By the look on his face, you’d think I’d said I was running away to join the circus. Actually, I think he’d prefer that idea.
It takes him a good few seconds to find his voice. “Are you fucking crazy?”
“I—”
He starts to pace back and forth. “They’re criminals, Morgan.Criminals.They have that huge fucking house.Who knows how they make their money?”
“They run a garage in town.”
“And you think that pays for them all to live there?” He raises his eyebrows like he’s inviting me to object, but I don’t. He’s probably right, but at this point I really don’t care. “And what do you even know about joining a motorcycle gang anyway?”
“It’s a club, not agang.”
He rolls his eyes.
“And I’ve read stuff.” Everything I could get my hands on.
“Read stuff?” He repeats, incredulous. His eyebrows rise so high, I’d laugh if I didn’t think he’d punch me. “I know you ride a bike, but owning that”—he jabs a finger at the bike in question—“and joining those lunatics are two very different things.”
“I know that. I’m not stupid.” I try not to raise my voice because I’ve sprung this on him out of nowhere. It’s not the first time I’ve thought about it. Every time I see Lynx Harper ride through town, I imagine how it would feel to ride right alongside him. To belong to a group of people as tight knit as they all seem to be.
I want it.
And not because I want to fuck the president, because I’m not naive enough to think that’ll ever happen. But I crave the closeness, the camaraderie.
Kind of like what Ash has with his big, loud, fabulous family. And I know they’d take me in with open arms, but I’d still feel like an outsider. Like they were only doing it because I have nowhere else to go.
I’d have to earn my place at the club. I’ve read enough to know that if I managed to get accepted into the Wild Wolves, then there’d be no doubt that I’d earned it.
Of course, that’s a really bigif.
They could well take one look at me and tell me to fuck off. But I have to try.
If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll probably have to take Ash up on his offer for a while.
But I really hope they give me a chance.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Like a heart attack.”
We have a silent standoff that seems to last a lifetime before Ash sags against the wall. “Have you ever known them to take in anyone local?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “The whole time they’ve been here, it’s always been outsiders.”
It’s true.
“There’s always a first time.” I try and sound more confident than I feel.
“Fuck, Morgan. You’d have a better chance of joining the Feral Beasts.”
We both shudder.
“Forget I said that.”
Yeah, I’d rather live in the woods than join those fuckers.
I extend my foot and poke his shoe until he looks up at me. “It’ll be okay.”
“Will it? What about your job? Your uni course? We’re supposed to start back in a couple of months.”
