I sat on the couch, alone. But when I sat up and looked around, I saw I was anything but.
All of the officers—Brock, Steele, Connor, Zach, and, yes, Mason—sat in a semi-circle, with Cole at the top of the semi-circle. They all either had their heads bowed, their arms crossed, or their eyes gazing straight ahead, not really looking at any one thing in particular. They all, that was, except for Cole, who had his eyes set on me.
“How are you feeling right now, Garrett?” he asked.
“How the fuck do you think I feel?”
Cole didn’t snicker or even smile at the line. I looked around. No one had any reaction.
“Sorry. I don’t feel great.”
Cole looked at me, sighed, and stood.
“I thought that after the incident with Brock and Steele, we’d have an end to the fighting like this,” he said. “Make no mistake about it, you’ll have your moments. But I cannot be overseeing a club that does this kind of bullshit. Solve your problems, stand by each other, and make peace.”
But when I looked over at Mason, he refused to look me in the eye.
“Mason,” I said.
He still didn’t look at me. He shook his head.
“Mason, we are all brothers in this club,” Cole said. “We—”
“With all respect, you all arenotbrothers,” Mason said. “Good friends, close friends, best friends, yes. Guys I would stand up for against the Bandits, even with my life? Without question. But family and all the associated names mean much more to me.”
Finally, Mason looked at me. The hatred that had marred his look earlier had faded, but that didn’t mean forgiveness and peace had replaced it. His eyes looked empty, devoid of any feeling for me.
“You violated the future of the only family I have left,” he said. “I cannot forgive that.”
“Mason,” Brock said. “Choose your words carefully.”
But Mason shook his head.
“We say that we are family? Maybe in one sense. But Hannah is my only family. Period. No one else had to suffer like we had with our parents dying. No one else had to suffer what it was like raising yourself and your younger sister. Do not get it confused. I am not what you want me to be, nor will I be.”
Brock sighed and looked to Cole, but even Cole didn’t seem like he knew how to handle it. I, for one, was just glad to not have to say anything right now, given how much my head fucking pounded.
“This cannot be the case,” Cole said. “Fine, we are not brothers by blood. But Mason, if you are not willing to be with us like family, then you cannot be here. And Garrett, do not think that what you did is excused just because we take a hard stance on Mason.”
“Like fuck I don’t,” I said, but Brock’s look told me to shut the fuck up before I said anything more.
“We’re not going to get anything resolved today,” Brock said. “I’m closing down the shop for the day. Mason and Garrett, go home and relax.”
“To the same house?” Zack said.
Fuck, he’s got a point.
“Goddamnit,” Brock muttered, putting his hands on his face. “Mason, stay at my place for the time being. I’ll go stay at Tara’s if that’s the issue.”
“I’m sorry, what the fuck?” Mason said. “You’re going to let fuckface over here get the house when he’s the whole damn reason—”
“Enough!”
Brock’s voice cut through even Mason’s. He’d always been a leader, but never quite in the overly demonstrative sense, mostly just in the “he’s got his shit together, so we follow him” sense. But now, he seemed to finally be having a moment like this.
“You both are acting like fucking idiots, and because of that, yes, if you are going to remain a part of this club, I’m going to tell you what to do,” he said. “Garrett, you did something incomprehensibly stupid because you followed your dick. Mason, you would have killed Garrett if Hannah and we had not stopped you.”
Where is she, anyway? Not here, obviously.
