“What’s with the long, mopey face?” Cody hadn’t seen Dax come in. He was sitting in the shop, waiting for Tool to make some adjustments to the bike. It was running rough and Cody was afraid it had just sucked in too much dirt out there on the back forty. He’d been thinking about Macy. It was three days since their night in the bathroom at Spirits and he hadn’t seen her or heard a word from her since. Wondering what she was thinking, or feeling, was driving him crazy.

“I was just thinking. I need to figure some things out.”

Dax sat down on a stool next to the one Cody was sitting on. “What kind of things?”

“I need to get a job, for one.”

“Do you plan on going back to school?” Cody had gotten his high school diploma and AA degree while he was locked up, but he had no clue what to do with any of it.

He shrugged now and said, “I don’t know. For what?”

Dax chuckled. “I can’t tell you that, Cody. It’s your life. What do you want to do with it?”

He looked over at his bike and then at Dax and smiled. “I want to ride.”

Dax shook his head but he smiled too. “The boys and I are going on a ride this afternoon. We have some business on the outskirts of Boston. You want to go?”

“Seriously? I mean…really?” He felt like a kid that had just been told he could go to Disneyland.

“Yeah. You stay in the middle of the pack. If we get stopped, you stop. Don’t run. We’ll deal with the license thing if we have to, I don’t want to deal with you getting shot in the back today, got it?”

“I got it. Thanks, Dax.”

“We leave in an hour. Full gear. Meet in front of the clubhouse.”

“I’ll be there.” Cody couldn’t stop smiling. When Dax left, Tool looked up and grinned.

“Maybe you’re right and he is getting soft, letting a rookie like you ride.” Cody chuckled.

“Today I could care less, soft or hard…I’m riding with the big boys!”

* * *

Tool had the bike ready in time for Cody to drive over to the clubhouse to meet the others. When he got there, Dax, Handsome, Nolan, and Pablo were saddled up and ready to go. “What’s this? You didn’t say this was a kindergarten run, boss.” Pablo laughed at his own joke. Cody flipped him off and the others laughed. Cody was about to ask Dax where they were going when the sound of another bike approaching made him wait. He looked up and watched as the bike got closer. He knew as soon as it was in sight who was driving it. The long arms and legs gave it away before he saw Jimmy’s face. He glanced at Dax, who was watching him with an expressionless face, and suddenly he wondered if this was some kind of test. If it was, he was sure he would pass…he knew now that Macy wanted him. It was only a matter of time before she was his and Jimmy was the one Dax had to warn about keeping his temper in check. Macy was just Jimmy’s girlfriend, not his old lady, and in their world, that meant she was still free to choose.

As Jimmy rolled up, he killed the engine. Some of the guys gave him a hard time about being late. Cody didn’t say a word, but when Jimmy happened to glance in his direction, he smiled. Jimmy gave him a slightly confused look, glanced in Dax’s direction, and then shot Cody a slightly nervous look and a smile that looked forced. Cody was sure at that point that Macy hadn’t told him about them at the bar. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but he was still sure it would happen…sooner, rather than later.

Cody turned his attention back to Dax. He’d been around the club his entire life until he was incarcerated. He knew that the president and his entire executive board didn’t just go on a ride for fun. There was something up, and he could feel the thrill of both curiosity and excitement pressing him forward. He slipped on his skullcap and helmet and said a little prayer to the man, the one he wasn’t sure was upstairs or not, that he wouldn’t make a complete fool of himself and dump the bike…especially with Jimmy watching his every move.

Dax made sure everyone was ready, and he and Handsome had a quiet side conversation before they all fired up their bikes. Cody loved the way his engine purred and he was also proud of the new black leather saddlebags that Tool had put on the bike just before Cody left. His bike looked as good as, if not better than, those of most of the guys he was about to ride with.

Dax led them along the long dirt road toward the main highway and out of the gates of the ranch. As soon as they hit the highway Cody moved into the center of the pack like Dax had told him to. Jimmy was in the back, where he belonged, as far as Cody was concerned. They rode along the highway for a while and Cody had to force himself not to ride along grinning like an idiot. He loved the sense of freedom that being on the bike gave him as well as the sense of camaraderie being with Dax and the others added to it.

