Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 25
Greater is he who suffers through the pain and comes through the other side improved. Greater is he who accepts discouragement and keeps forward momentum, never retreating. Greater is he who sees the light at the end of the tunnel and keeps their eye on the light. Greater is he who gets knocked off his feet and gets back up, dusts himself off and gets back in the fight. Life is tough, but you are stronger.
~Rich Barnes~
Ryker
October 25th, 1999
South Dakota
Last night after Tor and I got in, I texted King and let him know that we were back. I got a single response. OK. Today, Tor and I were working in the garage. We were doing oil changes and tune-ups that had been scheduled. Normally, I didn’t do this shit anymore, but I was reluctant to start a new bike build. I wasn’t sure if I could do it justice with how distracted I was. I heard the sound of a Harley pulling into the lot and saw Brawn park, kill his engine, and head our way.
“Hey, brother. How’s things?” I asked as he stepped into the shop. He looked around and jerked his chin indicating he wanted to talk outside.
“Doing good. How was your visit?”
“Hell, let me get a drink and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Alright.”
“Tor, Let’s take fifteen.”
“Okay, Dad.”
We walked out front to the soda machine, got a drink and headed to the picnic table. I’d already been out this morning to make sure there weren’t any bugs planted anywhere. I did this daily. I also kept the limbs of the tree it was under cut off high. If someone wanted to plant one in that fucker, they were going to have to bring a huge ass ladder and I had a surveillance camera pointed in this direction. Tor and I were the only ones who knew I had it.
While I trusted my core group of men, I’d learned long ago not to take anything for granted. I couldn’t discount King somehow getting to one of them through coercion. That didn’t mean I think they would outright betray me, still a man can’t be too safe.
“How’d the vote go?” I asked quietly.
“Believe it or not, he didn’t get it. He needed four more votes. He was pissed. Those of us who voted no told him we needed more time to think about it.”
“How’d he take that?”
“Said he would give us two or three more weeks then he’d bring it back up to vote. But gotta tell you, Ry, I think he’s going to start it anyway. He’s been sending out some of his ass lickers on runs. He doesn’t think anyone knows that, but Draven managed to follow them in a junker he bought that isn’t registered or licensed. Truck looks like shit but it purrs like a lioness. Fucker hid it in the woods not far from the clubhouse. It’s so quiet when it starts up that you can’t hear it from the compound. We tested it to make sure of that.”
“What did he find out?”
“He said they went to what appeared to be an old poultry farm on Highway 21. He couldn’t follow them when they turned off the road leading to the chicken houses so he waited until they left, then went in on foot to see what he could find. He said the last house had been cleaned up and multiple rooms built inside the building. He also found that there was power and water there.”
“Christ. He has a holding facility ready to go,” I uttered.
“Looks that way, Ry.”
“We’ve got to keep watch on that building. We need to make sure that we know if he has anyone taken there.” I looked at Brawn and could tell something was on his mind. “Whatever’s on your mind, spit it out, Brawn.”
“Almost wishing I’d sent Madison with you. What you said before you left has gotten me thinking. The bastard made mom a prostitute. Madison is the perfect age for him to traffic. That scares the shit out of me, Ry. Not losing my little girl to that twisted motherfucker.”
“Send her to your sister’s house in Sioux City. King asks, you can tell him that you feel like she needs a woman’s influence right now.”
“I don’t want to be without my daughter, Ry.”
“Which would you rather do, Brawn? Have your daughter safe or have her here where you’re concerned that King will have her kidnapped and sold.”
“Jesus. I’m calling Lana when I leave here. No way that fucker’s getting his hands on my baby.”
I jerked my chin at him.
“We need to find somewhere to meet with the guys. I need to talk to all of you.”
“New bar in Mitchell, we can meet there. If anyone asks, we went to the strip club.”
“Rather it be more private than that, don’t want anyone overhearing us talk. Let’s meet at Hitchcock Park. Let’s do it tomorrow. We’ll meet at five. We need to do this shit before it gets dark. I want everyone to be able to see if they’re being followed. Afterwards, we can go to the strip club, that way if he asks where we went and checks our story, it will hold up under scrutiny.”
“I’ll get a hold of everyone, Dad,” Tor offered.
“Sounds good,” I stated. “Let’s get shit knocked out so we can get out of here, Tor.”
He jerked his chin and headed back to the garage.
“I’m gonna go call Lana. If she agrees to keep Madison for a little while, I’m going to see if she’ll meet me at Sioux Falls today. If she will, then I’m taking Madison there to meet Lana as soon as I can get my girl packed. You gonna be home later, Ry?” Brawn queried.
“Nowhere else I’d be, brother. My ass definitely isn’t going to the clubhouse right now.”
“May stop by on my way home.”
“Alright, Brawn. Talk to you then.”
