Page 17 of Forever Zara

“Grinder, can you put some feelers out?”

“Sure, Prez. We going widespread with it, or local?”

“The guy was in Denver, but go further afield to make sure. I’m gonna reach out to Jamie Steele and see if he’s heard anything about theRebelsreanimating.”

“What a fucking thought.” Added Preacher, stroking his long, pointed beard, “not like they had a good rep even when Hades was around. People gotta be cracked in the head to think that’s a good idea.”

They’d known a lot of cracked in the head people, so he wasn’t ruling it out.

“Prez,” called out Reaper from the other end of the table, all eyes turned toward the ghost, “what happens if theRebelsare resurrected? New leader, recruits, nothing to do with Hades.”

“Far as I’m concerned, the sins of the father will follow generation after generation. Don’t care if they don’t know Hades personally. If they have a fangirl hard-on to follow in his footsteps, but they toe the line, they’re guilty by association.”

There were a few grumbles of agreement around the table.

Rider locked eyes with an ashen-faced Snake.

They’d never spoken directly about theRebelsraid years ago, but Rider heard second-hand from Lawless how affected Snake had been by the killings.

Whatever Rider did, it wouldn’t fall on his brother’s shoulders, not this time.

He spoke up. “I’ll deal with whatever we find. Not gonna let some wannabes walk around scaring my old lady, not happening again.”

“They’ve slipped under our radar if there is a new chapter emerging,” said Tag. “But you got back up here, Prez.”

He was grateful, but this was his to deal with. He hadn’t been able to kill Hades, wasn’t gonna let his woman suffer from anxiety over this.

Being the prez meant he was the one who made the shitty decisions. He’d ask nothing of his boys he wasn’t willing to do himself.

He called the meeting to a close and went to collect his boy from Winter, who was watching him while he held church. He found his son throwing out the snores on her lap.

On cue, Knox came awake when he was in Rider’s arms. He might only be two, but he was a nosy kid hanging over Rider’s shoulder collecting tiny fist-bumps from everyone. His boy erupted into laughter like he thought it was the best shit ever.

“You ready to eat again, kiddo?”

“Yeahhhhh, Papa, nuggo’s,” Knox said enthusiastically, grabbing handfuls of Rider’s hair.

He could have asked one of the hangarounds to knock up a plate of food for Knox, but he was gonna kill two birds with one stone by going to the diner to meet Jamie Steele.

Two president heads were better than one.

SEVEN

“The agreement of Prez’s.” - Jamie Steele

The Apollo Kingsmen boss had been waiting twenty minutes when Rider and mini-Rider strode into the diner. The kid let go of his father’s hand and headed to the counter on little legs, and started thumping it to get attention.

Jamie grinned, watching.

It was another minute when Rider plonked the kid in a highchair and reached across the table to slap his hand. “How’s it going, Jamie?”

“Can’t complain. You’re training them young these days.”

Rider half-grinned, taking his seat as the server came to drop off a mug of coffee and to refill Jamie’s now empty cup. “Zara’s sick, so I’m carting this one around with me. We can talk, but I gotta make sure my kid has some food first, or he’ll scream the place down.”

“I might have to remind him of this moment one day when he’s theSoulspresident. The day I watched him shoving chicken fingers in his mouth.”

“And where’s your sidekick today? Didn’t know the Velcro detached you two.”

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