Page 6 of Devil's Due

There’s the stare. The one that sees deep inside you. “Yeah.” If possible his eyes sharpen. “We gonna talk about that?”

I raise and lower my shoulders. “She’s weak, Drum. I tell her I’m walking out for good? I just don’t know how she’d cope. She relies on me. She needs me.”

“And you need to be needed. But there comes a limit, Brother.”

He’s right about that. I’d reached mine long ago.

“Which brings me back to my suggestion. Thought getting you to the club would provide the break you needed but underestimated the depth of Sally’s claws. So, Colorado. That enough space?”

My mind loops back to his proposal. “Effectively she’d be kicking me out of my home, out of Tucson.” I live for this club. Ire starts to burn inside me at the thoughtI’mthe one who has to go.Yeah, but I’m the one who’s running from hurting a woman.

“You tell me you don’t want to do this? My choice might not be my first one, but I’ll find someone else. I got a need, Beef, and decided you can fill it. The fact that my need provides you with a solution is just happy coincidence.”

Morosely I stare down at my hands. “Sally won’t do well on her own.”

“Vulnerable and helpless, yeah? That’s why you’re giving into her every demand. She’s got you all twisted up. You say how you really feel, and she’ll pull out every sympathy card going. Am I right?”

That and then some. I don’t bother using words. Just raise my chin.

“So you heading up to Pueblo for a few weeks, this gives her a chance to learn how to cope. If she prefers, she can go back to her family. There’s no longer a problem now that her ex, Lawson, has been jailed.”

“She likes being independent, Prez. Doesn’t want to go back.”

Drummer exasperatedly shakes his head. “But she’s not being independent. Not when you’re at her beck and call.”

I think over what he’s just said. Then I come to a decision. “I’ll go.” My initial impulse to refuse had, as Drummer rightly surmised, been guilt about Sally. If he thinks this is the right way to force a break, then I’ll do it. It’s the thought of leaving my brothers behind that’s fucking hard to take. I patched into Tucson many years ago, never thought about transferring to a different chapter. Living with the Satan’s Devils has been the only home I’ve known since I left the army. Now my main concern isn’t about leaving Sally, but my friends here. “How long, Prez?”

“As long as it takes. I need to know I’ve a man there who I’ve complete faith in. Want you to be my eyes and ears, maybe see if you can push Demon into appointing a second.”

“Is he going to like that, Prez?” My brows knit together at the thought of the kind of welcome I’d get. A nobody like me turning up and telling a president how to run his own club.

I underestimated Drummer. “Don’t see anyone would question you wanting to visit with Pal and Jayden?” His eyebrow rises.

I catch up with him fast. “Under the circumstances, yeah. I can play it that way if you want, Prez.” I narrow my eyes. “You’ve spoken to Demon? How much have you told him? Has he any idea why I’m really going?”

“Nah. Just told him I had a member who needed some time to get his head on straight. What you tell him when you get there, well, I’ll leave that to you. You’ll be on the ground, you make the calls. I did tell him you put in a request to go nomad.”

I sit up straight, that puts a different perspective on matters. “Lose my fuckin’ Tucson rocker?” I rapidly shake my head. Don’t like that. Don’t like that at all.

“It makes sense, and it’s the role I’m asking you to play. The mother chapter’s representative checking out the other chapters.”

“Chapters?” I thought a few weeks away and then I’d be back. This is a more serious decision than I expected.

“We can revisit when you’ve sorted out Colorado.” He shrugs.

Nomad.A biker, on his own. Essentially Drummer’s traveling enforcer. It’s not that I can’t do it. It’s the thought of the loss of the rocker denoting me without a permanent chapter that concerns me. Tucson’s my home, I’m not ready to say goodbye to it.

“Makes it easier for your brothers to accept, Beef.” Drummer’s tone is persuasive. “A request from you to go nomad, without having to explain your personal circumstances. Someone has to do it. No pressure. Your choice.”

“Icancome back, Prez. Can’t I?” If my voice has a hint of desperation in it, I can’t help it.

Drummer suddenly snarls, “Be fuckin’ hard to see you go, Brother. Believe that. But I need someone in Colorado, you need some distance from your life here. Of course, you can fuckin’ return when you’re ready, and when Demon’s got his top team sorted.”

Simple, really. A chance to get out of Sally’s life, or rather, her out of mine. A break away from the love and perfect relationships I see all around me. Time to catch my breath and decide what I really want, without hankering after a woman called Becca. A task that Drummer thinks I’m up to. “Prez.” The determination in my voice has him grinning. “I’d like to put in a request to become nomad.”

“Bring it to the table,” Drummer replies, standing, his hand outstretched. I stand too and take it.

Chapter Three

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