Cody could hardly get out of bed the next day, but despite his pain-wracked body, he couldn’t get the stupid smile off his face. It was almost eight before he limped out of his room and down the stairs. Tank already had breakfast going and the clubhouse was packed. It looked like everyone on the ranch had come out to eat. Jimmy was there, sitting with Beezy and a couple of the club girls. Dax and Angel were sitting with Handsome and Callie. Pablo and Nolan were there and several of the younger prospects that Cody hadn’t spent much time getting to know. The old regulars who had been in the club since before Cody was born all looked to be there as well. The only person he could see that was missing was Macy. He knew she didn’t work on Saturdays—she'd told him the vets office only took emergency calls on the weekends—so he figured she was still avoiding him, or Jimmy, or both.

Brew and his father were sitting at the bar, eating, drinking beer already, and shooting the shit with some of the guys. Cody said good morning and went into the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee. Tank was there, and another guy they called Gordo.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hey, Tank, Gordo. Smells good in here.”

“Of course it does,” Tank said with a gruff laugh. “Get you a plate?”

“Yeah, as soon as I get some coffee.” Cody poured himself a mug full of coffee and then leaned up against the counter and took a drink of the steaming black liquid, savoring it as it ran down his throat and into his veins.

“I hear you’re gonna be our newest prospect,” Gordo said.

“Yeah, tonight’s the night. You guys are going to go easy on me, right?”

The two old-timers laughed. “Sure, kid,” Tank said. He held out a full plate and said, “Eat up, you’ll need your strength.”

Cody rolled his eyes and took the plate. He was looking forward to the party and getting his prospect patch. He was slightly anxious about the meeting between Stitch and Scalper. Stitch was supposed to text him when they were almost to the club, but he hadn’t heard anything from him yet.

He took his plate and went back out into the great room. Brew and his dad were already finished eating and playing a game of darts with some of the guys in the corner. Handsome and Callie had gotten up from Dax’s and Angel’s table so he carried his plate over there. “Mind if I sit here?”

“Not at all,” Angel said. “I hear you’re being honored tonight at the party.”

News traveled fast on the ranch. There probably wasn’t anyone that didn’t know. “Yep. Honored tonight, humiliated for the next year or so.”

Angel laughed and Dax smiled. “It’s a rite of passage, kid.”

One that Dax never had to go through, but Cody wasn’t about to bring that up. “Yep” was all he said.

“So Hannah tells me you two are old friends.” Cody had a flashback to the night before. The one thing he hadn’t really thought through until that moment was that he’d fucked the girlfriend of a cop in the front seat of that Mustang…a cop that just so happened to be the brother of his president’s old lady.

“Yeah, we go way back.”

“Where do you know her from?” Dax asked.

Cody smiled. “You don’t remember her?”

“You know her too?” Angel asked Dax.

Dax shook his head as Cody said, “Harley Yates.”

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Dax said in disbelief. “That little red-headed devil is…Hannah?”

“What little red-headed devil? What are you two talking about?” Angel asked.

Still smiling Cody said, “Harley…Hannah…was quite the little troublemaker in her day.”

“No way. Hannah is sweet and quiet. She’s one of the smartest, most studious, law-abiding…” Cody and Dax both lost it on “law-abiding.” “What?”

“Let’s see,” Dax said. “I remember the shoplifting incident pretty well. They were both about twelve years old and the little demon decided she wanted to steal a bottle of Jack Daniel’s from the grocery store in town. Lucky for them I was good friends with Mac Arbor, the son of the people that owned it back then. He called me instead of the police. Then there was the time she talked you into climbing the fence at the public pool and pouring Jell-o into it just to see if it would set…and there was the cow-tipping incident, and the missing piece of farm equipment…”

Angel had a shocked look on her face. “Surely you’re thinking of someone else.”

“Nope,” Cody said, “It was all Harley and me and sometimes Jimmy, and it was all her idea.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Dax laughed and put his arm around her. “He’s not lying, baby. Her daddy thought he was the badass one, but I saw it firsthand—that little girl was possessed or something.”

