"Hey, buddy, it's been a while. How you doing?" he asks Mason, sliding into the booth next to one of his friends and pulling Mason over to them.
"I'm good. I don't have my bike anymore though..."
Shit. My stomach summersaults as Mason tells Wolf about losing his bike after Wolf and Acid came over to fix it after Mase broke it.
"My aunt and uncle took it. They said that I wasn't allowed a bike anymore because I didn't look after it." He thinks he's just telling them a story, but as I look up, I see Acid standing at the side of the booth. His eyes flick over Mason and I before settling on Wolf.
"Mase, please stop telling people about your bike. It's only in the garage. Our aunt and uncle only want you to be safe and careful." I try and downplay it, but as Wolf turns to look at me, I can see the that he doesn't believe me.
I give Wolf a non-convincing smile before turning back to Mason. "Hey, why don't you come back over here and draw?" I ask.
"He's fine here. Let me grab those," Acid tells me as he grabs the notebook and pencils from the table and places them in front of my little brother, then gives me a wink before taking a seat on the opposite side.
Mason doesn’t even look at me as he settles in next to the guys and carries on with his drawing. I turn to Riley and shrug my shoulders. So much for spending the day with him.
"Why don't you clock in for a bit, we're about to hit the dinner rush and you know Gerry won't say no?" she asks me.
I look behind me at Mason, who is chatting to a guy from a different MC about whatever he's drawing. The guy genuinely looks like he's interested in it.
"He's good with us, kid," Wolf tells me.
"You sure? I don't want him bothering you guys."
"He ain't bothering us, sweets. Go, clock in for a bit. He's okay sitting here. We'll shout when we're heading out."
Chapter Five
She fidgets with her long brown hair, twisting it around her fingers as I watch her internally battle with herself about whether she should leave him with us. The kid is safe, but she doesn't know that. Although, she does seem to trust Wolf and Acid for whatever reason.
The kid seems to trust them too. Maybe that should be a sign for me to trust them.
But after everything we've been through, the fact that we were betrayed by one of our own means I'm really struggling to trust anyone. Even my own brothers.
I find myself watching them every day, every move they make, every conversation they have. I scrutinise it. My heart tells me I don't need to, that I'm overreacting. But my head tells me that I missed the signs with Snake. Signs I should have seen. I should have known something wasn't right with him. Looking back now, the signs were there. He changed when he found out that there was going to be a shake-up. I think he genuinely thought that he was in with a chance of a committee position.
I don't know what position he wanted, but he'd made it clear to Nitro that bringing in an outsider was a mistake. It wasn't. Wrath was the right choice, and if Snake had given him a chance, he would have realised that.
"So, in less than two weeks, The Legion Riders will be no more. Are you sure that you and your brothers are good with that?" Nitro asks Acid.
"My men are clear on what will happen in eleven days. Those who are happy to transfer over will do so without complaint. And those who don't want to transfer have chosen to hang up their leathers. It's a done deal. We're tired, Nitro. Most of us are done, we're too old for the shit that this life brings, we just want to settle down for a quiet life with our families," Acid states, his eyes locked on Nitro. But my Prez is not done with the questions.
"And what about your committee members? Those who currently hold positions of power. They won't be able to walk into those positions in our MC, ours are all full."
"Nitro, I've been through this, I've made everything clear to my men. the only ones out of the committee that are transferring are Wolf, my VP—"
"And I no longer want to be VP. I just wanna ride. I'm happy being a brother. I don't need no extra shit to deal with," Wolf cuts in, making it clear there won't be any fight from him once they merge with The Soulless Knights.
Acid smiles at Wolf before turning back to Nitro, but I cut in before he has a chance to carry on. “Who else from the committee is transferring?” I ask.
Acid looks at me. “Our Road Captain, Tarmac, is the only other committee member. And he already requested to step down from duties before we discussed this merge. He wants to remain a part of a club but without the hassle.
“This wasn't a decision we took lightly, my entire club talked about this endlessly, every single member had a say, and if we weren't all one hundred percent agreed on the merge, then we wouldn’t be doing it. My men are good men. I know you have no reason to trust them, but I promise that you can."
Nitro gives Acid a nod. Merging clubs is never an easy thing. You can't always please every member, not everyone wants to merge with other clubs. But by all accounts, the brothers from The Legions Riders are either happy to merge or ready to be done.
"Wow." We all turn our heads as the kid exclaims. His eyes are fixed on his notebook that Wrath has taken over. I lean across the table to see what he’s drawing.
"A dragonfly?" I question.
