Prez, normally content to let things ride out, smashes his hand on the table. “Satan’s Devils’ regs don’t disqualify women from being members. Utah was correct on that. Wait, keep your opinions locked up until you meet her. Then, see if you can tell me if a woman with her credentials requested to prospect here, whether or not you’d let her.”
“Fuck that!” Dusty snorts. “I’d fuckin’ rather turn in my patch.”
“And I’d fuckin’ take it off you.” Lost’s hand hits the table again. “Swift has skills which we need to get the sergeant-at-arms’ kid off the hook, let alone put a stop to Devon’s other business. We’ll be fuckin’ polite to her. Show any fuckin’ disrespect and we risk her heading back to Utah, taking their fuckin’ help with her.”
“Didn’t know you’d adopted a kid, Grumbler?” Pennywise is looking at me shrewdly. “You got an ol’ lady now?”
“Stick on topic,” I growl.
Salem immediately raises an eyebrow. “If you have, you gotta bring it to the table sooner or later.”
I suppose he’s right. I throw them a bone. “Looks like the wind’s blowing that way, but it’s early days, okay? The enforcer’s right, so if you’ve any objection to her, let me know now.” I don’t know what I’ll do if they have—use my fists to persuade them to my way of thinking, probably.
“Looked into her background when I was trying to trace the photographer, she’s good. I’ll give my vote.” Token makes a supporting statement.
“Didn’t see much of her, but I could tell Patsy likes her,” Bones puts in.
Kink chuckles. “So we’ll be the chapter where fuckin’ ol’ ladies are old. Is that our criteria now?”
“Like you’d worry about fuckin’ criteria.” Blaze rolls his eyes at him. “If it’s warm and willing, you’d give it a try.”
“Don’t call my fuckin’ ol’ lady old,” Dart snarls.
“Children, children.” One side of Lost’s mouth is upturned. “If you want to vote now while we’re waiting, anyone have any objections to Mary as Grumbler’s ol’ lady?”
“I haven’t got any objections so long as she won’t expect to sit around the table with us.” Bones gets another dig in at Swift.
Prez raises an eyebrow at the treasurer who has the sense to shut up. Then the voting starts in earnest.
Apart from Patsy, there’s not been another old lady voted in in San Diego for years, least none that are still around. Dart’s woman, Alex, came as a done deal with him from Tucson.
I hadn’t expected any objections, but like most things, the brothers string it out, Snips wanting to hold out until he’d first met the bitch. His words, not mine. My growl in his direction and Pennywise’s slap around his head, soon has him shutting his mouth.
The newest members, Deuce, Reboot, Keeper and Niran seem almost bored by the vote. Dusty and Bones taking it more seriously, knowing that bringing in any outsider could be a risk. At last, the vote comes around to Salem.
The enforcer raises his hand. “I want to know if Grumbler’s fucked her. If he’s not as yet, then this might be a waste of our time.”
Seriously? I mouth at him.
“Good point that.” Pennywise backs up his friend.
“Unless the old man can’t get it up,” Kink suggests, his eyes filling with sympathy. “You need to get your script for Viagra filled?”
I can take quite a lot, but this hits so close to home that I snap. “Don’t need fuckin’ Viagra. My dick works great as it happens. It’s in good working order.” Too good, I think to myself.
Lost wipes his hand over his face and sighs. “Let’s do this another way. Any valid objections? No. Right.” He bangs the gavel. “You’re cleared to give your patch to your ol’ lady, Sergeant-at-arms.”
I give a sharp nod, wondering how I, a long-confirmed bachelor, who thought I’d be that way when I died, had picked up a woman I wanted to live with for the rest of my life. I’m still wondering if it’s a lingering effect of the accident I’d had, when there’s a knock at the door and, after Lost calls out permission to enter. It’s opened.
All heads point in that direction. Expressions are varied—some welcoming, some not so, some downright curious. It doesn’t help when the woman striding in is holding a leash, on the end of which is a black spaniel dog.
“Oh Jeez.” Brakes rolls his eyes. “She’s brought a fuckin’ lap dog.”
“Hey, where’s your ol’ man?” This comes from Dusty. “Road okay with letting you out without him?”
The man who’d entered, who I deduce is Bolt, stiffens and raises an eyebrow at Swift. She reaches down and murmurs something to him, causing a wide grin to appear on his face.
Then, they wait, until Lost directs them to the seats waiting for them.
Swift pulls out her chair and points down to the dog getting settled at her feet. “This is Apollo, well, everyone calls him App. He’s my hearing aid dog. You okay with having him here, Prez?” Her brow rises in challenge.
“App?” Scribe queries.
The other newcomer Bolt chuckles. “You know us tech guys. We’ve got an app for everything. Just so happens Apollo’s her hearing app.”
“You’re fuckin’ deaf? Can. You. Hear. Me?” Brakes asks.
Swift rolls her eyes. “Perfectly. As long as you don’t all talk over each other. You know, you show your good manners like your mummas taught you.”
“Where you from?” Pennywise asks. “Picking up on an accent, here.”
“England.”
“Well,” Bones drawls, “if you enunciate clearly, we might just be able to understand you.”
Prez bangs the gavel. He bangs it hard three times to get everyone to settle. “Thank you for coming to help.” He emphasises the last word with a glare at the San Diego members.
“How’s Road settling in?” the VP asks.
“Good.” Swift nods at Dart. “Getting up to speed fast. He’s on a mission right now, which is why we had to fly commercial. Preacher’s taken the
