“And you know damn well our women are going to outbid anyone else for our services,” Bulldog said with a chuckle. “Honestly, I’d rather just write a big check and not have to go through with it, but it’s not like I’m about to tell Abby ‘no’. She seems very excited about it.”
“This way too,” Demo added, “it’s not just women who will participate. And all the proceeds go to building the new wing on the library.”
“Do we have to dress up?” Keys asked. The kid was the youngest club member. He’d also been trying to make some changes recently, to which a lot of ladies in town were taking notice. In addition to his new glasses, Keys was growing out his beard and his dirty blonde hair, which was now just below his ears. After being discharged from rehab, Pumpkin had learned that Keys had also started working out with Angel regularly.
“Cuts are fine,” Steel answered.
“Can always wearjustthe cut if you want to drive up donations,” Ranger joked before lifting his shirt to show off his abs.
Once upon a time, Pumpkin would have been the first to remove his shirt for such an occasion, but now his abdomen was riddled with scars. So were both his arms and legs. His beard wasn’t just for looks, either. It hid the scar along his jawline from when his teeth had shattered and he’d gotten dental implants. He’d had the beard prior to the accident, so everyone just assumed that he was growing it out to where it had been.
Needing to lighten his mood and not think about being auctioned off for either a date or labor he wasn’t even sure he could perform,Pumpkin called out, “I can’t wait to see Scar on stage. He’d probably scare the entire town into donating down to their last pennies.”
As others chuckled, Pumpkin took a look around. But he didn’t see Scar. Despite his probationary status, Pumpkin knew he’d been attending Church meetings. He wouldn’t be outside guarding the doors.
“Scar would obviously be exempt from participating,” Steel said, his voice stern. “But if any of the rest of you try to back out, I will put you through paces that will make you long for your boot camp days.”
Shit. Pumpkin was hoping Steel would exempt him too.
Lucky stepped forward, holding up a pile of index cards. “Each of you is to fill one of these out. Your info, what you’re willing to do, hobbies, and such. Make sure you have them to Harper by tomorrow.” Theor elsewas implied.
Papaw stepped forward to take the cards from Lucky and start passing them out. Pumpkin uneasily took his. Really, the only thing he had going for him right then was being a single father, and he wasn’t sure that was a catch.
Pirate and Demo were standing up, their shirts raised to their nipples, arguing about which of their figures the towns’ ladies would love more. Despite the fact that both were in monogamous and airtight relationships. Given Sophia’s endless wealth, there was little chance someone would outbid her for Pirate anyway.
Steel hit his gavel against a cork coaster on the bar. “All right, enough. Settle down.”
“Are you going up on stage too, Steel?” Angel asked. Pumpkin noticed she also had a card in her hand. Were Angel and Cage going to bid for each other while on stage?
“I am,” he said evenly.
“I have it on good authority that the old biddies are going to create a bidding war for him,” Bear mock whispered to the room.
“As the only one with ovaries in the room, I can attest to that,” Angel added.
“Enough!” Steel repeated. “Now, are there any serious questions about the Fall Festival?” No one dared to question Steel’s conditionforseriousquestions. The President nodded once. “Good. On to the next matter of business:
“There are going to be some structural changes to the officers in the upcoming months. First and foremost, Keys has been voted in as our Tech. This will be a voting position, making Bear’s classification as ‘tie breaker’ obsolete. Therefore, it has been voted that with Keys’ added position, the Road Captain position will now be able to cast a vote.” Steel’s eyes slowly crossed over each of them. Pumpkin got a twisted feeling in his belly before Steel continued. “Additionally, I will be stepping down as President at the end of the year.”
CHAPTER 4
Silence filled the clubhouse. The shock Pumpkin expected at such a declaration, though, was absent. In a way, he supposed they all knew this was coming.
Steel had started theVia Daemonia. In a civilian world that made little sense after the indoctrination of military life, Steel was like a guiding hand, a voice of reason, and a sounding board of faith all wrapped up in one gruff personality. There was an honor to Steel that was rare in these days. He was even tempered and had a keen mind, one that was always looking for every possible solution before taking action.
The day Pumpkin had met Steel, he thought he was stern but fair. A familiarity he’d needed after a decade in the Marines. Pumpkin had still been questioning his decision about joining a motorcycle club, but he’d literally had nowhere else to go. His mom was dead, he had no siblings—that he knew of—and he sure as fuck wasn’t going to be seeking out his dad in this lifetime or the next. Rumors of a motorcycle club in Pennsylvania were circulating, and Pumpkin figured it couldn’t hurt to check them out, especially one run by a former Marine. He might have been floundering, but he knew in his bonesthat he would never become a criminal for the sake of being a criminal.
When the club had first been looking for members, the prospecting time was six months. Pumpkin was the first prospect to serve a year prior to getting his rockers. Then Cage, Angel, and so on. Grumpy, Ranger, and Ghost were the three who had only served six months.
The club had come a long way in almost nine years. But the one constant, the one thing that Pumpkin had never doubted, was Jenna and Steel.
For six years, Jenna had been the only ol’ lady. She’d put up witha lotfrom them, including walking into the clubhouse after nights of debauchery and waking them up with an airhorn.Nonewould be getting breakfast until the clubhouse was once again spotless, and they all had learned very quickly that Jenna’s food was not something one wanted to pass up.
Steel and Jenna had three grown children, Carter, Jordan, and Melanie, and an adopted teenage son, Ollie. Carter and Jordan were in their mid-twenties while Melanie was nineteen and in her first year of college. Ollie was sixteen now and a sophomore in high school. He’d grown up in a terrible situation, physically and emotionally abused by a one-percenter motorcycle club his mom had been a working girl for. Carter and his wife, Lucy, had also given Steel and Jenna their first grandbaby, a little boy named Drew.
Rumor had it that Steel and Jenna had been high school sweethearts, but Steel had been born on the wrong side of the tracks, as they say. They’d fought for their right to love, a battle raged in tears and heartache, but they’d prevailed.
Now they were fighting a very different battle. Last year, Jenna had been diagnosed with late-onset multiple sclerosis, or LOMS. The couple had kept the truth from the club for months, finally telling them only weeks before the incident at the bridge. As Jenna repeatedly told everyone, her diagnosis wasn’t a death sentence. It was a fight-to-live sentence, and she had no intention of waving a white flag.
