The next day when Zack walked into the meeting room, Stone wasn’t alone. Skid and Justin were both there and neither of them looked very happy. “Hey,” he said and grinned. “Who died?”

Skid looked at Stone like he expected him to discipline his unruly child. Justin was the first one to speak, however.

“The baby is okay?”

Zack sat down. “Yeah, he’s good.” He looked at Stone and said, “I don’t know what you did, but thank you.”

“You want to know what he did?” Skid asked, in a harsh tone. “He put the future of this club in jeopardy for you and some random pussy.” Zack was on his feet before Skid finished the word. Justin and Stone both stood up.

“You better watch your mouth.”

“Or what? Who the fuck do you think you are?” Skid asked him. “Your place in this club is hanging by a thread. The only reason you’re still here as far as I’m concerned is because you manipulate Stone…”

“Skid, shut the hell up!” Stone barked out. “I am not some senile old man that can be manipulated. I did for Zack the same that I would have done for any other member of this club, and the alliance with the Defenders is as intact as it ever was. You’re the one teetering on the brink here.” Stone rarely raised his voice. That was usually Skid’s place. Skid looked stunned, and Justin and Zack stood frozen to their spots until Stone said, “Everyone sit the hell down. I’m on the verge of kicking all of your asses out of here and starting over with a club full of men that know how to show some fucking respect.” Zack and Justin looked at each other as they took their seats. They hadn’t been as close lately as they used to be, but the look on Justin’s face reminded Zack of their old days together and he felt his lips twitch. “Don’t you dare fucking smile, Zachary!” Stone bellowed at him. Zack bit the inside of his cheek and took his seat.

He made eye contact with Stone then and said, “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused the club, I truly am. But you know me well enough to know that if this was just about pussy,” he glared at Skid when he said that, “I would never have put you in this position. This woman means a lot to me and so does the boy.” He thought he saw Skid roll his eyes out of the corner of his. The older man was begging for an ass-whooping and if he wasn’t wearing that VP patch, Zack would be happy to give it to him.

“Like I said,” Stone went on, “it’s been handled, for now. I got their prez to have that boy take the baby back, but he said he wouldn’t stand in the way of him filing papers with the court. If he gets visiting rights or partial custody or whatever, you’re going to have to learn how to live with that.”

“That’s fine,” Zack said. There was no way any judge in his right mind would grant Spider custody over Nicole. It would be hard on her to have to go through the court hearings, but she could handle that as long as Liam was safe at home with her throughout.

“Okay,” Stone said. “Now, back to club business. Tell us about the meeting with Dax Marshall.” The Invaders were looking for an alliance with a club on the east coast thanks to a lucrative deal falling into their laps. One of the club members had a relative who worked on a cargo ship that docked along Massachusetts Bay. That ship normally carried cheaply made furniture and goods from islands in the Atlantic such as the Madeiras and São Tomé and Principe, but this sailor had stumbled into a partnership with a group involved with shipping valuable artifacts, sought after by collectors all over the world. What the Invaders needed from the South Side Skulls was mostly safe passage, and maybe a little extra security…basically what the Invaders were allied with the Defenders to do, only with guns.

“Dax was interested, although he didn’t seem to impressed with the numbers we were offering, He said that he would meet with his executives this week and get back to us soon.”

“Those numbers were higher than any offer he’d get from anyone else,” Skid said. “The risk here is all on us to get those crates moved over a thousand miles, and then there’s the fencing and laundering – none of that will be cheap, or easy. If Dax Marshall wants a bigger cut, then maybe we need to look around at other clubs in the area.”

Zack had a retort on his lips, but he remembered what Stone had just said about respect. He looked to him and the older man nodded. “Dax Marshall and the Skulls are the only club with any kind of clout on the east coast unless you go looking in New York. If you do that, you’re pulling from clubs that are made up of men who grew up in street gangs or are deeply connected to the mob. The Skulls are already close to Boston and in my opinion, trustworthy. If we have to throw them a few more bucks, then I’d say that’s what we should do.”

“And since when do you make decisions for this club?” Skid asked. Justin had stayed silent so far, but he spoke up then.

“I don’t hear Zack making decisions, I hear him making suggestions. Isn’t that what we send our nomads out to do? The bylaws say they are to represent the club in creating relationships and alliances and gathering information. I’m sorry, Skid, but that’s what I’m hearing. The final vote is always still up to the executives.”

“I agree,” Stone said. “Let’s wait for Dax to call with his numbers and we’ll take it to the board at that time. I don’t see the point in jumping the gun and getting ourselves involved in a mess that we don’t want to be in the middle of.”

