Page 23 of Big Timber

“Fuck that,” Brick says, refusing to take one as he leans back and crossing his arms over his chest. “Independent twenty or thirty years ago was doable. Today it’s not. Flint and Jasper are solid. I vote Northern Grizzlies.”

I immediately call out an aye and it’s echoed most of the way around the table—until Tonic.

“Can I think about it?” he asks.

“In or out?” Throttle insists, glaring at him.

“Out,” Declan answers for him. “Pack any shit you have in this building and go.”

“But—”

“My house. My rules.”

As Tonic looks at the guys around him, Axel stands up, pulling his blade from the sheath on his belt, and his long legs deliver him to Tonic in seconds.

Terror flashes in the seated man’s eyes as Axel leans down to start sawing off the word Flagstaff from the front of his cut. Once he’s done with that, he pushes Tonic’s head forward, where it momentarily bounces off the table.

When Tonic tries to straighten up, the men on either side of him reach over, each one securing one of his shoulders so Axel can remove the chapter from the back of the cut.

“Son of a bitch!” he calls out. Tonic’s cheeks are flushed with embarrassment, still struggling against those holding him down, as his dark eyes stare down the table length at Declan. “You can’t do this. They’ll take this all back from you!”

“I own this land. And this building. I will protect my brothers, I always have,” Declan drawls out. “Now, why don’t you run along before I show you what I do to snitches?”

“Maybe you and me should have a little chat, Tonic,” Wolfman’s low voice rings out and I’m only now noticing that he moved to stand near the door.

“He ain’t worth your time.” Axel chuckles, nodding at the men to release Tonic.

“Anyone who wants to leave, do it now—no questions asked. If you want to remain Royal Bastards, I’ll trust you to remove Flagstaff from your own cuts. However, Tonic here leaves on foot since he hasn’t repaid the loan I gave him to buy his new bike,” Prez explains, exhaling a large plume of smoke like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Unless you want to call National to ask them for the balance, Tonic? I haven’t been able to get anyone on the phone, but maybe you have a different number?”

“This isn’t over,” Tonic snarls, shooting out of his chair as soon as Axel allows him to back up his chair.

“Maybe your wife or your side-piece will help you out with the balance?” Diesel taunts him as he darts out the door with Wolfman just behind him.

“Prez? I joined up wanting to be a Royal Bastard. No disrespect to you or any man in this room, but I’d like to stay one,” Jeeves speaks up, looking nervously around him.

This doesn’t come as a total surprise, the guy’s only had his patch for a few months, but I doubt he realizes that just walking into a new chapter is going to be difficult. Especially if National doesn’t take our leaving well.

“Understood. Stay the night if you need to make a plan and reach out if you need anything,” Declan responds, not looking overly surprised. “Throttle will make sure your current paycheck from The Office gets to you.”

“Thanks,” Jeeves says, looking guilty as he stands to go. “I’ll send when I figure out where to land. I owe some of you, one way or another—I won’t forget that.”

“Anyone else?” Declan gives his final warning after Jeeves’s departure.

“Me,” Ferris calls out. He’s by far the oldest member in the room, which might explain his loyalty to the Bastards. “It ain’t for no reason other than I want to fucking retire. My wife wants to move down near her family in Tucson. If I can be of help in any way, you call me. My walking away now doesn’t mean that I’m taking sides.”

“I’ll miss you, old man. I was hoping for some advice on our next steps,” Declan graciously responds, making Ferris look pleased.

Once he’s gone, Declan continues. “Are we all agreed on patching over then?”

His eyes rest on me for a second longer than I’m comfortable with and I wonder what he has planned for me going forward.

“Issues with Tonic aside,” Cash pipes up. “I’m wondering about his point—how do we go about leaving the Bastards?”

“Since New Orleans is dodging me, and I refuse to talk via a go-between, I’ll head to the rally next week and deal with it there.”

Axel’s head swings around with Declan’s answer, so this was obviously news to him.

“I mean it,” Prez says, looking directly at Axel.

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