
“About fucking time.”
“Seriously?” I glanced back at him, striding out of the building. “We’ve only been together a little more than a month.” But I was ready to legally bind myself to Madeline for life. Even after death, in the afterlife, we would remain one. Nothing could ever separate me from my Angel.
The sun hitting my face felt good. Not a cloud was in the sky. I hoped it meant good things were coming my way, like ayeswhen I asked Madeline the most important question ever.
“Yeah. For you? A week with the same woman is huge. A month? That’s a lifetime.”
I considered Track’s words as I straddled my bike. Raising my eyes to clear blue sky, I smiled, imagining Angel’s eyes. I’d known her for more than half my life—longer than everyone in the club. The twelve years apart didn’t matter. She was home to me.
The way she had looked at me when she was a kid had made me feel like a king. Like I’d hung the moon for her. She still looked at me the same way. It was so damn easy to be with her. My soul could breathe when we were together. She was my safe haven, my soul mate.
I put on my sunglasses, jerking my chin to Track. “Let’s hit it.” I had a diamond to buy.