"Takes the right woman. As you well know," I said pointedly. "What happened with Dog’s Old Lady?"
He just shrugged. "Didn’t work out."
"You left your family behind for her," I remarked, then I pursed my lips and said, "You’re an uncle now. Did you know that?"
"Jesus. Giulia had a kid?"
"She did."
"Fuck."
That pretty much summed it up. "Why the hell should I let a dumbass like you into my club, North? Someone who don’t give a shit about family?"
"I do give a shit about family. I just…" He sighed. "I’m a Sinner through and through, Storm, but I know what the MC life is like. Dad was beating the shit outta her." He wriggled his shoulders. "I fucked up, but I did it for good reasons. I just wanted to keep her safe and didn’t think anyone in the MC would help her."
"You do remember Nyx, don’t you? If she’d gone to him, he’d have put a stop to Dog’s bullshit."
"She was scared."
I hummed, a little disbelievingly. It wasn’t on me to judge a victim of domestic abuse, but something about this had rung false with me from the start.
"You know most of the club think you killed Dog—" North’s eyes flared even wider at that, which was when I realized he hadn’t known his dad was dead.
"Dad… he was murdered?"
I didn’t tell him Lodestar was behind that particular job, one undertaken because she knew about Dog beating his woman up as well. Unfortunately for North, he’d been cast as scapegoat when he’d done a fucking runner.
This was going to shit up Rex’s plan majorly. Last thing we needed was North or Hawk getting all up in Lodestar’s face about putting that piece of shit father of theirs six feet under.
Ah, fuck.
I scratched my chin, well aware that Coshocton was gonna become the dumping ground of all the Sinners who pissed off Rex or were defective brothers in that they couldn’t do shit right.
Great.
"You can stay and Prospect, but you ain’t getting any special treatment from me," I told him gruffly.
His brow puckered. "Really?"
"Yeah. Really."
"No questions asked?"
"I already asked questions. You gave me mediocre answers. That’s why I’m gonna let you slide right back to the beginning. You have to work up to my good graces," I said wryly, slotting my fingers together so I could crack my knuckles. "You got someplace to live?"
"No."
"We have a bunkhouse out back. It ain’t pretty. You might wanna live in the MC’s motel. There’s a cheaper rate for brothers." Mostly because I wanted to knock down the bunkhouse seeing as it was an environmental fucking health hazard.
Not just because of the asbestos in the walls either—that was where the brothers took the clubwhores to fuck, and I sure as hell didn’t want Cyan playing out back and hearing them screwing.
He nodded. "Okay, sounds great. Can you give me directions?"
I grabbed my phone, demanded, "Your number?" I inputted it, then sent him a link. "There."
North chewed on his lip a second as he stared down at the text, before he rasped, "You know someone called Sticky?"
Curious, I tipped my head to the side. "Yeah. I know someone called Sticky. Why?"
"I heard these guys talking about you in a bar while I was riding through Pittsburgh. They were talking about the new Prez in Coshocton. It’s why I slid over this way."
"Just to meet little ol’ me?" was my dry rejoinder.
"Maybe. I knew you’d cut me more slack than Rex would."
"What’d make you think that?"
"You’re a man who appreciates second, third, fourth chances. Rex’s so fucking perfect, it’s like he never makes a mistake. As a Prez, I respect him, but I know better than to ask for any leniency from him. You?" He shrugged. "You’re human. Probably will make you a better Prez than him—"
"You don’t need to butter me up," I rumbled. "I already said I’d take you in."
"Yeah, but I’m worth it," he muttered. "I just… Without Hawk, I had to grow up. It sucked. But I did it. I got a job and I kept it and put a roof over my woman’s head, and it still wasn’t enough, you know?"
"What went wrong?" I questioned.
"I don’t think anything did. I just think she wanted to get away from Dad, and I was her way out. I can’t even be mad. He treated her like shit, exactly how he used to treat Mom… that was who he was. A jackass." His mouth tightened. "Sticky has a grudge against you."
"I know. It’s a dumb grudge. I didn’t do shit to him."
"Doesn’t matter. You pissed him off and he wasn’t afraid to run his mouth about it."
"When did you hear him bitching off?"
"Yesterday."
"Whereabouts?"
"Jimmy’s Bar & Grill on the I-70." He stared me down. "He’s staying at a motel nearby."
"How d’you know that?"
"I followed ‘em. They were as pissed as skunks. Watched ‘em go inside. They each had a room, and they were dumps—I checked. They’d been living there a while."
The intel was surprisingly helpful.
"Thanks for the info, North." I pursed my lips as I thought about what those fuckers were planning, well aware that it wouldn’t be anything good.
"Storm, I know I fucked up in West Orange so, I mean, I know I have to prove myself. I’m willing to do that though. Any shit jobs, I’m your man, okay?"
I laughed a little. "Trying to buy your way into a cut, huh?"
He pulled a face. "Maybe."
Rubbing my bottom lip, I told him, "Pick your poison."
"Huh?"
"Pick your poison. Before, you used to let Hawk do every-fucking-thing for you. That ain’t gonna slide here, North. So, where do you want to work?"
"You’re giving me a choice?"
"Let’s just say I’m fond of your sister."
"Giulia?" His eyes bugged.
"You got more than one sister?"
"No, but dude, no one’s fond of her."
"Think Nyx would disagree. Think he’d also punch you in the cojones for talking smack about his Old Lady."
"True." He whistled. "Okay, so, if I have a choice… under the Road Captain."
"Doesn’t always mean you get to go on runs and pick up a bonus," I pointed out wryly. "One last offer, North, pick something you want or I’ll just give you the shittiest jobs in the place like you asked, and they’ll make your idea of crappy tasks look fun."
His eyes bugged again, but then he smirked. "Okay. Under the Enforcer."
"Digger’s the Enforcer here. I’ll tell him I got him extra help." I sat up. "Go and move into the motel, then check back in with Dig. He’ll tell you what he needs from you."
North nodded, then got to his feet. "Thanks, Storm. I appreciate it."
"Make sure that any other pieces of information that come your way slide over to me too, huh?"