Cody was early for his meeting with Dax. He stood at the locked door of the meeting room with huge butterflies in his stomach, wondering what Dax had in mind to do to him. Everywhere he looked around the ranch, someone was cleaning up a mess. He’d taken a walk out to the shop earlier that morning and found Tool reorganizing the office the police had pulled apart. Cody had pitched in and helped him, but neither man spoke about the elephant in the room. If this kept happening, and happened often enough, they’d eventually find something to bring the club to its knees.

“Cody.” Dax came up and startled him.

“Good morning.” Dax nodded and stuck his key in the lock, letting Cody go into the room before him. He took the seat he’d been in just about a month ago, answering for punching Jimmy out his first night home. He’d been a sarcastic little dick that night, and he wondered how Dax had kept from knocking him out.

Dax took his seat on the other side of the table and said, “So here is what I know. They found your fingerprints only on the outside of that doorknob. There were a lot of fingerprints on the inside but they were too smudged and mixed to get anything useable. They didn’t find the gun that left the bullet in the ceiling in their search of the ranch, of course. They say they have a witness that puts you at the motel with Scalper around the time of the murder. I don’t know who that is, but because of what Liam said, I believe them. But the man we do business with from Cincinnati was in town yesterday. I knew that when I told them that’s who you were there to meet. He’s got a legitimate online porn business and he has no problem telling them you met with him to give him our newest DVDs. So, they’ve got shit in a nutshell, Cody. They can’t tie you to Stitch’s death, no matter how much they want to.”

Cody’s mind was trying to process that. He’d already almost accepted the fact that he was going to have to turn himself in and go back to prison. His mouth was dry, but when he could speak he said, “So, are they going to leave us alone now? I mean, everyone else on the ranch. I’m sorry that I brought this all down on them. It’s not fair.”

“They’ve all been through it before, Cody, you know that. I’ve been the center of more than one shakedown myself. We get through it together and we move on. The only thing that’s going to come out of this that might be far-reaching is Liam. He’s convinced you killed Stitch and he’s pulled out of our business arrangement. My fear is that he’ll be gunning for you, for revenge. I want to tell him about Scalper. It will take the heat off you and our club. Stitch lied to you and you had to protect yourself.”

“But then Mayhem goes gunning for Scalper…and maybe Brew.” Cody had been raised on the premise that you never, ever, no matter what, snitched. He knew that was especially true when talking about brothers and cellies.

“Maybe. Liam would be a fool to get into a war with the Commies. They had upwards of two hundred men in their crew. They’re armed and ready for whatever comes their way, whenever it comes. He might try to find a way to underhandedly take them down, but I doubt that he’d engage them in a full-on war.”

“What about your business with him? Do you think he’ll come around on that if we tell him the truth?”

“I don’t know,” Dax said. “I hope so.”

“Okay,” Cody said. “Whatever you think is best for the club, I’ll go along with it.”

“Good. Now, let’s talk about Johnny O’Toole.” Cody felt that old familiar crunch of anger in his chest at the mention of the loan shark’s name. He nodded and Dax went on. “I’ve kept tabs on what he was up to over the years. I never forgot the promise I made to you, Cody, the timing has just never been right. Our club isn’t that big and even though you were locked up, I’m sure you heard how badly the war we were in with the Sinners hurt us.”

Cody nodded again and thought about Hawk. “Can I ask you something, not about O’Toole?”

Dax raised an eyebrow but said, “Okay.”

“Do you remember when they took me and Keller away and left him at a residential home for boys and took me to live in foster care?”

Dax nodded. “That was the first time you ran.”

Cody wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly felt ashamed of that. He didn’t want Dax to think he ran at the first sign of trouble, but if he was being honest, that was what he did most of the time. “Yeah. Hawk found me and brought me here, remember?”

Dax nodded. “That was during the first split between Hawk and Dad. I think that’s what brought them back together—you. Unfortunately, that didn’t last, and Hawk’s leaving the second time was what prompted that expensive, bloody war between the clubs.”

“Why did he leave? I always heard it was about power and money…everybody hated him so I think that’s why I suppressed that memory.”

“It was about a lot more than that. I only found that out recently. I’m not going to talk about it, because it disrespects our memories of a lot of people in the club that we’ve grown up looking up to. I’m just going to use it as a lesson that there is no right or wrong way to be a family. The only thing we have to remember is that when we became a part of this, we gave up the right to just think about ourselves.” Cody nodded again and Dax said, “Now, back to O’Toole. I have an idea that might just get us back into Liam’s good graces, take care of finishing the job he was working on for us, and…take care of O’Toole, all at once.”

