I stop halfway to the door and turn to see Chains leaning over the bar. He has his back to me, but I know the voice that spoke up. The guy was always like a son to me in some ways and a little brother in others. Family. But he’sgetting real close to stepping over a line he won’t come back from.
“Depends on the one you’re talking about.”
He huffs at that and looks over his shoulder at me. “Your daughter’s been home for weeks already. Doubt you even know where she’s staying these days.”
“Chains,” Casper barks with narrowed eyes, but that’s all the president says on the matter.
I raise an eyebrow, then look around. Everyone’s doing a lousy job of pretending not to be listening. Every other conversation in this place has died, and several of my brothers are staring directly at me.
“Ruby’s seeing someone?” I ask. His words make it seem so, and something twists in my stomach. Not the eager kind, but a warning that something is coming. But I’m not sure if it’s because my club, the one I built up to what it is today, seems to be turning on me, or because subconsciously I’m not okay with Ruby getting close to someone.
“Like you care,” Chains mutters and turns back around, sipping at whatever dark liquor is in his tumbler.
I drag a breath through my teeth, exhausted from being seen as the villain around here. No one says it outright—some play the game like it’s no big thing—but I see it from the corner of my eyes. The whispers and the looks. Saving the kid and going into a coma was fine for everyone. Waking up and remembering what I did—also no big deal. But forgetting Special K and Ruby? That’s where the line has been drawn. And I’m happy. For Ruby. She spoke to me the last time as if she had no one looking out for her, but this entire club,myclub, is pissed at me for her.
I’m proud of each man here standing up for her. I might not have the fatherly feelings like I should, but I’m happy to know that when I fuck up, my club is there to jump in and take care of shit. From what I’ve heard, they didn’t handle it completely right, but it’s not like there’s a manual on how to deal with this. Casper and the boys are doing the best they can with what they have.
I start to head out. I’ll do what I’d planned on and just let them have this moment. Let Chains speak to me and get away with it. A year ago, I’d bust him down to prospect duty for a week. But times have changed. I’ve got no pull around here that I know of.
Ruby’s back, and things seem to have settled down, but there’s still bullshit going on. Things I’m being left out of on purpose. I know it’s because it’s connected to her, and I’m okay with dealing with just my stuff and nothing else right now.
I’m on a goddamn vacation. Running the club was more than a job. It was a lifestyle. It took a lot to do everything within the club and also care for the sister chapters. I know Casper is looking to get a national chapter going, which would take a lot of weight off his shoulders. Him being in charge was the right move. Even if I hadn’t gone out the way I did, I think I would have stepped down eventually. I took the club as far as it was going to go under me. Now it’s time for new ideas and leadership to come in and take it further than before.
“I saw you,” Chains calls out. This time there’s no need to clarify his words. “I saw you withher. Playing nurse and shit.”
I take a moment, count to ten as I stare at the door in front of me before turning around to see Chains has spun completely in his chair to look at me, accusation clear in his glare.
“Yeah,” I say with a nod. “So?” I shrug, lifting my hands a bit at my sides to gesture for him to continue. To say what’s really the issue. “Is me seeing a woman that big of an issue for you?”
“Yes,” he hisses.
“Why?”
“She ain’t your old lady,” he grinds out, and I feel half the damn club watching the tennis match between us.
“Not yet.” I hold his stare. I know my words will cause issues, but I refuse to back down from a brother who I brought into this club and taught him half the damn shit he knows.
“Are you fucking serious?” He stands and takes a step as if in shock.
“Maybe. What’s it to you?”
“What’s it to me? What’s it to this whole damn club! Did you forget Special K is the reason you became president? That without her, you’d be nothing? And you just want to throw that all away for some piece of ass?”
I take a step forward, just one. “Watch your mouth, boy. I might not recall everything, but it’s you who’s lost your damn memory of certain events. Was Special K the niece of the former president? Yeah. Did me making her my old lady get me this patch? Fuck no. I worked my way up just like every member of this damn brotherhood. No one got in here or became an officer because of who they hooked up with.We made sure of that in the bylaws. So cut the shit saying it was her who got me here. I did it.Me.Got it?”
He glares and then looks away, as if he can’t be bothered to admit he’s wrong.
“And don’t youevercall her just some piece of ass.”
“She was your nurse.”
“So? Mama Bear was just your kids’ babysitter when she first showed up. You didn’t even know she had any connection to Special K and just thought of her as a surrogate mother type till you finally got smart and claimed her.”
Chains takes three steps to me, but it’s General who steps in with his arms out to both of us to keep us from colliding.
If Chains wants a fight, I’m ready. Been wanting one for a while. Something to stop the guilt that set in when I came here. A place that I once saw as my home away from home has become more of a chore because of every look and whisper I get once I come in.
“Settle down. Both of you.” General glares at us both.
