“Who’s here tonight?”
“Me, Pope and a few others. It’s quiet.”
I raised an eyebrow. I didn’t expect Hansel to be back just yet, but I had been expecting the others to be there. “No Cyber, or Havoc?”
Monster laughed. “Havoc might be inside somewhere, but if he is then he’s locked in his room with Darcie. And as for Cyber, he’ll be with Iris. Did you hear they’re having another baby?”
“Yeah, I heard.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Iris had caused a lot of problems for me and the club, but she had also given up a ton. So had Cyber. He had risked everything for me and given up his old lady to do so. It would be pretty shitty of me to begrudge them some family time now they were back together.
Still, it was strange thinking of those two young bucks all settled down and happy.
Or maybe I was just jealous.
Jealous that they were starting their families when by their age I had already lost mine.
“I’ll need to go and congratulate them,” I added as an afterthought. “Tomorrow or something.” Right then I wanted to drink. I wanted to drink my bourbon and maybe lose myself in a wet pussy or two.
Jack Daniels. Pussy.
My mind went straight to my sunflower, with her sharp tongue and amazing tits. She was still out there.
“Monster?”
His head shot up. “Yes, Prez?”
“There’s a woman out on the north road. I passed her on the way in. She has a dog with her so I couldn't get her back into town. Can you ask one of the prospects to take one of the cars…”
He didn’t let me finish. “Sure can.” There was a knowing look in his eyes. “Any particular reason?”
“Not safe out there at night.” I shrugged. What more could I say? That I wanted my little hippy with me where I could tease her body as she threw barely veiled insults at me? Or that no woman had got my interest like she had since the death of my wife?
Neither was information I wanted Monster to have.
“Hot?”
I couldn’t help answering him. “Extremely.”
Monster’s laughter joined mine. “It's good to have you back, Prez.” Slapping his hand down on my shoulder, he chuckled. “Does this girl have a name?”
My laughter died. “Yeah, her name is Sunflower.”
* * *
I was halfwaythrough the bottle of Jack that sat on the table between Pope and myself. There had been others, brothers that were happy to see me back, but they had wandered off, eager to do their own thing.
And I couldn't say I blamed them.
I wasn’t the best company anymore, hell, I hadn’t been the life and soul of the party for a long time. Middle age was creeping up on me, although I tried to pretend otherwise.
Nights like that, when the weight of the world was weighing heavily on my shoulders, I felt it more keenly. I was in my prime, I knew that, but there was only so much loss a man could go through and still be able to smile.
I was rapidly nearing that point.
“Where have you been?” Pope was barely able to tear his eyes from the woman who was dancing provocatively on the table behind me to greet Monster. Party or not, the club girls knew how to put on a show.
They were doing it mostly for my benefit, but if I was honest, I wasn’t interested in any of them. I wanted to drink, and forget the last few months, for a time at least. As the night progressed I might single one out. But I wasn’t there yet.
My mind was too full, it was hard to keep it all straight.
