ZERO
My stomach was in knots the entire way to the clubhouse. Rooster promised he’d stay back, he wouldn’t get near that crew alone. I should’ve known better than to listen to him. Should’ve made him come home with us and let Wraith or Mojave look into wherever those assholes went after they left the mall. I shouldn’t have left him alone.
When I pulled up to the clubhouse, the gates were open because so many of the crew were all showing up at the same time. The prospects had no chance of stop-checking every single one of us. It didn’t matter. Everyone was on high alert after getting Prez’s cryptic message. We’d know right away if someone was trying to slip into our ranks without being noticed.
I wasn’t the last to arrive, but it didn’t take long for the rest of the crew to show up. Even some of the old timers were there, including Tank who looked concerned as he stood by Prez, one hand on his son’s shoulder and a frown on his face. I wanted to go over there, to beg for information, but Brewer stopped mebefore I could go more than a few feet, his voice low as he asked, “You alright? You look pale.”
Shaking my head, I murmured, “Rooster–” but I was cut off by Butch’s sharp whistle, drawing the room to attention. All eyes swung to him, then to Prez, who stepped forward, his face foreboding.
“I know you all have a lot of questions. I’ll answer as many as I can, but first, I have an update on Rooster. His injuries are bad, but not life threatening. He’ll be out of commission for a few weeks. Concussion, broken arm, a few broken ribs. He’ll live.”
The relief was temporary and the demands for explanation followed quickly after. I wanted to know what happened too, but if Rooster was that messed up, it wasn’t likely he’d be able to explain it himself anytime soon.
When Prez turned to look at me, I felt my breath freeze in my lungs. He waited until Tank barked at the room, demanding silence, before asking, “You were the last person with him, Zero. What the hell happened?”
Guilt ate at me, making my stomach clench uncomfortably, but I couldn’t lie. I was the reason Rooster had gone off alone. I should’ve talked him out of it. I was too worried about the kids to remember that Rooster couldn’t be trusted to make decisions like that.
Brewer’s hand squeezed my shoulder supportively, urging me to speak. Letting out a shaking breath, I told him what I knew. The outing with the boys, the splitting up to get lunch, the Hellfire Riders showing up. I told him what little I got out of Jasper and what Flash told me about what they wanted, told him about Rooster’s demand to take them home. “It wasn’t safe to stay, we both knew that, but Rooster wanted to go after them. He said we’d been on defense too long. He promised he’d stay back, he only planned on following to see where they were hiding. He wasn’t supposed to get near them.”
“And you fucking believed him?” Vegas demanded. “It’s Rooster we’re talking about!”
I winced. “What the hell else was I supposed to do? I had the kids to think about, and he swore up and down that he wouldn’t get close. I thought–”
“No, you didn’t,” Vegas shot back with a scowl. “If you’d been thinking, you would’ve seen right through that bullshit. That’s got ‘Rooster idea’ written all over it.”
“Shut up,” Butch barked. His expression was dark, he’d always been protective of his little brother, but he didn’t point any accusing fingers at me. He just stood with his arms crossed, glaring at the room in general, silent as the grave until he needed to step in to do his job.
Prez looked like he was going to say something when his phone rang. He answered it, expression hardening when he spoke to whoever was calling. He didn’t explain, just turned on his heel and disappeared into his office, leaving the rest of us to wait for his return.
Murmurs filled the room, some arguing that Rooster made the choice and it wasn’t my job to babysit him when there were kids to think about, while others argued he was too reckless to be allowed to make those kinds of choices. The guilt was slowly suffocating me when Axel appeared in front of me. I waited for the shouting, I figured someone would confront me eventually, but when he spoke, it wasn’t to lay blame. It was to reassure me.
“As an older brother to a reckless younger brother, there was nothing you could’ve done to stop him. From the sound of it, he’d already made the choice before bringing it to you. He would’ve gone with or without your permission. He used the kids as an excuse. In his head, he was already out the door.”
Shaking my head slowly, I said, “I should’ve refused. Should’ve made him leave with us. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“You were thinking you had three kids with you who were just targeted by a dangerous rival crew. You did the right thing getting them out of there.”
It wasn’t Axel who said that, it was Butch, and when my head snapped up to look at him, he looked resigned, but not pissed. Not at me, at least. “Rooster’s always been overprotective of the kids. He couldn’t know they were being targeted without doing something about it.”
It still felt like I shouldered at least part of the blame. We all knew Rooster could be reckless. I should’ve talked him down, at least gotten him to wait for someone to come join him. Once he was back on his feet, I’d confront him directly. He’d promised he’d stay back. He shouldn’t have even gotten on their radar.
Prez came back out, his face even darker than it had been before. The room fell silent, all eyes on him as he moved back to the front of the room again. “That was Officer Gillespie. He pulled up the security footage at the mall. It caught the confrontation.” His eyes shifted to me. “He didn’t even get a chance to leave the parking lot. They were waiting for him.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I gaped at him. “But he left the same time I did. We split up in the parking lot.” Rooster and I had been parked near each other and he’d headed in the direction he’d seen the Hellfire Riders go while I went the opposite way toward home. If he’d gotten caught in the parking lot, I would’ve seen it. Wouldn’t I?
Prez answered like he’d heard the question in my head. “They went out the east door. There’s an employee parking lot there. Rooster turned in that direction and they were waiting for him.” He scowled, adding, “Instead of staying in his car like he should have, he got out to confront them. That’s when they attacked him. Might’ve killed him too if an employee hadn’t seen them and called the cops. Sirens chased them off and police and ambulance arrived a few minutes later.” He sighed, rubbing hishand through his hair and down over his face. “I think it's time we discuss what happens next.”
“Prez?” I asked, stomach twisting so tightly, I couldn’t breathe.
Dropping his hand, he looked around the room, his expression grim. “We can’t fight this. Even if we were willing to go down that road, we don’t have the manpower. And now, with the kids being threatened?” He shook his head. “I can’t keep ignoring the inevitable. If we want to keep ourselves and the kids safe, we need to consider disbanding.”
My stomach dropped, the shouts of denial and arguments drowned out by the ringing in my ears. It was everything I’d been afraid of, everything I’d treasured being ripped away from me without me having a chance to fight it. The words hit me harder than a punch, forcing the air from my lungs.
The first time I’d been forced to walk away from my family, I’d been ready to do it. The separation between me and my conservative family was a mile wide chasm by the time they told me to leave. It’d hurt, a small part of me had hoped we’d be able to at least get along one day, but it didn’t feel like this. This club was more of my family than my blood relatives ever had been. I didn't want to walk away. I didn't want to give them up. Asking me to do that was like asking me to rip my heart out of my chest and stomp on it for good measure. I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover from it.
Pounding on the clubhouse door broke through the noise, causing the room to go quiet again. One of the prospects, Rick, turned to open it, only for Prez to stop him before he could touch the handle.
“Stop. Back away from that door.”
