Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Rez grinned. “Anything I can do to help.”
Fletch covered his own grin with his hand.
Jamison sighed loudly. “All right. That was more task force business than club business. Any other club business before we adjourn and hit the road?”
Fletch wanted to bring up what had been eating at him for a while now. There was no better time than the present. Especially since the third floor would be getting a lot of traffic soon. “Yeah. Got a suggestion.”
“Does this have to do with the task force?” Jamison asked with a frown. “Because if it does—”
“No. The second floor.”
Miller, the club treasurer, had been fucking with his phone the whole time they were talking about the Dirty Angels. He finally lifted his head. “We don’t have the funds right now to do anything with it.”
Fletch sighed just as loudly as their president had. “No shit. We’re all aware our reserves are now non-existent from buying and rehabbing this place. But,” he pointed toward the ceiling, “that cot on the third floor has been getting a lot of use lately and its current location will be far from ideal for him once this investigation gets rolling.”
Something needed to change and it wouldn’t if no one confronted Nox.
“We know why he’s been sleeping up there. We all know why he doesn’t want to go home to sleep in his own bed. We might not like it but we get it.” Fletch glanced around the table and got a few nods in agreement. “All of us do. We’ve even talked about it with and without Nox being present. But he can’t keep going on like he has, it’s not good for him. He needs to get rid of that house. I’m thinking we should get that apartment done and instead of renting it to some stranger, Nox moves up there. The club could use the rent and he could use the change. Plus, with the task force now on the third floor, someone would always be here, so for the most part, he’d never be alone.”
Fletch pictured Nox’s eyes. Most of the time they were distant and empty. They would sometimes catch flashes of how the man used to be, but that was few and far between. When his wife passed, it was like he passed with her. She had taken his soul along for the journey. Only his heart kept beating, his lungs kept pumping, and Fletch worried he might do something to stop that.
Keeping the house where his wife died, where he was surrounded by memories of her, was not healthy for him. He stayed either upstairs or on a rack at his station to avoid what he needed to face head-on. Both his loss and his future. Instead, he was simply floating along ignoring it all.
Nothing was going to change if he didn’t change it first.
Jamison said everyone at Shadow Valley PD had been nothing but supportive since Nox’s wife died unexpectedly. And Fletch knew for a fact that each and every member of the Blue Avengers was and would continue to be there for him, too, for whatever he needed.
That was the power behind both their blue brotherhood and Blue Avengers brotherhood. He was surrounded by brothers willing to bend over backwards to help him.
He just didn’t want it.
Fletch hoped Nox getting heavily involved with the task force might give him something to focus on to help get him past his grief, his sense of loss and hopelessness.
Fletch—along with the rest of their BAMC brothers—worried that if he stayed stagnant, or even got worse, he might eat his damn gun. And none of them, not fucking one, would be able to live with themselves if they didn’t try everything in their fucking power to prevent that.
“Miller just said the club doesn’t have the funds to finish the apartment.” Finn’s reminder brought Fletch back to the table.
“The club might not, but he would… if he sold that house.”
“Shit,” Finn murmured.
“Now that’s a damn good idea,” Miller said.
“I do have them sometimes,” Fletch assured Miller.
“He’s not going to like us discussing his business behind his back,” Rez warned.
“Too fucking bad. It needs to be discussed,” Fletch insisted, “and I want to present this option to him but we would need to vote on it first. That’s why I’m bringing it up today.”
“Then let’s vote,” Jamison suggested. “I think it’s a great idea and I’m sure you all agree. It would be good for him and for the club. All those in favor of letting Nox use the proceeds from the sale of his house to finish the apartment upstairs, say aye.”
Of course, everyone at the table voted for it.
Now Nox would have to get on board. It might take a few of them to convince him.
“What about rent?” Miller asked. “If he’s using his money, we can’t charge him rent until we reimburse him for the construction costs.”