“Loyalty means I’ve got your back, Brother, no matter what. Whether you’re right or wrong. If you’re wrong, you better believe we’re gonna talk about it later.”
That got a laugh from the brothers.
Crash pulled Shane in tight for a hug. “Love you, Brother.”
“Dog pile!” Dog shouted as they all swooped down to pile on the hug.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The boys entered their third bar of the night. Taking the prospects out on their first night as full-patched members to celebrate was a club tradition. And the older members all took that responsibility seriously.
Wolf moved up to the bar as his brothers crowded around. Crash sidled up to the bar next to him. The place was packed, and it took several minutes to get a drink. When they all finally had one, they made several toasts to their new brothers.
Afterward, Green leaned over to Jake and put his arm around him, leaning in to shout in his ear over the crowd noise and music, “Let me give you some advice about women, now that you’ve got your patch.”
Jake grinned at his new brother, who was already quite shit-faced. “What’s that, Green?”
Green got a shit-eating grin on his face and proclaimed in a sloppy drunken whisper that was really more of a shout, “If you lick them, they will come.”
Jake, who was just taking a hit off his bottle of beer, almost snorted it out his nose. When he recovered, he looked over at his new brother. “Good to know, Green.”
Green nodded and rubbed Jake’s head. “I love you, man.”
“Love you, too, bro.”
Then Green moved over to Red Dog and threw his arm around him.
Dog looked over at Green. “You tell me you love me, and I’ll knock your lights out, you drunk motherfucker.”
Green just gave him a drunken grin. “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
“Bullshit,” replied Crash, having fought the man in the cage on fight night on more than one occasion.
Undeterred, Green continued talking to Dog. “You and me go together like Assault and Battery.”
Wolf chuckled. “More like Asphalt and Road Rash.”
Dog shoved Green away. “Get off me. Go find some dumb blonde to bother.”
Green wandered off.
Wolf grinned and commented to Dog, “He likes you.”
“Well, I am a good time.”
Jake looked over at Shane and said with a grin as he raised his beer to his lips, “It’s very possible that our brothers have undiagnosed mental disorders.”
Red Dog corrected him. “Our brotherhood is built on a solid foundation of alcoholism, sarcasm, inappropriateness, and shenanigans. And don’t you forget it.”
Shane held his bottle up. “Amen. To brotherhood.”
The rest of them clinked bottles.
Dog moved in to stand on Wolf’s other side. “I’m halfway through this beer. Time to order another.”
Crash agreed. “You put your order in now, you might get it about twenty minutes after you run out.”
Dog laughed at him. “That’s Sturgis for you. Which is why I always bring my own.”