Ryker by Jeneveir Evans

Chapter 42

It is a risk to love. What if it doesn’t work out? Ah, but what if it does.

~Peter McWilliams~

Ryker

November 27th, 1999

Again, I found myself gazing at Deb. Even from across the room I could tell she was staring off into space. A myriad of emotions were running across her face. I saw stunned disbelief, sadness and pain. I knew she was thinking about us. I would bet all the money I had that she was remembering the morning I threw us away. I blew out a deep breath as I struggled to keep from going over there, picking her up into my arms and taking her out of here. Damn how I wish I had the right to do that.

“She still loves you, Ry,” Trina leaned close to me and whispered. “Every reaction she’s had to you proves it.”

“I wish that were true, Trin.”

“It is, Ry. I heard what Boomer said earlier. He’s right, you know. You need to fight tooth and nail for her. I like her, Ry. She’s a good woman.”

“She’s the best, Trin.”

“Don’t let her get away again.”

“I’m scared as fuck, Trin. What if I do everything I can and she still won’t let me in, hear me out, or let me make her mine again?”

“Ry, what if she does? If you don’t ever try, you’ll never know and, while you pine for her, you’ll think about what could have been for the rest of your life.”

A movement at our table had me glancing toward it. Dog got up and headed toward the stage with a beer in his hand. He stepped up on it and grabbed a mic.

Before he started to speak, I noticed that everyone got quiet, even the kids in the dining room were barely heard.

Boomer leaned toward me and hurriedly muttered, “Cover the baby’s ears.”

I wondered why the hell I needed to do that, but did as I was told not a moment too soon.

“Brothers, today is a good day for ARMC.”

He paused for a moment, then he cried out, “We have Vision in the house!”

Immediately, a roar went up in the room. Dane startled but didn’t cry. Hell, even I jumped at the noise.

A chant broke out among the Brothers, “Vision, Vision, Vision.” When Vision finally stood, the clamor was even louder.

I looked down at Dane to see his eyes open and his bottom lip quivering a little. I stroked my thumb against his cheek and he settled down.

Dog looked at Vision. From what little time that I had spent with Dog, I knew he wasn’t a man who wore his feelings on his sleeve. But it was obvious to everyone in the room that Dog had deep feelings concerning Vision.

“Brother, gave you a week to settle in before making your ass stay for a party. I want you to know that there isn’t a man in this room who isn’t glad you’re back. It will be hard for all of us, yet we aren’t going to dwell on the past. We are going to look toward the future. Because the future is bright now that you are home.

“I want everyone to lift a beer or whatever you're drinking and let’s make a toast to Vision.”

He held his beer up and called out, “For Vision.” Then he took a drink.

The rest of us mimicked his actions. The solidarity of hearing all the Brothers in the room supporting one of their own struck deep within me. This. This right here was something that my guys or me had never had.

A true Brotherhood.

I looked at each man that was patching over with me and a smile to rival the sun was on each of their faces.

“Got a few things to discuss and share tonight. Long before we even met most of them, a vote was taken to patch over Ryker and his guys. From our initial contact with Ryker and Tor, we knew that we’d ask them to join ARMC. I told him that we’d have to meet the others first before I could promise the same thing for his men.

“Just like Vip, Ry wouldn’t agree to patch over if his men weren’t allowed to. That right there showed loyalty, an integrity, toward his brothers. I knew he was sweating it, wondering if we wouldn’t take all of them for some reason. Well, Ry, you can stop sweating. We were all damn impressed with every single one of you.

“Viper was right. Just like you, your men are loyal, dedicated, and honest to a fault. Not a single man shied away from anything we asked. Matter of fact, I believe our team got two new members out of the deal. We’ll talk about that later.

“For now, I’d like for all eight of you to come up to the stage.”

I got up the same time my guys did. Instead of handing Dane to Trina, or taking him to his parents, I crossed the room and handed him to Deb, making sure that I didn’t touch her. I didn’t want to invade her personal space.

