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“Jesus Christ, who is it now,” Optimus groaned, heading around the building toward the front of the clubhouse.
Leo took my hand as we followed.
The gates opened, telling me that this biker was known to the club. He didn’t wear any colors, though, and as he pulled in closer, I noticed he was dressed in all black, hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans and he had a bandana covering his face. He stopped his bike and kicked out the stand, leaning it to the side as he climbed off. I squinted my eyes, trying to see through the darkness.
“Was wondering if you’ve got any extra space at the club,” the voice said, and my eyes lit up.
“Skins!” I laughed, rushing forward.
He chuckled as I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him. “Hey, Had.” He pulled down his bandana and took off his helmet, scruffing his short hair.
Optimus and Leo both smirked as we walked back toward them.
“We’re pretty packed at the moment, man,” Leo said, gesturing to the bikes crowding the lot. And a lot of them had already left for hotels.
“Don’t mean for just tonight,” Skins said as he pulled off his gloves revealing his heavily tattooed hands. “I mean permanently.”
“You leaving the Bureau?”
He shrugged. “I was never really in it for very long before I decided to take that gig with Judge. They needed younger agents to act as prospects and to keep the cover going, so I jumped at it. But the reality is, now I’ve been in the lifestyle longer than I’ve been with the feds.”
“You can just say it. You like riding the bike,” Optimus teased.
Skins laughed. “Yeah man. And that.”
“Optimus, the fire’s ready,” Camo called from the space in the fence.
“Come on,” Op said, gesturing with his hand to Skins. “We can talk to the boys in the morning.”
Skins smiled and nodded. I saw the tension ease out of him, and I realized he’d been prepared for rejection. We rounded the corner, and a few of the brothers came over to welcome him in as we walked over to the fire.
“What’s going on?” I asked Leo.
“We’re going to burn Slider’s Cut,” he said simply and I stared in awe as Oz handed Optimus the club cut.
“What?” I gasped. “Why?”
Leo chuckled. “It’s just what we do. We hope that by burning it that its ashes will find him and protect him in the afterlife.”
I squeezed his hand tightly, and the crowd became silent as they gathered around. Optimus tossed the cut in the fire, and no one spoke for a few minutes as they watched it burn. I hoped Leo was right, I hoped it did find him and protect him.
Wherever he was.
Optimus raised his drink, and everyone around us mimicked. “To Slider.” It was when he turned to me with such a devious smirk that my eyes widened, and I shuffled nervously. “Hadley, it would usually be Slider making this kind of bullshit comment, so in his name I felt it needed to be done.”
I watched the brothers all grin around me and looked to each of them in confusion.
“Would you like Leo’s balls gift wrapped?”
The crowd boomed with laughter, and I smiled, even though I really didn’t understand the joke. “I’ve got big pockets,” I called back, earning another roar of laughter from the people around us.
When everything calmed down, I went in search of Macy, ready to take her to bed. She was exhausted, cuddling into me as I picked her up and went in search of her daddy. He was still standing next to the fire.
“I’m going to take Macy and go to bed,” I told him, passing her over so she could give him a cuddle and say goodnight.
“All right boys, that’s me. I’ll catch you all tomorrow,” he announced, getting a mumble of goodbyes.
I frowned. “Leo, it’s okay. Stay. I can do it.”
