“Yo, VP, your guest is just coming up the road,” the gate prospect yelled out to me, and I made my way over to greet Henley. I’d heard the distinctive roar of his ride as he approached, but seeing it was a whole different thing. He wasn’t kidding. He really had aVincent Black Shadow, and I guided him in to where he could park as the gates were pulled closed behind him. I waited until he cut the engine and lifted off his helmet, stepping off her, before I started scrutinising every detail. She was a gorgeous machine, with all original parts, and showing careful, beautiful restoration. I couldn’t afford one in a million fucking years, but if I could… damn…
“You want a few minutes alone with her?” Henley asked, smirking at me when I straightened back up.
“I have so many questions, man, but I feel like you wanna see the place first, and shoot the breeze with some of the guys.”
“This place already looks better than it did when I stopped by last. Some prick called Reaper got in my face, and put me right off.” UghReaper. Yeah I remembered that asshole, of course.
“Yeah, good riddance. Anyway, so you’ve seen the entrance, and this is the place. It’s not much, I know, but we’ve got big plans, man. I’m talking a complete rebuild, but that’s not common knowledge yet. Just want you to know it’s going to get so much better.”
Henley nodded, walking with me as I led him towards the office and lounge building. I pointed things out along the way. The storage house, which was locked, of course, and the barrack style lodgings at the back.
“Church is around the back of this building, but this is the lounge, and offices for Club President, and our Tech Specialist-”
“You make me sound so cool, man,” Grease said, stepping casually out of his office, like he hadn’t been watching our approach to time it just right.
“Henley, this is Grease, the aforementioned guy who’s kinda good with computers, even if he’s a nosy prick.”
Grease smirked. “Guilty as charged, welcome, man. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s home.”
“You sleep in your office?”
He laughed, slapping Henley’s back hard enough that he staggered forward a step. Token behaviour for a biker who seemed to like the guy he was borderline abusing.
“Yeah, you’ll fit right in. You going to say hi to the Pres, man?”
“That was the plan. Uh… is it safe?”
Grease snorted, backing away from Micro’s door. “Look, all I’m saying is back when Sophie was here all the time, I’d have said hell no, but he’s got a tablet in there, so anything could be happening,capisce?”
Ugh. The temptation to walk away, or ring the fucker first, was pretty strong, because we’d all seen things at this point, no matter how discreet he thought he was being with his old lady.
I decided, reluctantly, to sack up and go knock on his door, and his instant response to come in was a big fucking relief.
“Pres, just wanted to bring Henley by to say hi,” I said as I opened the door and gestured to Henley to follow me. Micro stood up and shook Henley’s hand, gesturing to one of the chairs opposite his desk.
“You want a coffee?”
Henley shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m good. Thanks for letting me come by and meet you guys. I briefly met the old club here, those fuckingRogues, and that was enough of a hell no for me to look elsewhere, but I really want somewhere local to hang, you know? I was a member of a club in Henley for a while, but left on good terms when I moved here.”
Micro grimaced at the brief mention of theRogues, as did I, because we knew what those assholes were capable of, and a cullhad been the only course of action to take, even if it had led to some payback later.
“I like to think we’ve…” Micro trailed off, shooting a shit-eating grin at Grease, who groaned dramatically.
“Oh come on, man,not again…”
“I like to think we’ve risen from the ashes of the old club,” Micro said with a triumphant smirk.
“Feel better now? I swear I’m gonna keep a fucking tally on the fucking wall, and therewillbe retribution.”
I exchanged a grin with Henley, because these two could argue for Britain, and clearly intended to.
“You guys done?”
Micro grinned widely. “I’m just saying, this place was a real shit-show, and now it’s awesome. The people still remaining in the club are the good ones. The ones who weren’t into the shit the other club was into. They just want to ride, and enjoy life. Hell, we even did our first toy run to the local children’s hospice recently, and we’re doing another one just before Christmas.”
I had to admit it felt pretty good to hear those words, because wasn’t it just proof that the club itself was improved? Would Crusher have cared about sick children? Not unless he could milk money from their parents in some scheme that’d hurt all of them, and benefit only him.
“Yeah, I want in on the next one,” I added, jerking my head at Grease to close the door before I continued, “I mentioned to Henley about some of the refurb stuff we’re going to be doing. Just to highlight how this place is changing for the better.”
