Page 23 of Ranger's Rise
“Tell him about cruising the back roads while I eat, Brother.”
I get a whole story about him learning about Lorelei and wonder why he needed to know all the shit about her grandparents and landmarks around town, but don’t ask. I like learning about Freedom’s life, but don’t think I need every minute to know who she is now. She shows me every day. We’ve done a bunch of weird shit together like raiding Victory’s store and running errands. I even went to the market with her.
Cort waves his hand in front of me. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’m doing the long way. I’ll talk to her about claiming her tonight.”
He laughs. VP swings his head like he’s disappointed in me. I look at Cort. “How long did you know Seren?”
He shrugs. “Couple of days and I claimed her.”
VP rolls his eyes. “She’s fucking beautiful and does the quote thing.”
“The first time we were together, I knew and had her shit moved in the next day.”
I nod. I know too. “Do I need to get a house? What do I need forall in?”
Cort’s head swings. “Freedom told Seren that I don’t expect anything more than what I’d seen. Since my job isn’t normal, she saw that and didn’t expect me to keep bankers’ hours or turn into papa Brady. Freedom doesn’t expect anything more than you. She knows your hours and you know hers. You’ve taken her out and even with Victory, had her laughing and talking more than I normally see from her. All you need to do is claim her. She even gets Badass shit, so she’ll expect that. Make sure she changes her name too.”
VP laughs. “Jesus. Freedom Ross sounds made up. I thought Ranger was your road name. That sounds almost as fake as Freedom Ross.”
“Your real name is Ranger Ross? You didn’t change it?”
Why the fuck would I change it? “No. My dad was a descendent of Betsy. Ross is what they picked, but she didn’t have kids with John Ross. Their name was Claypoole. When the honey pot left me at the Club, my dad and uncle named me Ranger and gave me the name Ross. It was just starting to get good for the Club and I was one of the first to be raised with the new Badass direction they were promoting. Before, the Club was more like the gangs of today.”
His hands go up. “I’m not showing disrespect. I’m surprised. You were a Ranger. Did you plan to go into Rangers because of your name?”
I laugh. “No, they moved me when I was eighteen. I joined early and they ran me through Rangers when I hit legal. Maybe they did because of my name, but they didn't tell me the reason. I was an Enforcer already, so I thought that got me in.”
“Cool as fuck, Ranger. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
I crack up, VP is a funny Brother. “I didn’t name me, Brother. It can’t beself-fulfilling.”
Cort laughs and pushes his pan away. VP makes me laugh. “Dad-fulfilling sounds stupid.” He looks at Cort. “He’s got a possible for Jordan’s VP position. He gave the name to Web. Says he’s like Brinks.”
“That will make my life easy. Jordan is more like Major. He needs a second that’s younger, but a strong Enforcer.”
I nod. “He’s an Ops Lead too and SAA right now. He replaced me. For a while, it was just the two of us running Ops for the Council.”
“I hope he has help now. Two Ops Leads would never work here.” His surprise has me nodding.
“Before I left, I put a call into Badass. They sent trainers and got him help, but he’s open to moving. The new Pres is a showman.”
It looks like that hurts him. “Shit. I’ve met a few like that. Badass is trying to stop it with the new Clubs.”
“I feel bad that Jordan has had to wait so long, but a new VP that completes him will show better for him.”
Cort looks at him and laughs. “Completes him? They aren’t getting married, Raid.”
VP waves it away. “You know what I mean. The possible VP is in a Council, runs Ops for it and is a Lead and Enforcer. He’s Badass and more loyal to that than his President. Jordan was raised Badass and needs strong Ops support. They’ll work like we do. Crow made sure we weren’t carbon copies of each other and paired us with support that gives us what we need. You’re doing the same thing with Jordan and I know you’ll do it with Falcon. You’ll keep Ranger because you’ll need him at SAA and he has what you do. He’s younger and a trainer for everything you want training to hit on.”
I look at Cort and he smiles at VP then looks at me. “Okay then. I’m glad you like it here, Brother. You’ll be staying.”
I just laugh.
~*~*~
Inner Circle is not surprised or upset about Hade. It strikes me as odd, but they’ve known him longer than I have. They also saw him not own his shit and that hurt him. Mounty will take the extra training classes and hands Brinks Cort’s training schedule. For some reason, VP is relieved and everyone finds it funny.
