“You’ll listen, Chief, and you’ll believe it. Unfortunately for you, you don’t live on the edge of society like I do. Protocol: it’s your law. You gotta follow it, even when it’s the scum that’s feeding you the evidence. Can’t leave no stone unturned, right?” I grinned harder, the skin tightening around my smile as I looked down on him. These kids were going to be off our back once and for all, and Sutton had no choice butto listen to every little word I was about to feed him.
His balls were now in my hands.
Jedd sat on his bike, not hiding the fact that he looked bored as he focused on the road ahead of us, his head moving slowly from right to left with every car or truck that drove past. His long black beard was reaching epic lengths, the edges of it tickling the handles of his bike as he rested over them like the lazy bastard he was.
Seeing the patch I’d known since birth on the back of one of my brothers always sent me into some kind of nostalgic head spin. The sun caressed each curve of the reaper and it’s guard dogs and called to me like it was my home… because it was my home. Those three figures, those three sets of eyes and teeth, they represented who I was and who I stood for, and as job two for the day loomed ahead, I felt a new surge of urgency take over.
I swung my leg over myHarley, coughing loudly as I picked up my helmet and gave Jedd a satisfied glare.
When his attention turned to mine, his eyes lingered on me for too long before he shook his head and smiled. “Your life goes from good, to fucked up, to smug, to death, to cocky little shit way too quickly these days, pres.”
“Pres?” I scoffed, landing my helmet on my head as I worked the strap beneath my chin. “The fuck do you want?”
“You’re my pres, ain’t ya?”
“I guess so.”
“So what’s so shocking about it?”
I looked out onto the streets of Babylon, not able to answer him right away. There was no doubt in my mind that I was a brother. There was not even a doubt that I was their leader, even after spending so much time away.
Casting him a sideways glance, I dropped my hands to the handles and knocked back the kickstand. “It’s just rare from you.” I grinned bigger. “VP.”
“Yeah, well, lotta unusual shit going down in the world today, pres.” He smirked, following my lead as he started up his bike and the chugging roar of hisHarleyfilled the air right alongside mine. For a moment, we were just two men on machines, no more than two brothers with a love for wheels and speed. The gentle winds blew around us, the cold biting at the exposed skin of our bodies as the road invited us to take a ride out east or west. It didn’t matter to them. The asphalt would be waiting for us whichever route we chose.
But our patches soon clutched at our hearts, reminding us that that kind of freedom really didn’t exist for the likes of us, and that the only thing we had to look forward to was our own kind of protocol. Our own kind of rules to follow. Our own kind of family, hierarchy and a never ending list of jobs to complete.
The small shit had been passed on to someone else.
The real problems hadn’t even been touched.
Rubbing my lips together, I squinted against the light before reaching into the pocket of my cut and pulling out my shades.Once I had them in place, I looked at Jedd again and sighed heavily.
“I love you, brother.”
He turned back to me instantly, his head snapping around as he tried to figure out if he’d really just heard what he thought he’d heard.
“You feeling okay, Tucker?”
My short burst of laughter was quickly drowned out bythe roar of the engines beneath us. I shook my head at him, both brows rising as I shouted a little louder, “Just got a case of the I love yous, apparently. Suck it up, dickhead and enjoy the taste of my dust.”
I took off as fast as I could, tearing out in front of him, wondering what Ayda had been doing since I left her. Memories of the night before floated through my mind and soon brought another shit eating smile to my face that only the sun and sky could see.
From then on, some things would always stay private.
Chapter Thirty-One
Ayda
I’d been hiding for most of the morning. When I woke up, my limbs tangled with Drew’s, I was so sublimely happy and content I hadn’t thought much about my behavior the night before. It could have been denial or ignorance, but for those moments we had together, the world beyond the door didn’t exist. It hadn’t so much as occurred to me that we were in my little retreat or that the door had been broken and cracked open.
No. All of that only occurred to meafterDrew got up and wandered toward it, scratching his ass and rubbing his head in that adorable way he had. It was when he tried to pull the door closed that it really hit home. When I finally pulled the comforter back after hiding in embarrassment, I got up and stumbled over the dainty slip I’d been wearing in front of the whole hut and wanted to scream.
I took a shower in Drew’s room after a stealthy dash down the hall, and pulled on his sweats and hoodie so I was covered from head to toe in the baggiest clothes I could find. I just wanted to blend in with the walls and not be seen, but the moment I convinced myself to step out of the room, I’d been faced with the whores and their whispering.
I’d been in the laundry room since, even with nothingto do. I found a game on my phone and killed hours just swapping colored bubbles around. It was a vortex of uselessness, but it was killing time until I could go back to the room without it looking like I was hiding in shame, which is exactly what Iwasdoing, just in a more central location, which was less likely to have visitors.
“There you are.”
