Page 191 of Reckless

Because we are family.

We are the people who keep showing up, even when it hurts.

Because…

We are Defiance.

Chapter Thirty-Six

SAGE

Later That Night

The clubhouse is still buzzing when I walk in. Deek is halfway through a story nobody is buying, Ro is rolling her eyes behind the bar, and someone keeps trying to convince Bear another round is a good idea.

Then Sin stands.

And that is all it takes.

Ro kills the music, conversations die off around the room, and within seconds every set of eyes is on the president. Sin stands in the middle of the main room instead of the Chapel, and that alone is enough to make my pulse pick up. Whatever this is, he wants everyone to hear it. Not just brothers.

Everyone.

Ghost’s hand finds the small of my back, the way it always seems to know exactly when I need it there. I lean into him without thinking, and across the room I catch Liam standing near the pool table, a beer halfway to his mouth, no idea yet that he’s about to become the only person in this building not breathing normally.

“Prospect,” Sin demands.

Liam sets the bottle down so fast it nearly tips. “Yeah, Pres?”

“Get over here.”

He heads across the room like he’s been called into Church, shoulders squared and ready for whatever is coming. Koa catches him with a solid clap on the shoulder as he goes past. Liam looks between the two of them like he’s missed a joke, which only makes Deek laugh harder.

Sin leaves it for a moment, then he gets on with it. “Two years ago this kid walked in here with nothing but a duffel bag and more attitude than sense,” Sin says, and the room laughs, because everyone remembers that time. “I told Koa he wouldn’t last a month.”

“And I said two weeks,” Koa adds.

“Even worse.” Sin’s mouth twitches. “Kid proved us both wrong.”

Liam’s ears have gone red. I’ve never seen him this still.

“Took a bullet covering our left flank when he had every reason to stay down,” Sin goes on, and his voice drops into something deeper. “Didn’t complain. Didn’t use it as an excuse to slow down once the leg healed. Went straight back to work like it was another Tuesday.”

Nitro nods once beside him, arms crossed, jaw tight in that way that means he’s feeling more than he’s letting show.

“And a few weeks ago, we put him on protection detail for the woman half this room would burn the state down for.” His eyes cut to me, just briefly, before returning to Liam. “He took a hit doing that job too. Got dropped before he even saw it coming. Woke up in the bushes with the worst headache of his life, and the first thing out of his mouth wasn’t ‘Where am I?’ It was ‘Is Sage okay?’ ”

My throat goes tight.

I hadn’t known that.

Nobody told me that.

Liam shifts his weight, staring hard at the floor like it might open up and save him from the attention.

“That’s not luck,” Sin says. “That’s not obligation either. That’s a man who puts himself between danger and the people he’s sworn to protect. Every. Single. Time. Whether or not anybody’s watching.” He lets that sit. “We watched. Church voted this afternoon.” His eyes find Liam’s again. “Unanimous.”

The room goes very quiet.