“Can I have a room?” I ask him.
“It’s yours,” he says after studying me. “There are three free, take whichever suits.”
“Thanks.”
“Not a problem.”
I glance off into the darkness behind where the party is still raging. I don’t want to admit to what I want… Need right now.
“Let’s go, a few of us are headed to the back to get away from the fucking noise.”
“You sure?” I ask, knowing he likely means the officers.
“Would I ask?” He gives me a look.
I huff a short laugh then fall into step with him. He doesn’t often show it openly, but King cares about all of us. He knows I can’t be alone right now, but isn’t making a big deal of it. Nor does anyone else when I follow him into his office.
“Get him a drink,” King says, taking the seat behind his desk.
Ballistic pours me a whisky and hands it to me. They aren’t all officers in here, War and Banshee are missing and there are a couple of other guys not on the council, mostly older guys who have been around here for decades. They begin chattering and laughing again, about non-club business and I take a seat in the corner. I catch King’s eye as he gives me a cursory look. I nod, I am okay.
Then we join in laughing as Dirt tells a crazy story about Nut, the previous VP of the club who died from cancer a while back. It goes on that way for a while, I get drunk and eventually stagger up to one of the empty rooms.
The bed is made but there is nothing else in here, except for a poster of a naked chick on a Harley. It might be Hudson’s old room, but I am too drunk to care and fall onto the bed.
Fortunately, no nightmares plague me. I sleep like the fucking dead.
Chapter Four
Dominic (Mace)
“My head fucking hurts. Why did I drink so much?”
I don’t bother answering. Talon, my VP is beside me, his head in his hands and elbows on the table. He’d been a Kingsmen before, like me. I trust him implicitly. He’s one of the few who came to me in confidence about how Nytro was running the club.
To go out on a limb like that took guts, and in the months leading up to Nytro’s downfall, we’d confided in one another. It was a no-brainer he’d be on my council.
The rest of my council are trickling in, all looking worse for wear. They’d taken full advantage of the party at the Sussex compound last night. Not me. I never drink to excess. I like to be fully aware of both me and my surroundings.
As much as we’re now a part of the Devil’s Chaos MC, I still don’t fully trust our status.
King is a straight shooter but for a long time they’d been rivals of the Kingsmen and we aren’t a fully independent chapter of the club. We were given autonomy for the most part, but we fall under his rule, and he has final say.
A lot of the men here are Devil’s Chaos through and through. Three of them make up members of my council.
It stunts me, doesn’t fully allow me to make the choices I want. Most of the time, King agrees with me, but running everything past him pisses me off. I agreed to it. To save the men who are here now. I stand by the decision, but I will always remain vigilant, to protect my brothers.
My old club was full of liars and scum, none worse than our last President. They tried to have me killed, threatened me with horrific torture. I’d been in that club since I was sixteen years old.
Joining Devil’s Chaos was the right choice, and I hoped that given time, King would loosen the noose around my neck and not oversee us so much.
Some of my men resented it too, and I spoke to them a lot about how it isn’t that big of a deal, but Talon knows. He can see it bothers me.
Until the shit hit the fan and Nytro lost his mind, I hadn’t liked Devil’s Chaos as much as any of the other Kingsmen.
“Did you really need to call Church this early?” Whosie asks, plonking his ass into the seat by the door, at the opposite end of the table to me.
He is also a previous Kingsmen. He’s integrated with Devil’s Chaos better than most.