“Her father is the DA. She told me he was super strict when she was growing up.”

“That’s true,” Cody said. “But his need to control her backfired.”

“But I’m sure she’s settled down now that she’s grown up,” Dax said. He must have suddenly remembered she was Kyle’s girlfriend.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Cody said. He and Dax laughed again. Angel looked like she was still trying to process it when Cody’s phone dinged. He glanced down at it under the table. It was a message from Stitch that said:

“Liam and the rest of the guys will be there in half an hour. I’m at the Roadside Inn, room 222. I’ll expect you and my old friend within the hour.” Cody excused himself under the guise of getting more gravy. He put his plate in the kitchen and slipped out the side door before texting:

“And when do I get to meet your uncle face to face?”

“If all goes as planned today, I’ll set it up for Monday morning. We’ll need some time to get to Jersey.”

“Okay. See you in an hour.”

Cody took a deep breath, stuck the phone back into his pocket, and headed back inside. He scanned the room again and found Scalper had left the dart game and was pawing all over May again. Shit. Cody had a plan to get him out of the clubhouse and off the ranch without Brew, but he wasn’t going to be able to do it if the old man was in the back room getting lucky. He was trying to figure out what to do when he saw Macy walk in. She looked over where Jimmy was sitting with a girl still on either side of him and then she scanned the room until her eyes fell on Cody. He smiled at her. She nervously, smiled back. When he walked over toward her she looked like she wanted to run. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Avoiding me?”

“No, I’ve just been…busy.”

“You doing okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, this had to be the most uncomfortable conversation I’ve had in a long time.”

“I’m sorry, Cody. I don’t know what to say.”

He nodded. “Me neither.” He looked back over at Scalper and May. “Can you do me a favor?”

Macy looked a little suspicious as she said, “What’s that?”

“Can you think of a reason to pull May off that guy in the corner?”

Macy looked in the direction of Scalper and May and then back at Cody. “Why?”

“Do you need to know why? Can’t you just do it for me? Trust me?” He felt a shiver of guilt about asking her to trust him when he was doing something he knew would piss Dax off. A prospect is not supposed to get involved with other clubs without his president’s permission. Technically he wasn’t a prospect, but Dax expected everyone on the ranch to abide by those rules. Cody knew if Dax knew what he was up to, he’d try and stop him, and he needed to do this, for Keller.

“Fine. I was actually looking for Callie. Our boss called. He’s got an emergency surgery on a cat this morning and he’s looking for volunteers to come in. Maybe I can talk May into going.”

“Does she work there too?”

“No, but she volunteers sometimes.”

“Cool. Thanks, Macy. I’ll owe you one.” She gave him a look like he owed her more than that. He had another flashback to the night before. He didn’t feel guilty about being with Harley. Macy had made it clear they were through…but it did feel a little strange. He watched as she went over to talk to May and then he scanned the room, looking for Brew. He felt relieved when he saw Lucy was all over him again, sitting in his lap in one of the recliners near the dart board. That should keep him busy for a while. He looked back over at Scalper. May and Macy were headed out the back door and Scalper looked pissed. Cody went over where he was standing. “How’s it going, Brewster?”

The old man downed what was probably his third beer of the morning already. “It sucks. Why the fuck do your club girls have fucking jobs? Our club girls’ one and only job is to keep us happy.”

“Sorry about that. Hey, I have to take a quick ride. You feel like riding with me?”

“Where you going?”

“I have to pick something up for Dax out at one of the motels near the highway.”

Brewster raised an eyebrow. He’d been asking a lot of questions about the club, what they were into and how Dax ran the club. Cody was hoping he’d be curious enough about what he was “picking up” to go. “Yeah, sure. A ride might be what I need. I’ll get Brew…”

“He seems busy,” Cody said with a smirk in his direction. “Maybe we should let him enjoy his morning.”

