Even Tate seemed broken by the news of Harry. He’d made a connection with both Harry and Deeks since we’d moved into The Hut. He’d looked up to them like a pair of young grandfathers, their opinions meaning the world to him, especially as they were teaching him things about his new bike. He now spent a lot of time with Libby, alone.
Finding some level of normality was becoming increasingly more difficult. There was a hole without Harry around. A large crater that seemed lost without his larger than life personality filling it. The Hut felt too quiet without that resounding cough of his to fill the odd silences that sometimes hung over the place.
Then there was Eric...
Eric Tucker made me nervous.
The man was just as formidable as Drew. He was as commanding, authoritative, and strong, which was exactly why the two of them seemed to come head to head on every little thing they discussed. The constant strain was like living in a wolf pack with two alphas. Both men were leaders, but one of them was no longer in the position to call the shots, and he consistently forgot about that. When he apologized, it was always with an underhanded compliment ofI was just making sure you made the right decision.I don’t think he realized how condescending he was being. I also don’t think he realized that Drew would only take him undermining him for so long before he snapped, especially with everything going on and the added stress to him, the club, and the businesses.
I, more than anyone, knew something would have to give sooner or later, and I had to admit, my money was on my man. He was focused on the future of the club, and focused on getting Harry out on bail and supplying him with the best defense money could buy. Something that was a huge source of contrition for Eric.
The two crashed heads every time Harry’s name was brought up, going at one another like feral dogs barking through a fence. Eric just didn’t have the backing Drew did. He wasn’t the president, and he never would be again. He’d made his choice, and every man wearing a cut had made that clear at one point or another during his stay.
Eric had been a surprise for all of us, but the fallout of the shit that had gone on at the party was just as energy zapping. All of us now had our own crosses to bear. Including Autumn, who I’d been concerned would never return to the club afterher ordeal.
Thank God I’d been wrong.
Since the gunfight at the back of Rusty’s, Autumn now spent every weekend at The Hut with Deeks, and she didn’t seem inclined to stop the new habit. She was another old lady in the mix of things, alongside me, and she inadvertently became a den mother to the whores. The incident—though horrific and still visible in pale yellows and greens on her cheeks—had only made her stronger. To me, she was a bit of a superhero.
I loved having her around for several reasons, but my favorite was the way she spoke to Eric. He had a habit of barking out orders, almost as though he couldn’t help himself, and Autumn was more than happy to remind him that he was at the bottom of the totem pole. I think I even heard her mention that Kenny had more authority than he did, but I pretended not to hear because even though he and I weren’t exactly friends, he was Drew’s father, and I had to stay neutral.
Rusty’s was closed for a week after the party, though not by choice. As an active crime scene, they needed to keep people away, but I think the authorities behind that decision were the very same ones who had gone after The Hounds for the death of Jacob Hove in the first place. Rusty never blamed the MC for this extended hiatus, and neither did Janette. They were upset about a week of income loss, but they aimed their frustrations at the system that had caused the elongated closure of the business. An event which had spurred our lawyer to dig into all of the laws revolving around the situation, and managed to stop the inexcusable miscarriage of justice, allowing Rusty to open the diner again.
I hadn’t been to work since they’d reopened.
I hadn’t wanted to cause any more problems for two of my favorite people.
Neither one of them liked that I’d chosen to stay away for the week since they’d reopened. Neither one liked the fact that I asked them not to put my name on the schedule. They’d accepted Libby as a new waitress to cover my shifts for a while, and she would probably stay there even if I chose to go back and work, but for the time being, I just needed some time with Drew and his band of brothers. I needed to be there for them.
Drew and I had tried to visit Harry the day or so he’d been in the county lockup, but he’d refused all visitors. He’d also refused bail, pleaded guilty to all counts, and declined the doctor Drew had tried to sneak in through his lawyer. I knew Harry wasn’t trying to hurt Drew. This was just his way of protecting himself, Drew and the members of the club, but whether or not it was his objective, the lack of communication killed Drew.
The bastards of Babylon—as I had dubbed them—had the judge make a special arrangement later the same afternoon, and after pleading guilty to all charges, Harry was sentenced to life for murder, they didn’t even bother with manslaughter. The next morning he was transported to Huntsville.
There had been a couple of days that I’d had to drive to the county jail and found Drew glaring at the glass doors with fury burning in those blue-green eyes. As though being there would make Harry appear and give us all a fighting chance to bring him home.
A chance that would never come.
There were some nights I needed solace and would find myself in our room, flipping through the pages of a bridal magazine I’d picked up without really thinking about what I was doing. My engagement was a small ray of sunshine in the sadness that shrouded us these days. I could spend hours looking through those glossy pages and imagine the big lit up letters spelling love making a division between The Hut and the repo holding lot. Seeing all those leather-clad bikers lined up in front of the soft words was an image that made me smile.
I was laid on my stomach, trying very carefully to tear out a wedding dress from a page when the door was thrown open, and I was forced to cover the magazine with the edge of the blanket, rolling on top of it as I looked over my shoulder and found Drew leaning against the door jam.
“You scared the shit out of me,” I confessed, making sure the magazine was completely covered. Though I was pretty sure my heated cheeks were giving me away.
He’d not looked soft since Harry had been taken away, but leaning against that door with his legs crossed at the ankle and his arms folded loosely over his chest, there was a glimmer of my old Drew.
I’d missed him.
“Sorry.” He smirked softly, chucking his chin up and glancing at the bed. “What you got there?”
“Eh, just a magazine,” I responded, folding my arms over it.
He raised a brow and interrogated me without saying a damn word.
“Porn,” I lied, grinning up at him. “Variety is the spice of life and all that.”
“Porn? Now we’re talking. Let me take a look.” Hewasted no time in pushing off the doorframe and striding across the room toward me.
Fuck.
