“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do.” He never felt like such a failure as he did now, letting down his brothers. His club. Dixon.
“You were right to bring it to me. We’ll handle it.”
“How?”
“Dunno yet, but we always do. Right, man?” He held out a hand to Patriot, and he gripped it hard. Dixon pulled him in for a thump on the spine, which only left him feeling more guilty about the situation.
“We’ll talk about it later. Right now, there’s a party goin’ on in the other room and about three honeys who want a ride on the back of your bike.” Dixon grinned.
Patriot huffed out a laugh. “I’ll pass on the honeys. The last thing I need is more complications. Actually, I don’t feel much like partyin’. Think I’ll pack up and head to the mountains to camp for the weekend.”
A crease of concern split Dixon’s brows. “Alone?”
“Yeah. Need some time to think.”
Dixon nodded. “I understand. Just remember you’ve got your brotherhood to lean on.”
He gave him a smile he didn’t quite feel. When he walked out of the club, he gave nods of farewell to the guys. He spotted Tank, his woman on his lap, both of them laughing at something one of the other guys said. The couple looked as happy as Patriot had ever seen them. He caught Tank’s eye and lifted a hand in farewell.
Outside, he swung his leg over his motorcycle with his camping gear already strapped to the back. When he collected the items and bungeed them behind the seat, he hadn’t been certain he’d take off for the mountains. Now he couldn’t think of a better place to get his head on straight.
As he took off down the road away from the Dark Falcons clubhouse and headed toward the Smoky Mountains, he thought about how well Dixon took the news. Too well, in fact.
He didn’t want to think about how long it would take for the whole world to blow up around them.
THE END