Page 9 of Falcon

I wasn’t asleep long when banging on my door jerked me awake. Still dressed with my boots on, I ran a hand down my face to chase away the exhaustion then jumped up and took long strides toward the door. Just as I walked back into the bar, Hawk and Eagle came through and the place fell silent. I clenched my jaw. I had so many questions but with his pops down, he was in charge now and he didn’t need a bunch of fucking questions.

“Church,” was all Hawk said before walking down the hall.

I texted Rooster, since I didn’t see him hanging around, and made my way over. All the officers were there within minutes.

None of us sat down. Instead, we all stood surrounding the circular table, arms crossed as we braced for the news.

Eagle stood by Hawk, his face stoic. We waited patiently for Hawk to speak.

He cleared his throat and leaned, gripping the back of the VP chair. “Raven has met his destiny.”

We all let out furious rumbles from deep in our chests. Raven was the President for ten years, an officer before that, and a member from way back.

For a lot of us, he was like a father, tough as nails but he took care of his club, was fair, and loyal. He didn’t ask of us what he wasn’t willing to do himself. He was also smart and trustworthy, which led to us being so successful for so long. He knew who to trust and made good deals with good partners.

“How’s Mama Hen?” I asked. Raven’s wife and Hawk’s mom was a good lady. She wasn’t like the club bunnies. She was solid and could hold her own, but she took care of us like we were all her boys.

Hawk shrugged. “Still touch and go. She didn’t get hit but has a lot of damage from the accident. Doctors think she’ll recover.”

Butch pounded his fist against the wall. She found him as a teen after his old man fucked him up bad, and talked Raven into sponsoring him even though he was only sixteen.

“I’m going back up there to be sure nobody tries any shit. We have a couple of guys there now, but I’d like to have someone more experienced. Especially since Penny won’t leave,” Hawk said.

Red’s jaw clenched beneath his ginger beard, but he stayed silent. As the Treasurer, he was inner circle, and Hawk was overly protective of his little sister, so nobody would take a shot, but most of us knew Red had a thing for her.

“Do we know anything?” I asked.

Hawk shook his head. “Not yet. But we’ll get Keys on it. Check the traffic cams in the area. Check the club, the bar, and whatever else he can think of.”

“And what about the vote?” Butch asked.

The room got quiet again. Hawk stood up straight and ran his hand down his face.

I chimed in. “Hawk, you don’t have to do it today.” I shot a look at Butch. The man just lost his President and his father.

Eagle smacked a hand down on Hawk’s shoulder. “We can use interim for now. I’ll get with Keys and Rooster can head up to the hospital with you.” He pointed across the table. “Falcon, you can come with me, and we’ll pay Blue a visit.”

Hawk nodded. “If everyone else is cool with it, that would put me as interim President, and Eagle as VP. We can sort the rest out later.” We all banged on the table, so it was settled for now. “Until we know who the fuck did this, we need to make sure we keep eyes on the compound, the businesses, all of it. Butch, keep a close eye on the club. Red, watch the bar. Falcon, you and Eagle grab a couple of guys to take with you. Start with Blue and see where that goes.”

“I’ll go tonight with Eagle, then I’ll take next shift at the hospital. I’d like to see Mama Hen,” I said. She’d need us all now more than ever. She was the First Lady for a long time, and that wouldn’t change, regardless of who got voted in.

Hawk banged his fist on the table. We all followed. Then I walked over to wait to say my condolences after the others did.

When I finally made it to him, I grabbed his shoulder. “We’ll find out who did this and enforce the destiny that was decided for them the second they fucked with us.”

Hawk gave a curt nod. “You bet your ass, brother. I gotta grab some shit for Penny and wanna have a quick shower. You could use one, too,” he said with a mock scowl as he looked at my unchanged clothes.

I scoffed, but grinned as I did. “Hey, anything you need we gotchu, man.”

He nodded again and left the room. If someone was stupid enough to take out our Prez, who knew what other shit they’d do. We couldn’t let anything happen to Mama Hen or Penny.

Eagle and I walked out to the bar. Sugar arched her back and tossed her hair over her shoulder with a huge smile, but I passed her and walked to Squatch. “Time to go.”

Squatch pushed the bunny off his lap while Eagle grabbed a couple more guys and we headed out.

Blue was the owner of Peaches-N-Cream, a strip club not too far from ours. He was known for his dealings with drug cartels, and he got guns from us, but he talked a lot of shit, too. He wanted to be the top dog, even though he didn’t know shit about anything but running a strip club. Even that was questionable. Of the three levels of strip clubs, his was the lowest type.

He always kept a heavy squad–probably because he was a snake. If you know you’re fucking people over, you always need to watch your back. But we’d done business enough times to know he’d be in his office so we could chat.

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