“That’d be the club coming back,” I say and drain my glass. “Let’s go greet ‘em, prospect.”
We stroll outside and watch our club as well as the six Desert Dogs from El Paso pull in and shut their bikes down.
“Who’re they?” the prospect asks.
“They’re the club Rio wants to patch over.”
“Patch over? You mean they’re gonna be Saint’s Outlaws before me?”
“Yep. That’s what it means.”
“That sucks.”
“Don’t worry, kid. Your time will come. Punk’s too.” I jerk my head toward the door. “Better go make sure you two have got the coolers stocked. We’re gonna have a party tonight.”
“Son-of-a-bitch,” he mutters low, and goes to do the task.
I grin and take in Rio and Zig as they approach.
“You hold down the fort, Blue?” Rio asks.
“Yep.” I make no mention of my visitor and change the subject. “But I don’t think my staying was really necessary.”
“Still, I felt better about it, especially with DKs in the area still a possibility.”
“I get that.” I lift my chin to the new men. “So? Things went well?”
“Yeah. I think they’re gonna work out just fine.”
“Does that mean we’re having a patch-over party tonight?”
“Yeah.” He turns to the new men. “You boys remember Blue from his last trip down, right?”
They all nod.
Rio points at each man and refreshes my memory on their names. “This is Vic, the Desert Dogs president. He’s gonna to be our new Secretary.”
I shake his hand.
Rio points to each man down the line. “This is EZ, Trip, Rush, and Dragon.”
I shake each man’s hand.
Prez lays his hand on the shoulder of a gray-haired man. “And this old guy is Papi, he’s our new chaplain.”
“Really? Didn’t know we needed one,” I say, shaking his hand, and the old guy winks at me.
“We can all use a little prayer, right?”
“Guess so,” I agree. With these six guys, we’ll have twelve men, plus the two prospects. It’s a lot better than the six ofus originals. It’ll give us better odds going up against the Devil Kings if it comes down to it.
Rio meets my eyes and nods his head toward the door. “Go to my office and get the patches Zig ordered. They’re in the top drawer. Meet us in the chapel. And bring the brass bowl. I want to get this taken care of right away. We’ve got business to discuss.”
“Sure thing, boss.” I walk inside, and the men all follow, moving down the hall.
I find the manilla envelope containing the center patch, plus the top and bottom rockers. Then grab the large, shallow brass bowl off his credenza.
When I walk into the room, Rio’s already seated at the head of the table. I lay the envelope down in front of him and put the bowl down, too. Then take the chair on his right, which is my usual spot as Sargeant at Arms. Zig sits to his left. Next to me is Bagger, our enforcer. Across from him is Mauler, our road captain, and next to him is Bandit, our treasurer.
