Page 103 of Hard Corps (Selected Sinners MC 7)

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Present Day, Wichita, Kansas, USA

Two months had passed since our arrival in Wichita, and my relationship with my father was surprisingly better than I could ever remember it being in the past. I desperately missed Casey – and my other Texas brothers as well – but Ripp and Shane had both ridden and driven to Wichita to visit on more than one occasion. Each time Shane drove he brought Kace, and with them, Casey.

My father seemed to enjoy having Casey around, but I wondered just how much his visits reminded him of his only true grandson. For me to consider Casey to be my nephew was easy. I thought for my father to consider him as a grandson would be a stretch, but the excitement on his face and the smile in his eyes was impossible to hide.

Katie’s parents had yet to drive to Kansas, which didn’t surprise me. It was my guess getting her father to ever leave the state of Texas would require nothing less than our refusal to return. She had, on two occasions, driven down and seen them, but I stayed in Wichita with my father.

I realized the day would come when he was able to be alone, but further realized the day hadn’t arrived. For the time being, I was enjoying my time with my father, and viewed it as making up for lost time.

I truly missed Katie’s Sunday dinners, the family in general, the feeling of participating, and training at the gym, but it was her father I seemed to miss the most.

“Too damned bad about the club,” Jackson said.

“Bound to happen,” I said as I tightened the exhaust bolts. “With me gone and that state as fucked up as it is with clubs? It was just a matter of time.”

Our MC in Texas dissolved for a few reasons. One was my absence. But the primary reason was the string of recent problems in Texas with 1% clubs, violence, and the categorization by police of all MCs as being outlaw regardless of their intentions. Harassment and incarceration of men in cuts was becoming common, and it seemed a reason wasn’t always behind the incarceration. Out of respect for Shane and Ripp as parents and as good citizens, I decided to dissolve the club.

“Well, the Sinners don’t accept applications, but we do invite men to prospect as long as they’re vouched in by a fully patched member. And, if a man has already paid his dues, so to speak, he may be vouched in without prospecting on a 100% vote. I know you can go back to your old club, but we discussed it in our last meeting…”

He paused as I stood up and tossed the wrench to the side.

“I feel like I owe you. For what you did for me,” he said.

“Don’t owe me shit,” I said flatly.

“I don’t mean owe you like that. Owe you respect,” he said.

“Give it, get it,” I said.

“Show respect,” he said. “Get respect.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Same difference.”

I was anxious to hear what else he had to say about the club’s meeting. As we were eventually going to go back to Texas there was no real way I could be a member, but the thought of riding with a 1% club in Kansas appealed to me. I stood out with Bones, Doc, and Crash’s club as being a little too much of an outlaw, and maybe an outlaw club was where I truly belonged. The thought, at least, was appealing.

“So, you were saying. You guys talked about it,” I said as I flipped the ignition switch on.

I pressed the start button as he began to speak.

“Club would love to have ya,” he said over the sound of the exhaust.

I revved the engine a few times and listened for exhaust leaks. The dull drone from the new pipes sounded great, and there seemed to be no leaks. Only an open road test of hard accelerating and rapid decelerating would tell me for sure, but for now, I was convinced.

I flipped the ignition switch to off.

“No prospecting bullshit?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Not one single day of it.”

“Fully patched the day I show up?” I asked.

“Fully patched,” he said.

I was flattered. As much as the thought of such a close-knit bunch of bikers appealed to me, and as much as I knew the brotherhood would help me feel at home, there was no way I could disrespect the club by being a member for six weeks, two months. Or whatever length of time it would be before we left.

“I’m honored, but we’re leaving some day, just don’t know when. Can’t disrespect you guys like that,” I said.