Chapter Three
It was a shitter of a thing. The kegs of beer were outside on racks, because there was so much of it, but the bourbon, the really pricy stuff that many of us favoured?
That shit had been stored indoors, and should have been secure, but a shelf had apparently given out under the weight, and the entire fucking stash was destroyed.
“How the fuck did this happen?” Micro, our Pres, was clutching at his hair in horror, as he backed away from the growing puddle of alcohol soaking our storeroom floor.
“Oh no,” his old lady gasped, trying to follow him into the room, but he stopped her, hissing at her that there was broken glass everywhere.
“What’s the holdup, Reacher wants to get things… what the fuck…” Stitch leaned on the doorframe and gaped at the mess. “Who the fuck did that? Do you have any idea how much that shit costs?”
Micro huffed a big pissed off sigh. “Of course I know how much it fucking costs. I’m the one who fucking arranged all this.”
“Well, this isn’t exactly what we had in mind, interim president.
Maybe you should have stored it with more care.
” Hell, they were never letting up on him, and he’d done so well with the club.
Only I knew the full story of his time with Phoenix MC, because we got drunk one night, and he talked my ear off.
I knew they’d given him a chance here, but they had to actually give him a fucking chance if they wanted him to succeed.
The thing was, I was pretty sure most of them were counting on him failing instead.
I just wasn’t prepared to let that happen, because I actually liked the fucker. And this club was my home.
“This is on me, VP, I unloaded these with some of the others, and I made the decision on where it was stored. It’s my fuckup.” Micro shot me a grateful look, and turned to Stitch, just as he opened his mouth to chew me a new one.
“Everything happens with my approval, so it’s on me. Appreciate Harley having my back though, you know, like club brothers are supposed to.”
Stitch fixed his eyes on the mess, instead of responding to that dig from Micro, which in my opinion was pretty fucking justified.
“So we’re out? There’s no backup stash anywhere? No extra bottles tucked away?”
We both stared him down. Did he think we were ripping off our own fucking club?
“We just have the kegs now, and that new stuff that just arrived from Don Rossi.”
Stitch frowned. “I didn’t know he was sending anything. Get with Grease, and check it’s legit.”
“Wow, no shit, really? Why didn’t I think of that,” Micro grumbled, heading out of the room, while I stared at Stitch for a moment.
“Why will Grease know that?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Because that fucker knows everything that happens around here, or anywhere, you know, like Ice does, for us.” He glanced at the mess again. “Guess you need to get your prospects on this. I take it the beer hasn’t taken a nose dive too?”
I knew it hadn’t, but I kinda wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, since he was being such an insufferable prick.
“He does a good job,” I said instead, realising it was completely off the subject. Stitch groaned, running a hand through his hair.
“Look, there’s a whole story to what happened with him, and despite the way we are with him, I know he’s done us proud.
” He sighed, clearly not aware I was in the loop on all that shit.
“I just… I struggle to tell him that, or not be a prick, because I can’t forgive the shit he did.
It’s my problem, I know that, I’m just… fuck.
I’ll try and rein it in, but no promises. ”
I nodded, grabbing a broom and starting to sweep the glass into one section of the floor, grimacing as the pool of bourbon moved like a fucking mini tidal wave.
“For the record, he told me everything, and I get it. It’d be hard to trust a guy after that, but if you don’t think he’s put every fucking ounce of himself into this club, into a new Phoenix chapter, and into proving himself to you, then you’ve had your fucking eyes closed for too long.”
Stitch was silent for a moment, so I took my eyes off the mess I really didn’t need to be clearing up, because that’s what prospects were for, after all. Finally he chuckled to himself.
“Yeah, maybe it’s time I opened them. I swear, I’m not the prick I’m coming across as. You’re a good man, Harley. You’d make a good VP. Ever considered it?”
Huh. I honestly never expected him to say that, now or ever. Had I thought about it? Maybe idly, as a ‘what if’ kinda thing, but not with any real serious belief it’d happen.
“I know I’d put a hundred percent of myself into backing my Pres, yeah, but when do we find out if that’s gonna be Micro or not? You gonna ever take that ‘interim’ off his fucking cut?”
Stitch smirked. “Well… stranger things have happened, my man, even at Phoenix.”
