It was one week from the day that Cody had met with Stitch, and he woke up with his chest and stomach filled with anxiety. He had called his friend Brew in California and lied out his ass about wanting to talk about becoming a prospect for them. He invited him and his father out, using the excuse that his PO was still watching him pretty closely and he wouldn’t be able to be gone long enough to get out to Cali and back without making her suspicious. Brew had been up for it and he was going to talk to his dad. Today was the day Cody would try and manipulate Dax into letting them stay on the ranch. He knew the Irish Mayhem were visiting again the upcoming weekend, and it would be his chance to get Stitch and Scalper together.

He got dressed and went down to the kitchen in search of coffee. What he found was Macy and Tank making breakfast. It was the first time he’d seen her since the day he left the hospital. Jimmy had come home the next day and Cody just assumed she was taking care of him. She looked up when he walked in and looked sick. That look was becoming less than flattering.

“Hey. Just grabbing some coffee,” he said.

Tank said, “Macy and I have been finishing a pot a morning since she moved back home, but it was my day to cook today.” Cody looked at them. Tank was smiling and Macy rolled her eyes. Tank obviously wanted him to know she wasn’t living with Jimmy. Macy just as obviously didn’t want him to know or she wouldn’t have let a week go by without telling him. “I’m gonna go find Angel and give her my grocery list. You two kids should take advantage of the quiet and talk.” He got another look from Macy. Cody smiled at him. He couldn’t help it. The old man was less than subtle. As soon as he was gone, Macy stood up to leave.

“You don’t have to go,” Cody said, “I’m leaving.” She just nodded and he asked, “How’s Jimmy? I haven’t seen him at the clubhouse.”

“I don’t know much. Some of the club girls are taking care of him.” If Cody knew club life like he thought he did, without Macy around they were likely taking care of him in more ways than one. “I heard he was doing okay.”

“That’s good. So, you’re staying with your dad?”

“Yeah. It’s for the best.”

“What does this mean for us?”

“Us? Cody, there is no us.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“What are you talking about? We’ve done nothing but say ugly things to each other since you’ve been back.”

“We have eight years of shit to work through. I’m sure there’s a lot more ugly to come. But the bottom line is that I still don’t want anyone else and I’m pretty sure you don’t either.”

“I’m not sure how you know what I want, Cody. I don’t even know myself.”

He took a sip of his coffee and started for the door as he said, “Alright. When you figure it out, you know where to find me.”

“Cody, what about…what about the abortion?”

He turned around to look at her. Those pretty eyes were filled with tears again. He knew that she hadn’t gone through with that abortion lightly. He knew her well enough to know that eight years later she was probably still tortured by it. He’d just been so pissed off that she hadn’t talked to him about it. “It’s done, Macy, just like what I did is done too. I didn’t talk to you about what I intended to do that night because I was afraid you’d try to talk me out of it. I don’t doubt you felt the same way. You were the one that was going to be left behind with a kid, not me.”

“It honestly wasn’t that I didn’t consider you, Cody. You just had so much going on. Your life was falling apart and your freedom was taken away from you and you couldn’t help me…I knew that would be the worst part for you. Even when we were little kids, you always wanted to fix things and make them better for me. Remember how many nights we spent camped out under the stars because I couldn’t stand being in that house with Dad and one of his whores? Even after Dax brought you here and you had a clean, comfortable place to go at night, you’d sleep on the dirt, in the cold, to get me out of that house. You listened to me talk about my mother and you never judged her. You never judged Jimmy the way the other kids did because of what his mother did. You were a wild one, Cody Miller, but you always had a good heart. So yes, I had the abortion because I couldn’t imagine bringing a child into this mess. But the reason I didn’t talk to you about it was because I didn’t want you to have to sit in a cell for fifteen years thinking about the kid and the life you never had and not being able to do a damned thing about it.”

It still hurt, to think he could have had a kid. It was funny how family meant so much to a guy who came from shit. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that alone, Macy.” Cody was beginning to realize…albeit slowly…that his actions did affect other people, often in negative ways.

“Thank you for saying that. I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did.” He nodded and started to go again and she said, “You’re not sticking around for breakfast? Dad made homemade biscuits.”

“I’ll be back. I have to find Dax.”