They drove for almost two miles up into the foothills, where the trees were thick and green and the air smelled like springtime. Cody’s butt and legs were already beginning to hurt and he knew that he’d be sore for a few days from the long ride, but he was still smiling inside when they turned off the main road and in the next two miles or so made their way up to what looked like an old, abandoned warehouse. His curiosity was piqued even more when he saw the other bikes parked alongside of it. A few of them had a symbol on the side of them that looked like the Celtic cross tattoo he had on his wrist. He didn’t recognize it, but it was obvious they were meeting with another club.

Dax killed his engine first and the others followed suit. Cody waited to be told what to do, and he got even more curious and even a little nervous when no one spoke and nobody got off their bikes. Several minutes passed without a word before the door to the warehouse was pulled open and a man in his mid-forties, wearing a leather vest and a skullcap with the Irish flag on it walked outside. The man was short, but built like a tank, with a neck that was as thick as most people’s thighs, and arms that looked like they could crush a small car between them. He had a long, white handlebar mustache and he was wearing a dark pair of sunglasses. Dax pushed his own glasses up on his head as the man approached, and as he got closer Cody could see that the patch on the man’s vest said, “Irish Mayhem.” The chapter was “Alderson;” Cody wasn’t sure, but thought it was in West Virginia. Dax stepped off his bike, but everyone else remained on theirs. The short, stocky man flipped up his sunglasses and when he got close enough, smiled and held his hand out to Dax. He and Dax shook hands and then hugged it out. The Irish Mayhem guy said something to Dax that Cody didn’t hear and Dax laughed. Then he turned and signaled to Handsome and Hawk, who got off their bikes. The rest of them stayed put as Dax and Hawk followed the Irish man inside. Handsome stood outside the door and the two sergeants at arms, Pablo and Nolan, had their bikes parked on either side of the door, facing it. Cody was sure that was strategy. Something was definitely going down.

Cody hadn’t even realized that Jimmy had stopped his bike right behind his until he heard the sound of his “ex”-friend’s voice. “Keller’s old bike?”

Cody turned and looked at him, suspiciously. Was he just trying to make conversation? “Yeah. Mine now.”

Jimmy nodded. “It looks good.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“And you kept it up. Nice.” Jimmy smiled. Cody wasn’t sure if he was making fun of him, or genuinely proud. He let it go and gave him a simple:

“Thanks.” Another awkward silence fell between them and Cody turned his head back toward the warehouse. He thought about how sad it was that things had come to this. He always thought that Jimmy would be the one person there for him forever…besides Keller. They had been friends since before Cody was old enough to remember. Both boys had grown up with a parent in the club, sort of. Cody’s dad, the piece of shit that he was, rode with Doc and then Dax before he went missing. Jimmy never knew who his father was, but his mother was the old lady of one of the sergeants of arms during Doc’s reign. He was murdered about ten years earlier during the bloody war between the Skulls and the Sinners. A lot of men were, which was a big reason why Cody had a hard time figuring out how Dax seemed to not only have forgiven Hawk, but taken him on as one of his confidantes. Jimmy’s mother kind of lost her mind after that and she made her way through the club, one man after the other, developing a reputation almost as bad as the one that Macy’s mother had. When Jimmy was fifteen she ran off with a guy in one of the clubs the Skulls were dealing arms with. She didn’t even offer to take him with her. The club didn’t bat an eye at keeping Jimmy on the ranch. Cody knew that his friend’s loyalty to them ran deep. He’d always thought that his loyalty to him had run that deep as well, but obviously he was wrong.

His thoughts drifted way back to when they were little, playing with their toy motorcycles and pretending like they were president and vice president of the club, while other kids were in preschool learning how to get along with “normal” people in society. By the time they were six they both had bikes that looked like motorcycles and they carried little toy guns in their saddle bags. Everyone thought it was as cute as hell when they pulled those guns out and pretended to shoot at rival clubs. When they were ten they stole some of Cody’s dad’s weed and got stoned for the first time. No one found out about that, although Cody wasn’t sure that back then anyone would have cared. Keller caught them getting drunk when they were twelve. That netted them a half hour lecture on what alcoholism does to people and Keller asking them if they wanted to turn out like Cody’s dad. Cody almost smiled then at the thought of his brother. Keller was born good. Some people had just the right amount of morals from the beginning of their lives, even before they were taught them or were old enough to figure out what’s acceptable in society and what’s not. Keller was always one of those people. Cody should have followed Keller’s lead, but instead he always looked up to the men in the club who saw what they wanted and figured out how to get it, even if that meant they just took it from someone else. He learned how to be a man around a bunch of eight-year-olds in thirty-year-old bodies before going to prison and running into more of the same. When he thought about it, it was a wonder he didn’t end up in prison a lot sooner than he had. That was wholly thanks to Keller and Dax.