“Fuck. I should take that little cunt from him and let him ride with you.” Shit, shit, shit! If Brewster refused to go, Cody was fucked.

He took a breath and tried to sound casual as he said, “Sure, but I’ve heard May puts her to shame on her knees, if you know what I mean.”

“But May’s not here.”

“She’ll be back. We won’t be gone long.”

He grumbled something else but said, “Alright. Let me get my riding gear out of my room.” Cody nodded and as soon as Scalper headed up the stairs he breathed a sigh of relief. He went and grabbed his own gear and stuffed it in a bag in case he saw Dax on his way out. He was happy to see the great room had begun to thin out by the time he came back downstairs. Scalper was waiting for him, and Cody breathed another sigh of relief when the two of them passed through the outer gates and hit the highway. He was one step closer to the revenge he’d craved for over eight years. He didn’t care what anyone said; even though he’d already given up eight years of his life, he slept better at night knowing one of those bastards was roasting in hell and the other one was trapped inside of a body he’d never be able to use again. Last time Cody checked with his lawyer, the guy was lying in a nursing home in Connecticut, verbally unresponsive and unable to walk. He didn’t feel bad about that at all. It’s exactly what the bastard deserved for what he put Keller through.

The ride went smoothly, and when Cody turned off the highway into the parking lot of the motel he was happy to see there weren’t many cars in the lot. He saw Stitch’s hog parked in front of room 122 and he parked next to it. Scalper parked on the other side and they both climbed off the bikes. “You want me to wait here?” Scalper asked. He looked pleased when Cody said:

“No, it’s cool. You can come up with me.”

Cody took out his phone and texted Stitch, “We’re here.” He got a text right back that said:

“I know. I’ve got eyes on you.” Cody got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He still didn’t trust Stitch. He wished he knew what the “business” was that he had with Brewster. Stitch wanted to do the meet alone, and once Cody was gone, no telling what would happen in the room, and what either man might report back to Dax. His nerves felt raw as he knocked on the door.

“Come on in.” Cody turned the knob and pushed open the door. The curtains were pulled and the light in the room was dim. He could make out Stitch’s form sitting on the edge of the bed. “Come on, step in and close the door,” he said. Cody stepped inside and Scalper followed him. Cody reached back and closed the door. That was when Stitch stood up and reached over and flipped on the light. Cody was looking at Scalper, whose face went pale at the sight of him.

“What the fuck? You’re supposed to be dead!” Stitch smiled and Scalper looked at Cody. “You set me up? You little fucker!”

“Set you up? No, he just wants to talk to you…” It was at that exact moment that Cody realized just how naïve he was…or stupid, maybe. Stitch was holding a gun and it was pointed right at Scalper’s head. One man was going to blow the other’s head off and Cody was going to be stuck right in the middle of it all, if he lived to tell about it. “You son of a bitch!,” Cody yelled at Stitch. “Put the gun away. You gave me your word…”

Stitch laughed. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, kid.” He looked at Scalper and said, “Why don’t you tell this boy how we know each other?”

“He’s my brother,” Scalper said. “My brother who raped my wife. Fucker’s supposed to be dead. It’s what my mother loves to bitch at me about the one time a year or so that I see her. I pushed her golden boy out of the nest and he never came back.”

“Bullshit. I didn’t rape that bitch and you know it. She told you that shit because you caught us together and she didn’t want you beating her ass. She sat there and watched you cut me. She walked out with you while I was bleeding. You both thought I was dying and you just left me there. I didn’t go back because I couldn’t go back. Fucking look at me! Even the best surgeon couldn’t fix this hole you put in my face. You made sure of that. I was better off disappearing and letting everyone think I was dead. I thought that would make it easier to find you, and kill you. But I didn’t know what name you were using until I heard the kid here say ‘Brew’ had been his cellmate. You not only stole my son; you gave him our grandfather’s name.”

