Abraham
When I came to, I was in a hospital bed, hooked up to some monitors, and the other members of Legends MC were sitting around playing cards in their cuts.
“Thanks for joining us, asshole,” Uncle said.
“How you feeling?” Vladdy asked as I looked down to see an IV needle stuck in me.
“Like shit. Get me the hell out of here.”
“You have to take insulin now,” Mac said, and boy, that awestruck respect he always had as the newest recruit had really dissipated since what I had said about Polly.
But since I was pissed at myself, I couldn’t complain.
“Boss, I don’t think I can take seeing your ass in that hospital gown anymore,” Fizz put in, and I snorted.
“Appreciate you coming. Asparagus too.”
“Course,” Uncle said. “We take care of Legends.”
He gave me a flinty-eyed look, and I knew exactly what he meant.
If—no, when—I got Polly back, she was going to be a full-fledged part of Legends. None of this bullshit about being a club bunny. Nope, she was my ol lady and the only one I ever wanted.
And when I got her back, I wasn’t going to be such a miserable fucking bastard anymore.
After Dr. Sharma had given me a prescription and told me I had to give up smoking and drinking if I wanted to make it to 60, I was released from the hospital.
The first thing I did on the way home was stop by a paint shop and an arts and crafts store.
Then I called a club meeting.
We sat around a circle as Mac handed around some print-outs from the new computer.
“My primary priority right now is getting Polly back.”
Vladdy grunted.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t know shit about women.”
“You should’ve known better than to perform for your goddamn idiot brother,” Unc said unsympathetically.
“I know, I know. I was a jackass. I need ideas now.”
“Prez, it says here women like it when men are in touch with their feelings,” Mac put in.
“Do you even have feelings?” Fizz snorted.
“Shut up. Obviously, I have feelings.”
There was silence for a moment.
Fizz coughed.
“Such as?”
For a minute, I bit my tongue. This shit did not come easily to me. Feelings and shit were not exactly prioritized when I’d been growing Legends from a small club under my father’s drunken mismanagement to the most respected MC in the region.
But I could either go my whole life having two feelings: “pissed” and “horny,” or I could sack the fuck up and work on this basic shit for Polly.
“Maybe you could practice having them,” Mac put in.
I gritted my teeth.
“Obviously, I have them. I miss Polly. It’s driving me fucking crazy not knowing where she is. Why the hell haven’t I found her yet? It’s been almost a month. I feel like I’m dying.”
I looked down at my hands.
“Let’s go around in a circle,” Mac said. “That’s what the paper recommends.”
We stared at each other.
This was ridiculous. What did a bunch of crusty old bikers know about their feelings?
“Yeah, Prez, you are not in touch with your feelings at all,” Fizz said. “It’s unfortunate.”
“Idiot! You didn’t even get the full name of the woman you’re into.”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t stupid enough to say something rude about Polly. I never would.”
“All right, all right,” I growled. “I acknowledge I was a bastard. Now what?”
“She’s the best thing that’s happened to this club,” Mac put in.
“Right, because now we have to eat your cooking, asshole.”
“I didn’t ask to cook,” Mac said indignantly, his beard bristling. “Really it should be Asparagus doing the cooking, only he’s even worse than me at it.”
“You fuckers better start having some feelings,” I said. “We’re joining the 21st fucking century. I’m even getting a cellphone.”
They all just stared at me.
“I’m taking Uncle on a real date,” Vladdy said.
For a moment there was silence again.
“Good for you, man,” I said.
“Finally,” Fizz said, “it was kind of obvious, you two.”
“It was not.”
“Yes, it was.”
“You talk a big game,” Uncle said grumpily to Vladdy. “We’ll see if you can live up to this date.”
Vladdy’s stern mouth was curved up in a smile.
“What about you?” Fizz said to me. “You don’t want Unc to be better than you. Look, he’s happy and you’re miserable. That should motivate you, you’re welcome.”
I sighed, looked down at my hands. They were twisted together, the scars from fights and equipment and the Shop criss-crossed across my fingers.
I’d been hard all my life.
“My feeling is. . . I think I might love Polly.”
“You picked a very strange way to tell her.”
“I know that, Jesus. I know I was an asshole. You don’t have to keep reminding me.”
“Look at Vladdy,” Fizz went on, because they were all determined to give me shit. “He’s happy because he told his feelings. You are unhappy because your feelings have constipated you.”
I thought longingly of throttling the old dickhead, when suddenly Asparagus popped up from behind the computer.
“Hey, Prez,” Asparagus said, his eyes shining.
Did he look like the traditional 1%er? No, he didn’t.
But I wasn’t going to be a traditional 1%er anymore either.
“I think we’ve got a lead.”