Dax was gone inside for about fifteen minutes when Nolan took a call and then looked at the others and said, “Prez says we can step off and stretch our legs. He just doesn’t want anyone so far from their bike that they can’t be on the back of it and in motion, like that.” He snapped his fingers and the men nodded as they all climbed off their bikes. Cody looked back toward the warehouse and wondered again what was going on inside. None of this seemed as legit as he had heard Dax was trying to make the club.

He saw Jimmy standing a few feet away from his bike under a tree, lighting a joint. He decided to kill two birds with one stone, find out if Jimmy knew anything about him and Macy and see if he could get him to tell him anything about what was going on there. Jimmy watched him walk over, expressionless and quietly toking on the joint. When he got close Cody said:

“Can I have a hit?”

Jimmy surprised him by smiling. “Of the joint or my face?” Close up, Cody could still see a shadow of a bruise on the other man’s jaw. He suppressed his own smile and said:

“The joint, for now.”

Jimmy chuckled and handed him the joint. Cody took a long hit off it and, holding the smoke in his mouth and lungs, handed it back to Jimmy. Cody got a sudden sense of déjà vu. When he and Jimmy were kids, they didn’t always get along. Cody’s hot head and Jimmy’s stubborn nature had led them to more than one fist fight over the years. Cody used to be a lot smaller and for the most part, Jimmy kicked his ass. But the one thing all their fights had in common, was that an hour, a day, or a week later, they’d be standing side by side again, acting like it had never happened. Cody knew this fight was far from over but for just a second it was nice to stand next to his best friend and not feel angry.

“So what are we doing here?” he said, keeping his eyes on the others to make sure no one else was close enough to hear.

Jimmy shook his head and handed the joint to Cody. “No idea. I’m just a prospect. They don’t tell me anything. I just do what I’m told.”

Cody nodded. “Just looks important. Makes me wonder why Dax let me come.”

Jimmy shrugged. They stood there smoking for a few minutes in silence and then he said, “Word is that the Irish Mayhem make most of their money fencing and laundering. I’ve heard they also take contract kills for outsiders, but no club worth their salt is going to hire someone else to do their killing for them.”

Cody wondered if anyone else found it funny how casually they talked about things like killing. He knew Jimmy was right about that, however. If Dax did need someone killed, he sure as hell wouldn’t hire an outsider to do it. “Fencing? Like selling stolen goods?”

“Yep. They’re from some shit-ass small town in West Virginia but they live like fucking kings. They’re one of the richest clubs in New England because they charge an arm and a leg for their services.”

“Hmm—I thought Dax was taking this club in a new direction. You have to wonder what kind of ‘laundering’ or ‘fencing’ a legitimate business would need.”

“Just don’t wonder that out loud in front of anyone but me,” Jimmy said, handing him back the joint. “Dax does what he needs to do in order to keep this club and everyone in it alive. I think sometimes what he has to do conflicts with what he promised his old lady he would do. Those are the times like today when only a handful of guys he trusts the most ride with him. I’ve seen more than one prospect lose their patch in the last year for opening their mouths about one of these rides. He takes me because I keep my mouth shut. I owe him way too much to ever be that stupid. Maybe this ride is a test for you, since he knows you’re looking to become a prospect.”

Cody handed Jimmy the joint and with a grin he said, “I owe Dax just as much as you do, if not more. Prospect or not, I’d never open my mouth and risk this club.” He chuckled then and said, “I was wondering if it was a test to see if the two of us could ride together without killing each other. At least we passed that one.”

Jimmy chuckled and dropped the butt on the ground. As he ground it into the dirt he grinned and said, “The day ain’t over yet.”