It’s currently up for debate whether it was this new club at all, fuckers that go by the incredibly original name, the Devil’s Slaves.
“At least they don’t call themselves anything sinners. Sinners this or that,” Wraith mumbles, as usual, full of helpful insight. “That would just be disrespectful to certain previous fucking clubs.”
I roll my eyes. “Jesus, Wraith, do you ever shut the fuck up?”
“Not that I know of,” Tracker says on an eye roll. “And I just spent two fucking days with him.”
“Shouldn’t have put us out of business,” Wraith mutters, surprisingly good natured even though he’s referencing the slaughter and downfall of his previous MC. “Worse just crops up. You think we were bad? You have no fucking idea. I guess the real question is though, what are we gonna do about it? This kind of shit can’t go unanswered.”
The room breaks out in full on argument at that. Wraith hasn’t quite gotten the hang of not being the leader of meetings yet. He might be the newest patched in member, but once a Prez, always a Prez.
Steel bangs his fist on the table hard enough to make a few of the men jump. I feel myself tense up, my shoulders drawing back. I don’t look at the bastard beside me, because that would only incite violence, I’m sure. It’s gonna come down to that. To a good ass kicking and this time, I’ll give as good as I get. Steel deserves the sense knocked into him if he’s not gonna come around any other way.
“This happened because we weren’t here,” Steel barks. His head swivels in my direction and I can feel the abrasive rage rolling off of him, the waves crashing my way. I stay silent, even though we all know why we were gone that night. “My daughter, my own daughter, and your old ladies, our men, they were hurt because of what’s happening in this club.”
“No,” I say slowly, as soon as Steel finishes. “It ain’t got nothing to do with what’s happening in the club. They were hurt because our enemies have been watching us withoutus realizing it. Either we have a rat, or they just took a chance and rolled the dice that night, and it was dumb fucking luck. Or not, seeing as neither of us were there, and we’re the ones they probably want to take down.” I wonder what Steel would do if he knew those words came directly from his daughter.
“You’re right about what you said if we have a rat, but wrong on every other account.” Steel bristles and I don’t turn my head, because I’m sure I’ll catch a punch in the good eye. The room goes absolutely silent.
“My daughter was hurt because you weren’t there to protect her,” Steel grinds out.
“Because we were riding after your ass, making sure you didn’t do anything fucking stupid.” There are nods around the room and it makes me bold enough to continue. “Seriously, Steel, we have to put this to rest right fucking now. Nothing is changing. Harley is my old lady now—”
I fully expect it when Steel gets to his feet. His chair clatters to the ground and he’s on me like a feral fucking demon. Snake, Wraith, and Tracker are out of their seats again before he can do much damage. He lands a blow to my jaw that echoes through the room, but I have a tough fucking face, and it doesn’t do much more than glance off and rattles my teeth.
Steel is wrestled into his seat, fuming and cursing, fighting against the men who have to restrain him. I stand slowly and look around the room, my gaze lingering on every man there. If shit was tense before, it’s like a bomb is about to drop now. Everyone is on edge. This isn’t the way the club was supposed to be run. Brothers hating brothers. A fucking civil war going on, about to split the ranks.
“I want to take a vote,” I say slowly, giving time for every word to sink in. “That we put this vendetta to rest and get on with business, that we go back to being a brotherhood, because that’s what this club is about and we’re no good divided. We leave ourselves vulnerable and open with this shit. If you want to head outside and fucking settle this with our fists, then so fucking be it, but I vote, here and fucking now that you put this to bed and go back to being the Prez we all know and fucking love. This club ain’t just about us, Steel. It’s about all these men.”
“I second that shit,” Wraith bangs the table.
The other men follow, banging their hands hard on the table top and stomping their feet in agreement. We’ve never had a vote like it, with all the noise and the stomping and banging. Steel stops struggling and takes notice, because it’s pretty fucking hard not to when the message is loud and fucking clear.
They’re as tired of this bullshit as I am.
I turn towards Steel, my face completely neutral. “So what’s it gonna be? We gonna put this vendetta to rest and go back to being how we were?”
Steel’s brow tightens and his eyes burn into me. I’ve seen that look before. I know what a stubborn bastard he can be, and I know that he isn’t going down easy.
“How we used to be?” Steel scoffs. “You mean before you decided to lay your hands on my daughter. Before you stabbed your brothers in the back? Before you betrayed not just me, but all of us here? You couldn’t even protect her. She could have died because of you.”
Anger rattles through me, but the hurt I feel creeping in around the edges is worse. I miss the man I used to call brother. I miss the man who led us fearlessly, who was always one step ahead who loved this fucking town and all of us, because we’re all he has in the world. I don’t know who this new man is, a man who refuses to see past the black cloud of hatred blocking his view.
A man consumed by rage and his thirst for vengeance.
“Goddamnit! Are you so fucking blind? Yesterday had nothing to do with me and Harley, can you not get your fucking thick skull around that?”
And then I realize that as long as I’m around, nothing’s gonna change. I know Steel. I know him like a real brother, because he’s been the closest family I ever had. He stuck his neck out for me more times than I can count. If not for him, I wouldn’t be here. Literally. This club is my life, my family, my everything, and I’ll belong to them until they cover me up in that cold dirt mound and even then, if we have souls, that part of me will always be with them. I made vows to protect the club. Vows that said I’d fight for them and die for them. If that means that I have to take a step back and give this up to stop the whole damn thing imploding, then that’s what I’ll fucking do because I won’t have any of them getting killed because of this.
And all of this… all of this fucked up shit
The words come out before I can stop them, acrid and bitter, scalding their way up my throat like bile.
“I can see where this is going, Steel,” I start. “If you’re not gonna see reason, then there’s only one thing I can do. I signed up for this to do what was best for the club and formy brothers. It don’t matter that we started this together. What’s best right now is for me to go.”
Stunned silence fills up the room. It’s a different kind of silence than before. It’s so loud that it rips through my head, hurting my skull. It shreds through my heart, through the core of my being, because The MC was once everything that I had. If not for Harley, they’d still be all I had. Ever. It was the first place a sorry ass shithead like me ever felt he belonged.
No one says a thing. Not even Wraith. There’s not so much as a heavy breath or a sharp intake or a sigh. Until finally, finally, Steel clears his throat roughly.
