He looks at me for another second and then understanding crosses his face. His grin comes slow and genuine. "My dad was from Australia and apparently Sprog is slang for baby," he says.
"Don't call me that."
"I will absolutely call you that." He claps me on the shoulder hard enough to make me take a step sideways. "Go on, then. Don't embarrass yourself."
The church room fills up around me, or rather, I stand outside it and watch it fill up through the open door. Razor takes his seat at the head of the table. Braxton on his right. Shadow to his left. Knuckles, then Cash, then Ramsey. Pops last, pulling the door halfway shut behind him.
Then Razor looks out through the gap. "Prospect."
I walk in. I close the door behind me and stand at the foot of the table where there's no chair, because prospects don't sit at Church.
Every face around the table is looking at me. Knuckles has his arms folded and his expression is the same one he always wears, which is somewhere between irritated and mildly entertained. Cash has a toothpick in his mouth and he's leaning back with the lazy confidence of a man who already knows how this is going to go. Ramsey is watching me the way Ramsey watches everything, quietly, like he's cataloguing details. Shadow says nothing, which is normal for Shadow. Pops is the only one who looks directly warm, and even he's keeping it contained.
Brick is at the far end of the table. He's not looking at me. He's looking at the table, and something about that deliberate absence of eye contact tells me more than anything else could.
Razor sets both hands flat on the table.
"Six months ago you came to this club as a prospect with your uncle's voucher and nothing else to recommend you. Some men coast on a voucher. You didn't. You've done every piece of work that's been asked without being chased. You've handled yourself when it counted. You've kept your mouth shut in public and spoken up in private when you've had something worth saying." He pauses. "This morning you handled a piece of club business alone, cleanly, without drama. The full amount came back."
He looks around the table.
"We're going to vote."
My hands are relaxed at my sides. I make sure of it.
"Cash."
"In," Cash says, without taking the toothpick out. He points it at me briefly. "Don't make me regret it."
"Ramsey."
"In." Ramsey's nod is small and definite.
"Shadow."
Shadow looks at me for a long moment. "In."
"Knuckles."
Knuckles unfolds his arms and leans forward on his elbows. "You know what my job is in this club?" He doesn't wait foran answer. "My job is enforcement. Which means my job is knowing who in this room I can trust to back me up when everything goes sideways. You want to know if you've earned my vote?" He holds my eyes. "Last month you were on gate duty when those Viper boys came through looking for trouble. I watched you handle it without throwing a punch and without backing down. That's the difference between discipline and cowardice. You've got it." He sits back. "In."
Something in my chest releases pressure I didn't know I'd been holding.
"Pops."
Pops looks at me and the warmth he's been containing comes through. "I've watched a lot of men come through this club. Some of them wore the patch and never really earned it. Some of them earned it before they ever got it. You earned it." He puts his palm flat on the table. "In."
"Braxton."
Brax leans forward. "In. And if you ever let the club down, I'll be the one to tell you about it." He says it without any heat, which makes it more meaningful. "That's what this club is. We hold each other accountable. Welcome to that."
One seat left.
Razor looks at Brick.
Brick lifts his head and he looks at me. I've known Brick my entire life. I've seen him angry and quiet and occasionally wrecked and always hard, but I’ve never in my life seen the look on his face that's there right now. His jaw is set and his eyesare dark like there's something moving through him that he's keeping very controlled.
"In," he says. His voice is low and completely level. "And I want it on record that whatever this man becomes in this club, he built it himself. I gave him the introduction. He did the rest."