Skid didn’t say anything to that, but Zack could see that it pissed him off. He had to bite the inside of his cheek again to keep from smiling. He hadn’t realized until lately just how much he disliked his V.P. Thankfully, he spent most of his time on the road and he didn’t have to deal with him that often. Of course, that thought made him think about Nicole and Liam. He was scheduled to take off soon…and he had no idea how he was going to leave them.

* * *

Dax had just finished explaining to his executives and a handful of his most trusted brothers what Zack Leoni had driven up to Massachusetts to talk to him about. He’d done a lot of thinking about it and in his opinion, the club could use the extra income, if Stone was willing to go just a little higher.

“Artifacts?” Jimmy, the road captain, and Cody’s on again, off again best friend, asked. “Like Egyptian shit?”

Dax smiled. “I couldn’t really tell you whose shit it is, but yeah, like that, I guess. These are collector’s items that somehow ‘fell off’ of the boat they were supposed to be on, and that’s as much information about it as we need to know. Basically, we’re giving them the okay to pass through our territory, and providing any extra muscle they might need.”

“And they’re paying us well?” Handsome, Dax’s V.P. asked.

“Well, I wasn’t completely impressed with their offer,” Dax said, “but Zack thought Stone might be willing to go a few K’s higher. If that’s the case, my vote would be yea for sure.”

“So what’s the number?” Hawk asked. Hawk was an odd part of the Skulls. He had started the club with Dax’s father in the old days and then after a split between the two, he started his own club. Things didn’t go well for them, and the only reason Hawk was still alive was because of a conversation he and Dax had that opened Dax’s eyes to the fact that his father wasn’t the perfect legend he had always wanted to believe he was. The old man still rubbed him and most of the other guys in the club the wrong way, however. He was rude and crass and pushy…some days Dax wasn’t sure why he let him stay around.

“They’re offering five K for each run – five guys, three days there and back.”

Hawk scoffed, but he wasn’t the only one. “Bullshit,” Handsome said. “What offer are you throwing back at them?” he asked Dax.

“I was thinking seven.”

“Eight,” Hawk said. Dax gave him a look that he hoped the old man interpreted as shut the hell up, right before Handsome said, “I agree with Hawk. Eight is still low if they’re moving these artifacts to the right people.”

Before Dax could speak, Cody said, “Who would you send on these runs?”

“We’ll have to take that to church once the deal is made. I’d ask for volunteers first.” Dax could tell by the look on Cody’s face what the younger man was thinking. He hated to be away from Harley, and Dax suspected that the idea of her working with Kyle and seeing him every day probably made it worse. They still had another week before the DNA results came back, so he was sure that was eating away at him as well. He sighed and reminded himself that Cody was a grown man and he’d have to start letting him handle his own shit. He had something else he needed to bring up, and it was important. “If we can put that away for now, I’ll let you all know when I hear back from Stone. I have something else I need to talk about. I’m going to have Gunner come in here in a few, but I wanted to put it out there to you all first.” He paused and waited for the chatter about the Invaders’ offer to settle down and then he said, “The Head Hunters have a new president, Randall Covey.”

“Gunner’s old lady’s father?” Jimmy asked.

“Yeah.”

“He seemed alright,” Cody said. “I trusted him a lot more than I did their last president, Leoni’s father.”

“So did I,” Dax said. “Normally, with them in Texas, I wouldn’t care. Their shit wouldn’t affect us. But it seems that Randall has taken the appointment of president with his major promise to his club being that he plans to avenge Swinger’s death.”

“He’d take out his daughter’s old man?” Jimmy asked.

“I’m not sure he would, if left to his own devices,” Dax said. “But Zack says that his new old lady is pushing for it and so is a big portion of the club.”

“So, you think they’ll come here?” Handsome said, “or do we go there and handle it before they bring war down on the ranch?”

“That’s the question,” Dax said.

Cody chuckled and said, “We could always give them Gunner.” Jimmy and old Hawk laughed too, but Dax’s hard stare had Cody holding up his palms and saying, “Kidding, it was a joke.” Dax rolled his eyes and said:

“I want to give you all some time to think on it. We’ll bring it back up at church in a couple of days and get the vote of all the brothers, but if you have any input, that would be the time to voice it.” He gave Cody another look that didn’t need any interpretation. His head was pounding again by the time they called the meeting, and he still had to talk to Gunner. Sometimes he wished that he was just another one of the brothers, home, making love to his hot old lady…and maybe making a baby or two as well.