Baddy nodded.Message received.Kodiak was looking for him.
He walked around the rollaway and approached Kodiak.His president didn't turn right away, but Baddy knew he'd sensed him.
"Prez," Baddy said.
Kodiak faced him."Good.You're here.Saves me from sending someone to drag your ass out of bed."
Baddy arched a brow.Not once had he overslept in all the years he was due in at the clubhouse."What's up?"
Kodiak pointed toward the open bay door."After the next shipment goes out, you're back on the escort crew.We need your experience to get the truck loaded and out of Vancouver."
Baddy widened his stance, relieved to regain his position within the club."Yeah.I'm in."
Kodiak studied him for a moment."Things better at home?"
Home.Funny how that word meant something different now.
Baddy exhaled slowly."Headed that way."
"Good."Kodiak grunted."Baker's going through hell."
"That's his own doing."Baddy met his gaze."You should know that Lydia's my old lady."
"Figured that was coming."A beat passed.Then Kodiak said, "Is she gonna keep working at Patty's?"
"That'll depend on what Lydia wants once she puts back the pieces of her life," Baddy said."Not my call to make."
Kodiak's mouth twitched in approval."Good answer."
The conversation ended there, clean and simple, the way things always were between them.Kodiak went back to barking orders at the prospects.
Baddy headed to the far side of the garage where the Mustang waited, taped off and primed.He grabbed the spray gun from Flash, adjusted the nozzle, and grabbed his mask.
The first sweep of paint hissed out in a smooth, even line.The task calmed him.Work.Noise.Focus.
It was exactly what he needed.
Because as much as he wanted to be home with Lydia, giving her the strength to go on with the new life that was handed to her, she needed space to breathe.To think.To figure out who she was now that everything she believed about her past had cracked open.
He'd be there when she was ready.
Until then, he'd keep his hands busy and his head clear.
The paint mist settled around him in a fine cloud, and the steady hiss of the spray gun drowned out everything else.
For now, that was enough.
