Chapter 186 VP request
Ryder's POV
After Sage left, the hospital room felt quieter. The monitors continued their steady beeping, but the energy had changed from the emotional weight of the family reunion to something more serious. More deliberate. Jaxon had asked her to give us a few minutes and she had gone without pushing, which told me she already suspected what this part of the conversation was going to be about.
Jaxon gestured for me to pull the chair closer to his bed. I did, settling into it and waiting, wondering what was so urgent and private that it required her to be out of the room.
"So," Jaxon said, getting straight to it without wasting time. "We need to talk about the club and the president position."
I nodded and let him continue.
"You've done a really good job," Jaxon said, and the sincerity in his voice was not something he was performing. It was just there, plainly. "Running everything. Keeping the club together after the chaos of Dante's attack. I know it wasn't easy stepping into that role, especially in the middle of a crisis with no notice and no preparation."
"Thanks," I said. "I just did what needed to be done."
"You did more than that," Jaxon insisted. "You put things in order when you had no obligation to be in that position. You made hard decisions under pressure and you made most of them correctly. You coordinated the rebuilding efforts and the funerals and the dealings with the feds all at the same time. The brothers respect you and they followed your leadership without question and without complaint. That is not nothing."
I shifted in the chair, uncomfortable with the amount of praises he was showering on me. "The brothers were following you, not me. You're their president. I was just keeping your seat warm until you are ready to take it back."
"Maybe," Jaxon said. "But you still did an excellent job of it. And I want you to know I noticed. Even from in here."
He shifted in his bed, wincing at the movement exactly the same way as all the other times. He winced every time he tried to reposition himself, that involuntary tightening around the eyes that he never quite managed to keep off his face. The damage Dante had done to him was not something a few weeks in hospital fully resolved, and we both knew it.
"Here's what I'm thinking," Jaxon continued. "Of course you know will only resume the president duties when I'm physically able to handle all of its roles. Not next week or the week after. It depends on when the doctors are satisfied that I am strong enough to actually do the job without setting my recovery back. I am not going to force an earlier recovery and risk complications."
"Of course," I said immediately. "It's your position. I never wanted to take it from you and I am not going to handle it permanently. Take all the time you need."
"I know that," Jaxon said. "But I want to be clear about why it is not happening quickly, so you understand the situation. Being president is physically demanding in ways that people outside this life do not always appreciate. Long meetings. Riding to events. Handling confrontations that sometimes do not stay verbal. Right now I cannot sit for more than thirty minutes without needing to lie down and the doctors have banned me from riding a motorcycle until further notice. There is a long stretch of recovery ahead of me before I can carry that weight properly."
"How long are they saying?" I asked.
"Another two or three months at minimum," Jaxon said. "Maybe longer depending on how the physical therapy goes. The doctors say I am making good progress but there is still significant healing that needs to happen. Multiple perforations in the small bowel is not the kind of injury that resolves on a schedule."
"Take all the time you need," I said. "The club is still standing and it is solidly behind you. We will be here when you are ready."
"I want to stay connected though, in the running of things," Jaxon said. "I don't want to jump back in all at once. Maybe we start with me sitting in on meetings remotely or coming to the clubhouse for short stretches when I am strong enough for it. Then we build my involvement up gradually as I recover."
"That makes sense," I agreed. "We can put together a structure that works around what the doctors are telling you. Whatever gives you the best chance of coming back at full strength."
"Good." Something in his face eased slightly. "And when I am back at full capacity, I want you to stay on as VP. If you are willing."
"Of course I am willing," I said. "VP is where I function best anyway. I was never built for the top seat on a permanent basis and I never wanted it that way."
"You are better at it than you think," Jaxon said. "If something ever happened to me again, the club would be in capable hands with you. I want you to know that I believe that."
"Nothing is going to happen to you again," I said, and I meant it not just as reassurance but as something closer to a promise I intended to keep. "We have upgraded security. We have dealt with the Dante situation. The club is in a better position now than it has been in a long time."
"I hope you are right," Jaxon said quietly.
We talked through the specifics of club business for another twenty minutes or so. Contracts that needed attention. Relationships with allied clubs that had been neglected during the chaos and needed to be maintained. The financial toll of the attack and the funerals and how the club was managing it. Recruitment to replace the brothers we had lost to the chaos, among other things.
It felt good to be having these conversations with Jaxon agained. It felt good to be planning for the future instead of just surviving the present.
"There is one more thing," Jaxon said when we had worked through everything else, his tone shifting yet again.
"What is that?"
"I need to ask you something," he said, looking at me dead in the eyes. "And I want you to be completely honest with me."
"Okay," I said, and felt suddenly nervous, knowing exactly why was because of everything that had already been said today.
Jaxon was quiet for a moment, choosing his words carefully.
"What are your true intentions with Sage?" he asked finally.
The question hit me like a punch in the gut. This was the real conversation. Everything before it had just been preamble.