Has-Been
Ididn’t want to be here, and I was pretty sure Elise definitely didn’t want to fucking be here, but we were patching over a new chapter, and it was all hands on deck.
Well, with the exception of two prospects left behind to watch over our clubhouse.
Fuck, I just wanted to be back there, and away from this shit.
Elise had finally stopped having the nightmares every damn night, and I really didn’t want this to set her back again.
“Babe?”
She lifted her head, her chin firmly rising as if to say ‘I’m a fucking goddess, and I can handle this’. And yeah, she fucking was, and she fucking could.
“This gets too much, we’re out of here, okay? I don’t care if it pisses off Reacher or your brother. You’ll always be my priority.”
She bit her lip, and my eyes practically fucking zoomed in on that one action, because I was so used to her doing that when she was feeling horny, and shy about telling me.
“Fuck, babe, don’t give me a boner right now.”
Elise giggled, reaching up to cup my cheek, brushing her thumb gently over the light stubble there.
Yeah, I might have finally decided to grow a beard, but it was taking forever, and I swear it made me look younger instead of older.
At least my hair was now a bearable cropped style, rather than that just-skinned look I’d sported for so long.
I still missed my dreads at times, but my head felt lighter, and now Elise could grip fistfuls of it as she rode my face, and that’d never get old for me.
Was it worth keeping it as it is in future? Fuck, yeah.
“I want to talk to Micro,” Elise suddenly declared, and any thoughts of sex fled my mind, as shock and horror set in.
“No,” I blurted, before I mentally facepalmed, because wasn’t that like daring her to fucking defy me, just to prove I wasn’t the boss of her? I knew I wasn’t, but this was a bad idea.
Sure enough, that stubborn look entered her eyes, and she lifted her eyebrows.
“I just mean it could make things bad for you again, and you’re doing so well, baby. Don’t you want to just keep moving forward?”
She sighed, casting her eyes around us, and meeting Lissa’s, and suddenly I knew exactly what the fuck was going on.
“She suggested this?” I was ready to yell at her, for fucking putting stupid ideas like this in my woman’s head, but Elise pressed a finger over my lips, and shot me a sassy glare. Oh, I’d already fucked up, hadn’t I?
“Babe,” I tried murmuring, even as her finger pressed harder against my lips.
“It was something we’ve talked about in my sessions with Lissa, yes, but it’s important, Has.
I need to move forward, like you said, and talking to him, especially now, when he’s been trying so hard to improve, is just going to make it easier.
I need to see him being a good guy, a decent guy, so that I can finally dispel the horror of his old persona from my mind, and move on.
” Yeah, that was Lissa speak for getting closure, and moving on, alright, just like the way she’d been suggesting I consider taking things further, with regard to my fucking ordeals years ago.
As if I’d willingly revisit that shit though.
I gently took Elise’s hand, getting her finger away from me before I sucked on it, and dragged her somewhere to fuck this idea, and any other crazy ideas, right out of her.
“Babe, I ask this with all the love in the world, and respect for Lissa, but are you sure she isn’t just trying to get you to make peace with him, so it strengthens his position for returning to the club as a fully patched member?”
“Wait. I thought he was going to be? That’s the point, right?”
Fuck.
“I just mean that-”
“After all this, they’re planning to oust him? But he’s worked so hard!” Did I ever think I’d hear Elise standing up for Micro of all people? Fucking hell. This wasn’t going well at all.
“I’m not saying that’s what they’re planning, baby. I’m just saying that whether or not Lissa thinks he’s reformed, I’m not convinced, and I don’t think they are either.”
Elise shook her head, tugging her hand from mine.
“I don’t care about that right now. What I care about is needing to chat with him, because I need to put some stuff in my past and move on.
I want to move on and focus on our future together.
I can’t do that until I say the things I need to say, and hear how he reacts to them. ”
“Can I at least go with you? I don’t want you alone with him.”
My sweet brave girl petted my cheek, and shook her head. “I need to do this alone, but… I mean, you’ll be nearby, right?”
Just try and fucking stop me.
Elise
Some might say this really wasn’t the right time or place for this, because Micro would be caught up in preparations for the patchover, and probably getting stick from everyone in the process, but it had to be now, because today was the day I was feeling brave enough to try this.