Ayda scowled at him, turning up her lip in disgust. “Fuckyou.”
Travis huffed in response, and he signaled to one of his men. Ayda was grabbed from behind, her upper arm used to drag her to the altar where my father was hanging, blood still dripping in slow falling, lengthy droplets from the corner of his mouth.
There was a desperate need for me to cry out and tell Travis to leave her alone; she waspregnant. But I knew men like Travis, and I knew they would use that as even more leverage.
Travis came closer, so there was barely any room between us. “I have a proposal of my own to make to you.”
My scowl was immediate—silence my only response.
“You’ve done a lot to piss me off, Tucker. You and your merry band of fools don’t need to look for trouble, that much is clear. It finds you. You’re incapable of living a quiet life, of keeping your head under the radar, of being atruetactician and a worthy outlaw. You let your emotions sit on the surface, which lands you and those you love in trouble at every turn. If you keep that up, you’ll be dead before you get a chance to walk your pretty little lady down the aisle. Or she’ll be dead because of you.”
I swallowed hard, unable to look away from him, my heart beating wildly and fists curling down by my sides.
“But I also see you have potential to be something greater than what you are now.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Trigger’s smirk grew slowly. “I’m a big believer in survival of the fittest. Natural selection, shall we say. I think those who die from their mistakes deserve to die. Those who are weak have no place on this earth. Those who fall too easy don’t deserve to get back up. I want to hate you, Tucker. A huge part of me does. I’ve had many dreams of bathing in your blood and being the one to tie you up in chains like Cortez managed to do, and I’ve thought about standing over your grave with a smile on my face. But then I thought about why I wanted that. Why did I want you dead, beside the heat you tried to put on my club? Besides the way you seemed to think it was okay to mock my brothers? Besides the fact that you messed with my drug trade in Babylon, and how you put us under the microscope of the likes of the ATF? And once I’d put all those things aside, that’s when I came to the honest conclusion that I hated you because a part of me feared you. You may wear your heart on your sleeve, and that may make you weak, but it makes you reckless, too. Reckless can be deadly.” He grinned like the evil motherfucker he was. “I like deadly. I want deadly on my team.”
“Over my dead body.”
“That may be an option.” He turned to Ayda. “Or hers.” When he spun back around to me, he pressed his lips together and raised his brows. “We could make this a marriage of both clubs, Tucker. If you prove yourself to me, if you do exactly as I say, we could eventually work together to create something Texas has never seen before. I’d protect you.”
“At what cost?”
“All the evidence you’ve planted against us concerning Owen Sinclair and Mayor Walsh.” He paused for dramatic effect. “And a little show of strength from you, dearpresident.”
I glanced at my father and Ayda, side by side. I saw every flicker of pain Ayda was feeling and the way her eyes were pleading with me not to agree to any of this.
Closing my eyes to find some strength, I turned back to Trigger and opened them slowly. “What do you want me to do?”
“Fight,” he said simply. “You and your club. Show me you’re worthy of our allegiance. Your men against mine. We have the ring set up. We have spectators. This is everything you need, right? You did used to fight in the underground if I remember correctly. You’re used to these kinds of do-or-die battles, no?” His smile broke free again, and I knew exactly where the fucker was going with this.
Pete.The fucker was referring to Pete’s death.
“Did Cortez show you Pete dying, too?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“Who do you think pulled Cortez’s strings?” he countered, raising a brow. “Everything he did was because I manipulated him into thinking he could do it successfully. My mistake. I made an error in choosing The Emps. I never put them to the test. I never found out if they were truly worthy of being associated with us. I won’t make that mistake twice. I won’t choose a weak club again.”
My body shook as his words sunk in. My limbs trembled, and my jaw was about to break because my teeth were grinding together so hard as I stared into his creepy fucking stare.
He’d been responsible for Cortez’s actions?
Which meant he’d been responsible for so much more than I’d ever imagined. And now he wanted my club to fight against his so that we could prove we were worthy of his supposed loyalty.
The game had been flipped on its head, and now the ragerolling through my body needed an outlet.
Rolling my shoulders, I shrugged slowly out of my cut, never taking my eyes from Travis as I pulled it in front of me, folded it carefully, and then laid it out on a chair just a few steps away. I began to lift my T-shirt over my head, sliding it off my arms as carefully as I could before I tossed it to the side, ignoring the grunts and quiet protests of my brothers around me.
I was focused on one man and one man alone for now, and that man had never looked more satisfied with himself than he did right now.
“Each fight goes to the end,” I told him calmly. “Until the other man can’t get off his knees and he has to be dragged away.”
Travis nodded. “And which Hound would you like to offer up as your first sacrifice?”
I shook my head and flexed my fingers out before I curled them into fists. “There won’t be any more sacrifices in my club.”
The audible groans and gasps from my men had to be blocked out. I was too focused on the narrowing of Trigger’s eyes.
“Are you suggesting…?”
“That I fight every man you’ve got? Yeah. I am. If someone else is going to die for my MC, it’s going to be me. No more sacrifices. Come and test my strength. Come and find my weakness.” I raised my chin and glared at him, waiting for my chance of revenge on everyone I’d ever loved and lost. For every man behind me with a hound on their chest, and for the man bleeding out in front of me who’d brought me into this world. Mainly, I wanted revenge for my girl, and for the misery that this motherfucker had brought into our lives when all we ever should have been doing was loving one another and living life.
“I can’t decide whether you’re brave or stupid,” Trigger whispered back at me.
“Both.” I sucked in a breath and rolled my neck to the side. “Let’s go.”
