Fuck me. I clenched my fists as a stunned silence fell, and he started to speak, as he started detailing, ruthlessly, without skipping a step, every fucking thing he did. Hell, he mentioned stuff I’d had no idea about too. The key was that he was owning up to it all, and faces had gone from curious to shocked, and now most lingered on distrust and anger. Disrespect, even.
“You fucking hypocrite!” One of them yelled, and a few others agreed.
“I know. I’m here selling an ethos that I shat all over. I get that, and I’m admitting to it.”
“How the hell are you even wearing that fucking President patch?”
Micro glanced at us, those flanking him, and straightened his shoulders.
“I worked hard to redeem myself. I fought to make up for my actions, to make amends with my victims, and my fucking betrayed family. I was willing to die for it.”
“Should have,” someone murmured under their breath, and miraculously someone else yelled at him to shut it. I was losing track of who was who, because I felt like like was watching the chapter crumble from the inside out. Micro may have wanted to destroy the OG chapter, but he might actually have succeeded with this one instead. Only this time it wasn’t his fault.It was mine.
“He’s a good man. I trust in him,” I spoke up, and silence fell as all eyes reached me, and fuck me, I felt like I’d just spoken out of turn at a fucking funeral or something. Shit. Maybe it was one. The death of a club. Of a brotherhood.
Harley cleared his throat and waited ’til everyone looked at him.
“He’s a good man. I stand by him. I trust him with my life.”
Grease groaned, and drew the attention next.
“Yeah, what they said. I was there when it happened. I saw a lot of it, but I saw this man… fuck me, I’m gonna say it… he’s risen from the fucking ashes himself.” He glared at Micro as the guy barked out a shocked laugh. He flipped our Pres off and glared at the rest of the club.
“This guy is solid. He took a shit club, and fucking restored it. He did most of that single handedly. He did it because he believes in making the place better. He brings the same fucking values he wants to instil in all of us, so you can start bitching, but you know him. The past is the fucking past.”
I fought the grudging sense of respect I was starting to feel for the prick, because we had our own issues, but he showed his full fucking support for the club and our President, and surely that was worth something.
“I stand by our Pres,” I stated clearly, waiting for what came next, but what came next was a muddle of argumentative voices, which were rapidly drowned out by a familiar sound to us all. Motorbikes. A lot of them. Incoming as we all turned to the gates. Fuck me. It was the original Phoenix chapter, and they started leaving their rides as they crammed them into our parking area, and joined the group standing by Micro.
“Reacher?”
The other President stepped forward, shooting an irritated glare at Micro.
“Shoulda known you’d jump the gun, son.”
Micro glanced around at his new ‘backing singers’.
“What’s happening?”
“I understand your President has shared some information with you all today? Bit faster than I fucking planned. You wanna take a fucking pill for that premature issue you have?”
A few chuckles filled the courtyard, before Reacher turned to face everyone again.
“He made his mistakes, and he did his time. Phoenix MC stands beside him, and we fucking back him as President of this chapter, so if any of you feel you can’t do the same, there’s the fucking door.” He pointed, as Torch made a snarky comment about it being a gate, and I literally felt the tension drop just a touch. Please fucking go right. I was still kicking myself about this all happening.
“He killed someone,” one guy pointed out quietly, and Ryder shrugged at him.
“Who hasn’t?”
“He tormented your old ladies!”
Has-Been stepped forward then, lifting his hands for quiet. The poor guy looked like he’d been to hell and back, but there was a lightness in his posture that I think came from finally getting his revenge, and knowing those cunts couldn’t hurt anyone again.
“He did. He came after mine several times, but you know what?She forgave him. She moved past it, and she feels stronger than ever. I’m not saying that means she didn’t suffer, but she grew. If she can forgive him, why the hell do any of you have a right to judge him?”
Wow. I never saw that coming, and he wasn’t done, either. He dragged a hand over his short blonde hair.
“He also gave me a long-overdue haircut, and honestly, I coulda killed him for that alone, but I moved on too.” To them, it probably didn’t sound like much, but he’d loved his locs. They were his identity, and I think, now I know his past, maybe even part of his disguise, a way of distancing himself from his old life.
