* * *
I was a little late to work, but I didn’t even care. Lane’s breakfast, an omelet with stir fry veggies and bacon with sausage on the side, was among the most delicious things I had ever tasted in my life. I think Beth was a little bit panicked, given the slightly frazzled state I found her in, but I reassured her that no, I wasn’t going anywhere.
With the worries about the Black Reapers largely in the back of my mind and my attention all but fully on the Fallen Saints, I had a great day at work. There was a tiny voice telling me that our indictments against the Saints weren’t worth the paper they were on, given the Saints’ violent nature, but hopefully, at some point, the National Guard or something could come in and take care of these assholes.
When work wrapped up, my mind immediately went to the one and only Lane. I may not have just wanted him for sex, but the sex from last night was still on my mind. It was incredible that it had happened in only a half-conscious state, and I wanted to see what it was like when I was fully awake.
I texted him and told him he could come to my place, or I could go to his at any time, so long as he respected the fact that we needed to be discreet. There would come a time when I could come out about dating him—government officials needed to have lives too—but this wasn’t it, most especially because we weren’t even ready to declare ourselves ready for a relationship, let alone anything else.
But when I got home, though, he still hadn’t replied. I couldn’t help but get in my head a little bit as I wondered if this meant anything. Had the time apart allowed him to realize sleeping with me was a bad idea? Had his thoughts about Shannon changed his mind?
I tried to just put it to the side and start preparing myself dinner. It would have been nice to have dinner with Lane, but I supposed I needed to recognize the need to move slow.
Then my phone buzzed. I hurriedly grabbed it, hoping it was a text alert. It wasn’t, but it was something that made me gasp all the same.
It was the worst kind of news I could have received.
Lane
There was one thing about last night that I hadn’t told Angela.
If she hadn’t come into my room around two a.m. and hooked up with me, I might have gone out to her and initiated the same thing. I just could not sleep, and I knew I was just trying to avoid the moment. It was just like my issues with the Black Reapers—I let myself drift above the issue and try and pass it.
Thankfully, by that time, I was too tired to put up much of a fight, and it was a real good thing that Angela just made sex happen. It was an even better thing that when I woke up and saw her naked by my side, I truly didn’t regret a thing about what had happened.
If I was going to have a feeling like this, a feeling of genuinely liking someone, I had never wanted it to be with one of the club’s bunnies, or one of the girls passed around all the time. I had never thought I was going to have the feelings I did, but to have it with a woman like Angela—determined, strong, fierce—made me feel much better about myself. In any case, I was going to have to move on from Shannon at some point, and who better than the person who most embodied her spirit?
Admittedly, it was still a little weird to think that it was one of her best friends I was dating, but it was helped in part by the fact that Angela never really was on the scene when Shannon and I dated. If she had been or if it was a cousin of Shannon’s, then that might have been insurmountable.
As it was, throughout the rest of the day, just before our evening church meeting, I was feeling mighty good about my life. Shannon’s name didn’t even pop to mind that much, which was arguably the best sign of all. I only saw things through the prism of Angela and me, not through anyone else. We had hope.
When I drove up to the shop on my bike, I literally felt the happiest I had since before we had learned my father was dying. The club members nodded at me, my shoulder was feeling better, I was on a sort of cloud nine with Angela, we had an effective plan for taking out the Fallen Saints—or at least a skeleton of one. I mean, what more could I ask for?
Really, what more could I ask for? A new bike? I didn’t need one. The Saints fully eradicated? That would be taken care of soon enough.
My brother to return and us to forgive each other?
I was surprised by that thought bubbling in my head. For now, though, I told myself to focus on the Saints and Angela first and then that question—if it was even worth a conversation.
I saw Patriot just outside the entrance to the hallway and went for a hug.
“Damn, man, you’re in good spirits today, huh?”
“I’ll tell you more when we get to Brewskis,” I said with a smirk. “But let’s just say it’s the happiest I’ve felt in over a year.”
“Holy shit, man! Someone got laid last night, huh?”
“It goes well beyond that,” I said, patting his arm with my lame arm as if to prove a point.
When I walked inside, as usual, the men entered in their usual order. Butch and Axle nodded to me upon entry, a rare sight in the past but hopefully a common one going forward in the future. Father Marcellus and Red Raven came next, and Patriot entered last, taking a seat.
“Good afternoon,” I said.
Ironically, now I had to control my happy mood at this church meeting. Too much excitement, the opposite problem from before, would draw questions about how serious I was. In other words, it would draw the same doubts as when I was arrogant and aloof, just from a different end of the spectrum.
“Last we talked, I wanted us to come up with some ambush ideas.”
Left unsaid was that I had hoped for an ambush opportunity in between the meetings, but then again, it had only been a day. Maybe I was letting my eagerness and excitement get in the way, but there were worst things to deal with, I suppose.
