Tuck

Chapter 1

Tuck sat in the clubhouse, a of glass with an inch of scotch in one hand, a silver dollar, worn and shiny, rolling unceasing back and forth over the knuckles of the other. He hated when things didn’t go to suit him, and things hadn’t gone his way in longer than he cared to remember. Sure, a few things went right, but not as many as he thought should.

The Souls had managed to make sure the last piece of scum who’d tried to sneak through on their watch had gotten caught. Gizmo had made sure the kidnapped girl was found and returned to her father, but they still had guns being sold into Mexico. They still had people that Tuck believed should be wiped from the Earth trying to get into the United States and destroy what so many men and women had created here. Not that they were going to be able to do it. No one was going to take away the freedoms people like he and his brothers had fought and died for, not for the entire country.

But the people this scum interacted with? The ones they personally hurt? Those were the ones Tuck was angry about.

The women abused by men who’d been convicted of assault, and worse, served their time and deported, only to sneak back into the country to repeat their crimes. And not just once. Some of these guys had been convicted more than a half dozen times.

“You all right, boss?” Mac spun a chair around and straddled it as Tuck shot him a go to hell look. He hated being called boss and Mac knew it.

“Fine.”

“You don’t look fine. You look like you’re brooding again.”

Tuck narrowed his eyes at one of the few men in the club near his age. There were a few of the older crew still around, but most of the men were younger than him by at least a few years.

If he wasn’t careful, one of the younger bucks would be looking to edge him out as president.

“Who do you think should replace me?” Tuck looked at Mac and took a swig from the tumbler.

Mac blinked. “You planning to step down? Or do something ultimately stupid?”

Tuck stared at Mac a moment then shook his head. “No, but we’re getting older. They’ll replace me sooner or later.”

“It will be later. You’re doing a good job and while some might not see it, most of us do. Sadist could do the job, but he doesn’t want it. Same goes for Ruger. They’re both all in for the club, but they’re more interested in running their own businesses and in their women than in taking over as President.”

Tuck stared into his glass wondering if Mac was right and he was just being maudlin. Probably the latter. It had been a long few days. He was ready for things to ease off a bit. At least let him catch his breath a little before the next catastrophe. Not likely from his experience, but he could dream. He shook his head and pushed thoughts of being replaced from his mind. With another drink of his scotch he looked at Mac.

“How long till everyone gets here?” Tuck glanced up at the second-floor railing and thought of his room beyond. What he really wanted was to go to bed, get a decent night’s sleep, and start over tomorrow, but they still had a meeting he had to force himself through before he could call it a night and hopefully have a better day tomorrow.

“Another thirty minutes or so. I just talked to Ruger and Sadist. Ruger closed a while ago, just getting things ready for tomorrow and Sadist just finished with his last client. Said he was going to clean up and head over.”

Tuck bit back a growl of impatience. It wasn’t that he was tired, more that he wanted this to be done and to move on to a new day. Not that he thought anything was really going to change, but still. He’d decided he was done with today. He didn’t want to deal with more and the meeting would definitely mean more.

The important business done, Tuck sat silently in his chair at the head of the table, wondering how much longer he should let the chatter go before calling an end to it.

Everyone had either made reports, received orders or both and now they were discussing the prospects and what to do with them. Right now there were three and another would be here soon. It was too many and they all knew it. What to do about that, whether to patch in Jake or cut him loose, was part of why Tuck let the conversation playing around him continue.

“You look like you’re somewhere else entirely, or you want to be,” Ghost’s voice beside him caught Tuck’s attention.

“I’d like to go to bed. Preferably with a woman to keep me warm.” Tuck curved one side of his mouth to let the younger man know he was only half kidding.

“Wouldn’t we all?” Ghost chuckled. “I think Double D is out there.”

A rude noise escaped Tuck’s throat. “No thanks. She’s willing to do anything but as president I can’t afford any of the women to think I’m favoring one over another, even if it’s true.”

“Good excuse,” Ghost shot him a wry grin then looked back toward the rest of the table where most of the men were deep in discussion about Jake, Sackett, and Savage.

“Sackett seems like a good kid, but he hasn’t been around long enough to be certain of. And if Sackett hasn’t been around enough, Savage is defiantly too new,” Sadist said to Crash.

“But Jake. He’s been here enough. We need to take a vote on whether to keep him or cut him loose.”

“Agreed,” Tuck finally spoke up, “but not tonight. We all need to work out our arguments, both for and against. We’ll discuss it again next week. We’ve got time. The new guy won’t be here for at least a couple more weeks.”

There was some muttering but after a moment they quieted down once more. Tuck waited until the talk had died to a sputter to call an end to the meeting and have Dumbass unlock the door into the rest of the clubhouse. His brothers stood and made their way from the room, but Tuck stayed put, waiting. It was his habit, unless he had something he had to get done or someone else would need the room, to be the last one out of the room, in case any of his brothers had something they wanted to discuss with him. It gave them a chance to talk without the rest of the club overhearing like they could in the main room.

Most of the brothers had trickled out into the other room when Stretch took Sadist’s chair next to Tuck and sat.

“You look like you need a bottle of whiskey, a hot piece of ass and about three weeks’ vacation.”

“I feel like I could use all three.”

“Then why don’t you take them?”

“I need to run this place.” Tuck shook his head. “We’ve got so much going on.”

“Yes, we need you but not enough to work you to death. That’s what a VP and the rest of the officers are for. Let them pick up the slack and take a little time. Find some hot young thing and get out of town for a couple weeks. I know you, man. You hang around here, you’ll be eyeball deep in club s**t and that hot young thing will dump your ass faster than you can pull your d**k out of your pants.”

Tuck scowled but didn’t argue. How could he when Stretch was probably right. No matter how much you loved your job, or your life, you could burn out from too much. He should get away, but where? And as to the suggestion that he find a piece of ass to take with him? Well, Tuck wouldn’t deny it was a good thought, but he’d learned the hard way that their life didn’t lean to happy family or even marriage.

“I’ll think about it,” Tuck said. “Anything else?”

“No, just wanted to check on you. You look like you’re on the edge.” Stretch stood. “Think about it.” He didn’t look back as he left Tuck alone in the room, the rest of the brother’s having left already.

Tuck sat alone a moment, wondering where he would go if he did take a little time off, try to get away. Nothing came to him, so he pushed himself to his feet and made his way upstairs to bed.