Page 8 of Colt

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Colt

Ispent my morning at The Red Door, the strip club we owned, making sure everything was running smoothly, and now I was at The Den doing the same thing. While the club had their hands in plenty of illegal activities, we also owned legitimate businesses that helped us maintain some integrity within the community. I oversaw the operations for both The Den and The Red Door, my affinity for business making me a natural fit.

Shutting down my laptop, I leaned my head back against my chair and closed my eyes. Most of the time, I loved my job, but today I couldn’t get my mind off the shit going on both here and in Reno.

Truth be told, I was starting to become impatient with how we were dealing with the Phantoms. I wanted to go after them with guns blazing, while Viking wanted all the facts before acting. I knew playing it smart was a better course of action, but this was just another thing in my life that was weighing heavily on me.

As VP of the club, I felt responsible for protecting my brothers and all those associated with my club. I would lay down my life for any one of them. But lately, I felt as though I was being pulled in a million directions, and nothing was getting the attention it deserved.

I was packing up for the day, looking forward to a ride so I could clear my head when there was a knock at my office door.

“Come in,” I called, hoping whoever was here wasn’t going to keep me from leaving. Relief washed over me when I saw it was my dad. “Hey, Pop. What’s up?”

“I just finished lunch, and Noah mentioned you were back here. Got a few minutes?”

Now he had my attention. Our relationship hadn’t always been an easy one. He was former Air Force and lived his life on the straight and narrow. After he retired, he started up his private security firm and had been doing that ever since. As a teenager, I never felt like I could live up to his expectations. And since my mom left us when I was a kid and an only child, I’d had no buffer and we’d constantly butted heads. In high school, I got hired on by the Desert Sinners and worked at The Den after school. I’d loved everything about the club and got to know the members pretty well. And since Falcon’s son, Hawk, and I were roughly the same age, we hung out a lot. As soon as I turned eighteen, I started prospecting for the club, and my father had a hard time understanding why I would choose this life for myself. It took us a while and a few life-altering events to help us find a place of mutual respect.

“Yeah.” I sat back down, trying to think of what he could need to talk about. “What’s going on?”

He took a deep breath. Seeing his anxiety put me on edge. “I’m going to ask Lydia to marry me.” When I didn’t say anything, he added, “I want you to be my best man.”

“Are you sure?” It was an asshole thing to ask, but knowing that still didn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth.

He shook his head and I could see the disappointment in his eyes. “Not everyone is like Jenna or your mother. You can’t live your life expecting people to let you down.”

I wasn’t in the mood to listen to him lecture me again about how it was better to forgive those who hurt you so you could move on. He may have been able to live his life that way, but I wasn’t so quick to forgive. I also wasn’t so much of a jerk that I couldn’t at least muster a little congratulatory spirit for my old man. After Mom abandoned us for the guy she’d been cheating with, he hadn’t dated much until he’d retired. From what I could tell, Lydia made him happy, and I wouldn’t ruin that by acting like a dick.

“If you’re happy, then I’m happy for you. Of course, I’ll be your best man.” I stood up to shake his hand. “Let me know the time and place and I’ll be there.”

Dad smiled. “Thanks, Colton. That means a lot to me.”

I locked up the office, and we walked out to the parking lot together. The late afternoon sun was bright and still hot. I couldn’t wait for some cooler weather.

“Tell Lydia I’ll see her tomorrow for dinner,” I said as I climbed on my bike.

“Are you bringing Jett and Jasmine with you?”

The mention of those two brought a smile to my face. “That’s the plan.”

After saying goodbye, I revved my engine before pulling onto the road and making quick work of the ten-mile drive to the clubhouse. There were only a couple of bikes out when I arrived, so maybe I would have a few minutes to relax.

As I made my way up to the door, I heard the loud rumble of another bike pulling in. I turned around and saw Wolf driving up the gravel driveway. He’d been on a run out west the last couple of days. We may have wanted to keep a low profile due to the Phantoms, but we still had clients that were expecting us to keep them supplied in the top quality product we were known for.

“Hey. How’s it going?” I asked as he approached.

Wolf exhaled, running a hand over his scalp. “Crazy trip, man. I’m fucking exhausted, and I could use a drink.”

“Hear from Fitz or Hawk yet?”

“Nah, but they weren’t going to call unless they had something big.”

We walked inside and headed straight for the bar. Since it was a weekday, no one was manning it, so I grabbed a couple of beers from the small fridge and sat down next to Wolf.

Mere seconds passed before Amy and Tara, a couple of the club girls, sauntered over to us. Without any hesitation, Tara climbed onto my lap and wrapped her body around mine. She was a new girl, brought here a couple of weeks ago by a friend of hers, and I’d caught her attention the first night she partied with us. I didn’t mind. She was hot, down for pretty much anything, and knew all about my no-relationship stance. It was a situation that worked for me.

Before anything could happen between us, booming, heavy boot steps caught my attention. “Glad you’re both here.” Viking looked to see if anyone else was around. “My office, now!”