“He was out in the shop earlier. Tool was doing some work on Angel’s car, I think.”

“Okay, thanks.” He smiled at her. “I don’t know where all this shit is going to lead us, Macy…but I missed the hell out of having you in my life for the past eight years.”

“I missed you too, Cody.”

He could feel her watching him as he left. He was feeling good right up until he saw Dax’s face. For a few seconds, he wasn’t sure that he could go through with it…lying to him. What Jimmy said about how much he owed Dax was in the forefront of Cody’s mind. He was trying to tell himself that as long as it wasn’t hurting anyone, it didn’t matter…but in all honesty, he had no clue what Stitch intended to do. He was a wild card, but the only card Cody was holding that would get him where he needed to be…in a room, alone, with Johnny O’Toole.

He took a deep breath, pasted on a smile, and walked over to where Dax and Tool were looking under the hood of Angel’s car. “Hey, Dax, Tool.”

“Hey, kid. Did you get your license in the mail yet?” Dax had taken him to the DMV, and he’d passed both his written and driving tests and been given a temporary license. Dax had seen him at the mailboxes the day before and was having fun teasing him.

“Not yet,” he said with a grin. “I was kind of wondering if I could ask you a favor.”

Dax put down the wrench he was holding and looked at Tool. “You need to talk privately, kid?” Tool asked.

“Nah, I have this friend who’s going to be in town over the weekend. His father’s coming with him. I was just wondering if they could stay a couple nights here on the ranch.”

Dax raised an eyebrow. “A friend?”

“Yeah, remember the guy I told you about, my old cellie?”

Dax raised both eyebrows. “The Cen Cal Commie?”

“Yeah, Brewster is his name, they call him Brew. He’s a good guy, Dax. I think you’d like him.”

“What are they doing in town?”

“I didn’t ask for specifics. I just know they’re handling some business.”

“What kind of business do they have on the east coast?”

Cody shrugged. “I didn’t get nosy,” he said. Dax would believe that, because as curious as Cody was about the Skulls’ business, he never got nosy about that either.

“I can’t say that’s okay without talking to Liam. I don’t know if the two clubs have any history, and I don’t want a war on my ranch.”

“Sure.” Cody also knew Dax would say that. Stitch assured him that Liam had no history and no problems with the Commies. The business between Stitch and Scalper was personal and older than his affiliation with the Irish Mayhem.

“Alright, I’ll let you know after I have a chance to talk to Liam. Where are you and Jimmy?”

That caught Cody off guard. Dax hadn’t talked to him about Jimmy or Macy at all since the accident. “Um…I guess the same place we were before.”

“Macy’s staying with Tank. Are the two of you…?”

“No. I didn’t even know she was staying with Tank until a little bit ago when I saw them in the kitchen. If you want my honest answer, I’d like for the two of us to end up somewhere. But don’t worry, I’m not going to get you or the club involved in my romance problems.”

“That’s good. I know that you’re still figuring things out, but Jimmy’s been valuable to me in a lot of ways. I’m ready to patch him soon. He doesn’t even know that, but I felt like I should tell you.”

Cody felt a pang of envy. He always thought he’d be the first to patch into the club, growing up. “Thanks for letting me know. I guess now is as good a time as any to ask you about being a prospect.”

“That’s what you decided you want to do?”

“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, Dax. This club and being a part of it is what I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.”

“I guess I was hoping you may have changed your mind about that.”

Tool cleared his throat and mumbled something about getting a drink. Once he was gone Cody said, “Why? Do you not think I can handle it?”

“It’s not that. Cody, I watched you grow up. For a while, I was your guardian. I always felt like your other older brother. This club is in my blood and when Doc died I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to take it over, or watch it fall apart. But I guess I’ve always wanted more for you than worrying about walking that line between business and the law. I don’t want to live to see you in prison again, or worse.”

“So are you telling me you won’t let me be a prospect?”

“No. I’m telling you my thoughts about it. The decision has to come from you. It’s your life, not mine. Just know if you’re a prospect for my club I’ll expect the same things from you that I do all the other prospects. No free rides.”

Cody laughed. “I thought you were going to say you’d expect more.”

Dax smiled. “We’ll see,” he said.