“He was always supposed to be my son and if Granddaddy had lived…things would have been a lot different for me. He wouldn’t have let that hateful old woman beat me and favor you. I gave him Granddaddy’s name out of respect for the only person who ever loved me.”

“Poor little Stephen. Nobody loved him,” Stitch said in a taunting voice. “Everyone picked on him. His mommy was mean. So, he grew up and tried to kill his brother and kidnapped his brother’s son.”

“You raped my wife! You got her pregnant! You deserved to die!”

“Then you should have made sure I was dead. Instead I spent the past twenty-five years in hell on earth. I’d rather be dead than be one of these disgusting bikers. This wasn’t supposed to be my life and you know it. I haven’t even seen my own mother in a quarter of a century!”

“You’re the lucky one, then,” Scalper said. “I just saw our mother yesterday. She’s still a bitch.”

“Stitch, come on, man…” Cody tried again.

“Shut the fuck up, kid!”

“This wasn’t the deal.”

“The deal was I get a face-to-face with this fucker. We never talked about what I’d do with it. Tell me you don’t plan on killing Jimmy when you see him.”

“That’s not the same…Jimmy killed my brother.”

“This motherfucker killed me. I had a life. I had a good life. I wasn’t a piece-of-shit biker like him. I was working for an investment firm. I had a house and money and cars…”

“And my old lady. You always thought you could have any fucking thing you wanted. But I showed you that you were wrong, didn’t I? I took my old lady and the seed you left in her belly and took away that pretty face of yours that you used to seduce her.”

“Seduce her! She was a fucking whore, a club girl. She was there to be fucked and yes, I fucked her. I’d be willing to bet that everyone else in that piece-of-shit club you belonged to at the time had already fucked her before me. The bitch only cried rape when you showed up. You brought that trash into our family home and let her see how much money there was. That’s when she wanted me, she wanted to make sure that at least one of us wanted her. She was so pathetic that she believed one or the other of us would marry her. Then that day you walked in on us, she realized that you were the one she had the most to fear from. She was afraid you’d kill her because she knew what a crazy son of a bitch you were. Where is she now, Brew, huh? Where is that old lady that was worth my life now?”

Scalper smiled then. Cody thought Stitch might be right. The look in Scalper’s eyes at that moment was pure crazy as he said, “Sadly, she didn’t make it through the birth, bled to death right there in that motel we were hiding out in. It was tragic. But the baby was healthy. A bouncing baby boy…he looks just like his daddy too.”

Stitch took a step forward and Cody could see him tightening his grip on the gun. The young man knew he had to do something or within the next twenty-four hours he’d be back in jail…and on his way to prison. He cursed himself for being such a fool. He should never have trusted Stitch. He probably didn’t even know Jimmy O’Toole. Stitch was just about to shove the gun into his brother’s temple—Cody knew it was then, or never. While the other man’s focus was on the man he was about to execute, Cody let fly with the most powerful right hook he’d ever thrown. It caught Stitch on the chin, the gun went up into the air, and simultaneously a bullet went through the roof and Stitch went down and struck the back of his head, hard, on the bedside table.

Cody looked down at the blood already pooling around the man’s head. His eyes were open, but there was no life in them as he stared up at the ceiling. It took Cody just a half a second to realize that Scalper was already out the door and that he’d better move too. He followed Scalper, racing down the stairs and to his bike with everything he had inside of him. He jumped on the bike and before he started it, Scalper was already pulling out of the parking lot. Driving the bike through traffic at crazy speeds was nowhere near the kind of fun that riding in that Mustang with Harley the night before had been. Cody’s heart was hammering against the wall of his chest; he was sweating and he felt like something was squeezing his lungs and not allowing enough air into them to let him to breathe.

He and Scalper rode like the devil himself was chasing them until they were about a mile from the ranch. That was when Scalper pulled his bike off the side of the road. Cody stopped too, unsure of what the other man was doing. He got off his bike just in time to meet Scalper’s fist. He wasn’t expecting it and it knocked him on his ass.