Still, as we drove back and Butch linked up with us, it was a pretty nice sign that our initiation had gone off without a hitch. I didn’t assume this was it, for I knew what a really fucking good initiation looked like, but I was glad that this was the start.
When we got back to the clubhouse, Cole was waiting. Connor yelled out, “Fuck yeah!” Mason clapped. To keep up appearances of normalcy, I yelled, “Who wants to do a shot!”
Which, naturally, led to Butch putting a very firm hand on my shoulder. Cole waited for the room to quiet and then spoke to us.
“Tell me how it went, Brock.”
Brock explained everything that happened. He had a good presence to himself, and it sure seemed like we’d done everything that Cole had asked of us.
“I know we can do more to take out the Bandits, though,” Brock said. “We stuck to what you asked for.”
“Good,” Cole said. “But you were discovered? That’s not going to go over well. You’re going to have your hands full momentarily.”
He sighed.
“And in any case, this is just the beginning of the initiation.”
“Beginning?” Steele asked.
“Yes,” Butch said. “Initiation is not a one-day process.”
Cole nodded. I didn’t think anyone was surprised, though Steele’s reaction made me think I didn’t know any better.
“You can keep your weapons for now, because you know what you’re doing with them,” Cole said. “But if you think even we know how your initiation is going to go, you’re mistaken.”
“What does that mean?” Zack said.
“Probably that our initiation involves a test they can’t set up,” Brock said.
“Yes,” Butch said.
He’d by now let go of my shoulder and moved back by Cole’s side. But it was readily apparent that he’d established his authority in the room, and even if not for his size, he had such a presence to him that it was virtually impossible not to be in awe of how he seemingly had no fear or no concern for how people interpreted him.
“You are free for the night,” Cole said. “But understand something else, too. Initiation is not just an external challenge. It’s also about making sure that you can work together as a club.”
No one looked right at me, but it felt like Cole was speaking only to me right now. Word had to have traveled to him about what had happened.
“The Black Reapers in Springsville, as I have told you many times before, were split apart, often to fatal consequences, because we could not operate as a team. We need to see what happens when something happens that leads to a divide in the group. And we need to see that you can overcome it.”
With that, Cole and Butch finally took their leave. No one seemed to move a muscle until the sound of their bikes had long passed, and even then, there was a sort of silent caution to the room, like the two of them might come back at any moment.
“Well, that’s cause for a party,” I finally cracked when I couldn’t take the silence anymore. “Who wants a drink?”
But no one took me up on the offer. I did one more thing to try and humor the crowd by groaning loudly, but everyone grabbed their phones or their keys and left for the night.
There was little doubt that Brock and Steele were feeling pressure to be more “club-like.” This club was meant to make us grow up, but now we were expected to prove it to the man who had financed us and put us in a position to succeed.
I grabbed my phone, the last person in the building, and looked at my messages. I sighed when I saw that Hannah had messaged me—with anyone else, I would have been crass and told them to take the hint. With her, I thought it was time to tell her politely that we needed to move on for everyone’s sake.
But when I read the actual message she had written—barely ten minutes ago, no less—I froze and knew what I thought I was going to do wasn’t enough.
“I need you to come to my place. Now. If you don’t, I will come to you at the clubhouse.”
Hannah
It was of little surprise that Garrett did not respond to me, and I had been bluffing—somewhat.
I wasn’t planning on going to the clubhouse to see him for myself, not tonight. But I had a way around that. I’d just keep pestering Mason to learn when the next club event was, and then I would go myself, whether he invited me or not. I’d give Garrett one more chance to respond if it came to that, but if not, I was not going to let this child come into the world in roughly eight months without a present father.
