Page 81 of Hard Corps (Selected Sinners MC 7)

“A-Train,” I said as I shook his hand. “President.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Dekk, the V.P., and Ripp, Sergeant-At-Arms.”

“Pleasure to meet you fellas. I’m pretty tight with Doc back in Wichita, he said you’re originally from there, speaks highly of you,” he said.

“Damned fine man,” I said.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Slice responded.

“Well, if you fellas don’t have plans, we’re headed out to a bar for drinks and a little food. Love to have you ride with us,” he said.

Being asked by a 1%er to ride with their club wasn’t unheard of, but it certainly wasn’t common, either. Even if I had other plans, I would have cancelled them out of respect to him and his club. In short, it was an honor to be invited, and it spoke volumes about Slice’s respect for us as a club for him to invite us.

“We’ll ride. Know where you’re going?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Hoping you’d know a place.”

“Red Shed,” Ripp said. “Best biker bar in town, and they’re 1%er friendly.

“Sounds like my kind of place,” Slice said. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to the fellas.”

“Be right there,” I said. “Just going to go shake a few hands.”

Ripp and Dekk followed Slice outside and I wandered the inside of the facility giving anyone an opportunity to speak or introduce themselves. After shaking two hands and being eye-fucked by the remainder of the wannbe gangsters, I stepped outside and peered along the length of motorcycles that had parked outside since we walked in.

“Ripp’s over there,” Dekk said as he tossed his head toward Ripp.

He stood forty feet away with four men, all who wore Selected Sinners colors. As my eyes attempted to adjust from the darkened building to the Texas sun, I noticed one of the men had a USMC tattoo on his forearm, which immediately caught my attention.

“Staff Sergeant Jacob!” he yelled.

I shifted my eyes from his bicep to his face.

My mind began to spin.

They told me you were dead.

I stood and stared. It couldn’t be. There was no way. He had to be be someone else.

I slowly walked in his direction. The closer I got, the clearer it became. I blinked my eyes. It had been ten years since I had seen him, but he looked exactly the same.

“Sergeant Todelli? The fucking Toad? Holy shit, Brother, I thought you were dead,” I said.

He shook his head and grinned. “Fuck, I got medevaced out, treated, handed a Purple Heart, and went right fucking back. But I watched you get killed.”

Although I was told by the Lieutenant Colonel that there were no men killed in action in my platoon, Sergeant Todelli was the only casualty my platoon had later suffered from the Second Battle of Fallujah, or at least I had thought.

Seeing him opened a part of me that had long since been closed off, and I felt as if I had truly accomplished my task the day I was shot into a piece of Swiss cheese.

He opened his arms and we embraced. A whirlwind of emotion that had long since left me quickly returned, and I recalled the last battle I had seen him in. As I released him from my arms, I leaned back and studied him.

“Shit, that bastard didn’t kill me. Shot me a few times, but that’s it. They told me you died. I was out six months, handed a couple of medals, and went back. Longest six months of my fucking life. Had to beg those bastards to send me back, and when I got to battalion they said you were dead. I asked around, and no one remembered what happened to you. I guessed you died, but I didn’t know if it was the second in Fallujah or somewhere else,” I said.

“Alive and well,” he said. “But when they transferred me to first platoon in Charlie, I heard you died. Died a fucking hero,” he said.

I shook my head and grinned. “Shit, the medevac chopper flew out, and I laid in the fucking street returning fire until a Corpsman drug me behind that building. Fucking sniper shot me twice, but your chopper hadn’t made it out yet. Hell, I had to stay and make sure my Marines got out of there safely. And he had to shoot me one more time for before I got him,” I said.

“Ready for anything, counting on nothing,” he said with a laugh.