“Gotta be a reason why though, right?”
Patch looked over at me, looking even more annoyed than previously. “Ain’t no excuse for taking money from the club. You’re taking money from your brothers’ own pockets doing that. And taking money from their pockets is taking money from their families, food from their children’s mouths. We stand together, we fight together, and we fall together. You get it.” He said it in a way that made it clear he wasn’t willing to move on that. No matter what Click’s reason for stealing from the club, there would be no way out of it for him.
I nodded in agreement, afraid of opening my mouth and saying something that would land Patch on his back with me fucking up his face. I didn’t take too kindly to be spoken to like that, but now wasn’t the time, or the place.
“Good. Because the Highwaymen are all or nothing.” Patch grabbed the rest of the bags of drugs and slammed the trunk closed on the car, and we headed back to our bikes.
By the time Bull, Wolf, Hammer, and Click were coming back out of the barn, we’d stashed the drugs into the saddlebags on Thor’s bike. Patch was eager and more than ready to spill Click’s blood. Click must have sensed it too, because one look at Patch’s furious face and he turned and tried to run back inside the barn. Hammer grabbed him by his collar, and Click went for the gun at his waist only to be smashed in the temple by Bull’s own gun.
“Enough,” he roared, and Click stopped fighting.
“I’m sorry, Prez, I’m sorry! It’s not what you think, I swear!”
Hammer dragged Click down to his knees and Wolf and Bull stood over him. Thor recounted the amount of stolen drugs we’d recovered, which did little to serve Click in the “it’s not what it looks like” department.
Bull held his gun loosely in one hand and glared down at Click. “You been stealin’ from your club.”
“No, Prez, no!”
“—Stealin’ from your brothers!”
“Prez, it ain’t like that!”
“—But worse, you been stealin’ from me! After everything I’ve done for you.” He cracked the butt of his gun against Click’s temple again, drawing blood. “Ain’t no excuses for that, Click.”
Click put his head in hands and the cowardly bastard started to cry. “I didn’t have no choice. I got into debt, I needed to pay people so I could survive. It was nothing disrespectful against the club, or you. I love this club, it’s my life—it’s everything I have! I would never do anything to harm it.”
Bull crouched down so he was closer to Click’s face. “Look at me.”
Click looked up, wiping sweat and tears from his face.
“See, brother, now that’s where you’re wrong. Itwasdisrespectin’ me,andthe club. You should have come to me. I would have helped you. Instead you got brothers hooked on crank to pay off your own debts. And that ain’t right! I can’t let that shit just go!” Bull stood back up and aimed his gun at Click. “That ain’t right at all.”
“Please!” Click begged, and from behind him Wolf tutted.
“Have some pride, man,” Wolf said, smacking the back of Click’s head. “Acting like a pussy after all the shit you’ve caused. What did you expect was gonna happen when we found out? You should be glad that Bull’s promised to make it quick.” He leaned down close to Click’s ear. “I woulda made it long and painful.”
“That’s enough,” Bull said, and Wolf stood back up with a wolfish grin. “Click, brother. I hate that you made it this way, but shit is the way shit is, and you knew the score when you joined us. Now start acting like the man I first recruited.”
On the outside, I was devoid of any emotion, uncaring whether this man died in front of me or not. It was his mess, and he knew the risks involved with fucking up. So I stared, and I watched, a hard look on my calm exterior, just like my brothers. But on the inside I wanted to turn away. Death wasn’t something I liked to see, it was just something that had to happen to survive.
“Take his cut,” Bull ordered, and Hammer and Wolf pushed Click to the ground and dragged his cut from him.
Hammer threw it over and I caught it, the leather still warm from his body.
“Hold him still.”
Hammer and Wolf grabbed each of Click’s arms and held him facedown on the ground. Bull nodded to Thor, who pulled out his knife and cut open the back of Click’s shirt, revealing his Highwaymen tattoo.
“You ain’t one of us anymore, you burned what you had with us,” Bull said darkly.
Click nodded, his face scuffing against the ground. Bull looked at Thor and nodded, and Thor straddled Click before kneeling down and digging the tip of his blade into his back.
Click screamed and his blood flowed thickly as Thor cut anXright through the center of the tattoo, destroying the club patch that had been branded on his body when he’d joined. When it was done, Thor stood back up, wiped the blade down his leg, and put the knife away. Click had stopped crying and was trying to breathe through the pain.
“All right, drag him up,” Bull ordered, and Hammer and Wolf pulled Click back up to his knees.
“Prez, I’m sorry.” Click sniffed and closed his eyes.
