Page 36 of Inglorious (Unwanted Bastards MC #1)

Inglorious

T oday marked two months since Nanci blew into town and took over the club.

Listening to her reports in church, I must concede she’d done a powerful, amazing job at managing the club.

The financial status was great, and I repaid the money that Party had scammed us out of.

Nanci mentioned I didn’t need to, but Party was able to rip us off because I was drunk.

It was my fault, and it was right that I should pay restitution. The church was a lot fuller than it had been two months ago, that was for sure.

Even positions were being filled. Vortex held VP, Hercules was our enforcer, Razor was taking up his role as chaplain, Doc was our medic, and Chill was the secretary.

We still had an enforcer position open alongside SAA, treasurer, and Road Captain.

Those had Legacies somewhere out there, and we needed to find them.

Right now, we possessed six more members: Moon, King, Sabre, Gravey, Lasher, and Oil.

Two months ago, only three of us could sit around this table.

Now there were twelve, including me. I didn’t include Nanci because she was temporary, and that was no disrespect to her.

Nanci came, conquered, kicked ass, and led us into a new dawn.

I still saw Janet twice a week; talking through my grief was helping keep me on the straight and narrow. Chill and Razor also saw Janet weekly.

I also attended AA twice a week. I’d been offered a sponsor and accepted Mase when she presented herself as an option. Although I checked in with Mase, the truth was, I hadn’t had the urge to drink for a few weeks now. Nanci had replaced my addiction, and she was a far healthier one.

“We can open in a few weeks, then? Licences and everything are current?” Nanci asked and grabbed my wandering attention.

“Yeah,” Hercules confirmed. As well as being our enforcer, he was also our IT man.

“Great! I’ll contact the advertising company. Thanks to Lasher, we’ve a damn healthy budget,” Nanci replied.

Blackrock Construction had worked their asses off to get us to this point.

In addition to the sheriff’s office, Doc’s clinic, and the clubhouse being completed, there were several other buildings now.

Rock and Apache were able to bring back the trout farm, saloon, stables, and four shops.

The hotel above the saloon was nearly complete, and Nanci had been ordering furniture as if it were a Christmas sale.

A team began working on the houses we intended to rent out. Four got completed, and Daisy-Duke took over that project. The woman claimed she needed to keep busy, and this gave her something to do. Nobody wanted to argue with her, least of all me!

Work was also progressing on my home with Nanci, and it should be ready just after our wedding, which had been pushed back due to various emergencies.

Kya was excited about getting her own home with a pool, and it warmed my heart how she was bouncing back.

She still had quiet spells, which worried me, and she was very attached to Nanci and me.

I made sure I had plenty of time for her.

I’d failed Kya once; I wouldn’t ever let her down again.

“What are we working on next?” Oil asked.

“The schoolhouse is being started today, and the dentist, blacksmith, and laundry are next on the plans. We’ve got adverts out to hire staff, which Daisy-Duke and I will whittle down before passing to Inglorious for the final interview.” “You’re making people have two interviews?” Moon asked.

“Yes. We want to make sure we get the right people on board,” Nanci replied.

“Guess Drew was lucky,” Hercules snorted.

Drew’s home became the first finished, and he moved in last week. The guy seemed quite happy patrolling and handling shit, although he’d not yet found staff. But now that he was here permanently, he could start looking in earnest.

“Oil put forward an idea that we really need to consider. Oil, would you tell everyone?” Nanci said and turned to Oil.

“We need at least one fire engine. These buildings are mainly wood. If one goes up, they all will. I know construction is placing sprinklers in each building, but we need more. By the time Fire answers a call, we’d have lost the town.

” “Good idea,” I drawled. “And it’s not as if Chill, Razor, and I aren’t relief firefighters.

It wouldn’t be a hardship for the rest of the club to train up. ”

“Maybe make that mandatory,” Vortex explained.

“Don’t know about forcing people to fight fire. I’d rather have volunteers,” Nanci replied.

“Agreed. Someone forced may hang back and risk lives or buildings. Volunteering is the way to go. Oil, it was your idea, can you look into how much two engines cost? They can be held at the coaching inn,” I agreed.

And shit, I’d given an order again. I glanced at Nanci, but she didn’t seem too bothered.

“What are we doing with that large building at the end of town? The one that used to belong to the old sawmill?” King asked.

“Not sure yet. I was thinking of making it an extra restaurant, but we’ve got two planned, along with the two saloons. Plus, of the three takeaways we’re allowing in town,” I replied.

“How about making it a museum? You said at the last meeting we had permission to open the mines as a tourist and educational attraction. That building could be used to display the town’s history,” King suggested.

“Good idea,” I said. I was surprised that Nanci had wrangled the state into letting us open the No.

1 and No. 2 Merritt mines. They’d been deemed unsafe and closed off for years.

However, Nanci pledged to ensure their safety of guests, and the state concurred.

A bit of me had wondered how much of that was to ease the guilt they felt over the war.

“What about the theatre? Are we keeping it?” Lasher asked.

“It’s one of the worst buildings left. Half of it has collapsed. It may be easier to rip it down,” Nanci said.

“Nah. Restore it and have local troops put on plays or have bands play concerts there. It can be a moneymaker if marketed right,” Lasher argued, and I nodded thoughtfully. I was ready to wreck it, but Lasher made a point.

“I’ll consider it,” I responded.

“Anything else around the town? No? Okay. Moving on. Oil wants to handle our investments. We all know he has the Midas touch when it comes to making money. Are we all in agreement? Chill, take the ayes and nays down,” Nanci continued with the meeting.

Everyone agreed about Oil handling them. Considering the man had just dropped a good ten mill into our club’s balance, nobody could say otherwise. Oil enjoyed making money for the fun of it, but he was clever and astute.

“One last vote. It needs to be unanimous. I suggest Inglorious takes back the presidency,” Nanci said and took us all by surprise.

“Aye,” Vortex said, and I stared at him in surprise. I thought he’d be the holdout.

“Aye,” Razor agreed almost at the same time as Vortex.

One by one, everyone voted aye, and their trust and faith in me humbled me.

“I won’t let you down again,” I promised as Nanci rose from her chair and waved her hand for me to take her place.

Nanci smiled. “I know, or I wouldn’t have suggested. This is a church for brothers, and I’ve no other business to bring up. I’m going to bow out and leave you all alone.”

With that, my woman took off her coat and handed it to me. I caught her and kissed her, pouring all the love I kept for her into it before releasing her.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’re welcome. See you outside,” Nanci murmured and strutted her pert ass outside. My fuckin’ woman!

Turning back to my brothers, I saw them hiding smirks and scowled at them. “Let’s get back to business.”

“Sure, Pres,” Vortex smirked as I glowered. It didn’t stay long before a smile crossed my lips.

I’d been to hell and back and lost everything important to me.

Grief stole my future while guilt kept me trapped.

Thanks to a stubborn, ball-busting woman, I had a future again, and so did the club.

No matter what happened, Nanci’s sacrifice and love would never be forgotten.

I’d not allow it. Nanci was going to be an Unwanted Bastard legend.