Rhythm of the Road (Lost Kings MC 16)

I roll my eyes and he shoves me into the war room. He nudges me in Murphy’s direction on the other side of the table. We haven’t really come up with formal seating arrangements for when the two charters hold church together. Otherwise, we’ve adapted well.

“You mind if I take this one?” I ask Murphy, pointing to the chair closest to Rock. I’m not fond of sitting between Murphy and Teller. Feels too much like breaking up conjoined twins or something. They’ll spend half the meeting reaching over to smack or poke each other anyway.

“Nope.” He drops into the chair on my left.

Jigsaw swaggers into the room and as soon as his demonic eyes land on me, I brace myself for the choke hold that’s coming.

“Why you so far away from me, buddy?” he asks, wrapping his arm around my neck and kissing my cheek.

“Stop slobbering on me.” I reach up and dislodge him. “Whaddya wanna do? Sit in my damn lap?”

“Since you’re offering.” He attempts to squeeze his big ass in between me and the old, scarred table.

“Get the fuck outta here.” I shove him to the side, and he shakes with laughter.

Teller eyes Jigsaw warily and leans forward to catch my attention. “You wanna switch with me so you two can hold hands?”

“You’re one to talk.”

Murphy slaps him.

The rest of our brothers are just as obnoxious, but it’s all good-natured ribbing and shoving. Sparky ends up on one of the couches in the back of the room with some of the younger brothers, giving up his regular chair to one of downstate’s members. Stash razzes him a little but eventually joins him.

After Wrath drops his heavy frame into the chair on the other side of the table from me, Rock prowls in and surveys the room. He gives everyone a few seconds to shut their mouths before taking his seat and slamming his gavel against the table.

Z remains standing even though a chair has been added especially for him at the opposite end. Not sure if he’s got some extra energy to work off or if someone’s getting their ass kicked this morning.

“Welcome to our downstate brothers.” Rock nods at Z, then Steer and the rest of us. “Always good to have everyone here at the table, and we always appreciate you making the trip up.”

Murmurs of thanks go around the room.

“First order of business: the new clubhouse in Empire is almost finished. Z and I are riding down to take a look if anyone wants to join us later.”

A lot of hands go up. While it’s nice upstate will have a clubhouse that isn’t so far out in the middle of nowhere to entertain out-of-town guests, it’s not high on my list of concerns. The proximity to Crystal Ball probably has something to do with my lack of interest. I grew out of my fascination with strippers years ago. Whatever interest remained has been thoroughly snuffed out by working on our porn production company.

“Slater county—what have we heard from our Wolf Knight friends?” Rock turns toward Teller, so I guess he’s got the answer.

“Whisper’s still local. I’m working out the deal to buy the drive-in from him but I think he’s trying to milk all the summer profits out of the place before signing the paperwork.”

“Sounds about right,” Wrath says.

“Let’s continue to stay clear of Slater for now,” Z says. “Give them time to wrap things up and go before we move in.”

“Vermont?” Rock asks.

“No word from South of Satan,” Murphy answers.

“They been out hassling your boys?” Wrath asks with a hint of his usual dickish smirk.

“Remy and Griff are not my boys.” Murphy sneers. “And no. they haven’t seen anyone suspicious coming to the fights at the Castle. Eraser says no one out of place has been to Zips for weeks.”

“Good.” Rock nods. “Stay on top of it though. They make a move in our territory, we need to know about it. Loco’s got eyes in Ironworks so if I hear something, I’ll let you know so you can warn them.”

Murphy nods. “Thanks, Prez.”

I raise my hand. “I’m riding out that way tomorrow. I can stop and pay a visit on my way back.”

“How far west you going?” Z asks.

“The fairgrounds outside Kodack.”

“As a sign of respect, call Chaser before you head out.” While Z says it in a neutral tone, it’s an order not a suggestion.

“Yeah, no problem.” I cock my head. “You realize I didn’t slip this cut on for the first time yesterday, right?” I’m well aware of the etiquette requiring me to let another club know when I’ll be in their territory. Especially if I’m planning to wear my colors.

“Don’t get your boxers in a knot.” Z drills me with a more serious stare than usual. “Feel him out. Make sure he’s not pissed we turned down those jobs for his father-in-law. Smooth things over if he is.”