Page 72 of Jackass

“King brought it up to me about a year after we set up the club. I didn’t want Ryder getting too close, so I shot it down. If he had joined the club, he would have had access to who I really was. Turned out, he knew it was me from the beginning,” Blade answered.

“Asshole,” Beck and her father said at the same time.

“Love you too, baby.” Blade held her tight and kissed her temple.

“Maybe it’s time you approached him?” King said.

“No,” Cash objected again.

“Fuck off, Cash. He doesn’t want your girl. Besides, if he was a part of the club, you could enforce the‘don’t touch my old lady’rule,”Blade informed him.

“Fuck, that’s right.” Cash smirked. I guess he was more amiable now. “Should we be discussing all this with Beck here?” Cash pointed out.

“Like Blade won’t tell her about approaching Ryder to prospect, anyway.” I scoffed.

“Alright, enough. Jingles, you’re on Samantha. No one outside this room knows about it. I want a brother with her any time she leaves, like we decided before. The brother with her will not be told about Jingles either,” King said.

“Why not? You don’t trust the brothers?” Colt asked.

“Women are sneaky.”

“Hey,” Beck whined.

“Stuff it, sweetheart. You know it’s true.” King grinned at his niece, who huffed and crossed her arms. She reminded me of Charlie when she didn’t get her way.

“If Samantha ditches her protection, which I am counting on, she won’t know about Jingles,” King explained.

I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of him not trusting my woman. He was right, though. Carrie was manipulative. I was fully expecting her to convince Samantha to ditch her protection detail and meet her somewhere.

“Jack, make sure you let Jingles know any time she leaves the clubhouse,” King instructed.

I nodded my head, letting him know I heard him.

“Dec, try to figure out who the fuck this woman is,” King said, then slammed the gavel on the table, and we all walked out of the room.

When evening fell, the party was still going strong. Most people had left, and just the brothers, the club girls, and a few of the women remained.

Ryder’s parents had taken the girls home for the night, so he could stay and continue to party with Blade. They had grown up together, and despite the years Blade was gone and his deception when he came back, they were still close.

Amber had offered to take Charlie up to her room and sit with her so Sammy could stay with me. I was thankful for that.

Over the last two years, I had only convinced Sammy to come to the club a handful of times. Now I understood why.

Multiple firepits sat scattered throughout the yard, surrounded by wooden Adirondack chairs. You could only fit so many chairs around each one and still be able to feel the heat.

There were ten of us sitting around this one. Sammy and I sat snuggled together in a chair, mirroring Blade and Beck, who satacross from us. Big Ben, Ace, Rachel, Gunner, Ghost, and Ryder all sat scattered around with us. Cash was across the yard, in deep conversation with King about something.

“Hey, Ryder, Blade has something he wants to ask you about,” I said.

Ryder paused, the beer in his hand halfway to his mouth. He looked a bit like a deer caught in headlights.

“I didn’t do it,” he said, laughing, then took a drink from the bottle.

Blade glared at me over the fire. “Jackass.”

“You know it!” I said, tipping my beer in his direction.

“What’s up, man?” Ryder asked, looking over at Blade and Beck.