They could only handle so much grief before it completely tore them apart.

“Last time I checked, you had a wife,” Ned said.

Butch didn’t stop punching the bag in front of him.

After a few seconds, Ned grabbed the bag, holding it firmly. Again, he didn’t have a clue what the guy’s age was, but he held that bag as if it didn’t have any weight in it.

As Butch hit it several times, Ned tutted.

“So, this is what you do all day and you wonder why your marriage is in trouble.”

“You’ve never been married, so you don’t get to tell me how to deal with my problems.”

Ned held his hands up. “Clearly, what you’re doing right now is working.”

“What do you want from me, old man? Seriously.”

“I think the biggest question here, Butch, is what do you want?”

Silence fell between them.

Ned chuckled.

“You see, in this world there are two kinds of people. There are those people that do everything, and then there are those that sit around blaming everyone else for how shit their life is.”

Butch rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this.”

“You have all the time in the world. You spend a lot of time here already, nothing wrong with taking a few more minutes to listen to some advice.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are? My dad?”

“Nah, if I was your dad I’d have put you over my knee when you were a snot-nosed kid.” Ned pointed a finger in his face. “You have everything at your fingertips. Your entire life ahead of you and you’re wasting it for what? Why the fuck are you here?”

“Because I fucked up! Is that what you want me to say? To be honest with you. I fucked up, which is why I landed myself here with you.” He glared at Ned. “I had to take my punishment, and not only that, I dragged Cheryl down with me.”

“Down? Where the fuck are you down? I don’t see anything down about your situation. You’ve got a wife that thinks the world of you. A baby on the way. Life’s been tough, but here’s a newsflash, no one owes you shit. You want what you want, and you take it. Simple as that.”

Butch shook his head and started to walk away.

“Here’s a question for you, Butch, you think you could go back?”

This made him pause.

“What?”

“To Fort Wills. You think you could sit at the table in your fancy church meeting, listening to Lash?”

“What the hell does this have to do with anything?” Butch asked.

Ned stared at him. “You’ve been on your own for a long time now, Butch. Longer than a lot of men are away from their clubs unless they’re part of the Nomad chapter. You’re your own boss. You make the rules here. What makes you think you could go back to taking orders? You look around you and you see this as a punishment? This is fucking freedom right here. The only problem right now is you’ve not got the balls to take what you want.”

With that, Butch walked right up to him and, old man or not, landed a blow to the bastard’s face. Ned didn’t go down.

“Stay the fuck away from me.”