Lucy didn’t blink. “I wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t.”
Voices rose and fell, frustration, concern, countered with those of loyalty. I didn’t flinch through any of it. I told it how it was—Lucy had contacts, Caleb’s contacts. I never asked and he never told, but if I needed information and to keep the club’s hands clean, I went to him. Now, I wanted to use her the same way.
A gravelly voice from the far end spoke up. Diesel’s cousin, Knuckles, was grey at the temples but still mean as iron. “Kaneblood runs hot. Always has. I’ll take fire over dead weight any day.”
A few heads nodded. No one argued.
The vote came down. Hands rose, the majority in Lucy’s favour.
“Fine. She can be inside, but she steps out of line, I’m not waiting for a second vote,” Gage barked. “She’s your responsibility, Pres. Whatever happens, it’s on you.”
“That’s the job,” I snapped. I didn’t wait for approval. I turned and locked eyes with Lucy. “You’re in. Don’t make me look like a fool.”
Her smirk came with a roll of her eyes. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
I saw the way Gage and Bishop glared, but I didn’t care. It was my call and my weight to carry. If they had a problem with it, they’d learn what it meant to challenge their President.
Chapter 9
Lucy
After the vote, I was smug. The hands raised weren’t all in my favour, but enough to scrape by. Barely. The looks across the table said it plain—one mistake and I’d be gone. Permanently.
I stood there like it didn’t matter, chin high, but inside, my heart was pounding so loud, I was sure they could hear it. I’d won myself a place in a room most people wouldn’t dare to glance at from the outside.
“Guess I’m only here because you decided I was useful,” I said. My voice didn’t shake, even though my throat was tight.
His jaw clenched. Fists too. “You think I’d put my neck on the line in front of my brothers just because you’re useful?”
“Then why?”
He leaned down, close enough that the scent of leather and whiskey filled my lungs. Close enough that my eyes betrayed me, flicking to his mouth and the same lips I’d spent too many teenage nights imagining the taste of.
“Because you’re the only one I can’t shrug off,” he said, voice rough. “Don’t make me regret it. You stay safe.”
I swallowed hard then shot words like knives. “You don’t get to act like you care now. You already told me what I was worth to you. Nothing. Forgettable.”
Jay’s eyes flared, something dangerous flashing in them before he stepped closer. “Don’t twist it, Little Kane,” he replied. “I said it because I had to. Because if I’d told you the truth back then, you’d have stayed. And this life would’ve?—”
I cut him off with a cold smile. “Save the lies, Jay. I don’t need your reasons.”
I stepped sideways out of his shadow and walked past him, slow and deliberate. I didn’t look back to see if he followed, but I felt the weight of his gaze burn between my shoulder blades.
For the first time all night, it wasn’t him cornering me—it was me leaving him with the silence.
I didn’t go far, just outside the back rooms, pretending to study the way the warped floorboards dipped under my boots. I watched cautiously as Riot approached me.
“Don’t let the noise shake you. Pres doesn’t let just anyone in. That should tell you something.” He didn’t wait for an answer, he kept walking to the bar then pulled Maria into him.
My ears were sharp as voices carried from the back hallway.
Gabby, voice sweet but sharp as glass, said,“...don’t like her here.”
Jay’s reply was hard enough to bruise.“...you’re just a bit of fun. You knew the score.”
The words weren’t meant for me, but they lodged under my skin anyway.
I told myself it was about her, not me. That whatever arrangement they had before I showed up wasn’t my business. That I wasn’t there for him.
