“Love you, old man.” Gunny held out a fist, then spread his fingers wide. “Don’t know what I’d do without ya.”
Blackie slapped his palm on top of Gunny’s, wrapping their hands in a firm grip. “Bring it in, big man. Missed the fuck outta you. Need you to come see us more often.” The two men embraced, clinched tight by their clasped hands, arms spread across shoulders. Blackie muttered something into Gunny’s ear that made the man laugh, and then they were stepping back, the made-up tension gone as if it had never happened.
“Well, if you’re done now.” Bane stepped behind Gunny to approach Skyd. They’d worked together on a number of runs and ironed out issues between the two clubs, so he wasn’t surprised with the welcoming grin on the man’s face. “Good to see you.” A couple of pounds on his shoulder, and he broke away, returning to his place next to Blackie. Gunny had shifted Retro around and was now standing to Bane’s left. The changing dynamics of the positioning spoke loud and clear about what Gunny thought, literally putting himself at Bane’s back if needed.
“So…?” He looked at Blackie to see all the humor had fled, the regret back in spades, the most prominent emotion visible. “What’s up, Prez?”
“What’s up, he asks, like it’s no big deal.” Blackie cast a glance around the circle, then settled his gaze on Bane, turning so he squared up to face him. “What’s up is your future. I’ve heard all kinds of plots and plans from every man in this group. You’re a hot commodity, seems everybody wants to get a lil’ bit of the Bane pie. What I want—” He thrust his thumb against his chest for emphasis. “—is to hear from your lips where you are leanin’ without the interference of these bastards.” Blackie nodded at Retro. “No offense to the actual Bastards.”
“None taken, man.” Retro stepped closer. “Witness and testify, that’s my role, not to influence.”
“Right.” Blackie angled back towards Bane. “So, what say you? Tell us what you’ve found.”
“What I’ve found? Okay.” Bane shook out his hands as if for a fight, and he chuckled, because in a way this was a fight for him. “I found a stretch of ground that’s not necessarily claimed by any regional dominant. One I think I could settle on with the patch on my back, go nomad and lose my Longview rocker. Not unlike at least one other member of an MC, who retained a city rocker, but that city is in another state, so it ain’t like there’s a core of members here primin’ the place for a charter. I want to move to this stretch of ground, Blackie. Prez. And I’m officially asking for a nomad rocker.” He glanced around the group of men, surprised to see only grins and smiles, no anger that he’d found a way around their bullshit ideas.
“Well now, that’s an offer I hadn’t considered.” Bane bit back a laugh when Blackie stroked his beard, probably unaware Truck was making the same gesture, as was Twisted. “It’s an idea, for sure, but hangs a brother out without much, if any, support. Puts you far from the parlay table when needed, would have you on the road a fuckton, because that’s the nature of the nomad. You sure you wanna be away from your old lady so much?”
Shit, I didn’t think about that.
His thoughts must have been visible on his face, because Blackie chuckled. “Yeah, somehow I didn’t believe you’d be down for that, man.”
“We’d find a happy medium, no doubt.” Bane shrugged. “Devil’s in the details, but we’d work it out.”
“We would, but it’s not optimal for anyone. You need a way to stay stuck tight to this unclaimed stretch of ground, and the easiest way would be claimin’ it. I was considering what it would mean to draw my line in the sand with a new FRMC charter here.” Blackie’s neck twisted as he glared at Mason. “Present a strong front to our competition, so they’ll stop thinkin’ they can swoop in and scoop up our territory.” He pounded his chest with a fist. “My territory, bought and held with the blood of my men.”
Mason’s chin rose, but he held his peace. This was rightly between Bane and Blackie, and would better have been conducted without the audience.
“You’re looking to spread FRMC that wide, boss?” Bane shook his head. “While I love the idea on the