~*~
It was a little after nine when I saw headlights flash across the living room wall. Knowing it should be Brawn, I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of beers. Strolling to the front door, I opened it and stepped outside as Brawn was coming up the stairs. I handed him a brew as he went past me and settled in a chair. I sat in my regular seat. We opened our beers and took long drinks out of them.
“You get her to Lana?” I inquired.
I knew this was going to be hard on Brawn. Madison was his only child and he was a very overprotective dad. Other than a few days here and there, he’d never been without his daughter. Hell, I was the same way, always had been and always would be.
He sighed heavily. “Yeah, hurt like hell to leave her there. I talked to her about why I was having her stay with her aunt for a while. She didn’t like it, but she understood that I was worried for her safety. I told her I hoped it wouldn’t be for long but wasn’t sure exactly how long it might be. Told her we would talk every day.”
“That’s good, Brawn. Knowing we’ve got our kids safe will give us some peace of mind while we wade through the bullshit that King is pushing the MC into.”
“Agreed. Been doing some more thinking on something else you said before you left.”
“What’s that?”
“You asked if I would move to Arkansas with you. I thought long and hard about it. Realized one thing. Still want to be in a MC. Still want the brotherhood.”
“You thinking about trying to keep HRMC going? Be its Prez?” I queried.
“Fuck no. You had too many valid points about not keeping the MC going.”
“You planning on starting another one then?”
“Nah, Ry. I’m not Prez material. Don’t want that type of responsibility.”
“Then what are you saying, Brawn?”
“Saying I ain’t been without your ass in my life since I can remember. We’re moving with you to Arkansas.”
“You sure? What about an MC?”
I saw a grimace cross his face. “Will miss the fuck out of that? Any way we can start an MC there?”
It was my turn to sigh now. “Truth, Brawn? I don’t want to be a Prez of an MC. Years ago that was all I wanted and it caused me to lose the woman I love. That’s not my dream any longer. My dream now is to have my family safe and get to know my oldest son, my grandson and, hopefully, my oldest daughter one day.”
“Can understand that.”
“Brawn, if you can wait until tomorrow, I have something I want to talk to all of you about. I’d rather not go into it but once.”
“Alright, Ry. I can wait.”
We sat in silence for a little bit and drank our beers. I set my bottle down on the side table then stretched out and crossed my legs, letting my right ankle rest on my left.
“Saw Deb,” I muttered.
“By the tone of your voice, I take it that didn’t go well?”
“You’d be right. She fucking hates me. The hell of it is, I can’t blame her. I’m the one who let her go. I threw us away.”
“Ry, it wasn’t quite like that.”
“The fuck it wasn’t. I didn’t stand up for her. I’ll never forget that day, Brawn. She came out of the tent and started toward me, then she saw my damn arm around Layla. The expression on her face when she saw that has eaten at me every single fucking day since then. Why the fuck did I keep my god damn arm around Layla? Deb was devastated, Brawn. Then I fucking did it one better, I never said a motherfucking word to her. Instead, I told a prospect to carry her into town. I destroyed us,” I uttered huskily. “I ruined the best thing that had ever happened to me in my life. Brother, you have no idea how I regret that.”
“Yeah, Ry. I do. I watched you climb into the bottom of a whiskey bottle and wasn’t sure I was ever going to be able to pull you out of it. I was scared as fuck I was going to lose my best friend. That day when I saw you go off that embankment, it hit me hard that if I didn’t do something to stop you from drowning in booze, that I wouldn’t be scared to lose you anymore because you’d be gone.
“Christ, when I stopped and got out of my truck and saw you laying in that damn spot, I looked at everything surrounding you. It was all damn jagged rocks and boulders. How the fuck you weren’t killed then I’ll never know. Had to be a higher power looking out for you. Only explanation there can be and you know I’m not a very religious man.”
“Brawn, not sure if I ever told you thanks for saving my life. If you hadn’t pushed me when you did, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
“You’ve told me. More than once. Not sure if you ever got it though, Ry. I had to push you. Couldn’t imagine my life without you in it.”
He tilted his bottle up and drained it before he set it down. He got up and stretched. I heard bones pop and chuckled.
“Yeah, fucker. Ain’t young anymore,” he grumbled.
“Hear that. Don’t think we’re ready to be put out to pasture yet either.”
He barked out a laugh. “Fuck no, we ain’t. Got too much shit I still want to do, too much life left to live.”
I stood and held out my hand to him. We grasped each other’s hands and pulled the other until our shoulders bumped.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Brawn.”
“See you at the park.”
I jerked my chin and watched him leave. Every man needed to have another man in his corner that he could count on for anything. I had that with Brawn and was fucking grateful I did. He wasn’t only my best friend, he was my savior too. Because what I told him tonight wasn’t a lie, if it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t be here.
I thought of all that I would have missed. A world filled with the laughter and hugs of my children. A world without my friends. A world where I was needed, if only by kids and friends.
~***~