Cody felt that same thrill race through him that he had when Stitch told him that he’d help him. This was better, though, because there was no one in the world he trusted more than Dax. “That would be…”

“I said it’s an idea and I said ‘might,’ so keep that in mind. I have to meet with the rest of the voting board and get their consent before I put anything into play. I just wanted you to know that I’m still working on the thing with O’Toole so you don’t run off and do something stupid again.”

Cody felt his face go hot as he smiled and said, “That would be so unlike me.”

Dax chuckled. “Get the fuck out of here and go take care of your prospect duties. I know the guys have to have a mile-long list of things for you to do today.”

“I can’t wait.” Dax just smiled at him and watched him leave. Cody found out quickly, that Dax was right. Every one of the guys he ran into had something for him to do. The chores ranged from hoeing weeds to painting a bathroom in the house where the club girls lived. He worked until lunchtime and then took a break long enough to eat a quick sandwich and get back to work. He was cleaning out an old shed behind Dax’s and Angel’s house when Angel got home from one of her classes. Cody’s cock instantly took notice when he saw Harley climb out of the front seat of Angel’s car too. The two women were talking and laughing and at first they didn’t see him. Angel noticed him first as she reached the steps of the house that led up to the porch.

“Hi, Cody. What are you doing?”

“Handsome said Dax wanted this shed cleaned out and all the parts in here taken up to the big shop.” The shed was filled with old motorcycle parts, some that looked like they were probably outdated. Everything was covered in dust and Cody was covered in it too, from head to toe. He’d taken off his shirt and the sweat had made patterns in the dust on his chest. He’d been so thrilled to see Harley that he hadn’t thought about what he looked like until she said:

“I think this is a first for me—Cody Miller, sweating from work.”

Cody couldn’t help but laugh. “Sadly, you’re probably right.”

“I’ll get you a towel or something and some tea,” Angel said. “You’re going to have a stroke out here in this heat.”

“Thanks, Angel.” Harley stayed where she was and they both watched Angel go inside. Once she was gone Harley said:

“Finish up by six and tell Angel you’re going home to shower before dinner.”

“Okay…why?”

“I’ll meet you back out here at six, and then you’ll see.”

“I’m filthy and…”

“Disgusting,” she said with a grin. “I can see that. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go down on you until it’s all clean.” She winked at him. “I should get inside before we make her suspicious. I’ll meet you back out here at six.”

* * *

Cody watched as Angel left the house around five forty-five. Not long after that, Harley emerged. She had changed out of her school clothes and into a pair of cutoff jeans and a tank top. Her skin looked like she’d already spent a lot of time in the sun; it was a light bronze color that Cody thought looked even sexier next to the color of her hair. Her long, tan legs were what he was most interested in however, as she strolled toward him. He just kept looking at her, thinking about the little girl he knew back when he was eleven, and asking himself, who knew?

“Hey, you ready?” she asked. He had just finished locking up the shed. He’d made a pile of things to go up to the shop, but he’d have to bring down the van to pick them up. One look at Harley in her shorts and he told himself that it could wait until morning.

“I’m ready…I guess. Where are we going?”

“Trust me?”

Cody laughed. “Hell, no.”

Harley pretended to pout and then laughed herself. “I guess I wouldn’t like you if you were that stupid. Come on, you’re going to give me that ride on the back of your bike. I’ll tell you where to go.”

“Where’s Angel?”

“She went into town to meet Dax for dinner. They won’t be back for a while. I’m spending the night because she and I have to sit in on a hearing in court for school in the morning and I’m riding in with her.”

As they walked toward his bike Cody asked, “Where’s your boyfriend?”

She stopped and looked up at him. “He’s at work. Does it bother you, that I have a boyfriend? I would have thought…I mean the way you all do things around here, I wouldn’t have thought you’d mind.”

“I don’t know. I’m not used to the way things are around here, because I was a kid the last time I was here and had a girlfriend. Mostly, I guess I just can’t help but worry what Detective Brady might do if he finds out.”

“He thinks you killed that man, the biker from Mayhem.” The mischief dancing in her green eyes had changed to concern and a frown line appeared between her eyes.