“Think our grandson could use some Sunshine right now,” I murmured before turning away and heading toward the stage.

As we stood there before Dog, I felt my nerves bouncing around like someone had poured ice cold water on hot as hell concrete. I was more nervous now than I had been when I patched in at HR at eighteen.

“Before us stand eight men who we’ve invited to patch over, is this still everyone’s wish?”

All eight of us answered the exact same way, “Yes, Prez. It would be an honor to patch over to ARMC.”

Dog looked toward the bar and I turned my head in that direction too. Picking up boxes at the bar were Bane and Viper. They brought them to the stage. Bane opened his box first. Dog reached in and took out a cut. Dog handed it to me before reaching into the box again. He did this until Bane’s box was empty then switched to Viper’s box.

Once we all had a cut in our hands, Dog spoke again, “Ryker, Brawn, Crusher, Rage, T-Bone, Draven, Taz and Tor, by taking this cut and wearing it, you will become a member for life. Your loyalty will always be to this club first. Is that understood?”

Again in unison we responded, “Yes, Prez. It’s understood.”

“Y’all fuckers, put on your cuts.”

As if it was rehearsed, we all held our cuts up to look at the front of them. Our names were on patches that were already sewn onto the cuts. I wouldn’t ever again see the patch for VP, but I was okay with that. I was actually more than okay with that. I was ready to just be a member for a change without all the responsibility weighing heavy on my shoulders. As one we turned them around and looked at the back. The proud colors of ARMC graced the back of the leather. Then in a rush, we all put them on.

“Brothers, I want to present eight new honorable men into our Brotherhood.”

All around the room our Brothers were standing and cheering. Then in a loud voice I heard Vision call out, “Our Own We Protect.”

Again as one, only this time with all of our Brothers we shouted, “We Protect Our Own.”

Fuck, that was a good feeling. A damn good feeling at that.

We all went back to our chairs as Dog addressed the crowd again.

“Got something else we need to do. Two young men came to us yesterday and asked if they could Prospect. We took it to Church and voted on it. Considering who their daddies are, there was no way in hell we were telling these boys no. I’d like to ask Jett and Taron to come up and get their Prospect cuts.”

Whistles and cheers rang around the room as both men stood before Dog and received their cuts. I felt the knot in my gut tighten a little more, but it wasn’t in fear, worry, or heartache. No, instead, it was a wonderful feeling knowing that once Taron’s prospecting period was over, I’d have three sons in the MC with me.

“It’s a damn good feeling, isn’t it?” Boomer uttered.

“It sure the fuck is,” I replied.

“One last thing and y’all can get back to it, I want to commend our team on doing a damn fine job last week. You, my Brothers, are a damn good group of fucking warriors. Let’s raise our bottles and drink one for the team.”

He raised his beer and this time we all raised ours right alongside him.

“For the team,” everyone yelled before taking a drink.

People began getting out of their chairs and milling around. Through the crowd I saw Deb walking in my direction. I quickly stood before she stopped in front of me.

“I’ve got to get the kids home. I thought I’d be mean to the rest of your family and bring Dane back to you.”

As she handed him to me, her hand slid over mine. I heard her draw in a breath at our skin to skin contact.

“Thanks for bringing him to me, Ry,” she mumbled and hurried off.

I watched her as she went into the dining room and gathered Brax’s children. They left through the kitchen. I sat down with fucking butterflies swimming around in my gut. I felt my body lightly trembling. The first time I had seen her was twenty-nine years ago and her touch still had the ability to bring me to my knees.

~*~

Later that night as I sat on Bane’s back porch and drank a beer, I thought about everything that had been said to me this evening. I thought about how she had always made me laugh. I thought about how she had brightened my days. I thought about how good we had been together. I thought about how Sunshine’s touch still turned my body inside out. And I thought about how much I still loved her. Did I really want to stand back and not try to win her love again? I knew it might never happen.

Then I whispered to myself, “But what if it did?”

~***~